Ode to Art in the Age of Ai.

No Matter What Your Art Is, Create It. Relentlessly.

Our gfhx posts (on LinkedIn) are mostly populated, punctuated or adorned with art. Mostly human created visual art. That’s because all idea generation is built upon the bedrock of human creativity. 

Humans beings' innate ability to create beauty has illuminated & inspired mankind's journey through the ages, helping us endure the harsh realities of life. Only Art and its exquisite beauty can offset the ugliness of human suffering brought about by conflict, conquest and change. Man must create art as naturally as they destroy in war. 

Think the ancient pyramids of Egypt and the splendour of the center of creativity in Alexandria. Imagine Greek architecture, art, antiquities, politics, sports and theatre replicated in Roman civilisation. The classical and renaissance artists of Florence, and Venice spread across the Bosporous to Constantinople and beyond, created art not only in the name of religion but out of a deep, innate need for expression.

In the far east, for millennia, the insular Chinese in their jade kingdom were quietly pioneering art in painting, porcelain, silk and tea in harmony with nature till this day. 

Human beings birthed creativity including Ai. Staying the course in the creative field today demands that humans stay on top of Ai inputs, managing output and promoting safety. Navigating today’s complex landscape of creativity, we use Ai to augment and enhance human output creatively. 

Our manifesto - Live By Design, is a clarion call to wake up from past and existing structures of work models that no longer work or are soon to be annihilated in this exciting yet ominous age that the metaphorical 'shifting sands of time' are happening in real time. 

Ai upgrades in improvements and capabilities are being detonated on the Ai battleground in intervals of weeks and months. The fallout is perhaps too soon to be fully felt or imagined. 

While awaiting the imminent fallout, no one really knows what real implications could impact lives or livelihoods. The best anyone can do is embark or join the exodus in seeking higher grounds for human footing in the age of Ai infestation. 

In preparation we implore you to tune into your creator mode or right brain thinking to uncover authentic human creative endeavours which is probably the only resource left for us to thrive upon. 

There will be few roles and job functions created by the advancement of Ai and the new ones would require a higher calibre of human inputs and supplements bordering on creativity and adaptability. 

Human ingenuity, creativity and adaptability, may have been sacrificed long ago in the sterile corridors of corporations and work places but nonetheless they’re still there if you’re human.

So here’s a reminder of who we truly are, laid out in a harsh poetry of five stanzas as an urgent anthem to Live By Design. 

A Short Dissertation on The Buddha as A Proto Scientist.

          Happy Wesak, aka Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima and Buddha Day.   

The Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and death are all said to have occured on the full moon of Vesakha      (the ancient Indian month corresponding to April/May). 

The all-in-one celebration reflects profound Buddhist teachings:

1. Symbolic Unity: 

• Birth, enlightenment, and death represent the cycle of samsara and liberation. Together they embody the Buddha's entire spiritual journey.

2. Interdependence: 

• These events are inseperable: 

• Birth --> Potential for awakening 

• Enlightenment --> Fulfilment of that potential 

• Death --> Final release from rebirth.

3. Practical Devotion:

• Celebrating all three on one day simplifies observance and emphasizes their equal importance. 

The Proto Scientist

Siddharta Gautama - The Buddha didn't leave his home and his family to start a religion. He left a very luxurious life to find a way to end suffering. His own suffering. 

Even though he was the Prince of the Sakyamuni clan who led a palatial life surrounded by servants, and creature comforts, he found life to be unsatisfactory to the extent of being unbearable that he left behind everything in the middle of the night to lead an ascetic's life in search of liberation from suffering at age 29. 

It wasn't after 6 years of even more pain and suffering that he finally found the middle path to liberation. 

From an overly rich life, he wandered down the austerity route to deny his body basic sustenance, even subjecting his body to extreme physical pain, torture and self-immolation. He learned from several different gurus, yogis, sadhus and ascetics that one must experience acute pain in order to feel alive in the moment. He sat and slept on the streets, in the forest, on a bed of nails, starved himself eating only grains of rice until he lost so much weight that his backbone could be felt from his stomach. It was at this point of his life that he realised he had gone too far to the extremes in search of liberation. After taking a bowl  of rice milk from a female cowherd, he sat down under a bodhi tree in meditation charting a new path and vowed to find liberation that very night. It was said that Mara and his demons were tormenting him throughout the night but in the end he emerged enlightened at dawn. 

He found Nirvana through his methods of thorough investigation of the mind to end suffering. 

