Plazzy's Crib

A Penangites Childhood Memories.... Part 2

2008-08-14T14:16:00.005+08:00

1) Guli

- Personally i don't play guli, or bakuli. My dad will have the bakuli's in the fish aquarium for decoration purposes.

2) Toy plastic solders with flat bottom
- everybody gotta have some of this, most of the time the gun tip will be bent or sengek due to excessive "fighting" with other soldiers.

3) Yoyo
- I love Yoyo's, but i never seem to mastered it. There is one trick they called "walk the dog" which you let the yoyo keep spinning while touching the ground...i never succeed in doing that...sad sad..

4) Belon, gum blower.
- put some gum on the blower..blow away...it has an addictive smell :p

5) 2 balls on a stick toy
- No idea what is the baby called....but i did own 1

6) Nintendo Era
- This is the famous Super Mario 2, you never played it? i feel sorry for you ...one of the best and most original game of all time

7) Toy gun
- How this works is, you see those red rounded "ammunations" ? you place them on the barrel, the hammer will hit on it thus create a loud noise.

8) Cartoons
- Accompanied me through my Primary School days....Thunder Thunder ..Thunder...Thundercast...HHhooooooooOOoo

A Penangites Childhood Memories.... Part 1

2008-08-13T09:15:00.007+08:00

All these pictures really brings back memories.... during Primary school i suppose

This pictures are not mine, instead found it all on a forward mail that my colleague forwarded to me, very memorable pictures.

1) Tora
- Suppose every kid tried this before, the advertisement on 5-5:30pm everyday while we watched cartoon.

2) Western Bar
- haha you can see students bring this to school and play during recess and if you are unlucky you are going to get it confiscated by the teacher. :p

3) RM 0.10 Bubble Gums
- you get this water enabled tattoos on the wrappings :p

4) Happy Family
- Personally i never tried this before...have no idea what is this...oh well

5) Back to the future!
- Who never watch this before can go jump off a building....i mean really..

6) Stickers
- Another playable that i never experience before

7) Country flagged erasers
- These were like RM 0.10 each, we normally don't use that many but i suppose its like , "Kids collectible" and often we use it as a gambling medium...like we bet with money now, last time we bet with erasers. And some shooting game involving erasers spawned during primary schooling days which i forgot how it works..maybe somebody can refresh me.

8) Lastik
-Don't get to see this last time, maybe its kinda dangerous, instead we use rubber bands + paper to shoot

9) Power Rangers
- ok this one is way past my childhood.... Voltron > Power rangers, Gaban > Power rangers, Mask rider > Power Rangers.

10) Pencil Box
- omg, the pencil box with mutiple "Secret" compartment which can't fit anything , maybe some 10 cent coins.

11) Panda brand water colors
- ok this is Classic, its like tooth paste, sometime it will leak out from the bottom... classic classic!

12) Piano

13) Fighting Fish
- got 2 types, Siam type (which is the one below), and the local type, which have shorter fins, how many of you actually seen fighting fish fight before? it can last from 5 min to 10 mins, until 1 fish actually give up and surrender....its quite horrifying as you can see tears all aronud the 2 fishes...sometime flesh will be biten off...stuff like that.

14) Sumi Jellies
- I know i ate alot of jellies like this but i never knew the name until now...

15) Sugus
- if you never ate a Sugus before, you failed.

16) Playing cards
- there are loads and loads of playing cards last time, like those with stats, for eg, air planes, stats like weight, top speed, engine capacity..horse power...fun fun stuff... Sorry no Magic: The gathering here.

Part 2 continue later or tomorrow when i have time :)

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Theme Song "You And Me" MV (Sarah Brightman and Liu Huan), 2008年北京第29屆奧林匹克運動會主題歌《我和你》MV (莎拉‧布萊曼、劉歡)

2008-08-12T21:59:00.007+08:00

Simply gorgeous ....heart felt!

Super Sunday

2008-08-10T10:33:00.002+08:00

Sunday, I get to sleep late today, woke up @ 8am today, yes 8am us consider late now....I must be getting old now... I don't get the chance to sleep until 10 - 11am now.

Now 10:35am, i am sitting @ 4th street, Autobinee service center waiting for my wifey's Kenari to be serviced, hence this post was born.

To my surprise, there are 20ppl (including myself) here in this small waiting lounge, I am so relieved i brought my lappy with me or else i am going to be bored to death. Requested the shop to do a major overhaul kinda stuff for me, don't really know what are they doing but i suppose something more then the usual service. Wei's Kenari is now at 91k mileage and the steering wheel is vibrationw when driving, the vibrating because even pronounce when you backing up the car.

Waiting vain for the announcer to announce my name so i can take the car and go home....i suppose another 1 and a half hour more to go....

Saying of the day

2008-08-07T11:40:00.002+08:00

Losers will try their best, winners goes home with the prom queen
- Sean Connery, The Rock

Why Generation Y is broke.

2008-08-07T10:22:00.001+08:00

By Emma Johnson, MSN Money

What makes Sophia Wallace a typical member of her generation?

The 28-year-old New York resident has a master's degree from a prestigious university, a successful career in photography, stamps in her passport from around the globe and, until recently, personal finances that were out of control. "Oh my God, I overspent!"

When Wallace graduated with a student-loan debt of $60,000, she found herself overwhelmed to the point of financial paralysis. She tore through a $5,000 loan from her dad as bills stacked up. She had no idea where her money was going -- despite making what she defines as a good salary. The sense of powerlessness crippled her.

When friends recommended she hire an accountant, Wallace packed a FedEx box with bills, receipts and mail and sent it off.

"He wrote me a letter that said, 'You've got to get your life together! Most of these bills aren't even open.' It was a really humbling thing," Wallace says. "But the next time, all my receipts were on a spreadsheet. No one had ever taught me to make a budget or balance a checkbook." What do you know about money?

Today, people in their 20s and 30s are more educated than ever before. Some 85% of those aged 25 and older hold a high school diploma, and 27% have a college degree. This generation of adults is also, of course, the most technologically sophisticated to date, with about half using cell phones for text messaging and 90% on e-mail.

Talk back: Is Gen Y dumb or just lazy?

And yet stats indicate our generation's financial literacy is abysmal, with personal finances to match. Only 52% of high school seniors passed a recent national financial literacy test, meaning adults entering the work force do not know enough about basic budgeting, interest rates or taxes to make sound decisions for their own lives. Quiz: Will you end up in your parents' basement?

As a group, we have failed to get a grip on fiscal reality:

The median credit-card debt of low- and middle-income people aged 18 to 34 is $8,200.
The average college debt for recent grads is more than $20,000 and rising.
People between the ages of 25 and 34 make up 22.7% of all U.S. bankruptcies (but just 14% of the population at large), according to a recent report.

Carmen Wong, the 30-something author of "Gener@tion Debt: Take Control of Your Money -- A How-To Guide" and a former Money magazine staff writer, defends her age group. The problem is not lack of smarts, she says, but can be chalked up to an

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First day @ my new work place

2008-08-04T17:21:00.002+08:00

First day at work...at my new work place.

Kinda like the first impression...i love the ambient @ my cubicle....my cubicle is the smallest amongst all my working experience...but...i have the privacy, its quiet and no noisy equipments around me.....ahhhh .... i don't share cubes with other people now.

My colleagues ..so far so good.... my buddy has been really helpful. My senior...one of them already start to assign job to me ...he looks helpful ...at least i don't be sitting at my cube mindlessly with all the materials he mailed to me to read about.

All in all....i really hope i can settle down quick and start work!

Ok time to go home now, manage to squeeze in all of this before i go home :)

Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116

2008-07-29T10:10:00.002+08:00

Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 (pronounced ['albin']) was a name intended for a Swedish child who was born in 1991.^[1]

The boy's parents had planned to never legally name him at all, as a protest^[2] against the naming law of Sweden (Namnlag (1982:670)), which reads:

“

First names shall not be approved if they can cause offense or can be supposed to cause discomfort for the one using it, or names which for some obvious reason are not suitable as a first name.

