What?

So, the local swine flu news reporting is annoying you. It’s just a flu, you said. Unpleasant symptoms aside, it is relatively harmless, as proven by the lack of mortality locally at least, and only the news-believer would think it’ll kill you overnight.

But how much do you know about the flu? Besides your scientific understanding that flu is a virus that can’t be cured by antibiotics therefor you can’t cure flu, and also the scientific name H1N1, what else do you know?

The Ministry of Health has a legitimate reason to worry. Swine flu is a subtype of Influenzavirus A. Influenzavirus A causes influenza in birds and some mammals. Subtypes of Influenzavirus A are Bird flu, Human flu, Swine flu, Horse flu, Dog flu, and Cat flu.

Before we go to the histories, I would like to explain a bit on why H1N1 was called H1N1.

Influenza A virus strains are categorized according to two proteins found on the surface of the virus: hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). All influenza A viruses contain hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, but the structure of these proteins differ from strain to strain due to rapid genetic mutation in the viral genome. Let’s say in a strain, there’s 4 hemagglutinin (H) and 1 neuraminidase (N) - it will be called H4N1.

So, H1N1 was called H1N1 because it had 1 hemagglutinin (H) and 1 neuraminidase (N) protein.

Now, let’s assume Influenza A as a race, like Chinese. Swine flu is a family under the Chinese race with the surname Chan. The two proteins will be the two DNA feature of Chinese - slanted eyes and yellowish skin. Some Chinese have more prominent slanted eyes feature, some are barely noticeable, hence the variants. Also, other features like height and hair types make each family tree in the Chinese race different.

A summary of previous paragraph’s assumption:

Influenza A = Chinese
Swine Flu = Chan family
proteins H and N = two specific DNA that determines a person’s feature
other compositions in the virus = other DNA in a person

As we reproduce (having a baby), the end result would be a mix of two different sets of DNA, the same concept of the process genetic drift that causes mutation in virus strains (besides the fact that viruses don’t have sex). Throw in other family names like Tan and Lee (Bird flu and Human flu), and you will have a more complicated pot of mixture.

Mutation of strains should never be taken lightly. In 1918, there was a flu pandemic commonly known as the Spanish flu, which was caused a unusually virulent and deadly H1N1 strain. 10% to 20% of those who were infected died, and 3% to 6% of the entire global population died.

To sum it up: H1N1 mutated in 1918, and killed many people.

It caused an unusual number of deaths because it may have caused a cytokine storm in the body. Cytokine storm, in layman’s term, is a situation where the number of immune cells got activated to fight the bad cells, are a lot higher than it should be, and the effect differs by where the immune cells are concentrating at. If it happens at your lungs, you get conditions similar to pneumonia - fluids build up in your lung and block off your airway. Kind of like drowning.

The recent epidemic of bird flu, also an Influenza A virus with H1N1 strain (A/duck/Alberta/35/76(H1N1) to be exact), had a similar effect.

Back to Swine flu. Swine flu is as old as the Spanish flu. After the outbreak of Spanish flu, pigs were reported to be having flu as well, a strong suggestion that the pigs got the flu from those who were infected by Spanish flu. Being pig, it was natural that the disease was called Swine flu.

On February 6, 1976, in the United States an army recruit at Fort Dix died, and four of his fellow soldiers were hospitalized. Like the 1918 pandemic, it was a variant of H1N1, called “A/New Jersey/1976 (H1N1)”. Luckily, it never spread out of Fort Dix.

Subsequent discoveries of various H1N1 strains were made at 1988 (United states), 1998 (United States), 2007 (Philippines), and eventually 2009 (everywhere).

In a way, the H1N1 thing the world is experiencing now, is a legacy of the 1918 Spanish flu. It was assumed that the virus most likely mutated and emerged from pigs in Asia, and it was carried to North America by infected people. Again, that’s how the flu outbreak was called “Swine flu”.