His methods or dhamma are encapsulated into; 

1. The Four Noble Truths and

2. The Eight-fold Noble Path. 

This dhamma has been in practice by millions since 600 BCE.

In recognition of his dhamma, today scholars, scientists and philosophers recognise Buddha as a Pioneering Cognitive Scientist, in the following fields;

• Mindfulness & Neuroplasticity : 

The Buddha's teaching on meditation align with modern neuroscience. Studies show that mindfulness meditation physically rewires the brain, increasing grey matter in the prefrontal cortex (focus and emotional regulation) and shrinking the amygdala (fear and stress).

• The Four Noble Truths & Psychology :

His insights into suffering (dukkha) and it's causes mirrors cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which teaches that suffering arises from maladaptive thought patterns.

• Dependant Origination & Systems Theory :

His concept of interconnected causality ("this arises, that becomes") resembles modern systems theory in biology and ecology, emphasizing how everything exists in a web of cause-and-effect. 

Here's a Scientific Reintepretation of Buddhism's Core Themes :

Prominent scientists, philosophers, and scholars have acknowledged the Buddha's insights as remarkably prescient of modern psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy.

1. Albert Einstein 

The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism. 

2. Carl Sagan

"Buddhism is a kind of science of the mind, not a belief system."

3. Daniel Goleman (Psychologist, Author of 'Emotional Intelligence')

"The Buddha was the most advanced psychologist of his time - and perhaps of all time."

4. Sam Harris 

"The Buddha was a scientist of the mind and his teachings are a kind of proto-psychology."

5. Robert Wright  (Evolutionary Psychologist, Author of 'Why Buddhisn is True")

"The Buddha was the first to diagnose the human condition in a way that morern science is now confirming."

6. Jon Kabat-Zinn (Founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, MBSR)

"The Buddha was the original mindfulness teacher. His insights into suffering and the mind are now being validated by neuroscience."

7. Arthur Schopenhauer 

"If I were to take the results of my philosophy as the standard of truth, I would have to concede to Buddhism the pre-eminence of all religions." (1851)

8. The Dalai Lama & Neuroscientists.

" Buddhism and science are not in conflict. In fact Buddhism is a kind of inner science."

The 14th Dalai Lama in discussions with neuroscientists incl. Richard Davidson.

9. Steven Pinker (Cognitive Scientist, Harvard)

"Buddhism comes closest to being a true psychology among the world's religions."

10. David Hume (Philosopher)

*On the illusion of the Self: Hume's "Bundle Theory" (no permanent self) closely mirrors the Buddha's *Anatta (no-self) dhamma. 

In summary the Buddha, Siddharta or Sidh, is a kind of Proto Scientist recognised for;

• Anticipating cognitive science (mindfulness, perception, suffering)

• Rejecting dogmatism in favour of empirical observation. 

• Influencing modern therapies (CBT, MBSR, positive psychology)

So why does it matter, how has the Buddha's scientific methods impacted mankind? 

To find the answers, with the help of deepseek, (who has contributed in compiling the research) we dig deeper into a comparison of major scientific breakthroughs individually mapping out their discoveries, insights and impact:

1. The Buddha vs. Isaac Newton  

- Buddha’s Insight: Dependent Origination (*Pratītyasamutpāda*) – All phenomena arise in interdependence; no event is isolated.  

- Newton’s Discovery: Laws of Motion & Universal Gravitation – Physical systems operate via cause-and-effect.  

- Impact Comparison:  

  - Buddha: Explains psychological/social causality (e.g., how craving leads to suffering).  

  - Newton: Explains physical causality (e.g., planetary motion, engineering).  

  - Winner for Humanity: Newton (enabled technology, space exploration), but Buddha’s model is crucial for **mental health**.  

2. The Buddha vs. Charles Darwin  

- Buddha’s Insight: Impermanence(*Anicca*) – All things change; no fixed "self."  

- Darwin’s Discovery: Evolution by Natural Selection – Life adapts dynamically.  

- Impact Comparison:  

  - Buddha: Helps humans **accept change** (reduces existential anxiety).  

  - Darwin: Explains biological diversity (foundation of genetics, medicine).  

  - Winner for Humanity: Darwin (revolutionized biology), but Buddha’s view aids *emotional resilience*.  

3. The Buddha vs. Albert Einstein

  

- Buddha’s Insight: Non-Self (*Anatta*) – The "self" is a fluid construct.

  

- Einstein’s Discovery: Relativity – Reality is observer-dependent; no absolute frame. 

