The Best Bank

One day, three bankers, a Citibanker, one from HSBC and another from Maybank (Malaysia's #1 bank), went for a walk. They were old buddies from school and they were remembering the tough old days they went as students together. For no apparent reason, they went into a zoo and passed an elephant.

Being from the same field and the same school, there is little bit of peer competition going on, so when he saw this elephant, an idea clicked the Citibanker, he said to the others "Why don't we prove who is the best among us?". The others, of course, agreed.

Then the Citibank said "Let's make a test. Whoever can make this elephant laugh, he works for the best Bank". They all agreed and started.

Being a pure logical strategist, the Citibanker tried to make the elephant laugh by telling jokes (In this story, the elephant do understand the language, boleh la). Of course it stayed still. As a more practical guy, the HSBC guy tried to make funny gestures... and the elephant still stood firm. Now, it's the Maybanker turn. Being the tomorrow -can- do- it guy, he whispered something to the elephant, and it laughed at him while pointing its trunk at him. The other two were astonished. How come this Maybanker beat them?

So the HSBC guy said "OK, let's make another test. Let's make this elephant cry". So there they went again. The Citibanker told sad stories. The HSBC guy made sad gestures, and they fail again. Then, the Maybanker whispered something again in the elephant's ear and it just cried, weeping and patting away.

This can't be, thought the other two. So the Citibanker said "OK, you've won twice. If you can win this test, we will bow to you. Let's make this elephant run".

He went and barked to the elephant orders to run. Of course, it stayed still. The HSBC guy pushes the elephant and stabs it with stake to make it run, it stayed still. So...our Maybanker comes to it and whispers something again in its ear and the elephant ran and ran as fast as it could, as if it was scared to death.

The other two surrendered. "OK, you're the best, pal. You work for a very good Bank, not even our global bankers can beat you. Do tell us your secret".

"Well" said the Maybanker "The first time I made it laugh, I said "Maybank is the best bank ". When I made it cry, I told the elephant how much I get paid". "And when I made it run scared to death, I said to it, "Why don't you join Maybank?"

Tags: Jokes, Funny, Humor, Citibank, HSBC, Maybank, Zoo, Bank

Alaskan King Crabs

Fisherman's Express, the company that delivers the catches of the day from Alaska. There is an online fish market where you can place orders for fresh-frozen seafood which will be shipped overnight directly to your home or business. Seafood recipes are available too.

Crab fishing can be seen at Bristol Bay, the primary area with Dutch Harbour as Alaska’s main crabbing port. Crab fishing in Alaska ranks as the nation's #1 most hazardous job. Then, with the dwindling population of the king crabs, it compelled the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to strictly regulate their harvests. In previous years, fishermen were allowed a mere three to five days to harvest the precious catch, so ships raced against time, nature and each other to capture the most of the fleet-wide quota in 20-hour shifts.

It was, and still is, a race with high stakes. The 2004 season ended after just 80 hours of fishing that hauled in 6.8 million kilogrammes worth US$65.8mil (RM243m). On a successful boat, one fisherman can earn up to US$100,000 (RM367,000) for just five days’ work! Recent changes in the way the fishery is managed have expanded the season to 3 months. The new rules will allow fishermen much more discretion when they catch their allotted crab quota.

More daily news on Alaska at The Anchorage Daily News.

Tags: Alaska, Crab, Fish, Seafood, Dutch Harbour, Bering Sea, Bristol Bay, Fisherman's Express, Anchorage

MLB World Champions

Scoreline: St. Louis Cardinals 4 Detroit Tigers 2, in the World Series that produced Cardinals' first World Series title in 24 years. They have won 10 titles now compared to New York Yankees' 26 titles.
One thing that I don't get it is why was it called a world series when only clubs in USA participated in this so-called world series. Where are the clubs from China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Netherlands, Italy, Australia, Cuba & Canada where they have professional leagues there too. It should be renamed National Series instead. Or dare not invite other overseas teams? Major League Baseball should seriously re-consider the change of name as it involved clubs from 1 single country only.
Tags: Sports, Baseball, New York Yankees, St Louis Cardinals, Detroit Tigers, World Series, Major League Baseball, USA

Sex Change Registration in China

As reported in China Gate's online news, at a town called Jiangnan in Anhua county of the Hunan province, a 30-year-old Li Guohua went to correct information in his registration booklet. At the registration office, Li's relevant information on the computer system was brought up and changed his gender from "male" to "female." What happened here? It seems that Li has his sex changed and now he has requested for his sex record to be changed in the national registration too. Afterwards, his 60-something-year-old dad Li Tieniu was in tears. He said: "I hope that "she" can find a good partner who treats her nicely."





Tags: Sex Change, Jiangnan, Anhua, Hunan, China

US Couple's Condominium Raided

Another case of overzealous actions, this time by officials from the Kedah's Islamic Affairs Dept. Their routine vice prevention squad's raid was conducted on a US retired 60 plus couple holidaying on Langkawi Island. The raid was done at 2am and the officials demanded to see the "woman" that the man was with. Even when told that the lady was clad in sarong only and they are Christians, the officials insisted on seeing the woman, in humiliation.

In Malaysia, under the Islamic syariah law, a muslim person could not have close proximity with a non-muslim in an enclosed place and if caught, could be penalised. In this case, the officials didn't do a good check on who was in the room and raided their unit in the middle of the night.

Though this has happened almost 2 weeks ago (reported on 22 Oct, New Straits Times) the Tourism Minister said that investigation would be taken to find out what happened. Till today, as reported in The Star, both Kedah State Religious and Humanity Development Committee chairman Professor Datuk Wira Dr Othman Ishak and Kedah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said they will check on the matter with the state Religious Department to find out what really happened. It took 2 weeks to find out????

On behalf of their unwarranted actions, the general public has to apologise to the couple and assure the world that Malaysia is not what it seems to be reported.
Tags: Islam, Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia, Syariah Law, Sarong, Religious, Khalwat

HondaJet

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. has ventured into the aviation industry. Its HondaJet, experimental compact business jet equipped with Honda-developed HF118 jet engines, had successfully completed initial flight tests way back in 2003. Their research on compact business jets has started since 1986. HondaJet will be produced in the United States beginning in 2010 with a projected production volume of 70 jets per year with its pricing set at US$3.65 million for its standard configuration. The 7 or 8-seaters aircraft is equipped with a state-of-the-art Garmin G1000 glass cockpit system.

Click here to view HondaJet's introduction movie.
Tags: Jet, Honda, Honda Motor, HondaJet, Garmin

Weather in Khartoum

Somehow I did notice that sunset in Khartoum was much earlier in the last 1 week. True enough when I walked out to the car this morning to go to work, I could feel the winter breeze blowing nicely onto my skin. Yes, winter is setting in in Sudan now. This could be the same winter that I've experienced in year 2004 which was about the same timing. Saw the temperature reading in the car (external) that showed 25 celcius degree. Otherwise, at 8am plus, it could be hitting 34 celcius anytime. So, it was a drastic drop indeed. I felt a bit cold during 5am plus that prompted me to off the air-cond while maintaining the ceiling fan to provide some breeze.

This winter will go on till February. It will be colder at night and could drop to 19 celcius. Winter in Sudan? Sounds weird in the desert region but it does happen. It's going to be a real dry winter as I could feel that my back is getting itchy daily.
Tags: Journal, Diary, Life, Weather, Khartoum, Sudan