Fortunately for us, the strains we’re having is not as deadly as those in the Spanish flu outbreak. But it won’t stay that way forever. Just like how most of us are inclined to reproduce (having a baby) at some point in our life, viruses mutation is very likely too.

The only way I can think of to stop virus from mutating, is to stop it’s reproduction. If it can’t reproduce, it can’t mutate. To stop it from reproducing, we (human and animals) must stop getting infected. It sounds impossible, but the strain of Spanish flu did stopped reproducing itself, or at least I think so. Either that or the people of those time got lucky, that the particularly deadly H1N1 strain mutated into a non-lethal strain. Else we’ll still be dealing with a near-century long surviving deadly strain of H1N1.

So, do your part in saving the humankind, by avoiding crowded places unless it’s absolutely needed to go through them. After all, It took only one contact with an innocent looking monkey to cause havoc in the movie Outbreak (1995). Who knows if the stranger next to you might just do the same?

p/s: all references available at Wikipedia and your best friend, Google.

I was browsing through some photography forum when I came across an advertising banner by Olympus. The lines were something like “Not a compact, not an SLR, it’s PEN”.

Intrigued, I did some search on Google, my best friend ever since it went live for service.

A little background on PEN from Wikipedia:

The Pen series is a family of half-frame cameras made by Olympus from 1959 to the beginning of the 1980s. Aside from the Pen F series of half-frame SLRs, they are fixed-lens viewfinder cameras.

I found the specifications for Olympus PEN E-P1 too, which I think is the one they’re advertising. Announced on June 16th, 2009, it is the first of its kind under the brand Olympus.

Sensor size and type, is always the first thing I look for. At 18mmx13.5mm (Live MOS), it is smaller than Canon’s APS-C sensor (eg: Canon 1000D). It’s called Micro Four Third sensor, modeled after the Four Third system which is a standard system created by Olympus and Kodak for digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) design and development. Micro Four Third on the other hand, was a standard system created by Olympus and Panasonic for compact digital camera design and development.

In another phrase: The sensor is a modified version of what they used for Olympus DSLR cameras. The term “micro” was given because the typical DSLR design with mirror and pentaprism was removed (hence the phrase “not DSLR”).

But the advertisement claimed it’s not a compact too. Is it because of the sensor size (even though it’s called Micro Four Third, it is essentially the same sensor as Four Third, just without the mirror and petaprism)?

I mean, think about it. We call a compact camera because of it’s overall size. It fits in our pocket and kid’s hands. Again, quoting Wikipedia:

Compact cameras are designed to be small and portable and are particularly suitable for casual and “snapshot” use, thus are also called point-and-shoot camera.

To me at least, this Olympus PEN E-P1 is just another compact digital camera, that comes with better image sensor and lens available (14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom or 17mm f/2.8 “pancake” prime lens). If I’m going to take on some serious photography work, I’ll still pick a DSLR over this PEN anytime given.

Image sensor and name-calling aside, Olympus PEN E-P1 inherits several long time compact-problem. Electronic viewfinder only, image capture lag, and worse: changing lens will expose the sensor directly to dusts and what not, since it doesn’t have a shutter (the mirror and pentaprism thing) to protect it.

Well, actually, I don’t think you’ll be changing lenses that often, since there’s only 2 of them available in the market.

Still, Olympus PEN E-P1 is one unique camera, currently. For the first time, compact camera users have a chance to enjoy better image quality than conventional compact cameras.

This is the end result of the rigged debate, after all. I’m amazed by the fact that, instead of siding on DSLR or compact, Olympus is trying to merge them into one beautiful rig. Beautiful it is, just not on technical side. Yet.

Let me know what you think about it, if you’re able to get one to play with.

So, Michael Jackson died.

What? You already read about it on the news? My bad for not writing about it earlier than most people did.

I shared your pain, really. It was a bad day for me too. Everywhere I went, I heard songs of Michael Jackson being played so loud the speakers were on a half-burst state. Everyone was talking about Michael Jackson.

