My Birth Year : 1952

In 1952, the world was a different place.

There was no Google yet. Or Yahoo. Or Stumbleupon, for that matter.

In 1952, the year of my birth, the top selling movie was This Is Cinerama. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the poster.

Remember, that was before there were DVDs. Heck, even before there was VHS. People were indeed watching movies in the cinema, and not downloading them online. Imagine the packed seats, the laughter, the excitement, the novelty. And mostly all of that without 3D computer effects.

Do you know who won the Oscars that year? The academy award for the best movie went to The Greatest Show on Earth. The Oscar for best foreign movie that year went to Forbidden Games. The top actor was Gary Cooper for his role as Marshal Will Kane in High Noon. The top actress was Shirley Booth for her role as Lola Delaney in Come Back, Little Sheba. The best director? John Ford for The Quiet Man.

In the year 1952, the time when I arrived on this planet, books were still popularly read on paper, not on digital devices. Trees were felled to get the word out. The number one US bestseller of the time wasThe Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain. Oh, that's many years ago. Have you read that book? Have you heard of it?

In 1952... West Germany has 8 million refugees inside its borders. Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom at St. James's Palace, London, England. In the Hague Tribunal, Israel demands reparations worth $3 billion from Germany. The Treaty of Taipei is signed between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Diary of Anne Frank is published. The United States Army Special Forces is created. A British passenger jet flies twice over the Atlantic Ocean in the same day. Martial law is declared in Kenya due to the Mau Mau uprising. The first successful surgical separation of Siamese twins is conducted in Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio.

That was the world I was born into. Since then, we have changed it.

The Nobel prize for Literature that year went to François Mauriac. The Nobel Peace prize went to Albert Schweitzer. The Nobel prize for physics went to Felix Bloch and Edward Mills Purcell from the United States for their development of new methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements and discoveries in connection therewith. The sensation this created was big. But it didn't stop the planets from spinning, on and on, year by year. Years in which you would grow bigger, older, smarter, and, if you were lucky, sometimes wiser. Years in which I also lost some things. Possessions got misplaced. Memories faded. Friends parted ways. The best friends, I tried to hold on. This is what counts in life, isn't it?

The 1950s were indeed a special decade. The American economy is on the upswing. The cold war between the US and the Soviet Union is playing out throughout the whole decade. Anti-communism prevails in the United States and leads to the Red Scare and accompanying Congressional hearings. Africa begins to become decolonized. The Korean war takes place. The Vietnam War starts. The Suez Crisis war is fought on Egyptian territory. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and others overthrow authorities to create a communist government on Cuba. Funded by the US, reconstructions in Japan continue. In Japan, film maker Akira Kurosawa creates the movies Rashomon and Seven Samurai. The FIFA World Cups are won by Uruguay, then West Germany, then Brazil.

I still remember the movie that was all the rage when I were 15. In the Heat of the Night. Do you still remember the songs playing on the radio at that time? Maybe it was Ode to Billie Joe by Bobbie Gentry. I was in love. Who was I in love with, can still remember it vividly!

In 1952, a long time ago, the year when I was born, the song Wheel of Fortune by Kay Starr topped the US charts. Do you know the lyrics? Do you know the tune? Sing along.

The wheel of fortune

Goes spinning around

Will the arrow point my way?

Will this be my day? 

...

There's a kid outside, shouting, playing. It doesn't care about time. It doesn't know about time. It shouts and it plays and thinks time is forever. You were once that kid. When I was 9, the movie Hercules in the Haunted World was playing. When I was 8, there was Pollyanna.

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... it's 1952. There's TV noise coming from the second floor. Someone turned up the volume way too high. The sun is burning from above. These were different times. The show playing on TV isKukla, Fran and Ollie. The sun goes down. Someone switches channels. There's The Ed Sullivan Show on now. That's the world you were born in.

Progress, year after year. I was wondering where the world is heading towards! The technology available today would have blown my mind in 1952. Do you know what was invented in that year? Diet soft drinks. Optical Fiber. The Fusion Bomb.

I work here nights parking cars

Underneath the moon and the stars

Same ones that we all knew

Back in 1952

.........

That's from the song 3rd Base, Dodger Stadium by Ry Cooder.

In 1952, a new character entered the world of comic books: Astro Boy. Bang! Boom! But that's just fiction, right? In the real world, in 1952,Christopher Reeve was born. And Dan Aykroyd. Douglas Adams, too. And you, of course. Everyone an individual. Everyone special. Everyone taking a different path through life. 

It's 2013.

The world is a different place.

What path have you taken?

Opat Rattanachot:

SIRI PENGETAHUAN UNDANG-UNDANG

Sejak dua menjak ada macam-macam isu hot. Hang kata aku, aku kata hang dalam FB. Lalu timbul satu ketika, pihak yang rasakan kena fitnah tu, akan buat ugutan akan ambil tindakan undang-undang SAMAN FITNAH.

