World's Higher Education's Ranking

It has been quite some time I last heard absurdity coming out from the mouth of a full-fledged parliamentary Minister. This time it's Deputy Education Minister Datuk Hon Choon Kim.

It has been noted that this round not a single Malaysian university was listed in the year 2007's edition of the Top 200 Universities as published by Times Higher Education Supplement, compared to the year 2006's listing where Malaysia still has two universities in the Top 200.

The Malaysian government, in response to various worldwide publications that sort of downgrade ratings related to the country of Malaysia, was always keen to say that this publication was not recognised or that their records relied on was not up todate or that those measurement / weightage adopted didn't take into account of many related issues.

Well, this time the Deputy Minister of the Education Ministry didn't mention any of the above. Was glad that they have changed but not for the better. Reasons given this time (I almost fainted):-

* quality of the institutions has not dropped BUT because foreign universities are moving ahead too fast; and

* likened Malaysia to the hare in the Tortoise and the Hare story where the hare (Malaysia) is taking a nap now and those tortoise (universities that lagged behind when one of the Malaysian university was amongst the Top 100) has caught up and went ahead to win.

I noticed that in many occasions, the Malaysian government would not say that they will study the reasons or to arrest the situation for the drop in rankings but rather gave thousands of reasons to the public to defend the drop. Weird isn't it?

When I surfed the Ministry of Education's website, there was nothing about this World University Rankings 2007.
Tags: Education, University, Higher Education, Ministry of Education, World University Rankings 2007, Top 200 Universities, Times Higher Education Supplement, THES, Datuk Hon Choon Kim, Malaysia, Tortoise And Hare Story

World's Largest Cargo Ship

Get a load of this ship!
15,000 containers and a 207 inch beam !!!!!! And look at the crew size for a ship longer than a US aircraft carrier which has a complement of 5,000 men and officers. Think it's big enough?

Notice that 207' beam means it was not designed for the Panama or Suez canal. It is strictly transpacific. Check out the "cruise speed". 31 knots means the goods arrive 4 days before the typical container ship (18-20 knots) on a China-to-California run. So this behemoth is hugely competitive carrying perishable goods.

This ship was built in three, perhaps as many as five sections. The sections floated together and then welded. The ship is named Emma Maersk.







The command bridge is higher than a 10 storey building and has 11 crane rigs that can operate simultaneously.

Additional info:
Country of origin - Denmark
Length - 1,302 ft
Width - 207 ft
Net cargo - 123,200 tons
Engine - 14 in-line cylinders diesel engine (110,000 BHP)
Cruise Speed - 31 knots
Cargo capacity - 15,000 TEU (1 TEU = 20 ft3 container)
Crew - 13 people
First Trip - Sept. 08, 2006
Construction cost - US $145,000,000+

Silicone painting applied to the ship bottom reduces water resistance and saves 317,000 gallons of diesel per year.
Tags: Emma Maersk, Maersk Line, Largest Cargo Ship, Container Ship, Shipping, Containers

What is Globalisation?

Question: What is the truest definition of Globalisation?
Answer : Princess Diana's death.

Question : How come?
Answer :

An English princess with

an Egyptian boyfriend

crashes in a French tunnel,

driving a German car

with a Dutch engine,

driven by a Belgian

who was drunk on Scottish whisky,

followed closely by Italian Paparazzi,

on Japanese motorcycles;

treated by an American doctor,

using Brazilian medicines.

This was sent to me by a Canadian,

using Bill Gates's technology,

and you're probably reading this on your computer,

that uses Taiwanese chips,

and a Korean monitor,

assembled by Bangladeshi workers

in a Singapore plant,

transported by Indian lorry-drivers,

hijacked by Indonesians,

unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen,

and trucked to you by Mexican illegals......

and it's posted in a Malaysian guy's blog.

That, my friends, is Globalisation!
Tags: Globalisation, Princess Diana, Humour, Funny

More Updates Coming Along .......

Had been really busy with the drama stuff even a tiny weeny bit handicapped ........ pushing our ways through many barriers.

Have finalised the banners, working on how to create the best atmosphere in generating interests.

Watch out for the banners which will be revealed soon..................... and you are INVITED!
Tags: Christmas Drama, Christmas

Alligator Shoes

A man was on holiday in the depths of Louisiana, where he tried to buy some Alligator shoes. However he was not prepared to pay the high prices, and after having failed to haggle the vendor down to a reasonable price level, ended up shouting "I don't give two hoots for your shoes man, I'll go and kill my own "croc!," to which the shopkeeper replied, "by all means, just watch out for those two "ole boys" who are doing the same!".

So the man went out into the bayou, and after a while saw two men with spears, standing still in the water. 'They must be the 'ole boys' he thought. Just at that point he noticed an alligator moving in the water towards one of them. The guy stood completely passive, even as the gator came ever closer.

Just as the beast was about to swallow him, he struck home with his spear and wrestled the gator up onto the beach, where several were already lying. Together the two guys threw the gator onto its back, whereupon one exclaimed

"Darn! This one doesn't have any shoes either!"
Tags: Alligator Shoes, Alligator, Jokes, Funny, Humour, Bayou

Injured Left Hand

On a rainy Sunday afternoon, a guy was trying to open a gate in order to leave a building and upon the lifting of the left leg, this guy was already floating in the air.

Fast reaction prevented any unwanted facial injury as the hands reacted fast in blocking the fall. The left palm suffered laceration. The left elbow suffered acute pain causing worries in my heart - broken or fractured elbow? Oh no!

My friend who saw how I fell said I took off as if it was a 100m sprint but forgot to nail down my starting block (used for take-off by runners)...... hehe

Was sent to the Taman Desa Hospital by a friend in my car (became a passenger in my own car). Doctor on duty said "Come back tomorrow morning to see if there's any swelling. If there is, there could be a fracture. Since you could move your fingers/elbow, your elbow is not broken."

Morning came and left picture was a dressing done on Monday morning.

The doctor quite a number of twist on my elbow, some simple tests to determine whether there was any fracture.

"Any pain?" asked the doctor.

"As long as you are pressing against that particular part, I felt the pain, otherwise the movements didn't cause any pain." was my reply.

"In that case, your elbow is alright." said the lady doctor.

And the picture on the left was taken at 10pm Monday night. A swollen elbow.

Still ok????? See how again tomorrow morning. Felt tired on the left elbow region. That was the reason for quietness in my blog.
Tags: Injury, Left Hand, Elbow, Laceration

Young Man's Life

The Christmas dramas are getting on very well with all 4 teams going into the November month trying to discard their drama scripts. Have to start memorising their scripts fast before their presentation starts in the month of December.

One of the dramas which depicts the life of a newly graduated young man has a group of hardworking actors/actresses who are having practises twice a week as their days are numbered. Keep it up fellas.

This drama is entitled "The Ladder".

Tags: Christmas Drama, Christmas, The Ladder, Drama Script