The Lil' Devil's Confessions: July 2014

Officially done with my second semester. *firecrackers Yesterday was my last test for Chemistry 1 which carries a total of 20% of the whole 50% internal marks. Did my revision at the eleventh hour because the whole week was crazy. I had my Computing Essential test as a replacement for test 1 on Tuesday. Ms. Veronica was kind enough to set the test in a crossword puzzle form and we did it in pairs. Biology mid-term was on Thursday and so is Algebra test 2. It was a very busy week. Burn the midnight oil every single day. Glad it was all over. Finals is in two weeks time so before I go on the study mode, I figured I'll have this entry up first. Before anything, tomorrow's Raya and I'm gonna spent my holidays here in KL all alone. Last year, raya was amazing with lots of bazaar Ramadhan's food and also our night durian hunting. This year, I think I'll humor myself by writing an entry on how I spend the whole day of raya in my messy room. Hmmm, this also remind me that I've been ranting here for a year already. *applause It doesn't feel that long but looking back at the past entries make me feel so old.

2014 would probably be the tragic year so far in the aviation industry with at least 851 people confirm dead. Within just 7 days, three incidents occurred that shocked the world of aircraft with 3 countries involved, which are Malaysia, Taiwan and Algeria. After MH 17, on 23rd of July, TransAsia Airways plane, GE 222 that was carrying 54 passengers and 4 crew members crashed on landing on an island off the west coast of typhoon-hit, killing 48 people with 10 people injured. It was scheduled to depart Kaohsiung Siaogang Airport at 4 pm and to land in Penghu's Magong Airport half an hour later but due to bad weather, it took off at 5.43 pm. Typhoon Matmo hit into Taiwan on Wednesday bring heavy rains and strong winds which later passed the island and headed to China and was downgraded to a tropical storm.

The very next day, Air Algerie flight, AH 5017 en route from Burkina Faso to Algeria with 118 passengers and crews on board crashed in northern Mali with zero survivors. Those onboard include French, Burkinabe, Lebanese, Algerians, Spanish, Canadians, Germans, Luxembourgers, a Cameroonian, a Belgian, an Egyptian, a Ukrainian, a Swiss, a Nigerian and a Malian. (WTF! I never heard off some of the nationality listed. Where's Lo-xem-bourg is? Do burgers originate from there? Okay it was a stupid question. Ignore it) Control tower lost contact with the plane less than an hour after take off, following a request by the pilot to change course due to bad weather. It took off from Burkina Faso at 0217 BS and was due to land at 0610 BTS. Wreckage of the flight was then discovered between the town of Gossi and the Burkina Faso border. In case any of you, just like me never heard of Algeria or Burkina Faso ever and was wondering where is Burkina Faso or Algeria is, they are both at Africa.

A more clearer picture

I do admit that I'm totally clueless when it comes to Geography. But I do know where's Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Russia, Australia and Japan from the World Map. Some credit, please? After all, I did learnt Geography for 3 years thou we, Malaysian students don't learnt every part of the world. Such a shame on that. If I was given a choice, I would have taken Geography as one of the subjects. Mum used to complain how lack was our education system coz we only learnt Malaysia's geography and some on Greenland, Siberia, Thailand and Africa as comparison in climates. Back then, Mum's era (sounds so way back then) the students need to learnt everything from the World Map. She knows China's history, Japan's history and such. That's the difference. Just to point out, you know.

This year only, we have a total of 8 planes crashed either due to bad weather or is being shot down. On Feb 11, Algerian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashed with 77 dead. Five days later, Nepal Airlines Flight 183 crashed 74 kilometers south-west of Pokhara, Nepal. All 18 on boards died in the crash. On March 8, Malaysia Airlines MH 370 disappeared from the radar screens. The search for the plane is still ongoing till today. On 17th May, Lao People's Liberation Army Air Force An-74 crashed in northern Laos, killing 16 out of 17. Ukrainian Air Force was being shot down by forces of the Lugansk People's Republic on June 14, killing all 49 on board.

Malaysia Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has earned the international community's admiration on handling of the MH 17 tragedy. When Mr. President, Barack Obama and the rest of world's prime minister wrestled with how to get to the site without legitimizing the rebels or risking security for the insurgents to hand in the bodies and the black box, Datuk Seri Najib took the risk sending officials into a war zone to meet armed rebels whose government almost no one recognized. He put aside diplomatic protocol and safety fears and sent his team. This resulted in the retrieval of bodies and black boxes from the separatist leaders at Donetsk. Kudos to him!! He put the priority of retrieving the bodies first rather than finding on who to blame on for the shoot. It's important for the victims' families to have their loved ones properly buried according to their respective rituals and customs and be rest in peace. Justice can always comes after. Mr. Prime Minister, you deserve the respect and recognition from all Malaysians! A job well done. Who cares what back channel he takes? Itu lain cerita which is not important.

This was not my original content for this entry but since we're in this page, let me continue with the word 'DEATH'. After all that happen in an interval of a week time, death seems inevitable because:

Every person who smokes, is going to die,
Every person who never smokes, is going to die.

