How music affects our health

by Praise Maukazuva | Feb 14, 2017 | Health

How Music Affects Our Health

Praise Maukazuva, 14 February 2017

Most people think that music is just music or that it is just a catchy rhythm or beat to dance to, or something to keep you company when you are alone or bored. And then there are people who distaste music completely, as they think it affects them negatively and give them negative thoughts.

To lesser extent these facts are true. But did you know that music actually affect our health in a highly positive way. It is amazing how it can actually enhance certain functions of the brain and how it can evoke the deepest emotions in people, to be able to process fear, grief, sadness and resentment.

First of all, playing is the brain equivalent of a full body workout. It keeps the brain healthy especially as it ages resulting in better memory and mental sharpness. Yes! Music helps you regain your memory. This is because while listening to it, you can actually picture an old memory from that day it was playing. Like I said, it is truly amazing.

Next up, we have the impacts on the heart, pulse rate and also blood pressure. According to the reports from the Massachusetts General Hospital Patients that listened to music 30 minutes a day had lower blood pressure, slower pulse rate compared to the ones that did not. So not only does music strengthen the heart it actually helps with faster recovery in heart disease.

Another music therapy was carried out at Mayo Clinic in Florida. It was part of the Healing Enhancement Program, where patients would listen to music before, during and after a heart surgery. The clinic worked with Chip Davis the leader of the rock music, Mannheim Steamroller.

Below is a video of Chip Davis talking about music therapy and how he gathered nature sounds for patients to ease their pain.

DID YOU KNOW

The quality of sleep you get depends on heart rates, and because music helps slow down the heart rate, we can get a good quality of sleep, sleeping patterns. So a sweet sounding song can be good just before you sleep.

Music is one of the good sources of motivation in your life. We all know that we get a good feeling from listening to music. But what exactly will be happening to the brain during that time. The brain is releasing a chemical called “dopamine”. This chemical reduces chronic stress by lowering stress hormones that contribute to mental distress. The release of this chemical also helps with pain management, for example during surgeries or even giving birth!

DID YOU KNOW

When you have a brain damage, the brain finds a pathway that will make re-function properly again, music on the other hand helps in creating that pathway thereby making the brain re-function properly.

There is strong evidence that listening to music or even playing a musical instrument such as the piano can have a positive impact on your health and brain function. It helps you improve your mood, enhance learning and concentration.

The above video shows us how music has changed Henry’s life. Henry had been admitted to a hospital for 10 years, and after being introduced to music he has remembered who he is and has reacquired his identity.

So what are you waiting for? Fill your life with some daily dose of Taylor Swift or any any artist of your choice now!

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“I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from everyone loves music.”

-Billy Joel

The Simmering Disquiet in Gua Musang

by VOIZ asia | Feb 13, 2017 | News, people, place, society

The Simmering Disquiet in Gua Musang

Koh Jun Lin, 12 Feb 2017

All is not peaceful in the woods and forests of Kelantan. An “uprising” of sorts is in the works, after years of simmering disquiet over rampant logging, that threaten the livelihoods and culture of the local Orang Asli.

This was conveyed to me by one of the natives, who hosted me during my recent trip into the hills of Gua Musang. An Orang Asli from the Temiar tribe, who is personally involved in the timber blockades set up to stop loggers, from encroaching into their customary land.

My host served a simple but delicious meal for lunch on the day of my visit. This is symbolic of the hospitable nature of the local Orang Asli, as well as a stark reminder of what they stand to lose, if the forest around them continue to be cut down, uprooting them from their way of life and source of sustenance.

There was roasted tapioca, fish, jackfruit, and more, with a helping of rice and sweet tea to wash it all down. His cat meowed incessantly and miserably from the adjacent room – begging to be let out to join the feast.

However, the mood around the floor (there was no table) was sombre, as my host Anga Anja, 42, pondered over whether his two grandchildren would be able to cook such a bountiful meal in the future.

Anga hails from the Temiar village of Kampung Barong, Gua Musang, and the land around him is threatened by deforestation. And the worry and anger over how this may impact their future, has stirred up the normally docile Orang Asli.

“We have awakened,” he said. “We have awakened and we are sad. How are our grandchildren supposed to live in the future? I could pass away at any time, but how are our grandchildren supposed to live after us? That’s why we have awakened.”

Loss of tree cover

According to analyses of satellite imagery compiled by the Global Forest Watch, Kelantan had 1.2 million hectares of tree cover in 2000. By 2014 however, nearly 30,000 hectares of that (20.9 percent) had been lost.

