A SAL In Hot Pursuit Speech

I was back in that familiar part of Sunway on Thursday for my SAL meeting, where I delivered my CSL2(5) 'Excite with Pace Variation' speech titled "In Hot Pursuit". This was my 962nd presentation.

I narrated a chilling story that chronicles a wretched existence where survival means enduring the perpetual tether of a suffocating woman. Her control is absolute, filling every waking hour with an intense, inescapable pressure. But the true horror begins when the sun goes down, as her daytime dominance violates his subconscious, transforming sleep into a nightly gauntlet. There is no sanctuary in the dark – only a recurring nightmare where she is perpetually in hot pursuit, hunting him through the shadows of his own mind.

Ultimately, it serves as a powerful testament to human resilience, proving that the simple act of waking up each morning to face her demonstrates an unbroken spirit.

My speech evaluator, Rohijas MD Sharif really liked the speech and even gave it a thumbs-up. Moreover, I was voted Best Speaker.

We also had a fun "That's One Minute" session on the topic of "paper". All six attendees jumped in, and it was awesome to hear everyone take the theme in completely different directions. 

And of course, the evaluators did a fantastic job delivering feedback to everyone.

Overall, another good meeting.

The Theory of Snack Relativity

Relative Positioning" (at least the pub version) has never been explained more clearly. 

The universe is governed by strict laws of physics, but none are more ironclad than the Grand Unified Theory of Snack Mechanics. 

Take a solitary jar of roasted peanuts. It suffers from the Law of Frictionless Consumption. Because it stands alone, passing hands transform into automated cranes, mindlessly transferring legumes to mouths. The jar empties in minutes. 

But add a second gravitational body – a jar of roasted cashews – and you warp the space-time continuum. This triggers the Luxury Hierarchy Shift. Forced to choose, the human eye immediately targets the premium asset. The peanuts are granted a sudden stay of execution, surviving solely because they are outclassed by the fancy nuts in the next jar. 

That stable equilibrium stands until you introduce the ultimate cosmic disruptor: a bottle of whiskey. The moment the cap twists off, all laws of snack relativity collapse. 

The whiskey acts as a high-velocity catalyst. It completely dissolves the consumer's decision-making matrix and erases the class divide between cashew and peanut. Inhibitions drop, chewing speeds double, and a chaotic feedback loop takes over. 

In no time, the premium cashews, the spared peanuts, and the whiskey vanish into the void – leaving behind nothing but empty glass and a profound lesson in physics. 

So the next time you host a party, remember: if you want to save the peanuts, buy the cashews. If you want to save your sanity, hide the whiskey.

Walking Proof of Survival

If you need something to ponder today, let it be this.

It is a great reminder that while resilience is a fantastic trait, paying attention to your surroundings is a lot less painful. 

You can call it a masterclass in grit, or you can just admit you have terrible spatial awareness! 🤷🎯

Yesterday, Celtic and Dundee United fought to a dramatic 2-2 draw at Celtic Park, keeping fans on the edge of their seats throughout a breathless 90 minutes. 

The league leaders started with intent, asserting control early on and breaking the deadlock in the 18th minute. Camilo Durán continued his prolific form by sweeping home his 11th goal of the season after connecting with a precise pass from Kasper Høgh. 

However, the Tangerines responded with remarkable resilience, stunning the home crowd with two quickfire goals in the span of just three minutes (28', 31'). 

Martin O'Neill's side piled forward in the second half and defender Liam Scales equalised in the 64th minute with a header from a Jota cross – but despite almost constant pressure the league leaders had to settle for a point.

At Anfield, the EFL Cup tie saw Liverpool edge past Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after a grueling 1-1 draw. The game was really close for both sides.

Ryan Gravenberch committed a clumsy challenge inside the penalty area, prompting the referee to point to the spot, and the visitors sent the ball past Giorgi Mamardashvili in the 40th minute. 

Just three minutes later, a Blues defender committed a blatant handball in his own box. Cody Gakpo assumed responsibility for the home side, coolly dispatching his penalty to restore parity in the 43rd minute right before the halftime interval.

Despite mounting late pressure, neither side could carve out a regulation winner, sending the match straight into a high-stakes penalty shootout.

Andoni Iraola's side ultimately prevailed 6-5, converting crucial sudden-death penalties through Alexis Mac Allister, Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz, Bradley Barcola, and Joe Gomez before the final Chelsea kicker fired wide to seal the Reds' victory.

