A Dawn of a New Era

 

The BBC Page

 

Live streaming in the Internet is nothing new. Old news in fact but thanks to BBC and the Chilean authority for broadcasting a marathon live streaming of the rescue operation for the 33 trapped miners in the San Jose mine in northern Chile near the town Copiapo. As of this writing, 25 miners had been rescued, 8 more miners to go plus 6 rescuers that were sent below.

A many firsts for this unfortunate event. The greatest number of miners trapped. The longest period of miners trapped. A Marathon live coverage of the rescue operation even down to the cavity underground where the miners had been holed up for sixty-nine days. And my sincere hope, a successful rescue operation. Plus many more.

Magnifico.

Update: The capsule named Phoenix that carried the last of the trapped miners, Luis Urzua emerged at exactly 21:55 hrs local time on the 13th October 2010. Jubilation all over Chile and the world over. What camaraderie those involved had shown. Bravo. Now to harness that camaraderie to solve all the other problems and may they succeed in their quest. Viva Chile.

Last of the rescuers, Manuel Gonzalez, emerged just after midnight at 00:32 local time.

Perubahan Bahasa Bersama Peredaran Masa

Ikut Resmi Padi

Lain hulu lain parang, lain dahulu lain sekarang. Kata-kata yang tidak asing lagi bagi kita yang menyentuh tentang perubahan dari masa ke masa. Begitu juga bahasa. Tidak hairanlah kalau kita cuba membaca naskah-naskah lama dan mendapati susunan ayat-ayatnya lain dari yang kita biasa dengannya pada masa kini. Secara umum, anak-anak dan orang-orang muda lah yang membuat perubahan bahasa. Mereka lah yang lebih kreatif dalam menggunakan bahasa jika dibandingkan dengan yang tua.

Saya akan bentangkan disini istilah-istilah atau kekata-kekata yang telah berubah sebutannya atau maknanya sebagaimana yang telah saya ketahui. Sama ada dari pengalaman, pengamatan atau pembelajaran yang telah saya lalui.

Timing: Kalau kita tonton cerita P Ramlee, maka kita akan dengar sebutan kekata ini. Arti kekata ini ialah sombong. Masa saya remaja, istilah kekata ini telah berubah menjadi kepada ‘kerek’. Anak-anak muda sekarang telah menggantikannya dengan kekata ‘ego’.

Gelek: Sesuatu yang kita suka atau gembira dengannya, keadaan itu akan membuat kita boleh berjoget. Maka istilah gelek digunakan untuk menunjukkan bahawasanya kita menyukainya. Tapi sekarang ia telah berubah dari gelek menjadi gerek.

Ford Car: Produk yang pertama di dunia menjalani proses ‘mass assembly’. Jadi tidak hairanlah ia banyak terdapat di merata dunia. Akan tetapi, kerana pelatnya lidah orang kita dahulu, ia disebut podkar. Masa saya kecil dahulu, jikalau ternampak kereta lama dan buruk masuk kampung, kereta itu disebut kereta pokak. Lalu istilah pokak ini digunakan untuk barang-barang yang lama atau tidak bagus. Ia tidak berhenti di situ, dari pokak ia telah berubah mejadi pekak. Sekarang ada pula tambahan dibelakangnya. Pekak Badak. Macam mana badak boleh timbul, tidak saya ketahui.

Yang ini bukan kekata tetapi peribahasa.

Biar Mati Anak, Jangan Mati Adat : Ini adalah suatu peribahasa yang berunsur pengajaran yang positif dan bukannya negatif. Adalah sangat dikesali kerana peribahasa yang murni ini telah dinegatifkan oleh kebanyakkan orang-orang melayu sekarang ini. Saya ketahui ini dari seorang guru tua yang arif. Peribahasa ini orang kita sekarang banyak menggunakannya untuk majlis-majlis perkahwinan. Biar besar-besaran, berhutang pun tak apa. Atau dengan lain kata, “Biar papa, asal bergaya.” Jauh lari dari makna asalnya yang suci.

