Tommy Peters' Bicycles

The unasked question is not ‘who commissioned the murder’ but ‘who commissioned the investigation of the murder’ and, thereafter, the expose in the media. An engineer impedes the diabolical plan of the captain down below, interrupting the inertia and lagging inputs to the rudder. Given it was the government-controlled media that broke the story to Malaysians and the world, did anyone consider a power play within the 2006 administration where the Captain deletes the ‘appearance’ of the Mongolian in the immigration records while an Engineer commands an investigation to her ‘disappearance’ with the press in tow; and did anyone contemplate that by moving this morbid event to its logical conclusion, the Malaysian Opposition is unwittingly running the agenda of the Engineer in the power play? The perpetrator is not the sociopath who possesses charm and spontaneity. It has none. It is not the sociopath that plans its deeds. It does not. The act upon the lass was b...

In the seventies, a KE35 I owned came with a factory fitted air conditioning system. The in-dash cooler was a boast then as low to mid-range cars, to which the Toyota belonged, had coolers hanging below the dash if you desired one. Four decades later, the witness to your next road incident is hanging like a hernia on the windshield while luxury models have them factory fitted. Mindful that by 2015 black boxes will be mandatory for new cars sold in the US, it is said driving recorders will be mandated worldwide thereafter. The 'hernia' will disappear once Blackboxes are factory-fitted Papago’s P3 looks like a miniaturized old CRT but records the vitals. Over the weekend I was pulled over for speeding where the officer armed with a scribbled notepad announced with authority that I was gunning 93 in a 60 zone. I politely said that scribbling vital evidence in the 21st century is quaint, if not archaic, and since it was too much for him to...

Premier Super-G  "This brender has many funsen" is a euphemism for the fold-out, disguised as an instruction manual that comes with several mass-produced kitchen appliances from Asia. But Sivanesan's Premier Mixers Instruction Manual caught my attention with its unique font and 4-colour layout. The manual's syntax and grammar provide a glimpse into the features of the product it describes. The Premier Super-G mixer is genuinely a work of art with its rinse and dry stainless-steel jars, imposing ABS shell encasing an overkill 550-watt motor, and the 'BMW' switch knob. It's not just a blender; it's a juicer. Creaming a tomato and carrot with goat milk in just 5 seconds is easy, and crushing a bowl of almonds is an understatement. If you're inclined towards almond milk juice, forget the small jar. Just add a handful in the middle jar with milk and ice. 10 seconds later, you have a delicious and healthy drink. Another 10-second 3-glas...

War is "the locomotive of history." When imposed by another, people coalesce and change attitudes towards their government. It reverses opposition and tempers gung-ho politics.  The people preserve and protect a government that fights a war against a foreign enemy. Conversely, any party that undermines its government amid war is castigated by the people. Personalities who command weapons are riled and ridiculed during peacetime but are heralded and revered during the war.   As fear limits options, people willingly give up rights and tolerate a high degree of civil disruption simply because they desire peace. The degree to which a government restores normalcy is the degree to which people and soldiers are willing to sacrifice. With compassion in the public domain, the government is absolved of blame and preserved by the people during the war. The height of a government's popularity with the people is achieved during the war, while opposition to it is ...