The Art of Seeing Double

Sometimes, all it takes to see an ordinary object differently is a few carefully placed lines or a drawn-on face. 

That playful way of looking at everyday life lies at the heart of artist Romain Joly’s work. 

Based in the south of France, Joly combines photography and drawing to create simple visual scenes in which familiar objects take on completely new identities. 

Food, household items, plants, and other things most of us would barely notice become characters, animals, landscapes, and sometimes silly visual jokes.

You can appreciate Joly's creativity here:

Green Turtles: Rewriting Extinction

Under the soft glow of the Malaysian moon, a palm-sized green turtle hatchling bursts from the sand, its tiny flippers flailing with fierce determination as it races toward the breaking surf. 

Once, this journey was a desperate gamble against overwhelming odds. Today, it is a parade of triumph. 

In an era where wildlife stories are too often shadowed by loss, the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) has achieved the extraordinary: leaping from the brink of danger to the safe harbor of "least concern" on the global IUCN Red List. This historic milestone is a testament to what happens when humanity refuses to give up. 

For decades, dedicated conservationists, local communities, and scientists – like Malaysia’s turtle expert Dr. Juanita Joseph (left) – have stood guard over these ancient mariners. Together, they transformed nesting beaches into sanctuaries, established vast marine protected zones, and fiercely policed the waters against illegal trade. 

The results have been nothing short of spectacular. At Sabah’s legendary Turtle Islands, nesting numbers have dramatically tripled since the 1970s, now welcoming over 20,000 nests every single year. 

That reflects “over five decades” of work, said Sabah Parks director Maklarin Lakim. 

The Turtle Islands have been protected since 1977, and Sabah banned turtle meat and egg consumption in 1997. 

“This is our heritage, this is our biodiversity”, Maklarin said. “We would like to protect that as long as possible”. 

As that tiny hatchling finally meets the cool embrace of the South China Sea, it carries the weight of a species reborn. While localized challenges and changing climates mean the guard can never truly be dropped, this moment belongs to hope. 

The green turtle’s return proves that through unwavering dedication and global cooperation, we can turn the tide for the natural world, rewriting stories of extinction into anthems of survival.

The New Face of Terror: UK Police Heroically Save the Nation from Pensioners and Book Royalties

The landscape of counter-terrorism enforcement in the United Kingdom has undergone a historic shift following the proscription of direct-action protest groups under national security laws. 

A massive surge in terror-related arrests has fundamentally altered the typical profile of individuals targeted by British counter-terrorism police. This sharp increase stems directly from the government's decision to ban the activist network Palestine Action, moving the legal crosshairs from traditional extremist organizations to political demonstrators and high-profile cultural figures. 

Official data highlights the scale of this enforcement shift, showing a record high in terrorism-related arrests. In the year ending June 2026, the UK recorded 3,867 total terror arrests – representing a massive 1,553% increase over previous trends. Of these, an overwhelming 94% (3,630 arrests) were linked to alleged support for Palestine Action. 

Since the British government officially proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist organization on July 5, 2025 – a decision triggered by property destruction and red paint damage to military aircraft at the RAF Brize Norton base – publicly defending, wearing articles of, or providing financial assistance to the group has carried a maximum legal penalty of up to 14 years in prison. 

This legal transition has completely upended traditional counter-terrorism demographics. Because the group draws a significant base of civil and anti-war activists, a substantial portion of those swept up in mass arrests have been older citizens, including a demonstration on August 09, 2025, outside Parliament where over 500 people were detained in a single day. Including an elderly woman pictured above, being dragged off by police. 

The far-reaching and complex nature of these parameters was thrust into the international spotlight on October 14, 2026, when bestselling Irish author Sally Rooney (left) and her publisher, 

Faber, confirmed that all of her novels are being completely withdrawn from sale in the United Kingdom. Following the ban, Rooney publicly pledged in an Irish Times article to channel her UK book royalties and BBC television residuals from hit adaptations like "Normal People" directly to support Palestine Action. 

Under Section 15 of the UK Terrorism Act 2000, distributing funds to an individual who has openly vowed to pass those earnings to a proscribed group exposes publishers, distributors, and broadcasters to severe criminal liability for terror financing. 