Every person who is "overweight", is going to die,
Every person who is never "overweight", is going to die.

Every person who uses illicit drugs, is going to die,
Every person who never uses illicit drugs, is going to die.

Every person who drinks alcohol, is going to die,
Every person who never drinks alcohol, is going to die.

Every person who fails to heed the advice of health advocates, is going to die,
Every person who devotedly follows all the advice of health advocates, is going to die.
(Credit: anglefire.com)

One of the commonest reactions to death is fear. Why do people actually fear of death? Under what conditions does it makes sense to feel fear? I believe everyone of us has religions. The one thing that religion taught us about death is hell. I don't know much about yours but in Buddhism, there are 18 levels of hell (or at least that what I grew up believing in). Hell is said to be a world at the bottom of the universe, more precisely at the inner most layer of the cosmos and is divided into many layers. It is said that sinners feel pain and agony just like living humans when they are subjected to tortures but they cannot 'die' because when the ordeal is over, their bodies will be restored to their original states for the torture to be repeated. The following is the eighteen levels of hell:

First Floor - Chamber of Tongue Ripping

Function: Those who stir up troubles by gossiping will find their tongues being ripped out

Second Floor - Chambers of Scissors

Function: Those who break the marriage of others will have their fingers cut off

Third Floor - Chamber of Iron Trees

Function: Those who cause discords among family members of other people will find their body being pierced by hooks and hung upside down on iron trees. Some depictions show sinners having nails hammered into them (similar to crucifixion).

Fourth Floor - Chamber of Mirror

Function: Those who escape earthly punishment will find their true shape being displayed in the mirror and the old karmic debt will have to be paid with high interest

Fifth Floor - Chamber of Steamer

Function: Instigators and hypocrites will find themselves being steamed in a steamer

Sixth Floor - Floor of Copper Column

Function: Arsonists will get themselves stuck to a scorching hot copper column

Seventh Floor - Mountain of Knives

Function: Those who kill sentient beings with knife will find themselves climbing a hill of knives. Sinners are made to shed blood by climbing a mountain with sharp blades sticking out. Some depictions show offenders climbing trees with knives or sharp thorns sticking out from trunks and branches.

Eighth Floor - Hill of Ice

Function: Cold-blooded schemers and ungrateful suckers, including those who ill-treat their partners and elders will find themselves naked in this freezing cold environment. Some depictions show unclothed sinners suffering frostbite in an icy world. Their bodies eventually fall apart or break into pieces.

Ninth Floor - Cauldron of Boiling Oil

Function: Sex offenders such as rapists, lechers and adulterers will find themselves being fried in boiling oil. Some depictions show offenders being steamed rather than fried

Tenth Floor - Chamber of Ox

Function: Those who abuse animals will find themselves being bullied by animals. Sinners are trampled by cattle, gored by beasts with horns or tusks, mauled or eaten by predators, stung or bitten by poisonous species etc

Eleventh Floor - Chamber of Rock

Function: Those who abandon or kill newborns will find themselves being crushed by rocks and soaked in filthy water

Twelfth Floor - Chamber of Pounding

Function: Those who willfully waste food will find themselves being pounded like crops

Thirteenth Floor - Pool of Blood

Function: Those who do not respect others will find themselves soaked in blood. Blood spills from all bodily orifices.

Fourteenth Floor - Town of Quitters

Function: Those who commit suicide will find themselves wandering in this town of misery where the wind of sorrow and rain of grief blasting day and night

Fifteenth Floor - Chamber of Dismemberment

Function: Those who disturb the deceased by digging tombs will find their body being torn into pieces by sawing, carving, slicing in half, running over by vehicles, crushed by heavy rocks, pounding into pulp

Sixteen Floor - Mountain of Flames

Function: Those who steal, bribe and rob will find themselves surrounded by the lasting inferno

Seventeenth Floor - Yard of Stone Mill

Function: Those who abuse their power and oppress the people will find themselves being ground into powder

Eighteenth Floor - Chamber of Saw

Function: Those who exploit the loopholes in the law to cheat and engage in malpractice in business will find themselves being sawed into half

(Credit: cvltnation.com)

King Yama in Chinese mythology or Hades in Geek mythology is the judge of the underworld and passes judgments on all the dead. In Chinese mythology, we have the Ox-head and horse-face guardians. It is said that they are the first people a dead soul meets upon arriving the Underworld. They directly escort the newly dead to the Underworld. The Ox-head and horse-face guardians are the personification of death just like in Greek mythology, Thanatos is the personification of death. He appeared to humans to bring them off the underworld when the their time had expired. In other words, they are the grin reaper.

The guardians of hell

Thanatos, God of Death

Grin reaper

Questions come lingering my mind as we're talking on this. What would happen if I die tomorrow? Am I fear of death itself? Will I regret of dying? I guess the answer to my questions is no. I'm not fear of death, for after all it is inevitable. No one actually knows when they'll die. So why not live life to the fullest. If I die tomorrow, I'll die as a granddaughter, a daughter and a big sister who's stubborn at times (nothing to be proud off), full of love towards animals, loves eating (that's for sure) and a perfectionist. Things that I'll regret would be for not telling mum that I love her as much as I love dad, for not able to protect mum and the rest anymore and for not living my life to the fullest here. *wipe tears I detest everything here. I hate the dirty environment that I have to come across everyday I walk to college, my housemates and the system here. I'll regret dying with so few friends around. Regret for not being more social.

