斯琴格日乐 《乌兰巴托的夜》

只能说，像斯琴格日乐用灵魂唱歌的歌手，实在是太少了。铁肺的唱将多得是，会写歌的也多的是，可是能唱得这么好听这么动魂的，屈指可数啊！

Torrential Rain in Penang

On Saturday afternoon, typhoon-like storm lashed Penang, and within hours it paralysed Penang with waist-level flood. 80% of Penang is inundated, including mainland Penang, which has so far seldom been attacked by flood of this magnitude. The storm was so strong, one and a half month amount of rain fell in a single day and the strong wind uprooted trees and roofs, displacing people and severing lots of roads.

This is a very unfortunate incident. This occurs because typhoon has landed Vietnam, and this has caused low pressure across the northern Peninsula and that brought moisture and land, thus explaining this unusual magnitude of storm. 4 people have so far been confirmed dead, and thousands, probably tens of thousands are displaced, and I can't even begin to imagine how many people's house has an unwelcome guest.

Since this is a natural phenomenon, it really is a tragedy that cannot be avoided. This need not be politicised, because it is outside the state's government control. It's also good that federal government has begun to step in to assist. Penang really appreciates the help.

I might be in Kuching, but my heart is still in Penang. Please be strong, Penang.

And by the way, all the best to all students sitting for SPM and STPM tomorrow. I know it's difficult now that Jit Sin is closed for use as evacuation centre, but please be strong and sit for it as if nothing has happened. You can do it. We have done Jit Sin proud for years, you can do it too!

Hill Slope Development?

In case you don't realise, recently a landslide struck a construction site and buried 11 people. All of them died.

It was heavily politicised, mainly because there are people who opposed the construction and now tragedy just struck at an untimely manner.

First of all, I wish to say, to those who have zero knowledge on the matter, please shut up.

It was very obvious the site was a flat land. It was not a hill-slope development. It was a development on a flat land adjacent to a hill-slope. In geotechnical engineering there is a big difference between these two. The former one should worry people, because hill-slopes are very weak, and a very robust foundation systems and slope stability mechanism have to be in place.

In the latter one, all you need is proper geotechnical work to strengthen the weaken soil of the slope.

From the site, to those in the engineering industry, it is very obvious it is a construction site tragedy. The slope failure is most likely due to professional negligence. The geotechnical engineers probably did not get sufficient soil parameters or did not make proper design.

With good geotechnical engineering, even a hill-slope development, where apartments are built literally on a hill slope, would be very safe. Obviously, geotechnical engineers of the projects did not do a good job.

It was a very tragic incident, undoubtedly, but this isn't the state government's fault. Neither is it the central government's fault. It is the engineers' fault.

So just shut up, and stop politicising it and making a fool of yourself.

Overwhelmingly Busy Life

Final year in an engineering course really is no joke. Right now I have tonnes of work to do, and to say the truth I have really reached a point where I really am tired of studying. Can't wait to graduate. I've worked quite a while and while working has its fair share of sh*t to deal with, at least I deal with people who have at least some sense of responsibility. In university, especially private one where rich people got in by money and not qualification, you'll stumble upon many people who are waiting to be fed instead of learning to fish. Just let me graduate fast, can't wait for it.

爱发呆的红骑士《一场游戏一场梦》

I don't know who is this singer. He seems aloof, withdrawn, but when he sings, he literally explodes his emotion. You can literally feel the emotion in every lyric he uttered.

Awesome. Can't wait to know who he is next week!

Massive Flood

Penang is known for its heritage and history, and these attract people because, well, they are an identity. But what people often overlook is that with heritages and histories that are left untouched, there comes an issue of maintenance and upgrades. Penang's limited space inhibits many developments. The buildings already line the roads, and hence the roads cannot be expanded, even though they were built to cater for traffic in the 1950s. And the same goes for the drainage system.

Most people do not know how drainages are designed, but as a civil engineering student, I do. Drainage aren't designed and built arbitrarily. Usually, we take the rainfall of a predetermined period (10, 20, 50, 100 years are norms) and design a drainage system that are meant to cater for it. Which means, drains aren't built to be fool-proof. They aren't built to be unassailable. If today's rain is the largest in decades, it is very likely the drain cannot cater that volume of water, and flash flood will occur.

To upgrade a drain that caters 20 years of water to 50 years of water requires a massive change in size of the drain. This will not be easy to be implemented in Penang due to its restrictive land size. Hence, other alternatives have to come in place, and these alternatives will not come cheap. Hence, the delay in Penang.

The rain on early Friday morning wreaked havoc in Penang. It was the worst flood I had seen since I was born. In Mainland Penang, where I lived, flood had not made its presence for a decade, and now it came back lurking on our roads. If Mainland Penang has flooded, then the rain must be massive, and it must have overwhelmed the drainage system. This is a natural disaster that can't be disputed. But at the same time, mitigation plans will not be carried out easily.

Penang should expect more floods. This has nothing to do with the incompetence of state government. This is a very challenging issue for the civil engineers because this is an uphill task. It costs a lot, and mitigation plans would usually cost something that stakeholders' will not surrender easily. Penang still has a long road to go in solving the water woes.

Avicii - The Days

After years since I first listened to this song, this song still rocks!

It's awesome, though so far the only Avicii song I truly like. But this song really rocks!.