”

Because the parents (Elisabeth Hallin and Lasse Diding) failed to register a name by the boy's fifth birthday, a district court in Halmstad, southern Sweden, fined the parents 5,000 kronor (US$682 at the time). Responding to the fine, the parents submitted the 43-character name in May 1996, claiming that it was "a pregnant, expressionistic development that we see as an artistic creation." The parents suggested the name be understood in the spirit of 'pataphysics. The court rejected the name and upheld the fine.

The parents then tried to change the spelling of the name to A (also pronounced ['albin']) instead. Once again, the court did not approve of the name, this time because of a prohibition on one-letter naming.

In his first passport, his name was given as "Icke namngivet gossebarn", meaning "unnamed little boy".^[3]

^Source:

6 Technologies That Don't Know That They Are Dead

2008-07-29T10:00:00.002+08:00

Some technologies are like a Tyrannosaurus running down the highway (without the awesome). They made sense once and now they're hideously out of place, carried only by momentum as they stumble toward their inevitable date with the sixteen-wheeler of Progress.

But, like the T-Rex, they seem intent on doing as much damage as they can until then.

#6. Phone Books

An incredible 615 million phone books were printed last year, most of which were used to replace missing legs on sofas or were ripped apart in Youtube videos.

About another million tons of these useless blocks will be shipped out to households and offices next year, where an increasing number will make a U Turn at the front porch and head to the landfill without ever being opened. William Rathke, an anthropologist who studies garbage, says you can "dig a trench through a landfill and you will see layers of phone books like geographical strata or layers of cake." Rathke, who despite digging through trash for a living has his Ph.D. from Harvard, claims phone books account for about 10-30% of the trash at your local dump.

In an era when you can fit many gigabytes onto a device small enough to be swallowed by a cat and even your local bait shop has a website, phone companies still want us to find phone numbers the same way we did 100 years ago: by dragging out a bulky, ten-pound list printed on dead trees.

Why are they still around?
Since you've probably never opened one, you may not realize that phone books are chock full of so many ads that they generated $13.9 billion last year. That sort of makes sense when you realize these ads are being force fed to every single household in America, like giant bricks of spam just appearing on your porch once a year. The only difference is you can click out of a pop up ad. Phone books weigh 10 lbs and have to be disposed of in special ways, to avoid becoming even more than 30% of your local landfill. Yes, it would appear that Satan works in advertising, and he's damn good at what he does.

But even though it reaches twice as many homes as the Super Bowl, does it get past the doorstep of those homes anymore? Are there really $13.9 billion worth of people using them? Well yes, if you believe the phone companies, and the people they've paid to conduct surveys. And in an industry with no sales figures (because nobody asked for the damn things in the first place) how else are you going to track who actually uses them?

Well there is one way. You could go hunting around in landfills to see if the phone books were thrown away all at once right when everyone got them, creating entire layers of phone book in the earth. You know, like a cake? But who's bat shit crazy enough to do something like that?

#5. MP3 Players

No sooner than we celebrate the death of the CD, its killer may be the next one in the grave. We're talking about the iPod (and its countless imitators) which is seeing falling sales for the first time in its short life.

But don't feel sorry for Apple, the reason for the MP3 player slide is that cell phones (including their own iPhone) make perfectly good MP3 players. Selling someone an iPod now is like selling a feces gun to a monkey; he doesn't need it.

Why are they still around?
MP3 players hang around for the same reason digital cameras and GPS navigators hang around; all those things are available on phones, but the standalone devices still do it a little better.

For instance, there are iPods that can hold up to 40,000 songs now (which we believe is more songs than actually exist) and the iPhone "only" has room for about 3,500. But since the average user hasn't stolen anywhere near that many songs anyway, fewer and fewer are seeing the point of carrying around a separate device.

It's true the iPod still has some fashion appeal, and Apple continues to crank out versions with new features (including the iPod Touch, which seems to have been designed as an iPhone that you can't call people with). But it's a hopeless battle, since some of us just don't have the extra pocket. That won't get any better with time, since experts believe spandex jumpsuits are the future.

As processors and memory get exponentially smaller and smaller, the cell phone will swallow up every device in the home. By 2020 you won't even need a separate computer or laptop. By 2040 cell phones will be in charge of the planet, and our job will just be to tote them around from place to place so they can have meetings with each other.

#4. DVDs

After ten years we're finally seeing dropping DVD sales. Considering movies can already be downloaded onto set-top boxes on a pay-per-view basis, and can be downloaded over the internet on a pay-nothing-per-view basis, it's a wonder it took this long. Any economists reading may recognize that combination of risk factors and symptoms the same way doctors recognize coughing, shortness of breath and a constellation of funny-shapes on a chest X-ray.

Companies like Sony would like to think the dip is due to people getting all excited about Bluray, but while Bluray sales have inched along, movie downloads have doubled.

Meanwhile Netflix has made a deal with Microsoft so that anyone who owns an XBox 360 can get a subscription to download Netflix movies, physical media be damned.

Why are they still around?
Box sets of TV shows have inexplicably injected huge profits into DVD over the last few years. Even though the shows are free to watch in rerun form and, if you're not happy with that, rips are available four nanoseconds before a show finishes airing. But loyal fans hold out for the official box set. If you're new to this human thing called "capitalism", corporations interpret "loyalty" the way a prisoner might interpret "dropping the soap".

For example, The Sopranos box set planned for later this year will cost four hundred dollars. This officially makes the studio better at criminal extortion than the characters on the DVDs. Unless they include a special "real ending" as an extra, we're guessing it won't be worth it.

The big question at this point is if Bluray ever takes off, since it's offering something that can't be downloaded (or not easily anyway--an HD movie takes an entire day to download on most connections). So until our internet connections improve, sellers of movies on disc will have to depend on the market segment willing to pay to see every speck of dust on Batman's suit.

#3. Magazines, Catalogs and Newspapers

How many of you read an actual newspaper this morning? Yeah, didn't think so. If you're reading this you know how to use the internet, and if you know how to use the internet then you have no reason in the world to read a newspaper unless you're sitting in the dark for refusing to pay your electricity bill. In that case, stop reading this and go get a job.

But also clinging to life despite an absurd inferiority to their online competitors, are magazines (two million tons' worth every year) and catalogs six million tons' worth). Most of the time when people find something they want in a catalog, the first thing they do is hop online anyway, where they can comparison shop and see in real-time whether or not the item is in stock. So at this point their entire business involves printing out something already on the internet--at huge expense--and making your mailman carry it to your door.

As for magazines, two that went bust in just the last year include Life and Stuff--which together should technically cover every subject ever. FHM US, Jane and Child also went under, covering all the bases from "liking tits" and "having tits" to "the purpose of tits." When a titty-triple-threat can't stay profitable there is just no way to make a profit. Trust us, we know.

Why are they still around?
There are still some places you don't want to take a laptop, like to the beach or the shitter, and most of the world's cell phones still kind of suck at surfing the internet. Also you can't swat a fly with either a cell phone or a laptop, though as discussed above we assume fly-swatting cell phone capabiltiy is just around the corner, along with everything else.

But considering 3G phones are hitting the streets as quickly as they can be manufactured, anything that's only purpose is "having words printed on it" is pretty fucked. Unless you're "Luddite Wattle & Daub Mixing Quarterly" then you have until your current audience dies of old age to put your affairs in order.

#2. Video Games on Disc

Much has been made of the dying record stores, and we've already explained why movies on physical media are doomed, but we're guessing even they will outlive the video game disc.

Services like Steam, Greenhouse and XBox Live are already delivering code in exchange for cash in a process remarkably free of scratchable discs and staff who appear to have been grown or scavenged rather than hired. You might notice that one of those (Greenhouse) is run by Penny Arcade. So what is it about game discs that is so egregious that even the guys whose job it is to draw funny pictures about them feel compelled to take action?

