TATA, New Owner of Jaguar and Land Rover

Tata Motors Ltd ("Tata"), an Indian based company, has emerged as one of the frontrunners in the motor industry by purchasing the

Jaguar and

Land Rover marquees



from the previous owner, Ford Motor Company ("Ford") at a price of US$2.3 billion, less than half of what Ford paid for 8 years back.

In January 2008, Tata has launched the world's cheapest car also known as the People' Car - Nano in India to capture India's low income market segment which comprise hundreds of millions of people.

Will this affect Jaguar and Land Rover's luxury brand name by associating it with the world's cheapest car in the same stable?

Ford has no choice but to let go of this two luxury brands due to financial constraints and easier to sell off compared to other brands in its stable. The 15,300 workers employed under this two luxury brands would be shivering now, not knowing what would be in store for them.

With USA heading into recession, will there be more fire sale of other luxury brands of any industry to foreign-based companies.

Reading: Ford sells Jaguar, Land Rover to Tata - BusinessWeek
Tags: Ford, Tata Motors Ltd, Tata, Jaguar, Land Rover, People's Car, Nano, India, Motor Industry, Motor Vehicle, Car

Cost of Raising Up Year 2007 Babies

A study was done by United States Department of Agriculture on the costs involved in raising up a baby born in the year of 2007 till he/she is 18 years old (that would be year 2025).

With the cost of providing food (17%) and child care and education expenses (12%) taking up the majority of the costs involved, it also depends on your disposable income at the end. But on average, families were expected to spend US$204,060 on feeding, housing and schooling a child. That's easily RM650,000 for the full 17 years. Having two kids could make you an instant millionaire. Lemme count, that would be roughly US$12,000 or RM38,000 required per annum per child.

The study also stated that families making less than US$45,800 (RM146,000) per annum would likely spend around US$148,320 (RM474,000) on the full 17 years on one child . Those earning more than US$77,100 (RM246,000) a year, will spend approximately US$298,680 (RM955,776) till the kid's 18th birthday.

By the time they are a teenager, with inflation setting in in years to come, you have to be a multi-millionaire to raise a kid. Getting too ridiculous, isn't it?

I wonder why they stopped the study at age 18. Maybe you need to be a billionaire from there onwards with their college and university fees included.

Reading: Raising that '07 baby will cost $204,060 in U.S. - Reuters

Related post:-
* How to Survive With Your Salary?
Tags: Cost of Raising a Child, Child Rearing Cost, Cost of Living

Bible Humour

Q. What kind of man was Boaz before he married Ruth?
A. Ruthless.

Q. What do they call pastors in Germany ?
A. German Shepherds.

Q. Who was the greatest financier in the Bible?
A. Noah He was floating his stock while everyone else was in liquidation.

Q. Who was the greatest female financier in the Bible?
A. Pharaoh's daughter. She went down to the bank of the Nile and drew out a little prophet.

Q. What kind of motor vehicles are in the Bible?
A. Jehovah drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden in a Fury. David's Triumph was heard throughout the land. Also, probably a Honda, because the apostles were all in one Accord.

Q. Who was the greatest comedian in the Bible?
A. Samson. He brought the house down.

Q. What excuse did Adam give to his children as to why he no longer lived in Eden ?
A. Your mother ate us out of house and home.

Q. Which servant of God was the most flagrant lawbreaker in the Bible?
A. Moses. He broke all 10 commandments at once.

Q. Which area of Palestine was especially wealthy?
A. The area around Jordan. The banks were always overflowing.

Q. Who is the greatest babysitter mentioned in the Bible?
A. David. He rocked Goliath to a very deep sleep.

Q. Which Bible character had no parents?
A. Joshua, son of Nun.

Q. Why didn't they play cards on the Ark ?
A. Because Noah was standing on the deck.

PS. Did you know it's a sin for a woman to make coffee? Yup, it's in the Bible. It says "He-brews"

Keep Smiling!!!!!