Then, it hits me.

I remember waking up one day many many years ago, and saw Michael Jackson’s photo on the front page of a local newspaper. The title was something along the line of “Perverted superstar”. Michael Jackson was accused of child molestation in 1993. The incident would eventually become the “fuel” for one of his awards winning song, Scream.

Many stood by him when the child-molesting accusation took a ride on mainstream media, but I dare say a lot more wanted him to die. Websites full of hate were setup, with really nasty stuff being published.

I searched for examples on Google with “I hate Michael Jackson” and found this. I spent half a minute browsing the site from top to bottom, and I conclude it is safe for children to visit. For other full-of-hate sites and pages, just do a Google search yourself.

Hate him or love him, his contribution to the music industry is unparalleled. But I’m not bothered at all by questions like “why hate Michael Jackson” or “do you love Michael Jackson?” for one obvious reason: I didn’t know much about him to begin with.

I know he was good at dancing because everyone was crazy about moonwalk-ing. I know he was a great performer because my uncle cried watching him performing live in Malaysia. Other than that, I know absolutely nothing about Michael Jackson except for what was published on newspapers.

When people tried to showoff their MJ-facts after the news of his death were released, it annoyed the hell out of me. Don’t get me wrong: I salute true Michael Jackson fans who continued to support him after all those scandalous acts.

Posers on the hand, especially bloggers which I suspect never heard any of his songs before they found out he died, were pure disgusting. Those oh-how-i-will-remember-you-forever vows? Do you even know the day the person who gave the name Malaysia to Malaysia died? No? Why? He was a great person too. Without him there wouldn’t be you “mourning” Michael Jackson’s death today.

Again, don’t get me wrong: I’m not a hardcore patriot even though I love local food, and I don’t know when did the founder of Malaysia died either. Poor comparison, I know. I just want to show you how “vows” fade with time, especially with people that doesn’t concern your daily life at all (I doubt Michael Jackson was the one buying you food everyday).

So, Michael Jackson died. Big deal. He was a great guy who could be greater, but now Michael Jackson is just another famous name in the history book, maybe under the same page as Elvis Presley and John Lennon.

To those who never heard the name Michael Jackson being mentioned so many times a day before he died: let it go already. He’s gone, so let’s focus on the now and upcoming talents.

p/s: I’m rooting for Joanna Wang.

And I’m saving this post as a template, you know, in case some other celebrity die in the future and got everyone blogging about it again.

Clinging for…

I’m not a stick or music master, so whatever I’m saying is probably not of significant to anyone. Still, I find the stick-ing trend… fun, and worth sharing.

The first song I’ve heard with mentions of “stick” which hinted strongly that it is more than just a “stick”, was Rain’s Rainism. Here’s a sample of the lyric:

“My magic stick is spinning in your shivering body. You can’t go beyond my body shake. Make it Rainism The Rainism. Feel my body.”

That didn’t went well with the government.

South Korea’s Family Health and Welfare Association has deemed Rain’s fifth album title song “Rainism” as “unhealthy media material” for the youth of South Korea. According to the tenth clause of the teenager preservation law, lyrics or images that encourages sexual behavior amongst the young is prohibited.

So, the “dirty part” of the song was removed from all music sites and charts, and Rain must only perform the “clean version” of Rainism in televised programs. I believe the news made it to Malaysia’s press, because I remember seeing it somewhere.

Just when I thought that’s the end of putting-a-stick-in-a-song practice, I switched on the radio on a fine Monday morning and found myself listening to Lady GaGa’s Love Game. Here’s the intro of the song:

“Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick. I wanna take a ride on your disco stick. Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick. I wanna take a ride on your disco stick.”

The first thing I thought when I heard those lines was… well, something dirty. I mean, you want to ride on my disco stick?

I guess Lady GaGa will not be riding any stick in South Korea too.