According to report, MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat wants Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to explain over his deputy’s resignation citing the issue involves people’s interest as it is a government post and not a party post. 

Hmm, since our MCA president is so keen to seek public knowledge and interest, please sir, help us urge Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ali Rustam to explain why was he accused of playing money politic? When did it happen? 

In the report, Ong was quoted as saying “If such an issue cannot be explained in a proper way, then how is he expected to govern the state in a transparent manner?” he asked of  Lim Guan Eng. 

I am a Malaccan and I would like to know why such thing happened. If it is indeed true he is guilty or his subordinates were guilty as charged, then shouldn’t he step down. Isn’t it unfair for him to remain at his post if he is allegedly guilty as charged.  Even if it was his subordinates/agents who was found guilty (at the last count there was 3 person involved in his case), it still means he had contested unfairly.

For this, I hope he explains himself to Malaccans and Malaysians as well and not only to UMNO. I just feel we deserve to hear his explanation.

1.  A person who never makes a mistake never tried anything new.

2. Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

3. Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one’s living at it.

4. The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.

5. I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice.

6. Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

7. I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.

8. The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.

9. Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.

10. I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

Albert Einstein

This is my 100th post at this blog site. Congratulations to myself.

Interesting clip from Discovery Channel on Youtube:

To cut the story short, a scientist (Hideto Tomabechi)  had created some ringtone with embeded baby cries. A woman who listens to it the 30 sec ringtone for 20 times a day for 10 consecutive days will supposedly have their breast enlarged.

There’s this link where you can download the ringtone to listen to it. Ring tone is called Rock Melon. Be warned, it’s kinda annoying rock music.

Malaysia’s Ministry of Education (MOE) should really really really wake up from this as their credibility is really on the line. 

How could such important matter like this be tampered with? Three Chinese pre-uni students had their application for university of choice changed totally to Islamic studies. Worstly, these students had sms from the perpertrator admitting they did it, though the news report did not indicate what the perpertrator wants. 

The future of these future undergraduates depends on the result of university and course application.

Now we’ve found out that the results could be tempered with. What if the he computerized system to assign the students to the students could also be hacked. Possibily at least. 

We should really be gravely concerned. Malaysia’s MOE should really come forth and explain.

I bought a multi-function printer back in June last year at one of the PC fair. It was a canon MX 7600.

On the plus side, it prints great. Copies printed looks almost identical as the original; at least in my eyes. Scan quality was good as well.

My nightmare with the scanner started six months and less than 100 prints after that. In December, the printer suddenly gave me error B300 which I can’t find any helpful solution online. I filled a service report on Canon’s site. Their response was good, a technician came and take a look and couldn’t fix it on the spot and had to send the printer back for servicing. Three days later, the printer came back and Canon had given me extra ink cartridges as they had done lots of test print with the printer. I thought it was thoughtful of them to give me the cartridges - although initially they gave me ink cartridge for the wrong model of printer and subsequently re-replace for me.

Anyway, following month (in January), another error came. Error 5010. I couldn’t find any solution for this problem online as well. So, again I filed for service request. Again the guy came and took my printer away to fix it as apparently they need to replace some parts. Three days later the printer came back and worked well for the another month.

In February, the printer gave me both error B300 and 5010. Hmmp. Again, Canon took the printer back and only came back 1 week later this time. However, when they return to me. it failed testing. Technically, now they taken my printer back for the fourth time in 3 months.

Though I give credit to Canon service support for their friendly and professional service but 4 repairs in 3 months is ridiculous in my mind. I wonder why Canon just can’t give me a replacement of the same model to me.

So, my advice for anyone thinking of getting this printer is stay away from this model.

canon-mx7600

I pity Ms Elizabeth Wong for leaked photos of her allegedly nude/semi-nude. Someone clearly is against her, else why distribute the photos especially to the press.
I feel and hope you reconsider taking your job back. From what I read, you’re great at your job. Malaysia certainly need more people like you. Hope you can pick yourself up and continue doing what you do best in serving the community.

Well, apparently one of the sites that posted the nude photos is GutterUncensored.com and it claims the site was brought down following complaints from Malaysian officials. How true is that, well I don’t know and I feel it isn’t right for Malaysia’s official to do that considering Malaysia is supposed to allow freedom on the Internet. Sorry Eli… but GutterUncensored.com is just doing what they do and posting what was given to them. They certainly did not snap those photos in my opinion.