Steam

It's not the media itself, it's the retailers who sell it. The greed of shops like GameStop that make a binge-eating Hutt look like a Milan model. Their industry-breaking "Trade fifteen games you bought last week for one this week" scam allows them to resell games at "second hand prices". A leading team of scientists and economists are hoping to measure the difference between second hand prices and the regular retail price using a microscope, a supercomputer and five precisely calibrated millionths of a dime.

This racket allows them to make up to 400% profit on every title (because you can sell the same used game over and over again), which we think is slightly more profit than you're allowed to make without being technically considered a racketeering outfit. Total sales last year were seven billion dollars, otherwise known as "Holy Fucking Shit" money, and of the money made on used games, approximately zero of it went back to the people who actually make the games.

The executives seem blind to the consequences of their actions, possibly because they're too busy playing in forts built from bricks of thousand dollar bills. This isn't so much killing the goose that laid the golden egg as sexually assaulting it then filming the worlds first bestiality/metallurgy/snuff film.

It was around here that game developers realized that:

a) The vendors are screwing us over;
b) Our customers, by definition, have machines that can download things;
c) Downloadable games let us cut out the middle man, who is an asshole anyway.

Why are they still around?
There are still a fair number of consoles that aren't hooked up to the internet, since not every gaming family wants to spend a day fucking around with cables and/or trying to make their home a Wi-Fi hotspot. Plus, game makers may lose in piracy, what they gain by cutting out the GameStop racket. In consoles it's always been the disc itself that was the first line of defense against illegal copies, where PC games allegedly see piracy rates of 70 to 80 percent.

Still, the chance to sell direct to customers, as well as to release smaller, low-cost games and to release titles in episodes to be sold separately, is too much to resist for console makers (not to mention cutting the cost of printing the discs). When the next generation goes to a download model, they'll surely find a solution to the piracy problem. And that solution will no doubt be incredibly annoying.

#1. Cash

Cash only exists by the grace of banks and the government, and it's a major hassle for both of them. Printing, maintaining, actually having to physically move the stuff around in order to charge you for doing so? Your bank has already made it clear that they'll charge you for whatever they feel like, so pretending to exchange that for an actual service is becoming kind of a drag.

The web has shown that virtual money can function perfectly well with the added advantage that they always know exactly what you criminal thieving unpatriots are doing with it. In the UK credit card spending has already overtaken cash, and if there's one thing the current economy tells us it's that America is WAY better at spending money we don't have than those Limeys. USA! USA!

If only there was some kind of widely accepted, eminently trackable ID that was already legally protected, which they could force everyone to use instead. (Hint: it's your credit card, and you can count yourself lucky they haven't already jammed your social security number on there and called it a day, citizen.)

Blizzard have already perfected the process, converting troublesome civilians into ideal consumers with the World of Warcraft VISA card. People doing nothing but sitting still and generating debt like a shopaholic hamster. Do you honestly see banks or the government getting in the way of this? Hell, only 8% of the world's money is in the form of printed currency.

Why is it still around?
There are some things you just can't do with a credit card.

Source:

http://www.cracked.com/article_16518_tech-zombies-6-technologies-that-dont-know-theyre-dead.html

I'm So Sick !!!

2008-07-17T18:12:00.001+08:00

I'm So Sick from BaronSoosdon on Vimeo.

Yun Ling's birthday dinner @ Dragon-i, Queensbay Mall

2008-07-10T23:52:00.004+08:00

Today is a special day, supposedly i thought was to gather and chit chat for dinner, instead i get to meet a very old friend which is Yun Ling (sorry if the name is wrongly spelled). Furthermore, I also found out that today is her birthday!

I had some noodles with 排骨, which i think is overrated, the cake is a bit too creamy from secret recipe.

Great evening which everybody enjoyed.

Lunch with William @ Yataimura

2008-07-07T00:27:00.003+08:00

William's back from his Phuket honeymoon with Pey Ching so we arrange a lunch gathering for chit chat and to catch up on things.

William, Pey Ching, Zi Jian, Yoong Chiat, Ming Hui, Wai Tatt & Wife, Seong Kiat & Wife , Su Hern and myself were present.

Yoong Chiat order some really spicy noodles....scale of 10 outta 40 on the spicy chart :) In summary everybody had a great time.

Whats your daily morning coffee websites you are visiting

2008-05-28T07:42:00.000+08:00

Just wondering what are the daily "fix" of websites you guys go during your morning coffee infront of your PC

for me

1) Digg.com
2) engadget.com
3) gizmodo.com
4) Syck Forum
5) Multiply
6) soccernet
7) skysport
8) dpreview
9) yahoo mail
10) Malaysiakini
11) Flickr page
12) WoR

Bum

2008-05-18T19:47:00.001+08:00

Freedom

2008-05-18T19:44:00.000+08:00

Kids Photography Class in Sunway Tunas, Penang this coming School Holiday

2008-05-08T12:31:00.000+08:00

Any plans for your kids this coming school holidays? Why not let them learn up photography. Incite their creativity, explore their imagination. Photography is a healthy hobby and requires a creative mind and the urge to be different from the others to stand out amongst the crowd.

Our tutors are experienced photographers and tutors then will start from the very basic on how to operator the camera to how to get a good picture.

Please contact

- Ching - 017- 4690143
- Victor - 016-9513308

or myself (Boay YP) if you need any more infomation.

Diablo 3 Countdown?

2008-04-19T20:13:00.000+08:00

Blizzplanet Countdown Teaser

You will notice Blizzplanet, Diablo3.com and StarcraftTwo lag today and probably in upcoming days. Keep reloading the page if you get a time out error. Many gaming sites are itched in curiosity about what the countdown teaser is all about, and the web is hammering the servers.

The teaser at Diablo3.com is not about the newspost you will find there concerning The Veiled Prophet - book three of Diablo: The Sin War Trilogy. That book was published on September 2007. You are welcome to read the review nevertheless, and to read the trilogy by Richard A. Knaak.

Play some Diablo II, and then play some more. Find out what all the fuzz is about on May 1st.

how much does 1 gallon (3.57 liter) of fuel costs in the world

2008-04-09T12:42:00.000+08:00

BN doesn't discriminate, Azalina tells MBs

2008-04-09T07:23:00.000+08:00

Azalina vs the five PR states: Your say

Apr 9, 08 10:09am

‘The more discrimination imposed on the Pakatan Rakyat states, the more the people will insist on supporting PR.’

On BN doesn't discriminate, Azalina tells MBs

Kamen Lee: Azalina said it was a ‘technical’ matter when her ministry channels funds to a different committee and not the state Tourism Action Councils (TAC) like other BN-held states.

Technical? My foot! This is daylight robbery. We, as voters in Selangor, Penang, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan, are now being robbed of our much needed tourism money.

I am gutted. These are the things that BN likes to do that vindicated my choice in voting for the opposition during the recent election.

Zorgen: Irregardless of whatever explanation that was given, it is very obvious that this is discriminating against the people in the five states under the administration of Pakatan Rakyat. I suggest that the people in the five states controlled by Pakatan Rakyat should pay their income taxes to state government instead of going to federal.

By the way, Azalina and other BN (so-called) leaders must not understand anything about psychology. The more discrimination imposed on the PR states, the more the people will insist on supporting PR.

BN has never learned from their failure in Kelatan. Probably they (BN leaders) are too proud to learn from the rakyat. All these (and upcoming) discriminations already helped me to decide my vote in 13^th GE. Let's experience another round of tsunami in five years time.

Uncle Leow: If Azalina get away with this we should hold a referendum to determine that:

1. Citizens of the five states pay taxation only to their state government. The PR state government should find a law to allow us, the citizens in the PR states, to pay income tax and all federal tax directly to the state government. Only after deducting all needed expenses like for industrial development, sports, tourism and others will the balance go to the federal government for defense, transportation and other related matters.

2. Become independent and secede from Malaysia. PR states should become independent, running their own internal and foreign affairs. The PR state will maintain own foreign diplomatic corps, their own police and army. Just like the republic of Singapore and Brunei. In this way, the PR states can run their own administrative policies without conflicting BN’s. PR and BN can be friends again without causing harm to each other.