“It’s not even far away. It is just nearby, there are logging areas all around us. Yesterday they (loggers) said they want to cut down everything. It’s a forest reserve, they said,” Anga related.

In the grand scheme of things, this could seem mediocre compared to the rate of deforestation seen elsewhere in the country.

At the national level, the loss of tree cover over the same period is at a comparable 19.1 percent.

Kelantan’s loss of tree cover also pales in comparison to that of Negri Sembilan, Johor and Malacca, which occupy the top three positions (33.9 percent, 31.5 percent, and 30.3 percent respectively) in Malaysia.

But then again, watching green pixels on Earth turn Martian-red from space does not tell the whole story.

For Anga and his fellow villagers, the effects of deforestation on their culture and livelihood is clear and ever present, something that we, as visiting outsiders can perhaps only understand if we see it with out own eyes.

Kampung Barong was the first stop of my trip, after spending the night at Kuala Lipis and leaving the luxury of driving on paved roads.

Reaching the village entailed covering almost 50km. The average passenger car would take half an hour to cover such a distance on the highway, but this trip took three hours over muddy roads and across rivers in rugged four-wheel drive vehicles.

The journey also took me and my videographer through vast swathes of land that had been recently cleared to make room for oil palm plantations, before we finally reached the jungle proper.

The tale of the Orang Asli disquiet is probably better told by the broken and muddy landscape we saw along the way. Land which used to be hallowed burial grounds, bountiful orchard groves and favourite hunting grounds.

The driver of the 4WD vehicle that brought me there said he was thankful we were never caught on the road with anything worse than a drizzle. Otherwise, even these these rugged off-road vehicles and their intimidatingly large tyres with deep threads, would get stuck in the mud.

At least that’s what he would tell me when he was not busy expressing his shock, over the land that used to be lush and verdant green during his last visit just a couple of years ago.

He was keen on staying out of trouble, so I won’t be identifying him, and he would be steering clear of both the Orang Asli’s and the Forestry Department’s blockades to avoid any possible confrontations.

Buzz of chainsaws

As soon as we met, Anga was more than eager to recount how he and his fellow villagers first encountered the Kelantan state government’s poverty eradication programme Ladang Rakyat, which is similar to the federal government’s Federal Land Authority (Felda) settlement scheme.

It was about seven years ago. The time was about around 4pm.

Anga and some other Kampung Barong villagers had gathered at the crossroads just outside their village to wait for their ride, on their way to attend religious courses.

“Then around five o’clock, we heard the buzz of chainsaws near the steel bridge. It was the first time this has happened, and, hey? Why have they gone into the cemetery? They (foreign workers and a local contractor) had set up camp there.”

“After hearing the sound of the chainsaws, my friend went over. He found a lot of vehicles parked there, so he went over and asked, ‘Sir, how did you get here?’”

The friend found out from the workers that they were there to clear the land for the Ladang Rakyat programme. He objected, stating that the land they were cutting down for firewood was a cemetery, and the surrounding area were groves tended by the Orang Asli.

But the contractor leading the gang of workers would hear none of it, and rudely rebuked him.

“No way! These are not Orang Ali groves. Your groves are up there in the mountains. The durians are not planted by you. It’s (from) bear poop,” Anga recounted the contractor’s purported words.

He said his friend then returned to the group and told him and the others what transpired.

Blockade set up

After they returned from their courses, the villagers met.

“We thought and thought about it. There used to be just loggers. They destroyed the trees, but we didn’t know better.”

“Now we do,” he said, relating how the local community decided that it is time to act, as their culture and livelihood is at stake.

The first anti-logging blockades went up in January 2012. Some 300 Orang Asli from 31 villages in Gua Musang took part, claiming that their ancestral land is being taken by the state to be given to logging companies and for its Ladang Rakyat programme.

The blockade was the first of its kind in Peninsular Malaysian and continues to be a running battle between both sides today. Then, as now, the blockades are being continuously torn down by authorities and put back up by the Orang Asli from time to time.

The Temiars had also taken the Kelantan government to court over the alleged violations of their customary land.

The state government had alleged that the Orang Asli’s resistance were instigated by outsiders. Their lawyer Siti Kasim was even accused of championing the indigenous community’s cause, just so that she can fight with the PAS-led Kelantan government.

“This issue in Kelantan is driven by political parties, working with those who oppose the implementation of Islamic laws such as Siti Kasim who is against the Kelantan state government, not an environmentalist and certainly far from being someone who cares about the Orang Asli,” PAS working central committee member Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor reportedly said last December.