Consequently, Faber stated they were legally blocked from transferring UK earnings to her, a situation they described as "unconscionable". Rooney fully supported pulling her books from the market to avoid committing a serious criminal offense, having previously canceled a 2025 trip to the UK to accept a literary award out of a credible fear of arrest. 

Ultimately, the sweeping application of proscription laws has created an extraordinary legal environment that blurs the line between property-focused political dissent and national security threats. By categorizing direct-action activism as terrorism, the UK legal system now finds itself processing hundreds of peaceful demonstrators alongside traditional security targets, while simultaneously shutting major contemporary literature out of the domestic market. 

As these counter-terrorism laws continue to be stringently enforced, the ongoing tension between public protest, financial expression, and state security will likely remain a highly contentious battleground in British law and society.

Shame on the UK! 😡😡😡

Re-Mapping The Starry Night

For more than a century, Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night has been celebrated as the ultimate triumph of pure, feverish imagination. 

Painted from the window of his asylum room in France's Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, its swirling vortexes and glowing orbs were long assumed to be the products of a turbulent inner psyche rather than a map of the physical world. 

Yet, a fascinating study published on October 22, 2026 in Scientific Reports has turned this narrative on its head. 

Published by lead researcher Elijah Jeong-hyun Kim and his team, it revealed that the masterpiece is actually a remarkably precise astronomical snapshot of the pre-dawn sky from July 22, 1889. By cross-referencing historical stargazing data with the canvas, the team discovered that Van Gogh’s arrangement perfectly mirrors a real celestial event. 

The painting's famous swirling crescent moon captures the exact phase of the waning moon that morning, while the blazing "morning star" corresponds directly to Venus at its peak brilliance. Even the glowing star clusters align with the real-world positions of the Hyades cluster moving across the Provençal horizon. 

This breakthrough rewrites the timeline of the painting's creation, which art historians have long anchored strictly to June 1889. 

While Van Gogh (right) likely sketched the initial composition in June, his own letters to his brother Theo reveal he was still observing the heavens a month later—explicitly noting the deafening chorus of cicadas brought on by the intense late-July heat waves. 

It was during this scorching window, just days before a severe mental health crisis temporarily halted his work, that he captured the specific sky we see today. 

Ultimately, this discovery bridges the gap between raw emotion and hard science. It proves that even at his most visionary, Van Gogh remained a deeply disciplined observer of nature, anchoring his wildest cosmic dreams in profound reality.

Streets of Fury: Inside Europe's 2026 Autumn of Discontent

A generation with nothing left to lose has pushed Europe to its absolute breaking point, trapped between a crippling economic squeeze and governments too debt-ridden to save them. 

The current wave of 2026 European unrest has rapidly expanded into a multi-country crisis driven by a bleak economic outlook, soaring living costs, and underfunded public infrastructure. 

Across Southern and Western Europe, citizens – particularly the younger generation – are taking to the streets, fueled by a shared frustration over a lack of fiscal support and a profound sense of uncertainty. Saddled with heavy public debt, many European governments lack the fiscal leeway to subsidise households or offer tax cuts without risking a sovereign debt crisis, leaving police forces and temporary safety measures as their primary tools to manage the growing friction. 

The epicenter of the most violent rioting is concentrated in Albania, France, and Italy, where crowds have protested for weeks in major cities, leaving demonstrations marked by arrests, looting, injuries, and severe violence. 

In Spain and Portugal, the unrest has manifested as massive housing protests, with prominent tent camps springing up to combat unaffordable housing alongside major student strikes and severe socio-economic disruptions. 

Meanwhile, Belgium and Greece are actively gripped by their own waves of mass occupations and strikes; student-led occupations in Brussels have escalated into violent clashes with police over education budget cuts, while in Athens, high-profile tent encampments have blockaded Syntagma Square to protest soaring student accommodation costs and education privatization. 

Ultimately, this autumn of fury has laid bare a profound structural failure: a subcontinent where a generation of young people no longer expects to be better off than their parents. By relying on security clampdowns and austerity measures to contain what is fundamentally a crisis of survival, European leaders are treating the symptoms rather than the disease. 

With half a dozen nations heading into a crucial electoral "super cycle" over the next twelve months, these burning streets are not just isolated riots – they are a powerful warning that without systemic economic relief, the political landscape of Europe is about to be completely rewritten.