Apa maksud FITNAH

Fitnah adalah tuduhan yang berkecenderungan merendahkan reputasi seseorang pada pandangan orang yang munasabah* dalam masyarakat. Ia cenderung menyebabkan orang yang difitnah itu dijauhi, dibenci, dihina atau dipandang rendah oleh ahli masyarakat.

Jenis-jenis fitnah

Ada dua jenis fitnah; iaitu LIBEL dan SLANDER.

LIBEL :

1.      Adalah fitnah dalam bentuk kekal contohnya tulisan, lukisan termasuk dalam Facebook ini jua. Ia lebih kepada deria penglihatan.

2.      Bagaimanapun, cakap dalam radio/tv, di Malaysia juga consider LIBEL. Dianggap sebagai penerbitan tetap menurut Seksyen 3 Akta Fitnah 1957

3.      Fitnah bentuk LIBEL, pihak yang difitnah (plaintif) tidak perlu membuktikan kerosakan (bahasa undang-undang Actionable Per Se)

SLANDER:

1.      Adalah fitnah dalam bentuk sementara atau lisan. Ia lebih kepada deria pendengaran.

2.      Bagi SLANDER, pihak plaintif perlu buktikan apakah kerugian/kerosakan yang ditanggung akibat difitnah itu.

3.      Tapi SLANDER juga ada sikit pengecualian, kerana ada jenis-jenis tertentu tak perlu buktikan kerosakan.

Jenis itu ialah;

·         Slander terhadap wanita/gadis mengenai kesuciannya.

·         Contoh: Nutheng berucap dalam khalayak ramai kata, Eva ialah perempuan jalang, jadi pelacur dsb  (Eva boleh saman fitnah slander, tanpa perlu buktikan kerosakan, sebab maruahnya telah tercemar). Jaga-jaga mulut anda, jangan tuduh wanita sembarangan!

·         Slander menghina plaintif yang ada jawatan, profesion, pekerjaan, perniagaan

·         Slander mengenai harta plaintif atau kepalsuan niat jaha (malicious falsehood)

·         Slander yang membawa maksud plaintif telah lakukan kesalahan jenayah yang boleh dihukum penjara, kena sebat, hukum mati. Contoh Nutheng berniat jahat kata Nunui rogol budak bawah umur, sedangkan perkara itu tidak berlaku

·         Slander yang bawa maksud plaintif ada penyakit berjangkit. Contoh Nutheng tuduh Nunui hidap AIDS, sifilis, kusta etc.

FITNAH akan wujud dalam keadaan mana?

1.      Kata-kata atau perkataan itu mestiah bercorak fitnah

2.         Kata-kata itu memang merujuk kepada plaintif

3.         Kata-kata itu mestilah disiar atau didengari oleh pihak ketiga.

       Bagaimanapun, dalam fitnah, ada beberapa jenis orang dalam dunia ini dibenarkan melakukan fitnah bersyarat dan dilindungi pula oleh undang-undang.

Orang itu mempunyai hak keistimewaan (privilege).

Mereka ini punyai;

1.      Absolute privilage (contoh: pentadbir kerajaan, Ahli Parlimen (termasuk Sinato - tapi dalam Parlimen sahaja), para Menteri (executive) atau Hakim, Lawyer dalam prosiding mahkamah)

2.         Qualified privilage (keistimewaan menurut undang-undang seperti orang surat khabar, televisyen dsb)

Jadi, jika anda rasakan telah menjadi mangsa fitnah dan memenuhi ciri-ciri di atas, carilah lawyer dan saman! 

Tapi, dalam saman fitnah tak semestinya menang atau mendapat award daripada kerosakan. Semua terpulang kepada kebijaksanaan lawyer, hakim dan juga fakta kes sendiri! Kadang saman berjuta-juta, mahkamah hanya beri award RM10K, RM20K atau settle di luar saja :)

P/S: Mohon kerelaan dan kebenaran Opat untuk ditampalkan di sini.

Some Things Should Remain Private:

What Not To Share On Facebook 

Ah, Facebook. The grandfather of all social networks, where we all share all sorts of weird things without a second thought. Despite its horrible reputation when it comes to privacy, Facebook still manages to lull us into a comfortable and safe feeling, in which many of us forget ourselves, the world, and the fact that absolutely anyone can see what we post on Facebook.

What is it about Facebook that makes it so easy to forget? Ask anyone on the street if they like Facebook, and most people will answer in a resounding “no”. They’re tired of the frequent interface changes, they don’t like Mark Zuckerberg, and they absolutely hate how it hurts their privacy. No sooner had they said that, will they be posting something private on Facebook without giving a second thought. And it’s not only“they” that do that. We all make these mistakes, at least from time to time.

Although it should be pretty obvious by now what you should or should not share on Facebook, it never hurts to refresh your memory. Perhaps you’ve forgotten yourself again in the heat of the moment, or haven’t quite decided what you want your Facebook account to be about. It’s time to clean up your act. Follow the tips below, and make sure you’re not putting your privacy, job, and security in danger.

Decide: Is Your Facebook Private Or Professional?