Angah bin Along
Kampung Chemal Resident

No outside instigators

However, all of the Orang Asli folk that I interviewed during my trip to Gua Musang – each in a different village – vehemently denied this. Instead they stressed that the initiative was their own.

If anything, the much-demonised ‘outsiders’ served as a moderating influence in the Orang Asli’s resistance and kept their campaigns non-violent.

“We fight with our mouths, with written letters. (Fist) fights, guns, adzes, blow darts are all left behind. We follow the law, the demand through the law, and we fight through the law,” Anga said.

Alik bin Busu
The Head of Pos Balar

His sentiment is echoed by the Pos Balar village chief Alek Busu, whom I met outside his home the following day.

He told me that the choice to fight is their own, but others had provided advise on the course of action to take.

“There is no outside influence. We merely sought their views on what we can do; things we can’t do, we don’t. The outside has no sway over us. Nothing.”

“The outsiders merely offered advice: If you want to claim this land, do it properly, do it by the book. This method is legal, because it doesn’t cause damages and all that nonsense. We follow the law, we go through the courts.”

“That was our decision,” he said.

Fresh from a hunt with a machete and a knife strapped to his belt. Alek too shared his anxieties about the depleting resources in the forest that they forage from, and the perceived trespass of their customary land.

“We set up the blockades because we have a stake in this logging, which we think is not right. It intrudes on our customary land, and all our livelihood is gone, destroyed. The Ladang Rakyat too, because they do this without the consent of the villages or anyone.”

“They don’t ask the chairperson (of the village committee) or the chief. No respect. So now we are deeply disappointed.”

“When the rainy season comes, we suffer. Back in 2014, three kids died because of the floods. The floods are the reason why we don’t like logging, because it disrupts our lives and livelihood.”

“The plants in the forest are all gone, like our fruit trees. It’s hard to find anything, and that’s why we set up the blockades. We don’t like it,” he said.

Lack of engagement

The Kelantan Menteri Besar Ahmad Yakob had previously denied marginalising the Orang Asli. On the contrary, he said, the state had looked after their welfare.

He said the state government had gazetted 973 hectares of land as Orang Asli reserve, and another 19,000 hectares for them to roam about in the state.

Notwithstanding the state government’s efforts, however, it appears that a lack of engagement had worsened the conflict between the state and the Orang Asli.

“This issue should not be raised. The Orang Asli community in Kelantan is only about 10,000 and the area should be sufficient and need not be raised again,” Bernama quoted him as saying in a Dec 4 report last year.

According to Alek, the Orang Asli had tried to bring their grievances to the menteri besar’s office, but their memorandum was not accepted, and they were given the runaround instead.

Meanwhile, as the tussle between the Orang Asli and the state continue over the land and blockades, Anga shares his idea of what a good life looks like.

“They said that these matters should be referred to the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa). When we met Jakoa, they said this is the Forestry Department’s matter. When we met with the Forestry Department, they refer us to the state government,” he said.

He said one company involved in the Ladang Rakyat project offered his village RM10,000, purportedly with no strings attached. Though the money was turned down, as they preferred to keep their forests with which they can earn their keep, instead of receiving a one-off windfall, and losing their ancestral lands.

“We can count the money another day. But as long as we have this land and this forest, we can make bracelets and sell it in shops and so on to make some money.”

“Yesterday for example I went to catch fish. People ask, and we go fishing. I brought him there, and he asked, ‘Hey, go catch some fish. I want to eat’. I went, cast the net, brought it to him, and he gave me RM20. Enough. That would be nice.”

“If we were to take the (RM10,000) money just like that, we don’t want it. We don’t want to owe anyone anything,” he said.

Note regarding tree cover data: Not all tree cover are forests and the tally merely represents the presence of trees with canopy cover above 30 percent, and its loss. Such loss is not necessarily due to deforestation. For example, an existing plantation may be cleared to make room for new plants.

The figures are cited here as a proxy to the extent of deforestation, legal or otherwise, from an independent source.

The Global Forest Watch also provides data on tree cover gain, but is omitted here because differences in methodology do not allow for the tree cover loss and gain figures to be compared.

Share your view on this issue.

The dilemma of a reunion

by VOIZ asia | Feb 8, 2017 | News, people, society, video

The dilemma of a reunion

Produced by KiniTV

To be continued…

3 methods Cyber Criminal uses to hack your password

by Praise Maukazuva | Feb 7, 2017 | Tech

3 Methods Cyber Criminal Uses To Hack Your Password

Praise Maukazuva, 7 Feb 2017

Most people use a convenient password that they can recall in the future.