 

- Impact Comparison:  

  - Buddha: Reduces ego-driven conflict (applied in therapy, mindfulness).  

  - Einstein: Enabled GPS, nuclear energy, cosmology.  

  - Winner for Humanity: Einstein (tech advancement), but Buddha’s insight is *critical for psychology*.  

4. The Buddha vs. Sigmund Freud  

- Buddha’s Insight: Subconscious Drives (e.g., *Taṇhā* – craving as root of suffering).  

- Freud’s Discovery: The Unconscious Mind – Hidden desires shape behavior.  

- Impact Comparison:  

  - Buddha: Offers *a path to liberation* via mindfulness (non-repressive).  

  - Freud: Founded *psychoanalysis* (but limited therapeutic success).  

  - Winner for Humanity: Buddha (more effective for mental well-being).  

5. The Buddha vs. Carl Jung  

- Buddha’s Insight: Collective Patterns (e.g., *Saṃsāra* – cyclical suffering).  

- Jung’s Discovery: Collective Unconscious & Archetypes – Universal psychic structures.  

- Impact Comparison:  

  - Buddha: Provides a way out (Nirvana = breaking cycles).  

  - Jung: Maps the mind but lacks practical liberation methods.  

  - Winner for Humanity: Buddha (more actionable).  

6. The Buddha vs. Richard Dawkins  

- Buddha’s Insight: Delusion (*Moha*) – Misperception of reality.  

- Dawkins’ Work: Memetics & Atheism – Beliefs spread like viruses; critique of religion.  

- Impact Comparison:  

  - Buddha: Non-theistic path to clarity (doesn’t require rejecting faith).  

  - Dawkins: Promotes skepticism but can be polarizing.  

  - Winner for Humanity: Buddha (more unifying approach).  

7. The Buddha vs. Daniel Kahneman

  

- Buddha’s Insight: Cognitive Biases (e.g., *Māyā* – illusion distorting perception). 

 

- Kahneman’s Work: Behavioral Economics – Humans irrationally predictably.  

- Impact Comparison:  

  - Buddha: Meditation reduces bias (e.g., mindfulness in decision-making).  

  - Kahneman: Explains economic behavior (Nobel Prize-winning).  

  - Winner for Humanity: *Tie* (Buddha for inner change, Kahneman for societal systems).  

8. The Buddha vs. Stephen Hawking

  

- Buddha’s Insight: Origin of the Universe (avoided metaphysical speculation).  

- Hawking’s Work: Big Bang Theory & Black Holes.  

- Impact Comparison:  

  - Buddha: Focused on **ending suffering**, not cosmology. 

 

  - Hawking: Advanced astrophysics.  

  - Winner for Humanity: Hawking (expanded cosmic knowledge).  

9. The Buddha vs. Noam Chomsky

  

- Buddha’s Insight: Language as Construct (e.g., concepts distort reality).  

- Chomsky’s Work: Linguistics & Cognitive Science – Innate grammar structures.  

- Impact Comparison:  

  - Buddha: Warned against linguistic attachment (e.g., "self" as a label).  

  - Chomsky: Explained how language shapes thought.  

  - Winner for Humanity: Chomsky (scientific rigor), but Buddha’s view aids *detachment*.  

10. The Buddha vs. Modern AI Researchers (e.g., Geoffrey Hinton)

  

- Buddha’s Insight: Mind as a Process (no permanent "thinker").

  

- AI’s Discovery: Neural Networks – Self-learning, emergent intelligence. 

 

- Impact Comparison:  

  - Buddha: Deconstructs the "self" (useful for AI ethics).  

  - AI: Transforms industries (healthcare, automation).  

  - Winner for Humanity: AI (practical utility), but Buddha’s model prevents **AI dystopias**.  

Conclusion

• Buddha wins in psychology & ethics - His 'science of the mind' remains unmatched for inner peace. 

• Traditional scientists win in material progress - Physics, biology and tech drive external advancement.

• Synergy is key: Buddha's insights compliments hard science by addressing human suffering amid progress.

Having addressed and validated the scientific method and credentials for Siddharta the Buddha, let's now quickly explore the gist or essence of Buddha's dhamma. 

Apart from the aforementioned Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Noble Path, there has been numerous suttas (Pali) or sutras (sanskrit) written and documented about the buddha's teachings or dhammas. 

