Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Daughter for Sale!

this NOT a sponsored post.

For those of you who are in need of money and so happened to have a daughter, you can sell her at this website, Marry Our Daughter. Register and insert a profile, picture and then wait for response from potential buyer from any part of this world.

On the main page of the website, a 16 year old teenage girl is for sale US$49,995. Is you daughter worth that much too?

You must be thinking why did I blog about this website. Am I getting paid for such introduction? Or I'm part of the syndicate? Am I in deep financial trouble that I require such sinful money?

Apparently, this website is a hoax. It was launched 2 weeks ago and has generated a readership of 60 million hits from all over the world. Do report to the authorities if you do come across any websites that sell girls or boys online as it's known as human trafficking!

Reading: The Bride Buyers- Newsweek
Tags: Bride Buyers, Daughter, Marry Our Daughter, Human Trafficking

Graft in Malaysia

Interesting article that I have found in Asia Sentinel where it published about graft involving Malaysia's Defence Ministry. Next thing that came to my mind was no matter how many types of planes, tanks or submarines we have bought, we have already lost out on the economics side of it e.g.:-
* exorbitant amount has been paid for stuff not in accordance with the specifications (for naval vessels)
* high commission had been paid to Malaysian companies who acted as third party negotiators for both buyer and seller where it involves tax payers money here.

US-based Foreign Policy in Focus and British group Campaign Against the Arms Trade have written that grafts happened frequently in Defence Ministry.

Best part is, the article published a list of armouries owned by both the Royal Malaysian Navy and Royal Malaysian Air Force. After reading the list, was shock to see our Air Force has numerous airplane models of different makes where pilots have to learn different control panels and different spare parts are required. Is it economical?

From this article, I could see purchasing of tanks had erupted into controversies too. My My! I really wonder if we ever go to war, will our armies be confused.
Tags: Graft, Corruption, Asia Sentinel, Malaysian Ministry of Defence, Foreign Policy in Focus, Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Royal Malaysian Navy, Royal Malaysian Air Force

New Extreme Sports at Big Sea

This group of 'flying' fishermen has a new way of pole vaulting hehehe.......
The pole that they are holding is actually a sharp piece of wood at the end used to poke deep into a fish. But what kind of fish that required such a big pole????




That pole is fit to fish or hunt down a big whale...... Quite inhumane to me.
Tags: Extreme Sports, Fishing, Whale, Inhumane

Economic Freedom of the World

Economic Freedom of the World has issued their latest 2007 Annual Report showing Malaysia's position at no. 60 falling from no. 54. Another disgrace for our nation? Well, the government will dispute the findings again and say that even though the ranking has dropped, the individual components that made up the total score has increased (which is a fact) but why did our ranking dropped when our score has increased. One very good reason is that other countries have improved much much more than Malaysia thus leaving Malaysia behind .....

This report measures each country's policies on how it encouraged economic freedom where the publisher, Fraser Institute, an independent think-tank based in Canada, based this report on 42 different measures before releasing an index for 141 countries.

One funny thing about this report. The 2007 Annual Report is actually reporting the situation in year 2005. Next year's report will report 2006's index then. A bit outdated, isn't it?
Tags: Economic Freedom of the World, Economic Freedom, Malaysia, Fraser Institute, Economics

Monday, September 24, 2007

Car Free Day

A number of countries throughout the world held a Car Free Day in order to cut down carbon emission. I knew from the newspapers that China and Indonesia did participate.

Can you imagine that the picture on the left is one of the major roads in Jakarta. I have been to Jakarta and their roads are packed to the brim and to be able to hold such a Day there, it was a good effort.

Malaysia is already planning to do something in future looking at the fact that 2 million enters Kuala Lumpur daily thus congesting and polluting the capital city. If you were to read the article KL eyes fee to ease traffic, you'll find that the City Hall Council may implement a payment system on cars coming into the city during peak hours, a system that has been implemented in Singapore (ages ago), London and Stockholm.

So, KL city folks, be prepared to pay for additional cost for driving your car into the city and the petrol price will increase after the general election too.