According to the Cyber Streetwise campaign that was carried out by the U.K Government in 2016, it is said that 35% of the people struggle to remember their passwords.

Unauthorized access is a major problem for people who use computers, tablets, mobile phones and other computer devices, and passwords act as the main defense in protecting your data. Here are some of the methods used by cyber criminals to acquire your passwords, for fraudulent reasons.

1. Password cracking

This includes guessing the most common passwords used by people.

The “Most Common Passwords of 2016 List” researched by Keeper Security revealed that 17% of the people used “12345” as their password to secure their accounts. More weak passwords include “Password” which comes as the second worst password. “QWERTY,” on the other hand is also widely used. Besides it being rather short and letters only, which makes it easy to break down. However, the movie “StarWars” based passwords have been widely used lately.

An example of a strong password that can be difficult to crack is “My$3cur1ty#” for “My security number.” as it includes all the required characters.

So how do these cyber criminals crack passwords? Two most common ways are “Brute Force Attack” and “Dictionary Attacks”.

In Brute Force attack, every possible password is tried and tested until it finds the right password. This method is only suitable for short words, because the longer the word the more time it takes to test the password. Brute force attack uses a lot of software tools, such as Cain and Abel, John the Ripper and Air cracking depending on the operating system.

Dictionary attack uses a list of common single words from the dictionary. This method is suitable for long words, and it is more advanced as you can add symbols and numbers in front or at the end of the word. But the words have to be real dictionary words that are spelt properly which can be a limiting factor. Software tools such as brutus and crowbar are used.

Image: Dribbble, Kristin Fall Bonett

2. Malware

Spyware is an example of malware, a malicious code that can access your computer through downloading pirated files or simply clicking pop up ads that are infected. This malware monitors a user’s activities such as sites visited and programs that were run thereby tracking log in passwords and usernames.

Shockingly 80% of personal computers is infected with some kind of spyware, without their knowledge, as it works in the background silently making changes and recording activities.

Image: www.taringa.net

3. social engineering

This is a manipulative way of getting personal information from individuals, this information is then used for fraudulent ways. Types of social engineering include, phishing and scareware.

In phishing, you receive an email that will enable you to click a link that redirects you to a fake website asking your for your passwords and credit card details. An email may come as :

“You won $1 million! Click here for your reward!”

With all the excitement you are quick to click on the link that will require you to enter your password.

Scareware on the other hand, involves the attacker tricking you into believing that you have malware in your computer. They will act as if they are helping you get rid of it but in turn, they are making you download the actual malware.

The more developed we are in terms of technology, the more methods of acquiring passwords maliciously there are, advancing with time also.

However, There are many ways of keeping your data safe with a password that is difficult or impossible to acquire.

Tips on choosing a good password

People struggles to create a good password because they think that the strongest passwords are not easy to remember. This is not true. Below are some of the ways of creating a strong password.

Use of Long phrases with numbers, symbols, letters, lower cases and upper cases. The longer it is, the harder it is to break down.

You need to have a different and unique password for every service. Avoid using the same password for your E-mail services and also banking services.

Use of Biometrics. Nowadays mobile smart phones, tablets or laptops allow you to gain access to them using your fingerprints or through voice recognition. You don’t need to remember your password.

Use of Password Managers. Examples of these include LastPass, DashLane, 1Password and Norton. It can be in the form of a mobile application, that stores all your passwords, for every service. You just need to remember your master password that will unlock your other passwords. They usually come with a browser extension where you can log in to your accounts automatically.

The two-step Verification. During the signing in process, a code is sent to your mobile phone, and you are supposed to enter that code in order to gain access for example to your e-mails. However without the code, there is no access.

This consists of simple steps, that are easily ignored such as, not sharing the password, not to write it down, and also to change it regularly.

Implementing a few of these facts is better than not implementing any of them. However the goal here is to make sure that our Personal files and data are kept safe by a very strong password.

Beauty and the Beast (2017) Official Trailer

by VOIZ asia | Feb 7, 2017 | Entertainment, video

Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Movie by Walt Disney Pictures

RELEASE DATE: 16 March 2017
STARRING: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, Ian McKellen, Ewan McGregor, Josh Gad, Stanley Tucci
SYNOPSIS: The live-action version of Disney`s “Beauty and the Beast”, based on a fairy tale of the same name by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, is about a prince who is cursed by a witch and turned into an ugly beast. Belle, a beautiful bookworm, is the one who will break the spell for him.
DIRECTED BY: Bill Condon

Tag someone you know who will love this film

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