The beauty of the Buddha's teachings is in it's simplicity - It is possible to sample and understand the Buddha's teachings in one verse and there are many such verses found in the suttas. Some of such verses did not originate from the tatagatha himself but other Buddhas or Bodhisattvas who have come before or after. In fact the Buddha didn't write anything on the subject but was instead quoted and transcribed by his disciples and followers during his several discourses throughout his life as a teacher roaming the coutryside.

Here is one known as Buddha's universal advice:

"Avoid unwholesome deeds, do good, purify the mind. " 

~  Siddharta Gautama Buddha (Dhammapada 183)

Let me break it down for you. Since the Buddha's single-minded objective is to end human suffering, he focussed on the mind and body. The mind is a part of the body. 

Avoid Unwholesome Deeds - What are unwholesome thoughts and deeds? There are many to list, however we shall just cluster them to three root unwholesome thoughts/deeds:

1. Lobha - Greed/Craving

• Attachment to pleasure, posessions, or ego. DN22 (Mahasatipattana Sutta*)

2. Dosa - Hatred/Aversion

• Anger, ill-will, resentment. MN19 (Dhevhavitakka Sutta*)

3. Moha - Delusion/Ignorance

• Misperception of reality, confusion. AN3.67*

Doing good is an irrefutable universal truth but contains a three-fold 'Do Good' framework:

1. Bodily Good 

• Abstain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct. Eg. Protecting life, offering help.

2. Verbal Good 

• Abstain from lying, divisive speech, harsh words, idle chatter (gossip) Eg. Truthful, kind and reconciling speech.

3. Mental Good

• Cultivate non-greed, non-hatred, right view. Eg. Loving kindness, compassion.

A. Remove Mental Defilements 

Purify The Mind 

• The mind precedes all mental states (DP 1-2)

• Purification starts by recognising suffering arises from impure thoughts. 

• The mind is hard to restrain... but a tamed mind brings happiness.

Method: Mindfulness to observe and let go of unwholesome thoughts. 

B. Cultivate the Opposite Qualities

• Replace defilements with:

• Greed --> Generosity

• Hatred --> Loving-kindness

• Delusion --> Wisdom  

C. Meditation for Purification

• Through meditation wisdom arises, without meditation wisdom wanes.

D. Develop Insight (Vipassana )

• All conditioned things are impermanent...

• Seeing the Three Marks of Existence (impermanence, suffering, non-self) purifies the mind at the deepest level.

If all the above sounds like rocket science, that's because it is science. The science and study of the mind produced by the Buddha through his personal experience over 6 years of suffering to finally end suffering through skillful means.  By skillful means, a term very much used in the suttas, which means the clever or intelligent use of our mind, resources or intentions. The suttas or lessons outlined in the Buddha's teachings are not law, or commandments, they are methods or a path towards a practice to achieve liberation. 

So to apply skillful means to interpret any of Buddha's teachings is not a sin. For to deal with matters or science of the mind, one has to be able to exercise one's intelligence to interpret the message of the verses or sayings without having to memorize or abide by them word for word. As long as the essence of his teachings are received and understood, the dhamma will lead to the end of suffering. 

Let's take a more simplified skillful interpretation of the Buddha's universal advice;

"Avoid unwholesome deeds, do good, purify the mind." 

Could be skillfully translated as: "Do no harm, be kind to everyone and sit in quiet contemplation." Such is the simplicity and accessibility of the Buddha's teachings.

This is but just one of the Buddha's dhamma. The simplicity of the dhamma facilitates easy understanding by all strata of society. 

Understanding is just the beginning of the journey to end suffering, the true application of the dhamma is in the practice of the dhamma. Only then can the Buddha's teachings be known as an experiential practice available to all. It is not a doctrine or a belief system for devotees to abide by or believe in but to simply put into practice every moment of everyday. The result of which is almost instantaneous for the moment or the day. Through consistent practice, the path will lead us to the end of suffering. Nirvana. 

I would like to end my short dissertation* by drawing attention to the results of the final rankings in comparing the proto-scientist Buddha's insights with those of later scientists, assessing their impact on human well-being, knowledge and societal progress. 

Beginning with Newton's discovery of the laws of motion and universal gravition where physical systems operate via cause-and-effect, Buddha's insight named Dependent Origination (*Pratityasamupada*) where all phenomena arise in interdependence; no event is isolated. 

From Darwin's Discovery of Evolution by Natural Selection- Life adapts dynamically, to Buddha's Insight on Impermanence (*Anicca)-All things change; no fixed 'self'. 

While Einstein's discovery of relativity- reality is observer-dependant, no absolute frame, Buddha has this insight of non-self (*Anatta) - The 'self' is a fluid construct. 