Peter Yew: Somehow her actions betray her and Azalina’s actions clearly show strong discrimination. Was she suggesting that the BN government does not trust federal funds in the hands of the PR state governments? I would venture to say that based on the corruption records of past BN state governments, the PR state governments will be able to stretch every federal ringgit more effectively.

In many countries, tourism is a state affair and tourism revenue are retained by the states. May I suggest to the PR governments to initiate their own state run tourism programmes and see how the BN government reacts.

Via
Malaysia-Kini

Wow, this is great advertising...or not?

2008-04-09T06:40:00.000+08:00

This morning i found a great story about a man committing suicide @ genting and got caught by the safety net of Skyway. The officers are trying to convince him to give in and come back by fried chickens and maybe offer him a slower death by offering him some ciggys.

Now i notice something very funny. Go to this link, where the story is

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/9/nation/20892716&sec=nation

Move your cursur to the "Win" alphabet, from the "window" word, you should notice there is an underline on "win", and walaa, what you get.

Chelsea trial Malaysian starlets

2008-04-05T22:49:00.000+08:00

Malaysian youngsters Badrul Bakhtiar and Bunyamin Umar are set for a two-week trial with Chelsea.

The two 20-year-olds are considered Malaysia's brightest talents and left for London on Friday to train with the Premier League side.

Both are youth internationals for Malaysia and impressed during the Champions Youth Cup in 2007, an Under-19 tournament which featured national and club teams like Malaysia, Juventus, Milan and eventual winners Manchester United.

Bunyamin captained the Malaysian team which held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw in the group stages, and Badrul was a standout striker throughout the tournament.

The duo will now hope to impress manager Avram Grant in order to earn long-term deals at Stamford Bridge.

From:
Sky sports

Chris Crocker

2008-04-04T17:18:00.000+08:00

Ok those who don't know who Chris Crocker is, he is the guys yelling "Leave britney alone...."

">http://www.youtube.com/v/kHmvkRoEowc&hl=en">http://www.youtube.com/v/kHmvkRoEowc&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355">

I just found out he recorded a Britney video...gg
">http://www.youtube.com/v/h863nXDqCM0&hl=en">http://www.youtube.com/v/h863nXDqCM0&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355">

New Singaporean Superhero: Batman bin Superman

2008-04-04T16:40:00.000+08:00

You should never judge a book by its cover, but what if that book turned out to be a comic? Batman Bin Suparman might not be a joke, but his name sure is.

In Singapore, English is the most widely used language and all names are translated or converted to English when their Birth Certificate is issued.

On May 13, 1990, this young man was blessed with being named after two superheroes: Batman and Superman.

Unfortunately we were unable to find the boy for comment, as no one seems to know his alter egos…

linked from

Weird Asian News

Hey what do you think of my dress??

2008-04-03T18:09:00.000+08:00

nuff said... don't Fxxx with me

from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lalagirl/2113662657/

Rail project to cut KL- Penang journey to just three hours

2008-04-03T12:39:00.000+08:00

This will be a dream come true for alot of people. Comfortable and safe ride from KL - PG and vice versa. People will travel more frequent between this 2 places. I can shop in KLCC and back home to watch EPL in PG on weekends...sweet!!

Lets just hope the fares are reasonable.

Linked from
The Star

BUTTERWORTH: It will only take three hours to travel from Penang to Kuala Lumpur by train when the electrified double-track project (EDTP) is completed.

Once operational, commuters can have breakfast in Penang, lunch in KL and return to the island for dinner, all in the same day. Currently, the train journey between the destinations takes about nine hours. More...

Instantly Set a Screensaver Away Message

2008-04-02T05:51:00.000+08:00

I think personally this is pretty neat and useful tool. This tool helps you set your screensave message w/o going to your screensaver settings..blah blah...just 1 click of a button and go.

Have a look

http://lifehacker.com/assets/resources/2008/04/ssController.zip

From
http://lifehacker.com/374795/instantly-set-a-screensaver-away-message

Jim writes:

I am often drawn away from desk throughout the day, and often without my laptop. I find it helpful to my coworkers to leave a note to where I've disappeared to, so I've written a VB script called ssController. SsController takes a string and uses it as the text for the default Windows screensavers "3DText" and "Marquee" then launches th 'saver, bypassing any timeout you might have set.

Once you save Jim's VB script and set a keyboard shortcut for it, invoke the script and you get a prompt that looks like this:

Type in your away message, hit OK, and the 3DText or Marquee screensaver will launch with the away message set as the text. Handy! As you can see from the prompt, you can also type in @ to launch the screensaver's settings, or ! to disable it entirely. To set up ssController, download the zip file below, which contains the VB script and a ReadMe file with suggested instructions to set things up.

Download ssController.zip

Note: When I first ran the script, I got an error message about a missing registry key, because I hadn't used either of these screensavers on this PC before. To fix that, right-click on your desktop, choose Properties, and in the Screensaver tab, choose the 3DText saver. Hit Settings to set up your font size, appearance, and custom text. Once you save those settings, ssController should work without a hitch.

Penang to have their own underground train... PGtube?

2008-03-28T06:10:00.000+08:00

Sure most of you guys heard this.

Penang new CM is announcing that they are planning on getting a new "london" tube syle underground train network for Penang. It will be great if it happens, but my personal point of view, highly unlikely.

First of all, Penang's population isn't up to a point that the underground train network is going to benifit us. Yes Penang do have a few saturated places, namely Bayan Baru, Batu Lanchang, Pulau Tikus and maybe Georgetown, and thats about it. Penangites don't travel alot during work days like our KL counterparts. They go to work, then they go home during the weekdays, Penangites aren't fond of going out during weekdays for activities / shoppings .

Instead, i would hope that they beef up the present public transport system, namely our taxis and buses.

Look at today's paper

Rapid buses won’t stop at Komtar

PENANG: Rapid Penang buses will no longer stop at the Komtar bus interchange from Friday.

Rapid Penang chief executive officer Azhar Ahmad said the company made the decision after one of its bus captains was threatened with a parang there on Sunday. more...

And lets put this aside, I have really no idea how the new Penang CM is going to get funding for this project. Lets look back to what previous CM of Penang "promised"

Monday May 21, 2007

Penang monorail project to kick off early next year

BY DERRICK VINESH

PENANG: The RM1.2bil Penang monorail project will be implemented early next year, Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said. more...

I will be very surprised if the new Penang state government really manage to pull this off.

What the hell? what is Chelsea thinking?

2008-03-28T05:37:00.000+08:00

I totally support Chelsea coming to KL this coming June, but after seeing Mr. Kenyon taking picture with this fella...i felt disgusted instead.

Come on, don't you guys know this fella is one of the most "unliked" figure in Malaysia this days, dealing with this fella is really gonna make Chelsea's image bad. Man...this really spoilt my day... :(

Star-studded Chelsea’s date in KL is set for July 29

By AFTAR SINGH

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian football fans will get to watch a star-studded Chelsea first team live in action in Kuala Lumpur.

Chelsea, who will be in Asia for pre-season tour, are scheduled to play against Malaysia on July 29 after a match in China on July 23.

Chelsea's Peter Kenyon (right) gives FAM deputy president Khairy Jamaluddin a team jersey after the pre-season tour announcement Thursday.

ProEvents are the promoters of the Chelsea tour and their CEO, Julian Kam, said yesterday: “I am sure that many football fans not only in Malaysia but also those from neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and even those in Australia, will welcome this great opportunity to see The Blues in action.”

Chelsea are one the big four clubs in England who are still in the running for double honours this season – the English Premier League and Champions League titles.

“We wish Chelsea all the best in the final stages of the EPL and Champions League and hope that they will come to Asia as champions of both tournaments,'' said Julian.

The chief executive of Chelsea, Peter Kenyon, said that besides the match in Malaysia, they would also host Malaysian national coach B. Sathiananthan for about 10 days at Stamford Bridge in early August.

“I believe this will benefit both parties and may pave the way for other such programmes in future between Malaysia and Chelsea.

