How Dangerous is Your Work?

Which do you rank as the most dangerous?

Tags: Work, Occupation, Profession, Danger

Birthday Presents

A wife mentioned to her husband that for her birthday, she would like something that accelerates from 0 to 100 in four seconds.

She was expecting something like this........ ....

But her husband presented her with something very different...

The husband is now in a critical but stable condition in ICU!

Tags: Birthday, Porsche, Weighing Machine, Funny, Humour

John Arne Riise's Payslip

Just as I was reading Reds to probe internet leak of Riise's wage slip - Soccernet about Liverpool's John Arne Riise's payslip, an email came in attached with a photo of that same payslip. How co-incidental. He received a gross income of £139,634.62 for the month of Aug 2006 [assuming it was so as the date of that payslip was dated 1 Sept 2006 - of which £120,000 (for monthly salary), £250 (point bonus), £4,000 (appearance) £15,384.62 (2006/07 Champions League salary increase)].

And he paid £55,508.28 under the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system, a staggering 39.7% of his gross income. Next, I will show Steven Gerrard's payslip............

Reading: John Arne Riise angry at public payslip - Liverpool Pies
Tags: Liverpool, Payslip, John Arne Riise, Pay As You Earn, PAYE, Steven Gerrard

Spiralling Food Prices

Mitigating steps/procedures are being taken by respective countries in combating against spiralling food prices which don't seem to have a ceiling price now. What I have blogged earlier on Foreseeable Increase in Daily Expenses will cause further increase if it materialise.

* Russia plans this week to impose Soviet-style price controls on a range of foodstuff to soften the blow ahead of parliamentary elections in December.

The government has signed an agreement with major food retail chains and producers to freeze prices on staples such as milk, eggs, sour cream, bread, sunflower oil, sugar and salt. They have also introduced export duties on wheat and barley.

* Ukraine is considering export quotas on wheat, corn and barley.

* China has released stockpiles of pork and is considering doing the same for vegetable oil and grain.

* Bangladesh, Jordan and Egypt, which suffered 'bread intifada riots' in the 1970s, are raising subsidies or slashing import tariffs.

* Argentina, where inflation this year is expected to be 8 per cent to 10 per cent, the government has struck accords with dozens of companies to control prices.

* Italy - Italian authorities opened an investigation into pasta manufacturers over alleged price fixing. Italian pasta makers have increased prices this year - expected to surge by 20 per cent by autumn - as durum wheat used for making the trademark Italian food nearly doubled in price.

* Japan - the government is also monitoring food prices. Marudai Food said two weeks ago it will raise the prices of its ham and sausages, following rivals Nippon Meat Packers and Itoham Foods. Instant noodle makers Nissin Food Products, House Foods and Sanyo Foods have also announced price increases last quarter.

And the oil price has hit a historic high of US$96 per barrel on 31 Oct 2007. Will the target price of US$100 per barrel materialise by year end, earlier than estimated?

Reading: UN warns of food inflation effects - Financial Times
Tags: Food Price, Food Inflation, Economics, Price Fixing, Export Quotas, Stockpiles, Import Tariffs, Export Duties

Housing for Super Rich Russians

The super rich Russians will be having an extra option of where to stay. An upcoming estate will house only 150 to 200 mansions (note that it's not a house or bungalow but a mansion). Each of these mansions will cost about £10m to £15m.

The developer, a Russian billionaire himself, Aras Agalarov will construct these mansions within an area of 340-hectare (850 acres) at Istra region just outside Moscow.

This estate haven will have the following built within the area:-
* roads with fir trees and white camomile flowers;
* 18-hole golf course;
* an exclusive private school;
* 14 artificial lakes and waterfall
* a spa and beach resort with imported white sand;
* minimum 2,000 square metres around your mansion;
* a salt-water swimming pool; and
* guaranteed right kind of neighbours.