In his field of analytical psychology, Carl Jung's discovery of the collective unconscious and archetypes- Universal psychic structures. The Buddha's insight is collective patterns eg. Samsara - cyclical suffering. 

In the field of Modern AI researchers, Geoffrey Hinton's neural networks are self-learning and emergent intelligence. Buddha's insight is mind as a process (no permanent thinker).

In the final analysis, while traditional scientists win in material progress - physics, biology and tech-driven external advancements, Buddha wins in psychology and ethics - his science of the mind remains unmatched for inner peace. Buddha's insights compliment hard science by addressing human suffering amid progress. *according to deepseek.

In my view, while humanity pursue external advancement and hard science, humans are living on the verge of self-annihilation. Depression, mental illness, and suicide are plaguing our young at unprecedented rates of increase. While the arms race threaten the planet, another race of even higher stakes is currently fought on the AI stage for glory yet unfathomable and untold. 

It seems that while 'so-called' elite thinkers like our academicians, professors, scientists, politicians, technocrats, bureaucrats, plutocrats, even kleptocrats and everyone in between spend time and resources pondering external conquests in the material sciences, little or no attention is paid to the science of the mind. This should be the first frontier of enquiry because as the Buddha said around 2,650 years ago: 

"The mind precedes all mental states."

 

*dissertation- if I may be so bold as to call it so, I would like to have the audacity to try.

Happy Mother's Day

A Pledge by Men on Mother's Day

Image by PineForest

Today I write to honour mothers on a designated Mother’s Day celebration for humanity. 

Firstly by acknowledging my own 3 mothers who I did not choose at any point of my existence, to the mother of my children who I chose to have joyfully facilitated our children into this world. And all mothers without whom we will ALL not exist including grandmothers and great grandparents. 

I choose to honour this day by wearing the wedding ring gifted me by my children’s mother. You may say that the ring is a symbol of marriage and not motherhood. I say the ring is just a ring but it is wearing the ring that signifies our union as husband & wife legalising the parental functions of woman & man. Hence by wearing the ring, I honour the fact that my then wife is also the irrefutable mother of our children and has been front and center in the care and upbringing of our offsprings. 

This subject arose a couple of nights ago when my fellow comrades both happily married, don’t relish wearing their wedding rings for fear of losing them. A comical conversation ensued, ranging from lack of responsibility, inconvenience to carelessness and fear of loss of precious metals prevented my friends from wearing their rings permanently on their finger. 

Being the older and hence wiser among the trinity, I offered the following observations for rumination; 

For subject no. 1 who cited the inconvenience of having to be conscious of not forgetting his ring, I said that we (men) wear the ring not for ourselves or our convenience but for her! To honour her by proclaiming our pride of having her as wife and mother of our children,

For subject no.2 who cited the loss of a valuable and sentimental piece of metal to be hard to bear, I said that she would rather he lose the ring while wearing it than not. 

Spurred by my callous caballeros and these postulations put forth to my young charges, I am wearing my ring permanently, today and/or everyday (?) honouring the honourable. 

Happy Mother’s Day. We see and honour you. 

Of Birthdays & Gifts

 It's my Birthday.

Grok made a lux chocolate cake made of butter & cashew nut for me.

Yes. I am celebrating another birthday today. Mine. I'm grateful to have had so many that I'm beginning to forget the numbers. At this stage of my life, it seems to me that apart from birthdays, I'm trying to keep up with Christmas, followed by Gregorian New Year, then Chinese New Year with birthdays to be endured in between let alone celebrated. That's mainly because birthdays are more personal hence a solitary venture seen as a minor inconvenience by many. Unless you have family close by.

But then I've always subscribed to the adage; 'Age is nothing but a number.' And you get to pick it. Nobody cares. 

So I shall conveniently forget my age. If anybody must really know it's pegged at 58. That's half a lie of course but since the concept of age is already one big lie, we might as well joyfully participate in this illusion. 58 is my birth year. 

Birthdays come and go. The more we have them the longer we live. I highly recommend them. 

However, as long as I still have birthdays, I will hold fast to the words my mother often times tell me; 

"As long as we're happy, everyday can be our birthday." - Abu

I have gifts. 

With Birthdays, traditionally come gifts. And gifts are quite another kettle of fish altogether. 

It has been said that it is nobler to give than to receive. I cannot find fault in that saying. Neither do I intend to find fault with the giver given that it's the thought that counts when it comes to gifting. 