Sudah menjadi adat orang-orang kita pada masa dahulu, apabila negara diserang musuh, maka anak-anak muda akan diserahkan menjadi askar untuk mempertahankan negara. Umumnya, sudah menjadi lumrah peperangan, pasti ada yang terkorban. Dengan ini maka timbullah peribahasa, “Biar Mati Anak, Jangan Mati Adat.” Inilah adat yang dimaksudkan bukannya adat majlis perkahwinan.

Mengadakan majlis perkahwinan yang di luar kemampuan menyusahkan diri sendiri, apatah lagi kalau ianya membawa kepada pembaziran. Tersebut di dalam Al Qur’an yang terjemahannya di dalam bahasa melayu adalah, “Jagan kamu campakkan diri kamu ke dalam kebinasaan.” Hadith pula ada menyebut, “Sebaik-baik perkara adalah yang sederhana.”

Windows Live Messenger Could Not Load

Windows Live Messenger

I just had the opportunity to have a look at a PC running Windows 7 that could not open a jpg file and Windows Live Messenger could not load. On closer inspection of the system, here’s what I found:

1. The folder ‘Windows Photo Viewer’ had been renamed with the number 211 added to the front of it and thus became ‘211Windows Photo Viewer’. This explained why jpg file could not be opened.

2. On creating a new folder on the root of D: drive, explorer gave the name ‘New Folder (2)’ whereas there was no folder with the name ‘New Folder’ on it. Executing DIR command at DOS prompt revealed that there was in fact a directory named ‘New Folder’. But in the explorer window a folder with the name ‘My Pictures’ was shown instead and not ‘New Folder’. I created a new folder in explorer, named it Pictures and copied all the files in ‘My Pictures’ into the newly created folder. Then in the DOS prompt, I deleted the ‘New Folder’ directory with the DEL command. After which, I tried creating a new folder in the explorer window. This time explorer gave the name ‘New Folder’, which was the norm.

3. Outlook Express seemed to be running OK.

4. The Antivirus license had just expired. I converted it to free version, updated it and did a full scan on the system drive, that was the C: drive. Nothing positive found. It could be that the antivirus had no knowledge of the malware (newly released malware) or that it could had been compromised.

Next, I backed-up all the necessary data of Windows Live Messenger, Outlook Express, plus some others. I then did a system refresh from a mirror backup image that I had done months earlier immediately after installing Windows 7 and the required applications. Upon completion and reboot, I ran Windows Update and rebooted again. Windows Live Essentials installed without any problem after the reboot. As if I was looking for a second opinion, I installed the free version of Avira antivirus program. A different antivirus program than previously installed and a temporary measure for just a few days. I then copied the backed-up data over to its appropriate places.

Jpg file could be opened and Windows Live Messenger loaded upon first reboot after Windows Live Essentials installation. Signing-in was successful too. I thought the problem solved. No. On the next subsequent reboot the problem crept up again. Windows Live Messenger did not load. However, jpg file still could be opened. I did not check in the Task Manager whether Windows Live Messenger’s executable file was running or not. That I did not know.

I updated Avira. Since there was no problem with Outlook Express, I scanned all the emails in Windows Live Messenger. I was concentrating on other thing when a sound made by Avira antivirus program distracted me for attention. There was a trojan. I could not remember exactly what was the name but suffice to say it was TR*.lkm. It was the asterisk part that I did not recall upon.

The offending email file was effectively quarantined. It was the one and only infected file. Windows Live Messenger was easily repaired through the menu that came up when I tried to uninstall Windows Live Essentials. All Windows protected files were given a thorough check for their integrity by Windows System File Checker tool through the usage of Glary Utilities. The system was then rebooted. I felt relieved when Windows Live Messenger loaded and was able to sign-in. But the real test was on the next reboot. I closed Windows Live Messenger, rebooted the PC and finally it loaded again without any hiccups.

Problem solved.