“This also underlines Chelsea's commitment to develop football in Asia,'' he said.

The FA of Malaysia (FAM) deputy president, Khairy Jamaluddin, said that national team will feature in the match against Chelsea.

“It will be a good experience for the national players in preparation for the Merdeka Tournament in September,'' he said.

From
http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2008/3/28/sports/20771609&sec=sports

Photography and The Law: Know Your Rights

2008-03-18T09:49:00.000+08:00

Linked from
http://photojojo.com/content/tips/legal-rights-of-photographers/

Photography and The Law: Know Your Rights

Say you’re out for a photographic stroll, taking pictures of that cool old power plant on the edge of town. Suddenly seventy security guards swarm you and demand you hand over your camera.

“What is this,” you ask yourself, “a Michael Moore movie?”

You’re sure you haven’t done anything wrong, but you don’t know whose side the law is on. Fret no more- we’ve got a list of things you can and can’t do, and it’s a lot more permissive than you might think.

Now grab your camera back from that Rent-A-Cop and let’s hit the books.

The Ten Legal Commandments of Photography*

*Charlton Heston not included

p.s. Thanks to everybody who entered our “Monday Stinks!” contest! Congratulations to Notorious D.A.V., Warren Photography, evaded, mommaozzy 84, biancaprime, berdandy, spade, AnasBananas, trenity00, andreskrey, determinedforce01, ladibug, killbyte, Nellofcourse and Mia!

Before we get started here, we have to point out that even though we’re smart and awesome and devastatingly attractive, we’re not lawyers. None of this should be construed as legal advice. If you have a legal issue, get in touch with a lawyer. Much of this information was gleaned from attorney Bert P. Krages‘ website, so we’ll go ahead and recommend him.

The Ten Legal Commandments of Photography

I. Anyone in a public place can take pictures of anything they want. Public places include parks, sidewalks, malls, etc. Malls? Yeah. Even though it’s technically private property, being open to the public makes it public space.

II. If you are on public property, you can take pictures of private property. If a building, for example, is visible from the sidewalk, it’s fair game.

III. If you are on private property and are asked not to take pictures, you are obligated to honor that request. This includes posted signs.

IV. Sensitive government buildings (military bases, nuclear facilities) can prohibit photography if it is deemed a threat to national security.

V. People can be photographed if they are in public (without their consent) unless they have secluded themselves and can expect a reasonable degree of privacy. Kids swimming in a fountain? Okay. Somebody entering their PIN at the ATM? Not okay.

VI. The following can almost always be photographed from public places, despite popular opinion:

accident & fire scenes, criminal activities
bridges & other infrastructure, transportation facilities (i.e. airports)
industrial facilities, Superfund sites
public utilities, residential & commercial buildings
children, celebrities, law enforcement officers
UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, Chuck Norris

VII. Although “security” is often given as the reason somebody doesn’t want you to take photos, it’s rarely valid. Taking a photo of a publicly visible subject does not constitute terrorism, nor does it infringe on a company’s trade secrets.

VIII. If you are challenged, you do not have to explain why you are taking pictures, nor to you have to disclose your identity (except in some cases when questioned by a law enforcement officer.)

IX. Private parties have very limited rights to detain you against your will, and can be subject to legal action if they harass you.

X. If someone tries to confiscate your camera and/or film, you don’t have to give it to them. If they take it by force or threaten you, they can be liable for things like theft and coercion. Even law enforcement officers need a court order.

What To Do If You’re Confronted

Be respectful and polite. Use good judgement and don’t escalate the situation.
If the person becomes combative or difficult, think about calling the police.
Threats, detention, and taking your camera are all grounds for legal or civil actions on your part. Be sure to get the person’s name, employer, and what legal grounds they claim for their actions.
If you don’t want to involve the authorities, go above the person’s head to their supervisor or their company’s public relations department.
Call your local TV and radio stations and see if they want to do a story about your civil liberties.
Put the story on the web yourself if need be.

More Resources

We’ve condensed these facts a great deal. We recommend downloading The Photographer’s Right and keeping a couple of copies in your camera bag if you’re shooting somewhere you might expect trouble.
Andrew Kantor has written a good article and a PDF summary of your rights, including some of the ins-and-outs of publishing your pictures.
The Legal Handbook for Photographers is a great resource covering all aspects of photography and the law.
Live outside the United States? Try these links for photographer’s rights in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

Latest!! Riot @ Penang, Komtar

2008-03-14T12:16:00.000+08:00

Rumours has it that Malays are having a riot on streets of Penang, Komtar due to the fact that the new elected state governments plan to abolish the NEP.

There are no actual confirmation of this as of yet.

History of photography

2008-03-14T07:35:00.000+08:00

From http://www.neatorama.com/2006/08/29/the-wonderful-world-of-early-photography/

A very great readup, hope you enjoy

If we take a look at the state of photography today, such as the advances of digital camera, artful image manipulation by photoshop, and even the role of paparazzi in media - and the pervasiveness of photographic images in our lives, it is easy to forget that the first photograph ever was taken just 180 years ago.

Photography was probably an inevitable invention - the surprise was that it took so long for it to develop, especially given that the scientific principles that are responsible for it - physical principles such as our understanding of lens and optics and chemical processes that are required to affix permanent images, have actually been known for long before the invention of the first photograph.

The development of photography was quite fast: since Niépce took the world’s first photograph in 1826, it took only about 30 years for photograph became a product for mass consumption with the introduction of carte-de-visite. Before long, the world’s first concealed cameras were introduced to help detectives document the dalliances of cheating spouses!

But enough small talk - let’s take a look at some fun facts about the development of early photography, famous and "first" photos, weird cameras, and more:

Camera Obscura

Before we talk about the birth of modern photography, let’s talk a little about an ancient technique that served as a precursor - say, "proto-photography" if you will.

This device is called a camera obscura (latin for dark chamber). It is literally a dark room or a box with a small hole in one wall. An inverted image from outside the hole would appear on the opposite wall. This device could thus be used to aid drawing (artist could trace the outline of the image on a canvas hung on the wall) and was considered quite significant in the development of proto-photography.

The invention of camera obscura (latin for dark chamber) was attributed to an islamic mathematician, astronomer, and physicist named Ibn al-Haitham [wiki] or better known as Alhazen, in the 11th century Egypt. However, the principle of camera obscura was probably known to thinkers as early as Aristotle (300 BC).

Camera obscura was widely known to early scientists: Roger Bacon, Leonardo da Vinci, Johannes Kepler, and Athanasius Kircher [wiki] all wrote about this optical device.

Giphantie: Prediction of the Invention of Photography

In 1760, decades before the invention of photography, French author Charles-François Tiphaigne de la Roche predicted its invention.

In a story titled Giphantie (yes, an anagram of his name), Tiphaigne de la Roche wrote about a race of secret supermen in an imaginary wonderland who could fix a reflected image onto a canvas coated with a sticky substance!

Link [Google Translation]

World’s First Photograph

The grainy picture above is the world’s first photograph called "View from the Window at Le Gras" (circa 1826), taken and developed by French photographer pioneer Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. He called this process "heliography" or sun drawing - it certainly was a long process: the exposure time was about 8 hours.

Link | Nicéphore Niépce [wiki] | Niepce

World’s First Daguerreotype

Although daguerreotype [wiki] was not the first photographic process to be invented, it was the first commercially viable process (earlier techniques required hours and hours of successful exposure and therefore weren’t suitable for taking people’s photos).

This technique was developed by French chemist Louis Daguerre [wiki], with collaboration with Niépce (see above). The daguerreotype above, titled "L’Atelier de l’artiste" was probably the world’s first daguerreotype, made in 1837.

In 1839, the French government acquired Daguerre’s French patent and announced his invention "a gift free to the world" - but simultaneously, Daguerre had acquired patents abroad, where he stringently controlled the use of daguerreotype.

And just like with any technology, the first adopters turned out to be erotic photography [wiki, nsfw - obviously].