Reading: History of Car Free Day - World Carfree Network
Tags: Car Free Day, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Traffic, World Carfree Network

Japan's High Class Cybercafes

I do frequent Kuala Lumpur's ("KL") cybercafes those days before I went over to Sudan, usually on Friday nights to show-off my combating skills in the Counter Strike game (a sniper myself) but not lately. Got too many things to do. In KL's cybercafes, the rate is about RM2 to RM3 per hour, would say all of it are air-conditioned with a quite comfortable chair for you to sit on for the next few hours.

They will usually have a good pair of speakers for each computer terminal. Even if your speakers are out of order, your neighbour's speakers on both sides would be loud enough. But some nerds would turn on their speakers to the max... as if the last person in the cafe needs to listen to it too. If you wanted some drinks, some cybercafes provide for it at a slightly higher price. Food? Nope. That's they have in KL's cybercafes.

When the Japanese goes into a business, they will try to outdo every single person in the world. Nowadays, Japanese cybercafes are not only serving students from schools/colleges but targetting young professionals or people who demands for extra services (don't think dirty).

In Japan, if you are the owner, providing simple facilities like those found in Kuala Lumpur would have caused your business to close down within a month. What do customers ask for in Japan? Japan's broadband service at home/office is superbly fast and what must a cybercafe provide to draw customers.

Innovative cybercafe operators are providing the following to 'steal' customers from their next door competitors:-
* Your chair is not just a chair but a massage chair;
* DVD rentals within the cybercafe;
* Piping hot shower;
* Snack selection up to 40 dishes;
* Manga libraries;
* Theater rooms complete with large flat-screen TVs; and
* Design that mimics a Bali resort hotels.

What's their rates like? US$17 would allow you to surf up to six hours with free flow of soft drinks and when you are tired from the surfin, you could get some magazines and comics from the library to read or have a quick shower (with toiletries and towels provided).

Cybercafe operators like Valics (under the Kaikatsu Club brand) and Aprecio have big-time investors behind them. This would be the kind of upscale cybercafes that would come to Malaysian shores when the investors are ready to dump their money into this business.
Tags: Cybercafe, Internet Cafe, Japan, Valics, Kaikatsu Club, Aprecio

Malaysia BOLEH! (Malaysia CAN!)

TELECOMMUNICATION
After digging to a depth of 100m last year, Russian scientists found traces of copper wiring dating back 1000 years, and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network one thousand years ago.

So as not to be outdone, in the weeks that followed, American scientists dug 200m, and headlines in the US newspapers read: "US scientists have found traces of 2000 year old optical fibers and have concluded that their ancestors already had advanced high tech digital telephone 1000 years earlier than the Russians."

One week later, a Malaysian scientist En Mat Boot Apiau, reported the following: "After digging as deep as 500m at Tg.Kidurong, Malaysian scientists found absolutely nothing. They have concluded that 5000 years ago,their ancestors were already using wireless mobile phones."

INSURANCE
The husband of a pregnant wife was thinking of buying insurance for his unborn baby. So he asked Great Eastern and the agent said, "Don't worry man, we'll provide insurance right from the basket to the casket".

The man was impressed but thought that he should probably seek another opinion. He then approached Prudential. The agent replied, "Oh, we have a new insurance policy which can protect your unborn child from the womb right up to the tomb".

The man was stunned but thought that maybe all salesmen like to bullshit and decided to see the agent from AIA. He told the AIA agent what Prudential and Great Eastern had to offer.

The AIA agent thought for a while, and then said, "Tell you something, we have one that is even better than Prudential and Great Eastern.. We'll insure your child from erection to resurrection.
Tags: Russian Scientist, American Scientist, Malaysian Scientist, Telecommunication, Telephone Network, Optical Fiber, Wireless, Insurance, Great Eastern, Prudential, AIA

Pattaya International Fireworks Festival

Pattaya is definitely firing up its presence internationally. Covid19 has hit many nations really hard and Pattaya wasn't exempted from ...