However I also think that being on the receiving end is a much nobler privilege as the receiver gets to truly discover who truly are the people that truly put thought into acquiring a present for us or even know us. Deeply and intimately. 

I have received a few gifts in my life and there are many delightful gifts that are too many to recall but I believe that best test for the longevity, durability hence the likability of the gifts I received is the measure of the gifts I still have around me, in my possession, such that I get to see them and be near them, enjoy them, admire or use them. 

I scan the living room, bedroom, guest room, kitchen, storeroom and I see the most significant gifts I have received and kept have all appealed to my innermost self beyond self. They have been painstakingly picked or made by only one person whom I admire, respect, cherish, treasure and love. The person who has spent over 3 decades taking care of me and gifting me with treasures I never dreamt possible. Best of all: our three wonderful children. I have all these great treasures for as long as I live. 

The person about whom I used to lament at the illusion that she doesn't know me at all. 

How wrong I was. How lost and delusional I was. 

But I know now. I know now. 

I hope she knows that I know. 

And that I'm remembering her on my birthday. 

And if birthdays are about gifts I want her to know she has already given me the best gifts I have ever wanted. 

Thank you. 

Qing Ming 2025

 Qing Ming Weekend in Tampin & Johol.

The Qingming Festival by the Riverside, is a long, painted scroll 528 cm long and 24.8 cm wide, which portrays street scenes of Bianjing (today's Kaifeng City, Henan Province), the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).The work was created by Zhang Zeduan, a native of Shandong Province who studied painting in his early years in Bianjing.

It was fun from the very onset when Kelvin picked me up, 'chauffeur-driving' his parents sitting like The King & Queen at the backseat of his pickup truck. I gave a big hug to big brother Johnny seated at the back looking cool in sunglasses, framing a red and healthy face. 

“He’s skinny isn’t he?” said Karen looking radiantly happy & concerned at the same time. 

"He looks healthy" I said, and climbed into the front passenger seat and gave Kelvin a hearty handshake having not seen him for over a year. I was dying to catch up with this awesome nephew of mine. And we have the entire road trip to share & catch up with everyone. 

Traffic going south on the PLUS highway was unusually heavy for a Sunday afternoon.

Thankfully I had Kelvin to keep me entertained with his travel stories in the West. Johnny & Karen were as quiet a snoring mice. With intermittent rain, traffic got a lot lighter after Seremban and we reached Woon Estate just before 6pm. We were warmly welcomed by an anxious and impatient nephew in the form of Danny who was either very happy or very hungry. 

Being the filial and responsible nephew, Danny was visibly happy to see us and promptly ushered us to the dinner table, where a feast was laid out that looked like a CNY reunion dinner spread. How fitting it was as neither of us have spent a CNY reunion together for way too long. This was exactly May Sia’s sentiments. She has taken some pains to cook us our favourites-stewed pork leg, chicken curry, sambal petai, an assortment of sautéed green vegetables & legumes (mysteriously missing were sauteed cabbage) topped off with two-types of rice- white or purple yam. Yummy to both!

When Darren, Danny’s son arrived with girlfriend Emily, everyone was forced to sit and dig into dinner even though it was only just past 6pm. Who eats dinner at 6pm? I thought. Perhaps rednecks Chinese? Yup that would be us! Middle class workers, farmers/landowners. With a touch of baba/nyonya aristocracy

Everyone enjoyed the delicious dinner accompanied by a bowl of black bean pork ribs soup each. Johnny especially had a good time & a big appetite shovelling food into his frail frame. I had one helping of yam rice and two helpings of white rice enjoyed leisurely. It was a lovely familial communion over traditional family fare cooked with love. Thank you May Sia. Dessert came in the form of very sweet passion fruit like no other we have tasted. Danny claims it’s from his farm. It’s really sweet. We sat chatting way past dinner. 

The time is 10.40pm. Some people are hungry again. Everyone leaves for town to have supper of roti canai, satay and teh tarek except me, I was too stuffed so I sit out to enjoy the solitude of the town I was born in and the hood I was raised in till I left home. It felt exactly like how it was when I was a teenager growing up. It’s been over half a century yet the environment is still, quiet, serene and peaceful. The gentle breeze & fresh air felt comforting. This is home. I felt good. At peace. 

Then the food horde returned and went straight to bed. Danny & I sat chatting & listening to music till late under the newly renovated high-ceiling patio that looked like a spacious dining hall cum living room. Raising the roof really does raise the ceiling and the standard of living. It improves air flow, encourages upward glances and contemplation.