Posing for a daguerreotype wasn’t trivial: because the exposure time is about 15 minutes, the subject’s head had to be held still with a clamp!

World’s First Human Portrait

In 1839, Robert Cornelius, a Dutch chemist who immigrated to Philadelphia, took a daguerreotype portrait of himself outside of his family’s store and made history: he made the world’s first human photograph!

Robert Cornelius [wiki]

You’re looking at Dorothy Catherine Draper, sister of NYU professor John Draper and model for the first daguerreotype portrait of a woman in the United States in 1839. She was the first woman to be photographed with her eyes open!

The earliest American attempts in duplicating the photographic experiments of the Frenchman Louis Daguerre occurred at NYU in 1839. John W. Draper, professor of chemistry, built his own camera and made what may be the first human portrait taken in the United States, after a 65-second exposure. The sitter, his sister Dorothy Catherine Draper, had her face powdered with flour in an early attempt to accentuate contrasts.

Link

The Man Who Coined "Photography"

Also in 1839, the term "photography" was coined by Sir John Frederick William Herschel [wiki], a british mathematician and astronomer (side note: his father, Sir Frederick William Herschel, also a famous astronomer, discovered the planet Uranus!)

Herschel also coined the terms "negative" and "positive" in the context of photography, and also of the vernacular "snapshot."

Stereoscopy

The principle of stereoscopy (or 3D photo) actually preceded that of photography - it was described in as early as the 1500s by Giambattista della Porta [wiki].

In traditional stereoscopy [wiki], a pair of 2-D images - each representing a slightly different perspective of the same object, creates a perception of depth and tricks the brain into seeing a 3-D image.

The invention of daguerreotype sparked interest in stereoscopy in the Victorian era.

World’s First Photomontage

In 1858, Henry Peach Robinson [wiki] made the world’s first photomontage by combining multiple negatives to form a single image.

Robinson’s first and most famous composite photo, called "Fading Away", was a composition of five negatives. It depicted a girl dying of consumption (or tuberculosis), and quite controversial as some objected to the morbid subject of the photo.

World’s Oldest Surviving Aerial Photo

The first aerial photo was taken by Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, better known as Nadar [wiki], in 1858, using a tethered balloon over the Bievre Valley, France.

Unfortunately, Nadar’s aerial photos were lost - so the oldest surviving aerial photo, shown here, was that of Boston in 1860, taken by James Wallace Black [wiki], also using a balloon.

Carte-de-visite

In the late-1850s in Europe, Andre Disdéri popularized photos-as-calling-cards called carte-de-visite.

Carte-de-visite became popular and Disdéri became famous when French ruler Emperor Napoleon III en route to Italy with his army, stopped by his studio to pose for a photograph! (Never mind that the story might be apocryphal, it was still a good story!)

Because it is cheap to produce, carte-de-visite was mass produced for the public and became a huge fad in the Victorian era.

This carte-de-visite is of an interesting character called Eugen Sandow, dubbed the first modern bodybuilder who gained fame in late 1800s.

Do All of a Galloping Horse’s Hooves Leave the Ground?

In 1872, Eadweard Muybridge, a British-born photographer, was hired by Leland Stanford (who later founded the university), to settle a question (some people say a $25,000 bet) whether there was a point in a horse’s full gallop where all four hooves were off the ground.

Muybridge arranged 12 cameras alongside a race track and attached a string to the camera switches across the track. When the horse ran through the string, it triggered the shot. The series of photographs showed that indeed, all four hooves leave the ground when the horse is in full gallop.

Muybridge went on to develop systems and techniques to photograph motion of people and animal.

Eadweard Muybridge [wiki]

World’s First Color Photograph

The oldest known color photograph was taken by Louis Ducos du Hauron in 1872. The photo is of a view of Angouleme in Southern France.

The Birth of Photojournalism

Amongst many pioneering photographers of the era is John Thomson [wiki], a Scottish Victorian photographer and traveler, whose work documenting the street people in London laid the foundation of social documentary and photojournalism.

This photo is called The Crawlers (cir. 1876 - 1877), a part of Thomson’s work called Street Life of London, which documents in earnest the hardship of life of the transients and the poor in that era.

Photographic Gun

In the 1880s, French scientist Étienne-Jules Marey wanted to learn how birds fly, so he invented a photographic gun, which uses a rotating glass plate to take 12 consecutive pictures per second!

The Pioneers: Étienne-Jules Marey | EJ Marey [wiki]

Vintage Concealed and Gun Cameras

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, we saw a boom in the design and production of cameras concealed in everyday objects. Many of these cameras were sold for detective works, whereas some (like the matchbox camera) were designed specifically for spying activities.

For a fantastic collection of vintage cameras, it’s hard to beat George Eastman House’s online archive: Link

World’s First Underwater Photo

The first underwater camera system was developed by French scientist Louis Boutan in 1893.

The image on the left was the world’s first underwater photography - the model was so excited that he held the identification plate upside down!

Link | Another Link

Mammoth Camera

In 1900, George R. Lawrence built this mammoth 900 lb. camera, then the world’s largest, for $5,000 (enough to purchase a large house at that time!) It took 15 men to move and operate the gigantic camera.

The photographer was commissioned by the Chicago & Alton Railway to make the largest photograph (the plate was 8 x 4.5 ft in size!) of its train for the company’s pamphlet "The Largest Photograph in the World of the Handsomest Train in the World."

Link

World’s Most Expensive Photo

You’re looking at Edward Steichen’s photo of a pond in Long Island, New York, in 1904. Don’t laugh: this rare print has set the world record for most expensive photograph, sold for $2.9 million in February 2006!

BBC Article | Edward Steichen [wiki]

Thousands Posed for Mole and Thomas’ War Photos

In 1918, photographers Arthur S. Mole and John D. Thomas took a photograph of 30,000 military officers and men at Camp Custer, Michigan. A special 70-foot tower was built for this purpose.

Mole and Thomas actually specialized in taking these types of photographs - they took a total of 10 photos where thousands of soldiers were posed to form giant, living, symbols of the USA, including a portrait of Woodrow Wilson, the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, the Marine Corps emblem, and more.

Link

Watch the Birdie!

In the 1920s, a brass birdie was often used by photographers to grab the attention of children during a portrait session (hence the saying "Watch the birdie"):

The birdie would typically be held by an assistant or parent. A rubber hose and squeeze bulb were connected to the short length of open brass tubing. The brass base separates into two halves so the bottom of the base can be filled with water. Squeezing the rubber bulb causes the bird to make a whistling and warbling sound.

Bye, its been a wonde......nah..just bye.

2008-03-09T07:18:00.000+08:00

Tried to catch some pictures of people celebrating or parading but got nothing, end up i found this on the coastal highway.

2008 General Election Summary

2008-03-09T03:32:00.000+08:00

BN denied 2/3 in Parliamentary seats
http://pru12.spr.gov.my/spr/module/5_KerusiDR.php

For those who can read Chinese the full detailed listing

All Parliamentary seats
http://www.sinchew-i.com/special/election2008/tables_p.phtml

All State seats
http://www.sinchew-i.com/special/election2008/tables.phtml

News update @ 8:32am, 9/3/2008
- Lim Guan Eng appointed new CM on 1:30am 9/3/2008

March 6, Wrapping up ceramah DAP

2008-03-04T18:37:00.005+08:00

Get ready guys, as DAP is mounting a grand finale of its assault on Penang.

Date : 6/3/2008 (Thursday)
Time : 8pm
Attire : Red (DAP color)

Come and support the cause, key speaker including Lim Kit Siang, Kak Wan, Karpal Singh... Remember to wear a red attire to symbolize the DAP color and we want a change ! Because we deserve more...

Is Star publications trying to fool the citizens?

2008-03-04T14:39:00.001+08:00

Letter i receive as forward mail from my friend which tells nothing but the truth...don't believe? get a copy of the stars this few days during GE, count how many pages The Star is covering stories on BN VS Opposition party. Tell me the ratio.