Anyway, a posting from their site took revenge against an email written by a certain Robert Plachciak to GutterUncensored.com regarding their posting on Eli’z photos. I found it hillarious.  Here’s a little excerpt from the site:-

From Robert

On Thu, 2/19/09, robert plachciak wrote:

From: Robert Plachciak
Subject: If I was 13 and had nothing to do, Id start a silly website too
To: GutterUncensored@yahoo.com
Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009, 1:16 AM

From GutterUncensored.Com

Most people were smart enough to keep their displeasure to the controversial pictures of MP Wong in the comments section but not this dude. This dude is a friend of or a strong supporter of Elizabeth Wong. Funny because he seems to be originally from Australia. He seem to be a member of PJ Hash House Hazzards and I see people with the Wong surname on the members list. Don’t know how common that surname is in that area so that might link him to relatives of Elizabeth. He seem to be currently living in the same area as Elizabeth Wong distract in Malaysia. And he is not happy that revealing pictures of one of his favorite politician were published on this blog.

And I certainly wouldn’t be sending hate mail to the GutterUncensored.com’s no bullshit contribution email address if I had pictures of me with transsexuals on my very public Flickr album. How could you be so stupid Robert Plachciak?

Dr Khalil Idham Lim Abdullah (Titi Serong) of Pakatan Rakyat claims that teachers in Perak, Malaysia is going mad because they had to teach subjects in English. He claims the teachers themselves had to take English classes to improve their command of English as they themselves are not proficient in English.

Wow… I’m glad that happens. Call me mad as well but more teachers around Malaysia should start to get mad as well. That is good news. Teachers going mad because teachers have to take English lessons to improve themselves before they can teach the students. Why is anyone like Dr. Khalid complaining? Strange.

Someday if my children is unlucky enough to be taught by this mad teachers, then at least I’d feel happy that these mad teachers has guts to improve themselves. Not just blind leading the blind.

Teaching English

Hmm… I’m concerned here.  Keying pin at the pump machine can easily be seen by others. Moreover there are CCTV’s installed at pump stations.

What if my card get stolen after i left the pump station? What if I forgot and left my credit card at the pump station?

The damage that the thief could do now is even greater, isn’t it?

Well said by the Penang PM. It’ll be interesting to know how many would write in to refure the rebate. I hope Penang will release the count later. Hehehe. Kudos.

From forwarded mails:-

Do you know why New Changi Hospital (NCH) changed its name to Changi General Hospital (CGH)?
Because NCH stands for ‘Never Come Home’.
That’s why business was very bad before it changed its name.
Now CGH stands for ‘Can Go Home’.
So business is picking up.

Business in Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is still going strong because SGH stands for ‘Sure Go Home’!

Now National University Hospital (NUH) is also considering a name change.
It stands for ‘No Use Hospital’!

What about Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH).]
Not too good a name, no wonder so much problem.
It stands for ‘ Tiam Tiam Si Hospital ‘ and now ‘Tan Teo SARs Hospital ‘.

So, be careful of choosing which hospital to go if anyone is unwell.

Yes, seat belts are important in cars but I do not feel it is as important to passengers in express buses. know this beause I take express bus at least once a week from Singapore to Malacca and vice versa.

I don’t have the statistics to back it up but I feel accidents involving buses are mostly caused by bus drivers and bus conditions. Thus, it is more important to find bus driver who have good driving etiquette and to have better maintenance of the buses instead.

Most of the time, bus drivers speed on the highway and overtake other vehicles on the road any way they like. We passengers would of course be glad to reach our destination earlier but it is even more important to reach our destination safely. Other bad etiquette include talking on the phone or sms-ing while driving.

Bus conditions is also important. Some seats can’t be lowered or raised because they are spoilt. For those unfortunate ones who gets the rear seats if even worst; surely to get back aches on long journeys. We passengers paid good price for our tickets but get badly conditioned seats in return. Some other buses even have crockcoaches in the car.

I don’t know how often Perak Gerakan publicity bureau chairman Choong Shean Yang takes express buses. Perhaps he should try making a few rounds of express buses to check out the current situation.