Monday morning. Most of us were up just after 7am to be greeted by Johnny’s deep chattering voice and a morning downpour. We sat chatting over coffee while waiting for the rain to clear so we could enjoy a hearty Tampin breakfast promised by Danny. As the rain subsided, we were brought to Mani’s place, an Indian restaurant on a side street behind the big market. All six of us ate to our hearts content, notably Johnny who ordered & ate everything up. Mani does serve very good Indian breakfast or even lunch. The bill was RM37 happily paid by Danny who said he saved spending more had we gone to the fishball laksa originally planned. With the rain down to a drizzle, we set out for Johol for tomb sweeping. Just the 3 of us. An uncle-me and two nephews-Kelvin & Danny. As we drove off, the stock market had just opened, being a Monday following Trump’s Liberation Day on April 2. Danny lamented on the quickly crashing stock markets while fulfilling orders from his clients on his mobile device conducting business as usual in his truck. He turned to us smiling as he announced he had already recouped the cost of our breakfast. 

 

It was drizzling as we arrived at the foot of the cemetery. The fitter and younger men reached Papa & Abu’s grave effortlessly while Danny huffed & puffed his way slowly up the steep hill. 

Since it rained all night, coupled with the fact that we missed last year’s Ching Meng, there was quite a lot of debris to clear which was, with some effort executed by 3 able-bodied men. The big tree under which our parents rested has grown even bigger spreading her canopy over a wider area of the grave providing us a natural cover from the rain. It was a picturesque setting atop the hill, worthy of a Chinese painting. 

After clearing most of the debris we performed the rituals and prayers with all the necessary paraphernalia including counterfeit US currency, to the latest iphones. After burning the offerings, candles & joss sticks we sat with our parents for a while admiring their clear and unblemished faces adorning the tombstone, smiling back at us while a troop of monkeys foraged in nearby trees. This spot hasn’t changed much in almost 40 years. The view of the green valley below remains unspoilt. This is good Feng Shui I surmised. Looking around at graves populating the hill, a popular saying comes to mind; ‘You can take a Chinese out of China but you can’t take China out of the Chinese.’ Against the backdrop of the current economic crisis, China seems to be at the center of it. 

On the way back we paid a visit to our crumbling ancestral home built by grandfather Gan Swee in 1919, then the Kapitan China of Johol during her glory days. We entered the house to retrieve a few books and files from my last residence here during Covid, minding our startup herbal farm for over 2 years. Our second uncle’s youngest son, Ah Chai, has taken abode here and is currently caretaker. He looks well fed & healthy. Said a brief hello and a quick goodbye to our young cousin and left, hoping to return again soon.

 

We got back to Woon Estate by early afternoon, cleaned up, packed up and left for lunch in Tampin town. Danny promised us the best fried chicken in town situated near Ambank. We arrived to find it closed on Mondays. We unanimously agreed to opt for Long Kang Mee. It was closed as well. 

 

So we finally settled for a nearby coffee shop called Tampin Rojak housing a variety of local food stalls which we enjoyed including the rojak. We promptly left after 2pm as Kelvin had an appointment to keep back in KL. 

We said our goodbyes to the best host and hostess in Tampin promising to return with a vengeance. 

 

Overall the entire 24-hour trip was a long awaited and thoroughly enjoyable one, once again reminding me that family reunions with the living or dead give meaning and purpose to life. 

 

Thanks to all who made this happen. 

 

 

Happy Ching Ming all. 🙏🏽

 

Alan Turing.

Who is Alan Turing and Why He Matters? 

Part 1- Cracking the Enigma Code.

The Enigma

German U-boat lurking in the Atlantic

 

Picture a shy, scruffy mathematician with a mind like a lightning bolt. In the dark days of World War II, when Nazi submarines were choking the Allies with unbreakable coded messages, Turing became the hero no one expected.  

Bletchley Park Mansion.

At a secret British base called Bletchley Park, he invented the Bombe—a clanking, whirring machine that smashed through the Nazis’ Enigma code. This wasn’t just a gadget; it was a game-changer.

 

The Bombe Machine

The Bombe

Bombe model at Bletchley Park

Thousands of operators at Bletchley Park

By cracking the code, Turing revealed enemy plans—where their U-boats lurked, when they’d strike—saving countless ships and lives. Some say his work shaved years off the war.

 Why does he matter? Because this quiet genius didn’t just beat the Nazis; he showed the world what human brilliance could do against impossible odds. 

Today, every time you use a computer, you’re touching his legacy—he’s the guy who started it all.

