A weird inter:lude

It has been a weird week past.
A lot like Alice/Alex in Wonderland/Wanderland.
DOWN/UP a rabbit's hole/rat's hole.

To maintain the weak tradition, Desi giveth thee a weird inter-lude.
GO DESI-pher...

Ani: TNB got a raw deal

WHEN the Government decided to approve the request from Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) to raise electricity tariffs, the plight of the national utility took centre-stage. Naturally, the knee-jerk reaction among consumers was not favourable. The 12% rise in tariffs appears to have re-ignited the debate on how good the going is for independent power producers (IPPs) at the cost of the national utility’s cashflow. The imbalance between the generation side of the business and that of transmission and distribution has put a strain on TNB. To understand the privatisation of the power generation sector, one needs to take a look back in history to understand that the country's IPPs came about as a result of the Government's effort to address the issue of stable power supply after the landmark 1992 blackout. Lending a historical perspective to the issue of IPPs is former TNB executive chairman Tan Sri Ani Arope, who headed the national utility from 1990 to 1996. It was during his tenure that the first generation IPPs were created. StarBiz deputy news editor JAGDEV SINGH SIDHU has the story.

STARBIZ: What happened after the first major blackout in 1992?

Ani: TNB had plans in place to pump out more energy by building plants in Pasir Gudang and Paka. Financing was no problem and our credit standing was very high. We had the land acquired and were ready to move in and plant up.

But we were told by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) that it had its own plans. We cautioned EPU that if those plants, which would take two years to complete, were not built, Malaysia would get another major blackout. When you have a place with 250 engineers, it does not make sense to say (the blackout) is because of poor planning. But the EPU said it had its own plans and we were told to surrender the land.

Then it surfaced that it wanted to privatise the power plants. I am not anti-IPPs per se. It is good to have other players but it has to be done fairly. It has to be fair to the consumers, not just TNB, which is a conduit. TNB, because of the electricity hike, has been treated as the whipping boy. The focus should be on the consumers.

When the generous terms were given to the IPPs, all my other peers around the world asked what was happening. They said they would like to have a share in the IPPs. They said (the contracts to IPPs) were “too darn generous.'' (The terms) were grossly one sided.

Star:
How was the Malaysian model of IPPs created?

Ani: Ask our previous Prime Minister.


You ingrates!

Desi's fictional construct, with some basis and wild imagine:

YTL~~Every year I bring big superstars to Bukit Bibtang to celebrate international festivals with you people and now you villify me. Ingrates.

Syed Mokhtar~~ Every year I plough back millions to do charity via my Foundation, you ingrates; and now you villify me.

Ananda Krishnan ~~ Every week I make a millionaire or two out of the 3D+1 draws and the Super 7+1, you ingrates, now you villify me.

You majority "Masochistic" Malsians ~~ every GE you crossed against the Dacing,at GE2004, giving US 92%!), then later complain, komplen, cuntplan.
I'm trying to bring you to Developed Nation status. You ingrates; now you villify me.~~Desi

DESIDERATA: First off, I tender APologies to sisdar Helen (& Other ER who have elephantine memories!) that this Sundae I could not render the HA!-lia! offering; maybe sext Sundae? Miss Patience is a virtue...

Mayhaps you understand the Nature of Human Beings (oh, Homo sapiens, how pathetic art thou!)after reading and digesting the following~~~~~~~


World Updates
June 1, 2006
We are not entirely human, germ gene experts argue

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - We may not be entirely human, gene experts said on Thursday after studying the DNA of hundreds of different kinds of bacteria in the human gut.

Bacteria are so important to key functions such as digestion and the immune system that we may be truly symbiotic organisms -- relying on one another for life itself, the scientists write in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

Their findings suggest that studying bacteria native to our bodies may provide important clues to disease, nutrition, obesity and how well drugs will work in individuals, said the team at The Institute for Genomic Research, commonly known as TIGR, in Maryland.

"We are somehow like an amalgam, a mix of bacteria and human cells. There are some estimates that say 90 percent of the cells on our body are actually bacteria," Steven Gill, a molecular biologist formerly at TIGR and now at the State University of New York in Buffalo, said in a telephone interview.

"We're entirely dependent on this microbial population for our well-being. A shift within this population, often leading to the absence or presence of beneficial microbes, can trigger defects in metabolism and development of diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease."

Scientists have long known that at least 50 percent of human feces, and often more, is made up of bacteria from the gut. Bacteria start to colonize the intestines and colon shortly after birth, and adults carry up to 100 trillion microbes, representing more than 1,000 different species.

They are not just freeloading. They help humans to digest much of what we eat, including some vitamins, sugars, and fiber. They also synthesize vitamins that people cannot.

"Humans have evolved for million of years with these bacteria. And they provide essential functions," Gill said.

GERM SURPRISE

Gill and his team sequenced the DNA in feces donated by three adults. They found a surprising amount of it came from bacteria.

They compared the gene sequences to those from known bacteria and to the human genome and found this so-called colon microbiome -- the entire sum of genetic material from microbes in the lower gut -- includes more than 60,000 genes.

That is twice as many as found in the human genome.

"Of all the DNA sequences in that material, only 1 to 5 percent of it was not bacterial," Gill said.

"We were surprised."

They also found a surprising number of Archaea, also known as archaebacteria, which are genetically distinct from bacteria but which are also one-celled organisms often found in extreme environments such as hot springs.

The donors were healthy adults. None had taken antibiotics for a year, as these drugs are known to disturb the bacteria in the body.

Gill said his team hopes now to make a comparison of the gut bacteria from different people.

"The ideal study would be to compare 20 people, 30 people from different ethnic backgrounds, different diets, drinkers, smokers, and so on, because I think there are going to be distinct differences," Gill said.

These bacteria almost certainly help break down drugs that people take and studying the effects of different populations of the microbes might provide clues to treating different people with various medications.

The next study will focus on the bacteria in the mouth, Gill said. There are at least 800 species in the mouth and maybe more, Gill said.


Copyright © 2005 Reuters

SEeya, From another bacterium, Desi in all his terminal glory now adjourning for another CON lunch, after a CON BF, after a CON supper watching a lame game of football beweeen Sweden smoking Tobacco?