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History 101

This category covers posts related to the history

Childhood Memories: Part 19 – Driving My Uncle’s Gutsy Car

mitsubishi lancer 1980 uncle car childhood

(One of my uncles had a second hand white Mitsubishi Lancer as his first car and it was the workhorse of the whole family for many years. Image source: DSF)

Last week I attended my niece’s birthday party and as usual, once the cake has been cut and the dinner has started, my cousins and myself made our way to the outside of the house, set up a table on the porch, rounded several chairs and started to chit chat over a large bottle of liquor and wine. As usual, such chit chat continued until wee hours in the morning.

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Childhood Memories: Part 18 – Wild Ride On Public Buses

bus childhood transport

(Toong Fong was one the bus that I took on a daily basis when I was still very young. I was not that old to take this model – lane: Chan Sow Lin Road but the Toong Fong logo on the side of the bus remained until it was absorbed into Intrakota. Image source: here)

Remember those days when some of us “used” to take the BUS? Some of you who use the bus for daily commute to work may be wondering what the hell BJ is talking about but I have to admit – it has been quite a while since I last took a bus (these days the routes have gotten so confusing).

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Childhood Memories: Part 17 – Excited Taking Train Up North

(The start of our journey on the trains, the old train station – Image source: http://spwise.wordpress.com)

These days when I go back to my in-law’s house in Taiping for a well-deserved rest, we usually take the North South Highway and it takes us about 3 hours to reach. But there was a time in the late 70s and early 80s when we used to travel to Taiping by train during the festivals (very rare Deepavali celebrations in Taiping) or when someone had kicked the bucket or when someone very close was getting married.

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Childhood Memories: Part 16 – Great Groovy 1980s Music

kids 1980 music madonna

(One of the greatest female singer from the 1980s music arena – Madonna who still tops my playlist for 1908s songs. Image source: http://mediaimages.boxedart.com)

I don’t why but I recall the good old 80’s as I sat in front of the laptop doing work and listening to A-Ha’s “Take on me”. That song and other songs in my collection bring back a sense of déjà-vu.

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History 101: German’s Powerful U Boats in Penang

Herbert Kuppisch U Boat History Penang

(Herbert Kuppisch, the man destined to be the U Boat commander of the Penang’s German naval base. But was KIA when his boat (U-847) was sunk southwest of the Azores. Image source: www.uboataces)

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Childhood Memories: Part 15 – Fast Exciting Motorcycle Grand Prix

grand prix superbike motorcycle

Still, remember the time when Formula 1 was unknown and a distance away and all we have was the Bike GP (Grand Prix)?

And to colour them was Rothmans Honda, Lucky Strike Suzuki and Marlboro Yamaha. I still remember entering my uncle’s room one day and there on the wall, was a large poster of Kevin Schwantz taking a corner on his Lucky Strike Suzuki.

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Childhood Memories: Part 14 – Fast Viper Defending Battlestar Galactica

bsg-viper-2 battlestar galactica TV childhood

Viper Mark II with Voram VM2-D15 upper turbo-thrust engine, Voram VM3-D22 turbo-thrust engines, reverse thrust motors, MEC-A6 30mm Thraxon forward-firing kinetic energy weapons with 800 round magazine and 8 HD70 Lightning Javelin missiles.

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History 101: An Important Lesson on Morality

Morality Nuremberg Trials History

Taking place just after World War 2 and judged by the victors, there was a question if these accused were judged on grounds of legality or on the issue of morality. The Nuremberg Trials was a series of 13 trials that took place in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949. They were held by the Allies (the United States, the Soviet Union, France and Great Britain) to bring Nazi war criminals to justice. Image source: Spoken Word

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History 101: Interesting Facts of US Presidential Inaugurations

Old Photo US President Abraham Lincoln Inaugurations

Photo of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln standing under the cover at the centre of Capitol steps during his inauguration in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 1861. The scaffolding at the upper right was used in the construction of the Capitol dome. Image source: Denver Post

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Childhood Memories: Part 13 – The Adventures of Tintin

tintin comic

(Tintin and his friends always on adventures that capture the imagination of young lads like me. Image source: Medium.com)

When I was in my secondary school, this comic book – The Adventures of Tintin series was one of the most sought out “books” in the school library (ya, we had a good collection of comic books in library and we often read them just before the examinations to release tensions).

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Youtube Classic 101: World’s Largest Record Collection

Paul Mawhinney Record Largest

(The man and his huge record collection – Image source: Gizmodo)

It is a story about a man and his world largest record collection. Paul Mawhinney has 3 million records & 300,000 CDs, some in pristine condition and some probably is the only copy in the world. Paul is 69 years old and is not in good health.

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Childhood Memories: Part 12 – History of My Beloved Grandma

childhood grandma

(Thankfully most of us did not spend our childhood times during the tough times during World War 2 – Image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org)

My grandmother – from my mother’s side is about 75 now (75 or 70, she can’t recall for she is not sure which year she was born).

She was born in Malaysia (Malaya back then), lived in Taiping where her father (my great grandfather) had a grocery shop (which meant they had rice for meals). She had a sister and 2 brothers and thanks to her father’s resourcefulness, the whole family survived through the Japanese occupation during the War World 2 (not making any trouble with the Japanese helped too).

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