A husband and wife are sitting quietly in bed reading when the wife looks over at him and asks the question….

WIFE: “What would you do if I died? Would you get married again?”
HUSBAND: “Definitely not!”

WIFE: “Why not? Don’t you like being married?”
HUSBAND: “Of course I do.”

WIFE: “Then why wouldn’t you remarry?”
HUSBAND: “Okay, okay, I’d get married again.”

WIFE: “You would?” (with a hurt look)
HUSBAND: (makes audible groan)

WIFE: “Would you live in our house?”
HUSBAND: “Sure, it’s a great house.”

WIFE: “Would you sleep with her in our bed?”
HUSBAND: “Where else would we sleep?”

WIFE: “Would you let her drive my car?”
HUSBAND: “Probably, it is almost new.”

WIFE: “Would you replace my pictures with hers?”
HUSBAND: “That would seem like the proper thing to do.”

WIFE: “Would you give her my jewelry?”
HUSBAND: “No, I’m sure she’d want her own.”

WIFE: “Would she use my golf clubs?”
HUSBAND: “No, she’s left-handed.”

WIFE: — silence –
HUSBAND: “Shit.”

From forwarded email:-

Below is a science fair project. In it she took filtered water and divided it into two parts. The first part she heated to boiling in a pan on the stove, and the second part she heated to boiling in a microwave. Then after cooling she used the water to water two identical plants to see if there
would be any difference in the growth between the normal boiled water and the water boiled in a microwave. She was thinking that the structure or energy of the water may be compromised by microwave. As it turned out, even she was amazed at the difference.

[Show as slideshow]

Ten Reasons to Throw out your Microwave Oven

From the conclusions of the Swiss, Russian and German scientific clinical studies, we can no longer ignore the microwave oven sitting in our kitchens. Based on this research, we will conclude this article with the following:

1. Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term - permanent - brain damage by “shorting out” electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].
2. The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.
3. Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.
4. The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long term, permanent] within the human body.
5. Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.
6. The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens
7. Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in America.
8. The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.
9. Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through and blood serum alterations.
10. Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.

Last week I visited Li Jiang in the Yunnan province of China and I’ve uploaded my photos here.

[Show as slideshow]

The opportunity to visit Li Jiang arose when I received free complimentary stay from Emperor International at their hotel (Sina Hotel) in Li Jiang. We had to endure long talk from the staffs at Emperor International and bought one of their travel package before they finally gave us the tickets. Well, we (my wife and me) weren’t forced to but we thought the package suits us for our travelling needs, hence we bought it.

Travelling to Li Jiang from Singapore was via flight by China Eastern airline from Singapore to Kunming and transiting to a domestic flight (also by China Eastern) to Li Jiang airport. We took the flight at 3am and only finally reach Li Jiang’s airport about 2pm the next day. Flying with China Eastern airline is somewhat like flying with budget airlines, The seats are quite cramp and the air-stewardess speaks terrible English. The 12 hours of waiting waiting, flying, and transiting in between the flights is really tiring.

Upon reaching the Li Jiang airport, we took a cab to our hotel. It is approximately 20km/40minutes from the airport to Li Jiang old town and it the fare is 80 yuan.  Along the way, the cab stopped us at Guan Yin Gorge - one of the settlements of the Naxi tribe who inhibits the land there. Paying 80yuan each to enter the place, we were accompanied by a guide to bring us around. The guide explained to us that Guan Yin Gorge used to be a place where traders barters horses for tea. The whole walk takes about 2 hours to complete.

Sina Hotel is pretty decent but it’s almost at the edge of the Li Jiang old town. I’m not complaining as I didn’t have to pay for the lodging. There’s free internet connection at the hotel and also at a few cafes/eateries around the old town. All tourists are required to pay a compulsory fee of 80 yuan each as the “Conservation Fee of LiJiang Old Town”. I overheard local guides as saying that even the ex Chinese premier - Jiang Zhe Min also had to pay for this fee when he visited Li Jiang Old Town.

Li Jiang is a truly beautiful and scenic place to visit. Strong in Buddhist influence with slight Tibetan flavor. Air is fresh and cool, people are friendly, streets are pretty safe. You see police patrolling occasionally in cute buggy vehicle. The rivers are so clear and filled with fishes. Also, you can see cute little puppies or doggies almost everywhere. Public toilets is clean is clean in the Old Town. Outside the Old Town though, toilets aren’t so clean and can be pretty smelly.