Somehow, everything have its own pros and cons and the cons are:-
* potential buyers must have a personal interview with Agalaro;
* to sign a 30-page document agreeing to abide by Agalarov's own, at times eccentric, rules;
* forbidden from hanging out washing;
* forbidden from home improvement;
* forbidden from letting off fireworks; and
* all bodyguards will be banished to small houses on the edge of the community.

Most Russian billonaires could be having as many as five or six bodyguards. Imagine two hundred families moved in with that many boduguards, the whole estate could be occupied by 1,000 bodyguards. Could set up an army infantry within this estate haven.
Tags: Aras Agalarov, Russian Billionaire, Russian, Istra, Bodyguard

SMS Scam

Received this via email from a friend. Any readers received this SMS before or any of your friends were a victim?

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Hi guys and girls,
Below was the content taken out from my brother's email to me, this was what happened to him this morning……so every one of us be careful when receive any SMS from stranger.

Today morning, while I still sleeping, I heard my hand phone SMS tone ringing. Then I open my eye and c, got a sms from number 012-4928392 send me a sms with content: "Long time no see already, how are you now?". First when I saw this SMS I thought it maybe from my old friend... then i reply: "Fine how are u"

Then at 10:30am i receive a message from the same number and the content shocked me: "Anda telah memilih untuk mengaktifkan perkidmatan kami, cas sebanyak RM10/mingguan akan dikenakan sebagai yuran perkidmatan. Untuk membatalkan perkhidmatan, sila SMS FINE OFF kepada number 333431 and sebanyak RM20 dikenakan untuk setiap sesi pembatalan."
I quickly check my balance and c... my account had already being subtracted RM15.

Just now I email Maxis to report the case and asked maxis to trace this number, and Maxis said will give me the report by tomorrow.

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Tags: SMS Scam, SMS

CIMB Cheque Deposit Machine

One month ago, I made payment for my credit cards at CIMB Bank Berhad's branch located at City Square Shopping Centre. As requested by the bank officer, I proceeded to bank in my cheque at their cheque deposit machine. I told the officer that the time printed on the receipt paper was wrong and he said he would get it fixed. I deposited at 1pm plus but the time printed was about 5pm plus.

On that payment date, it was already one day passed the deadline and knowing there will be some slight finance charges on the late payment.

On the next two days, I noticed that the said cheque has not been cleared from my current account. I went to the bank and enquired about to which the bank officer said "there must be a delay at the cheque clearance dept in CIMB Bank". It took one week to clear my cheque.

This month, I have to pay additional finance charges imposed by CIMB Bank for their mistake. I was late for one day but CIMB Bank took another six days to clear my cheque. Good thing my usage for the month was quite low and the finance charges caused by CIMB Bank's negligence were minimal i.e. around RM5.00 (my own estimation, could be more). The issue was not the amount as I have already paid for it just now but the principal lying behind their advertisements and promotions.

And when I made the payment today, the officer behind the counter said next time I could deposit the cheque at their cheque deposit machine. I said "No thank you as your bank didn't clear my cheque and delayed it for a week to which I'm paying additional finance charges through no fault of mine". The lady officer at the next counter laughed about it and said "Dia bimbang tak clear lagi". So, was it happening frequently?

CIMB Bank can continue to claim how big they are, how much deposit they are getting via their wealth management division and expanding regionally but they can't even handle a small thing like this.

Maybe because I'm not a member of the CIMB Club which caters for the rich and famous (membership conditions as below) who will "enjoy highly personalised service" as quoted in their website.

CIMB Club - exclusive invitation for:
* Individual depositor with a credit balance of RM150,000 and above.
* Individual Unit trust investor with an investment amount of RM100,000 and above purchased through the bank.
* Individual mortgage customer with a good track record and facilities of RM500,000 and above.
* New mortgage customers with facilities of RM500,000 and above.
* Individual holding a credit card with a limit of RM75,000 and above with good track record.
Tags: CIMB, CIMB Bank Berhad, Cheque Deposit Machine, Finance Charges, Bank, Dispute, CIMB Club, Credit Card