This is a very important decision to make, and one you should take the time to think about. Is your Facebook account a place to stay updated with friends and family, or is it a professional account you want prospect bosses to see, and use to interact with colleagues about work? Unless you’re going to be extremely careful about it, your private life and professional life is going to clash.

It doesn’t even have to be something obvious like complaining about your work or boss and having it reach the wrong eyes. It can also be sharing inappropriate links or photos of yourself, and having them wind up in the wrong places. In his article about why you shouldn’t integrate Facebook, Twitter, & LinkedIn, Dave tells all about why you shouldn’t connect all your social accounts, especially if they’re used for different purposes. Nevertheless, many of us do that, and have inappropriate links from Facebook wind up on LinkedIn. Awkward.

Since Facebook is geared into sharing with friends, the best thing to do is to keep work-related things away from it as much as possible. There are other networks for that. If you must use your Facebook account for work-related things, or show it at a job interview, make sure toclean it up first and make it more professional.

Anything Work Related (Unless It’s Positive)

This is an extension of the previous point, but its worth reiterating. Do NOT use your Facebook account to complain about your work, your salary, your boss, or even things such as the long drive to work, how tired you feel while in the office, or how you’d rather not get up from bed today.

Are you supposed to be at work from 9 to 5? Posting five status updates and 4 photos during that time might not be the brightest idea, especially if you have colleagues (not to mention bosses) in your friends list. People tend to forget this, but other people can see when you posted things.

If you must share something about work, you can share interesting job openings, share your actual work, if possible, and even tell your friends how much you like your job. Don’t go to far with that one, though, or it might start to look weird.

I Have A Job Interview/Date/Ultrasound Tomorrow!!!!!!

Exciting things are fun to share. When something exciting is going to happen, you want the world to know, even if it’s against your better judgment. Think twice (or more, if necessary) before posting anything of this nature. Is this exciting thing going to happen for sure? Is the outcome necessarily positive? Does everyone really need to know about this right now?

Being disappointed is bad enough as it is without having to share your disappointment with the world and explain why it happened. Some job interviews and dates don’t go that well, and you might not want to share that you’re pregnant before you’re 100% sure everything is going to be OK. In addition, not everyone on your friends list should know about these things. Your workplace might not appreciate you having a job interview tomorrow, for example. Use your common sense to figure out the rest.

Don’t Make It Too Easy To Break Into Your Home

Your Facebook profile and account might be hidden from the public (as they should be), but this doesn’t mean information can’t get out. No matter who is supposed to see it, you shouldn’t share information that can put your security at risk. And this is surprisingly easy to do.

Did you share your full address on Facebook? Everyone knows where you live. Did you just check-in with Foursquare into the mall? Did you just share that you’re going on a week long vacation? Now everyone knows your house is going to be empty or is empty right now. No matter how you look at it, this is not good. It might sound paranoid, but better safe than sorry.

Don’t Make It Too Easy To Break Into Your Account

This follows the same idea as the previous point. Don’t ever underestimate people’s ability to connect the dots, when they really want to. Do you use your child’s or dog’s name as your password? Well, you shouldn’t, but if you do anyway, it’s not as hard for people to guess as you might think. If you’ve share password hints on Facebook, or even the passwords themselves in the form of names or dates, don’t be surprised if someone manages to put 2 and 2 together.

Full Birth Date & Location

This is a no-brainer, but some people still forget about this. Sharing your full birth date and place on Facebook can lead to privacy breaches, and in extreme cases, even identity theft. I’m not saying you should become super paranoid about everything, but this kind of information does not belong on the Web, where anyone at all can see it. If you’d like to get birthday wishes on Facebook, a day and a month are enough, a year is not necessary.

Be Graph Search Ready

Have you heard of Graph Search? Despite the uproar it created, Facebook’s new search finds nothing you didn’t put there yourself. So don’t click like on inappropriate things or things you don’t really like. Don’t add random things to your hobbies as a joke. Don’t add life events that never happened. These things can backfire badly with Graph Search.

To get a better understanding of this, check out Angela’s tips on preparing your account privacy for Graph Search.

The (Should Be) Obvious: Anything You Don’t Want The World To See

There are many more things one should never share on Facebook, and they all fall under this heading. You must get it into your head that anything you share on Facebook can be seen byanyone. Your privacy settings, while extremely important, will not save you from embarrassments every time. Don’t post photos if someone should not see them. Don’t say where you are if someone shouldn’t know. Don’t post photos of your child with their full name. Don’t complain or gossip. And for crying out loud, don’t talk negatively about your significant other, even if they don’t have a Facebook account.

Facebook can be great for keeping up with friends and family, but it can easily become a potential trouble source if you go too far. Keep it simple and fun!

Need more tips? Here are 5 more things you should not be posting Facebook, and 7 things you should be posting on Facebook. You can also take your knowledge to the next level with our free Facebook privacy guide.

Do you have tips of your own? Is there something that should NEVER be posted to Facebook I didn’t mention? Did sharing on Facebook ever backfire on you? Share in the comments below.