Subject: Is the STAR PUBLICATION trying to fool it`s READERS !!!!
To :
Manager,
Editors
and staff of the
Star Publications (M) Bhd

C:C to all Contacts.
28/2/08

IS STAR PUBLICATION A SHARE HOLDER OF BARISAN NASIONAL?

Dear publisher,

With much regret and disappointment over the star publication i am writing this letter.
I strongly condemn and object all your articles in the star the pass few days. Very clearly i can see that your articles on the coming general election is giving a one sight report and supporting the barisan Nasional Government. I view this as something not healthy and a threat to the future of the the media.

You use the caption MALAYSIA DECIDES 2008 in your General election report.
How to decide when you don't even give a report on the opposition party.
Lim kit siang, Anwar Ibrahim and other oppositions gave many ceramah`s in penang, But i don't see any detail or article on that events. and even if i had see, It would be a negative report on that party. What kind of practice is this in a democratic country ? We as the rakyat and reader of the star expects and demand equal coverage and news on all parties in the general election. Yes it`s good to tell the nation what the barisan has done for it`s people and the development it has brought to this country, at the same time it is also important to hear from the opposition their views and vision for the country. Whether they are giving empty promises, or lying, it is for the rakyat to decide. Not for the government or for your publication to decide or come to an conclusion.

In your publication today 28/2/07 page N 11, there is an advertisement from MIC. What kind of advertisement is that. Is MIC trying to instill fear in the nation and getting votes by threatening us. It say`s IF YOU DON'T VOTE
FOR MIC THEN BE PREPARED TO PAY THE PRICE.... What the hell does MIC
mean
by that. That statement has already breach the election campaign law which prohibits nominee's from threatening the voters. I see only Barisan Nasional `s advertisement in the star.. Aren`t there any other parties contesting in this coming general election? Every single day i see so many full page BN advertisement, Have they not yet exceeded the campaign budget limit approved by the election commission for all parties. I know how many thousands it cost for a single page advertisement in the star. Or is the star sponsoring the pages for BN... If yes, then why is the star not sponsoring also for DAP, KEADILAN and PAS. There are also readers whom support the opposition as much as the readers whom supports BN. This is such and insult to all readers of the Star. We give you business and you pay us back in this way ?

When reporting on news which refers to Dato seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Datuk seri Najib Tun Razak, your publication refers them as the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia . Has your editors forget that the Parliament has been dissolved. What right do you all have then to officially call both this people current ministers of Malaysia .
Aren't` you all then giving false information to the readers.

I send this email as and warning to the Star Publication to give and equal coverage to all parties on the General Election. It`s is also a call from the Election Commission President of Malaysia to give and equal and fair coverage to all parties. If your company were to still publish report on a one sight view after reading this email, I am going to launch a boycott on the star publication and urge penang people not to buy the Star. I will go all out for it using my contacts and influences and make sure people do not buy the Star. There are alternative paper like the SUN which provides equal news to the nation. Why then spent more to buy news which is not fair and equal to all. I hope this is the start for a change in the way your reports are being published. Let the Nation decide, and dont fool your readers.

Sudhagaran Stanley,
Coordinator,
Islanders Tamil Youth Network.

光大？Komtar? Nice BN Slogan.

2008-03-03T23:16:00.005+08:00

I stumble upon this BN slogan on Data Keramat, in front of the construction site of Time Square...i think they made some mistake or something. The slogan goes like this (note the BN symbol at the bottom of the banner)

Wha? For those who are not very familiar with Penang, the big new building behind the banner IS NOT KOMTAR! The pictures below....sadly...is Komtar. Komtar has always been in Penang way back, what has BN done to upgrade this iconic structure of Penang? We deserve more...

Mind you, all this pictures are taken on 2008, Feb 16th, and FYI its on a Saturday lunch time, peak hour for business in complexes and malls.

1. Entrance to Komtar from Pragin Mall

2. The once busy walkway

3. Super Komtar...

4. The Komtar food court on 5th floor

5. Pasar Malam? nah...its the main hall of Komtar.

6. They aren't having roller shutters on display FYI.

7. The main escalator that beside Super Komtar

Wei Shan Birthday @ Redbox, Gurney Plaza

2008-03-03T22:13:00.003+08:00

Yesterday we celebrated Ah Seang's wife, Wei Shan's birthday at Gurney plaza

Never been to Redbox on a Sunday night before, knowing that tomorrow is a working day more or less dampen the fun. But despite that, everything is still nice.

Reach there at around 6pm, had a buffer dinner and off we go singing till 11pm.

More pictures at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/plaz_zy/sets/72157604036304415/

Opposition Party Ceramah @ Han Chiang Indoor Stadium, 1/3/2008

2008-03-03T11:52:00.003+08:00

Anwar + Jeff Ooi + Karpal Singh + Guan Eng

Record turn out of 10,000 ++ despite heavy rain...its time for a change...we deserve more ...

From Malaysia-today.net:

PENANG (March 2, 2008): Big Guns from the DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat, which are fighting hard to capture Penang, were out in force last night.

The venue: The Han Chiang Indoor Stadium on Jalan Air Itam which is used more for sporting events than political speeches.

The theme: Comradeship among opposition parties, need for change and national unity.

The targets: Rracial politics, erosion of democratic principles and human rights.

The turnout: A 6,000 capacity arena filled to the brim with a couple of thousands more standing outside.

It was the first time DAP (contesting seven parliamentary and 20 state seats) and PKR (four parliament and 15 state) were on the same stage in a show of unity for the Penang electorate. But conspicuously absent was PAS which is contesting two parliament and five state seats.

Leading the assault on the ruling coalition was a line-up of opposition luninaries, including PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (whose wife and PKR president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is defencing Permatang Pauh parliament seat), DAP national chairman Karpal Singh and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

Anwar stressed on the strong bond of comradeship between DAP and PKR to build Penang. “In this elections, Penang will take the lead in toppling the Barisan Nasional (government) and on behalf of PKR, we give our word that we will work together with DAP to form a strong bond of comradeship to build Penang,” he said.

He asked voters to support the Rocket's candidates - Karpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor-parliament), Lim (Bagan-parliament) and Prof. Dr P. Ramasamy (Batu Kawan-parliament), besides PKR state chairman Datuk Zahrain Mohamed Hashim (Bayan Baru-parliamentary).

The appeal seemed to resonate with the crowd, of mixed races but majority Chinese, many standing in the rain, sharing umbrellas with strangers and some even getting drenched in the two-and-a-half hour downpour.

The show kicked off at 8pm with Penang DAP chairman Chow Kon Yeow (Tanjong incumbent) acknowledging the "record-breaking" turnout.

He warmed up the audience with tales of certain politician's wealth. “We don’t want a government that enriches top leaders,” he said, drawing cheers from the crowd, and asking voters to pick a government that really looked after them.

“Tonight’s gathering is one of all races – it shows Malaysians want change and don’t let the BN say we’re racial parties. We are all people of Malaysia," he said, just in time for Anwar’s arrival.

The crowd greeted the PKR adviser with shouts of “Reformasi! Reformasi!” Anwar went on to harp on familiar subjects -- the Hindraf, fuel price, detention without trial and Umno’s dominance in BN.

Pausing to acknowledge sections of the crowd which waved or shouted to get his attention, Anwar responded: “Enough of one party rule! Enough of corruption and enough of arrogance!”

“We have to seek a new mandate to change for a just multi-racial Malaysia. I say this after travelling throughout the country – do not underestimate the wisdom of our people,” he intoned.

Of the Hindraf leaders who are detained under the Internal Security Act, Anwar said if the offence was committed, it would be rightful to detain them.

“My room in Sungai Buloh (prison) is still vacant but if there is no evidence, they must be released."

Outside, the skies opened up and the drops of rain, lightly at first and became heavier within minutes. That did not dampen the crowd’s spirits as they rushed for shelter. Those who came prepared opened umbrellas and huddled their loved ones close to them.

Karpal Singh, a veteran criminal lawyer and former Internal Security Act detainee, spoke on an independent judiciary and repeated the overused phrase from the Lingam video: "looks like me, sounds like me but it’s not me".

