DPM Najib’s new toy The Scorpene subs are finally here. Now if we only had somewhere to submerge it. After all, the Sunda Shelf is on average only around 100m deep…
Specs here if anyone is interested. 
Ever pissed in the pool? Well, me neither. Betcha love to see something like that, eh?
Daphne was writing about her experience of blood donation about a week back, which reminded me that I hadn’t actually gone to donate blood for some time. Here’s a post of my experience when I popped by the UM Medical Center for blood donation 2 days ago.
At the blood donation center, the first thing I needed to do was to fill in a form with my personal details. On the form were a few questions to determine whether or not I fulfilled the criteria for blood donation. The criteria, as taken from the UMMC website for blood donation, is as follows:
The next step was to get my blood pressure checked by a good doctor who declined to have his picture taken…
… just to make sure there was enough blood left for donation. No sense donating blood and then needing to have it dripped back into me again when I faint.
That done, a medical orderly quickly draws a blood sample for the hemoglobin concentration test and to determine my blood type…
… hemoglobin levels ok, and blood type O. O type is good, as it can be received by people of all blood types.
The nurse points me to one of the reclining chairs and puts a cuff around my upper arm. Here’s the vein from which she will draw the blood from…
… where she gives me a quick injection of local anesthetic to numb any pain from the blood collection process…
… This really doesn’t hurt. The needle was so tiny that I could hardly feel the prick. Heck, I was taking photos with my camera phone at the same time.
The donation proper starts after that, when the cannula (term from Wikipedia) is inserted into the vein…
… and in …
… and that’s as far as it goes.
The needle and tubes are secured so nothing goes flopping around when the nurse is not looking…
… while the blood is fed into a little bag on the side…
… where the machine measures the quantity of blood collected and starts beeping when it reaches approximately 450ml, the standard donation amount.
At the end of the donation, the cannula is removed and a gauze is given to me to stop the blood flow. Apparently, quite some pressure has to be applied to stem the flow of blood and prevent bleeding under the skin, which could result in a rather painful bruise. At the same time, the nurse told me to rest for a few moments for the body to adjust to the slight loss of blood.
Refreshments (read food and drinks) are always provided for all blood donors to replenish the lost blood volume and blood sugar. When I felt fine enough to leave, I grabbed some sandwiches and a cup of Milo on the way out.
The administrative officer then asked for my parking ticket and stamped it for free parking. A blood donor’s special privilege. 
Well, that was that. I could try to make it sound like more, but the fact is that there is really nothing more to donating blood. It is simply not as scary as people think it is, with little side effects, if at all. There is almost no pain involved, and it is a good way of helping those in need. Try it out, every little bit counts, and you could save a life today.
Personally, I find it hard to show any sort of enthusiasm about the first Malaysian in space. Call me a wet blanket if you will, but I see no point in hurling a man into the stars just for the hell of it. Yes, let us say it as it is. We launched a Malaysian into space Just-For-The-Hell™ of it. Let’s not be addled by whatever so called “experiments” which are to be conducted up there, as they were merely tacked up to give some measure the legitimacy of the mission. The truth remains that these experiments were concocted to give a purpose (any purpose!) to the space mission. After all, I’m sure that many people still remember the brouhaha that followed after we Malaysians started bandying around about making “teh tarik” and throwing “roti prata” in space when this “project” was announced. Apparently the Russians balked at that one (Throwing tea and bread in the ISS??? Yob tvoyu maht tovarisch, no!!!), and we had to go back to the drawing board to see what else we could do. Sounds just like putting the cart before the horse, no?
So why did we launch our Malaysian into space anyway? It wasn’t as if we had anything to boast of, since we did not contribute any technology or knowledge to the mission. There also seemed to be no specific purpose for the mission, since we had to look for something for Dr. Sheikh to do once he actually got to the space station. This whole thing stinks of us just wanting to get bragging rights and say “Been there, done that, got the fuckin’ T-shirt”. Well, excuse me. While we’re busy bragging to the world how big our balls are, the world is laughing behind our backs at this foolishness and wondering how much money were we conned of for this space tour. Yes, it is a space tour, since we went there just for kicks and paid good money for it. Sorta like taking a holiday to the Caribbeans or Maldives. Money which would like have been better spent on actually developing the country instead of being pissed away like this.
Wake up Malaysia. There are only so many mistakes we can afford as a developing country. While we’re busy shooting people off to space, our national unity is being shot to hell. Crime and corruption are spiraling out of control, and the transparency of the current administration is as crystal clear as a brick wall. Let’s have some common sense here and not be carried away with such inane things in future. We need FOCUS on the more IMPORTANT things. Let us be proud of our very own Malaysian Astronaut when we ourselves have the technology and knowledge to blast our own country men to the great beyond, and not before.
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