The sad part of my funeral would be the amount of people that come to send me off. I guess, at the last part of your life, the amount of people that come to send you off do actually determine what kind of person are you in their eyes. Dad had the grand-est funeral ever with so many close friends and family members that came to send him off on his final journey of life. No doubt he must be a really great man in his life. One thing for sure, if I die tomorrow, I'll die with the regrets for not doing more good deeds to cover my bad deeds for shouting at mum, lying to her, cheating in exams and the list goes on. I'll die bringing my bad deeds together with me to hell facing my punishments leaving mum, my siblings, grandma and also my pets. Will I leave as a good friend? That is an answer that I wish to know too...

“Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.”

~Nelson Mandela 1996 Hamba Kahle Tata~

Thanks for reading...

Woke up at midnight with a breaking new that is all over Twitter and Facebook. MH17 that is scheduled for arrival at Kuala Lumpur International airport at 6.10 am local time from Amsterdam, was believed to have been shoot down by insurgents in the border of Russia and Ukraine. The jet was carrying 298 passengers with 15 crew members with 189 Dutch, 44 Malaysians, 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians, 9 British nationals, 4 Belgians, 4 Germans, 3 Filipinos, one Canadian and a New Zealander. Among the victims were 100+ of world leading AIDS researchers. They are heading to the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne on Sunday. Joep Lange, who researched the condition for more than 30 years and was considered a giant in the field, admired for his tireless advocacy for access to affordable AIDS drugs for HIV positive patients living in poor countries was one of the victims. 121 bodies have been recovered so far.

The jet crashed in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine where the Pro-Russian separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian security forces. According to Eurocontrol's information, the doomed plane was flying at 10,000 meters when it disappeared from radar screens. From the released news, Ukraine's government said that the jet was shot down in a 'terrorist act' while comments attributed to a pro-Russia rebel chief suggested his men may have downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 by MISTAKE, believing it was a Ukrainian army transport plane. Well, to the men that shoot down the plane by mistake, I hope you guys know that that mistake took 295 innocent life's and has affected more than thousands of people all over the world. May the guilt hunt them for the rest of their lives, if they still have the conscience in them.

It is emotionally draining and devastating to deal with another tragedy as we as a nation have yet to even recover from MH370. 2014 has been a tragic year and to think that we're only half way through. I try to avoid social media as much as I can because to see the news of hundreds of innocent life's gone, it's a heart breaking. There's always a tingling sensation in me when I saw all those photos of the scene. Perhaps the tingling sensation is a part of my own mourning process. Too numb from it for teardrops to fall. I don't understand why it happen. Why do one need to shoot down a commercial flight? So far, there are no survival.

MAS said air traffic controllers lost contact with flight MH17 at 1415 GMT

as it flew over eastern Ukraine towards Russian border.

Nationalities of the victims

List of the crew members

Pictures of the scene

Info graphic on Boeing 777-200 and BUK 9K37

Source: Berita Harian

Details on MH17

Front page of The Times (18 July 2014)

Dated 19 July 2014

Front page of Utusan Malaysia 18 July 2014

Please stop blaming MAS. It's not like it's their fault. Malaysia Transport Minister, Liow Tiong Lai has denied that Malaysia Airlines was trying to save fuel when Flight MH17 took the route over south-eastern Ukraine. He even added that many other countries (airlines) are taking the same route. MH17's flight was approved by Eurocontrol, who are solely responsible for determining civil aircraft flight paths over European airspace. Eurocontrol is the air navigation service provider for Europe and is governed under ICAO rules. The route over Ukrainian airspace where the incident occurred is commonly used for Europe to Aisa flights. A flight from a different carrier was on the same route at the time of the MH17 incident, as were a number of other flights from other carriers in the days and weeks before. Eurocontrol maintains records of all flights across European airspace, including those across Ukraine.

In April, the International Civil Aviation Organization identified an area over the Crimean peninsula as risky. At no point did MH17 fly into, or request to fly into, this area. At all times, MH17 was in airspace approved by the ICAO. MH17 filed a flight plan requesting to fly at 35,000ft throughout Ukrainian airspace. This is close to the ‘optimum’ altitude. However, an aircraft’s altitude in flight is determined by air traffic control on the ground. Upon entering Ukrainian airspace, MH17 was instructed by Ukrainian air traffic control to fly at 33,000ft.

Source: Malaysiakini

The latest update

It explains the 'mistake' thou. Taken from a source,“I can say that Putin’s plane and the Malaysian Boeing intersected at the same point and the same echelon. That was close to Warsaw on 330-m echelon at the height of 10,100 meters. The presidential jet was there at 16:21 Moscow time and the Malaysian aircraft - 15:44 Moscow time,”