Stressing that DAP and PKR were multi-racial parties, he said: “We cannot afford to have racial-based parties which keep the people divided. After 51-years of Independence, are we still to cling on to shackles that keep us apart?"

He pleaded with voters to deny the BN its two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Next up was Lim who stole the show with his flawless Penang Hokkien, regaling the crowd on oft-repeated issues like rule-of-law and the choice for chief minister.

Referring to the emergence of Padang Kota incumbent assemblyman Teng Chang Yeow as a front-runner for the coveted post, he asked: “Where did Teng come from? Is it because the chief minister does not have the power to decide?”

He also questioned the legality of the Penang Global City Centre (PGCC) asking if their opinion was sought before it was approved. He said the projects had defied the Kebun Bunga local government rules which limited buildings to only three storeys.

“Penang is hot enough, Penang is congested enough and we do not need those projects. We need more green lungs. We need more green paths and that is why I say they do not respect the people,” Lim said, to the applause of the crowd.

He appealed to the people "to unite under the banner of democracy and not race and religion".

“Penang must lead in the battle because of its history of fighting for democracy. Penang’s 1.5 million people should lead in the 27 million people to bring change,” he said.

Dinner @ New Lane , Penang

2008-02-29T21:20:00.003+08:00

Its been a while since i had dinner here.

Went Click&Snap with Ah Seang, had dinner here. Drizzling weather, felt nice and cooling.

Deadliest weapon in gaming history!

2008-02-24T22:27:00.001+08:00

Yeah, you heard me right...

Khoo Kongsi

2008-02-23T16:53:00.003+08:00

Today went to the government IC department to get forms for my wedding registration, yet it is not open on weekends. Thus hoped over to Khoo Kongsi. Its been a while since i went to Khoo Kongsi.

Cost me RM 5 for the entrance fee (dam they charge now) but i think they should for the sake of up keeping the buildings and maintaining it. Really hot day, not very satisfied with most of the pictures I took though.

Fellow blogger Jeff Ooi looking for volunteers for his GE campaign in Penang.

2008-02-22T19:46:00.002+08:00

Been reading Jeff's blog for over a year now, and would really hope he can win out in this election. Love to see a blogger breach into the defense of BN.

Anyway, doing what i can to help him out

Quoting from www.jeffooi.com

We have a fair bit of volunteers, but we need more. If you are available to help, please contact our Campaign Directors:
1 ) Mr Theng Tel: 016-4173108
2 ) Mr Tan Tel: 012-4309615

Its time to give a shit!

Yours truly, Malaysia

2008-02-22T19:25:00.002+08:00

Funny & true...

http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Malaysia

Dane Cook : Bad things happen to good people

2008-02-21T22:49:00.000+08:00

Dane cook just pwn you again

You suck @ Photoshop

2008-02-21T22:47:00.000+08:00

Now you know you suck @ photoshop.

Dane Cook : Brain Ninjas

2008-02-21T22:44:00.001+08:00

Dane Cook, hands down.... he pwn faces

Table Manners

2008-02-21T16:16:00.002+08:00

Table Setting Placement

In formal settings, all the silverware, glassware, cups, saucers and the like are placed on the table, so it’s often difficult to know which fork to use when or which water glass is yours. As a general rule to thumb, silverware is lined up in the order in which a person will use them, going from the outside, in. For instance, the fork and knife used for the salad are placed in the outermost of the setting, farthest from your plate (with the exception of the spoon). Dessert silverware, if not brought out with the dessert, are placed at the top of your entrée plate. Glassware, cup and saucer are placed to your right, while the napkin, bread plate and butter spreader to your left.

10 Table Manner Tips

Now that you know how the table setting is laid out and when to use each, here are 10 tips for the duration of the meal:

When dining with six or more, it’s polite to wait till roughly 50% of the table has their food before starting your meal. In smaller groups, wait until the entire table has their food, unless food temperature is at high risk in decreasing the enjoyment of the meal, and/or others at the table incessantly insist you begin.
You can and should use your knife to cut large pieces of lettuce or other ingredients in your salad. Nothing is worse than trying to shove a large piece of lettuce in your mouth and having some of it stick out. (No brainer, but this applies to your entrée as well.)
The proper way to butter a piece of bread is to rip off a piece that’s about one or two bites in size, butter it, and eat it. Repeat. Never bite straight into a roll, and refrain from cutting it in half and buttering.
While cutting meat, the correct way is to cut a piece and then switch your fork to your right hand to pick it up. This method is considered the “American” way. Not switching your fork and using your left is called the “Continental” way, and is done most often in European countries. This way is gaining acceptance and I wouldn’t be surprised if one day soon it’s considered acceptable in fine dining. Also, cut meat a piece at a time. Cutting the entire meat up into pieces or cutting more than one at a time is tacky.
Wipe your mouth before taking a sip of your drink. It’s unsightly to see food particles or grease on the rim of your glass. Also, it’s considered rude to take a sip of your drink with your mouth full. Plus, backwash is gross!
When leaving the table during the course of your meal, put your napkin on your chair, not the table. No one wants to see your stained napkin. And at the completion of the meal, place it on the left of your plate, or if your plate has been cleared, in the center.
When in a situation where you have to pass food or condiments to others at the table, pass it to your right, or counter clockwise. Never do a “boarding house reach” across the table.
When you don’t want to swallow a piece of food in your mouth (e.g. a bone or a piece of fat), move the piece to the front of your mouth and use your fork (or spoon if that’s what you were using) to retrieve it from your mouth and into the side of your plate. The only time its okay to use your fingers is when it’s a fish bone.
To get the waiter’s attention, the most polite way is to make eye contact. However chances are they are busy and/or are ignoring you. It’s acceptable to raise your hand to head level, just don’t go overboard by raising it way above your head and wave it about.
When you’re done with your meal, the proper placement of the silverware is to lay them parallel to each other and across the plate with the handles facing the right. To clarify, the ends would be facing 10 o’clock and four. Note: Not all waiters will know this and they still may ask you if it’s okay to clear your plate. At least you appear classy.

Champion Storyteller @ lowyat.net

2008-02-21T16:00:00.003+08:00

I bump across this champion story tella. You can see all his storytelling by the link below.

Champion story teller

100% guarantee will make your day

For eg one of his masterpiece:

To cut the story short, my girlfriend went to Singapore to work and cant make it back for valentine tomorrow. So, there is this girl friend of mine which i knew her from my friend not too long ago, and we agreed to go out for a date tomorrow ( she doesnt know i have a girlfriend ).
Today, out of the blue I got a phone call from my friend's girlfriend. You see, my friend is studying in Australia now so she told me if i want to go out for a casual date with her tomorrow since she has no date. To be frank, I have a crush on her as well. Because last time when we're in secondary school both my friend and I like her, but my friend tell me he likes her first and ask for my help. So i had no choice but to help him because he's my good friend. Even though i get a better response from her, i back out halfway and stop all the courting, so after 1 year she is with him already.

Now the problem is, i really want to go out with my friend's gf tomorrow. Is it possible to cancel the date with the other girl? Will she get mad at me? Advise needed, thank you.

10 Brothers Chinese New Year gathering 2008

2008-02-19T21:25:00.004+08:00

ahh...it always feels good when the gang is together.

Had dinner at Queensbay mall, Jopin (Japanese Cuisine).

Most of the gang had some sort of ramen or noodle type.

Date: 9th Feb 2008
Attandees:

- Wei Zhiang
- Yoong Chiat
- Eng Khuan + GF
- Boay
- Yew Hock
- Zi Jian + Ah Pei
- Wei Pin

excuse from Hun Chuan for year 2008
- need to buy furniture
- house got emergency
- really got something personal came up ...thus going to miss the dinner.

More pictures @
http://flickr.com/photos/plaz_zy/sets/72157603942569687/

Welcome to my new home!

2008-02-19T20:13:00.002+08:00

Welcome to my new home.

At last i finally find time and start to work on my site since 2003.