Other than that, you might have to endure the Chinese people’s bad habit of spitting everywhere.

Hargggh … Ptuiii… Everywhere; people was spitting that I had to get used to not seing it when I was back to Singapore.

There are tourist shops all around the Old Town which sells more or less the same things. Shop keepers are generally friendly and you can bargain before buying. Having said that, try not to go for the extreme ‘kiasu’ low or you’ll tick them off.

Eating can be pretty expensive at tourist spots ranging 50 yuan for a cup of ‘ginger honey tea’ to 120-200++ yuan for hot pot eateries. On the downside, you can try eating at eateries where locals eat - usually behind the ‘tourist streets’. A bowl of beef noodle could cost you just 4 yuan. My favorite and a most definite must try is barbecue sticks of variety of meat and vegetables. They’re so yummy and most just cost 1 yuan per stick.

Throughout the trip, we were mainly in Li Jiang Old Town because I was started feeling unwell the day before we came to Li Jiang. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to visit many other scenic spots outside Li Jiang Old Town but we did manage to visit Hei Long Tan Park which is a very beautiful park just about 1 km off the west gate of the Old Town. You get a very good view of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from here. There’s also a cultural museum of the Naxi tribe at the park. We spend slightly half a day there. The admission to the park and museum is free if you’ve paid the ‘conservation fee’.

Overall, I would definitely recommend Li Jiang to others.

On the recent call by Mukhriz Mahathir to have the Malaysian education system to be one - I think it is just not practical and it certainly won’t yield better improvement on racial unity than it is now as debated by Mukhriz.

Why? I happen to be a Chinese from the government school - in other words; I’m Malay educated. True, I have many friends from other etnics - Malays and Indians alike. But so do my cousins whom are Chinese educated ones. Outside academic activities in school, students are often encourage to join in inter-school activities - even among vernacular and government schools. So, we do get to meet and make friends of different races.

Yes, Bahasa Malaysia is our national language. Every student is made compulsory to study and pass this language as a subject. Is it necessary to further enforce that it being used as the primary teaching medium in all schools? Frankly speaking and to be honest, I’ve studied hard to score for my Bahasa Malaysia during 13 years in Malaysian education system. However, I am sad to say that I’ve never gotten to use it since I’m working out of Malaysia now or when I go travelling abroad. All the emphasize on excelling in Bahasa Malaysia is good if we Malaysians work in Malaysia - at least that’s the present scenario.

According to Mukhriz, vernacular schools should be converted to use Bahasa Malaysia as the main teaching language and the subject of learning their mother tongue can be made as optional subjects. As I’ve mentioned, I grew in the environment of government school and I had the opportunity to take up Chinese as extracoricular lessons after school. However, due to the non-emphasize on this and pressure to  do well in Bahasa Malaysia and other subjects (not that I was hardworking - in fact I was darn lazy but when I need to study priority plays a part, we non-bumiputras have to study much harder than our bumiputra friends to compete for places in local varsities), I soon gave up on learning Chinese language.

My father was brought up in Chinese education in primary school and later moved to English educated in secondary school, He saw the importance of English at the time and had me enrolled in government school where English would be taught. I’m grateful for that. He also encouraged me to take up Chinese as well but as reasons stated above, I didn’t and now i regret it. As China is growing to be the next major economic powerhouse, not able to read and write Chinese is an disadvantage. Working in Singapore now, I envy some of the Malays here who do well in business because they are quite exposed to the Chinese language. Hmmp..

I wonder whether there are any others like me.

I’ve some concern here, I’m just thinking negatively but who knows… what if the taxi driver spike the drink (inject some aphrodisiac into the drink) and sell it to some female passenger.

Selling phone cards could be a good idea though.

I’d like to support what Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said, don’t condemn the cops.

I’ve seen my fair share of bad cops but i think in recent years, there are some changes. That’s my experience. Though I’m mostly not in Malaysia as I work in Singapore.

Recently, I went to Genting for holiday. and I had to leave my laptop for safeguard at a booth - and it was manned by police. I must say there were very helpful and friendly. Thanks officers.