Part 2 - The Boy Who Loved Numbers

Alan aged 15 at Sherborne.

He’s the kid who turned numbers into magic. Born in 1912 in London, little Alan was a shy, dreamy boy who didn’t fit in—except with math. While other kids played tag, he’d sit under a tree, scribbling equations, his eyes lighting up at puzzles no one else could solve. By his teens, he was cracking problems that stumped grown-ups, his brain buzzing with ideas too big for his time. 

Why does he matter? Because that curious kid grew up to invent computers and break Nazi codes, all starting from a love of numbers that wouldn’t quit. 

Turing’s story proves the quiet dreamer can change the world—one equation at a time.

Part 3- Inventing The Computer

Image generated with Ai for Turing

He’s the visionary who gave us computers—and made them think. In the 1930s, Turing dreamed up the “universal machine,” a device that could solve any problem with the right instructions, laying the groundwork for every computer we use today. But he didn’t stop there. Later, he cooked up The Turing Test aka the “Imitation Game”*—a test to see if a machine could chat so cleverly you’d mistake it for a human. 

Why does he matter? Because Turing didn’t just build the future; he asked if it could outsmart us. 

From laptops to AI, his ideas still run our world—and keep us guessing.

Part 4 - Facing A Cruel World

Image generated with Ai.

He’s the genius who saved millions, then got crushed by cruelty. After cracking Nazi codes in World War II, Turing should’ve been a hero. Instead, in 1952, Britain turned on him. Why? Because he was gay, and back then, that was a crime. The man who’d outsmarted Hitler was arrested, humiliated, and forced into chemical castration—hormone injections that wrecked his body and spirit. 

Why does he matter? Because even when the world betrayed him, Turing’s brilliance endured. His story isn’t just about computers; it’s a gut-punch reminder of how society can fail its greatest minds—and why we fight to make it right today.

Part 5 - A Mysterious End 

Image generated with Ai

He’s the mastermind whose life ended in a riddle. In 1954, at just 41, Turing— the guy who broke Nazi codes and birthed computers—was found dead in his home, an apple laced with cyanide beside him. Suicide? Accident? Murder? No one knows. The world lost a giant, his final chapter as puzzling as the codes he cracked. 

Why does he matter? Because even in death, Turing left us wondering—his mind so brilliant, his exit so haunting and how he chose to endure the pain of hormone therapy over a two-year jail sentence. 

Today, every click on your keyboard echoes his genius, a legacy too big to fade.

P/s. Perhaps now you, like me, will finally begin to appreciate the movie I saw years ago but never truly understood the gravity of the story until we arrived at our ChatGPT moment. 

*The Imitation Game is a 2014 American biographical thriller film directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Graham Moore, based on the 1983 biography Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges.

Embracing The Tears

Landing the Boat -Chang Fee Ming, Watercolour on paper. 55x75cm.

Embracing The Tears - A Poem

A sarong in my hands. 

Soft, like a memory,  

Whole, pristine, unmarked, 

A promise of untouched tomorrows.  

 

 Life happens,  

And the threads begin to fray.  

The first tear is barely noticed,  

Like a whisper in a storm, 

 

A fleeting touch, a moment of discomfort.  

But the fabric doesn’t protest.  

It keeps moving forward, 

Carrying the weight of the world.

 

We are all born with a perfect sarong,  

But time knows no tenderness. It pulls and tugs,  

Rips and stretches leaves us exposed and raw,  

Vulnerable in the truth of our humanity.  

 

Each tear is a lesson, 

Each fray, a memory.  

The fabric of life isn’t meant to stay unbroken,  

But to be worn with purpose. 

To be stitched with intention.

 

I once feared the rips 

Thought they were failures, 

Thought they meant the end. 

But now, I see it clearly 

The tears are where the light shines through.  

It’s where the beauty lives.

I’ve learned to stitch the sarong of my soul,  

To weave my brokenness into a tapestry of strength.  

To patch the places that have been torn,  

Not with shame, but with pride,  

For the fabric I carry is no longer perfect,  

But it is real. It is mine.

 

I’ll wear the sarong with all its holes,  

Its frayed edges, its faded threads,  

For they are proof of what I’ve overcome.  

Proof that I’ve lived and loved,  

And been whole in my imperfection.

 

So, let me wear it proudly, 

This torn sarong,  

For every tear is a victory, 

And every patch, a story to be told.

 

I am whole not despite the tears,  

But because of them.  

And in the end,  

It’s the tears that make me beautiful.