Tags: Jokes, Funny, Humour, Bible Humour

Tunnel Not So Smart After All

Upon reading the news article "Smart Tunnel closed indefinitely", it was shocking to me. One being that I'm a regular user which would cut down my time spent in traffic jam, to and from office.

Secondly, it would cause major traffic jam again during peak hours at Jalan Sungai Besi, Jalan Chan Sow Lin, Jalan Tun Razak and the domino effect it would have on other roads leading to it.

I found that the Smart Tunnel operator should disclose the real issue behind the closure as the reason stated (which was - used to divert floodwaters to prevent flooding in the city centre) in the news article cannot be accepted at all.

The Smart Tunnel was built with three levels with the lowest level being used to divert excessive rain water to a retention pond near my residential area before being released to a nearby Kerayong river.

Unless the lowest level couldn't accommodate the excessive rain water, the upper two levels would be used for rain water diversion too.

I doubt at my highest level that both the traffic levels would be used for the diversion exercise as any flooding of those two levels would cause extensive damage to all fixtures and fittings, electrical wirings, cameras and signboards, etc.

Even if it was true, why closed indefinitely? Closed during heavy downpour or few hours after that would be well understood but still closed even 12 hours after the heavy downpour?

Or was the real reason being that the Smart Tunnel operator dare not guarantee the road users' safety if the lowest level was used for rain water diversion while heavy traffic were still on-going at the above two levels???????

Related posts:-
* Malaysia's SMART Tunnel
* Rain Water's Not Free in Malaysia
Tags: Smart Tunnel, Rain Water, Traffic Jam, Heavy Downpour

Medical Leave Due to Thigh Injury

My left thigh injury has acute pain since yesterday night which could be due to the excessive movements during the Easter weekend.

No choice but to see doctor this morning. As the clinic was located at the shoplots area where available car park was a rare case, I had to limp all the way to the clinic.

On the way, bumped into my car mechanic and a restaurant owner where I have to explained my situation as they saw me limping.

Was prescribed two types of tablets mainly for pain relief. Doctor also identified which of my leg's muscle which was in real stress - the Sartorius muscle. This muscle is one of the longest muscle in our anatomy which stretches from the hip bone till the knee. Need to have proper rest for it this time.

Thereafter, walked over to Restaurant Jalal Yusof for my brunch and ate two roti telur with a glass of teh tarik. If the government still insist that inflation is under control, that meal of mine cost RM4.40.

Late in the afternoon, I remembered that the Streamyx Combo promotion would end by end of the month, a few days left. Since I was at home might as well do it today as they are opened for business during the weekdays only.

Quickly hopped into my car and drove to the nearby TM Point Taman Desa shop to register for it. Don't care whether they would stare at a limping man but I would be saving a lot with such package. I signed up for the RM60 per month package which has unlimited broadband access, free rental for fixed phone line and a ADSL modem router.

This package would see me having a 384kbps / 128 kbps internet speed. If not mistaken, South Korea and USA are having an internet speed of 1GBps and mine would be a joke for them.

While waiting for the lady to submit my application online, I could hear the thunderstorm and see those trees being blown from all directions. My my ....... the system faltered when I was there. The lady told me to come back again tomorrow morning. I told her that I was just an employee like her and we just can't take leave as we want. Reluntantly have to call her supervisor to get the application submitted. Waited for more than 35 minutes to get my broadband service. Can you imagine that?

Took this picture when I got back to my condo and you could see the dark clouds forming. BTW, there was no rainbow in between the two towers at the bottom right as it was my phone camera's flash.
Tags: Medical Leave, Thigh Injury, Sartorius Muscle, Restaurant Jalal Yusof, Roti Telur, Teh Tarik, Streamyx Combo, TM Point, Unlimited Broadband, Internet Speed, ADSL Modem Router, Thunderstorm

Easter Day Celebration

This was after we had set the necessary music equipments up right early on Sunday morning at the International Youth Centre hall.

Quick rehearsals were required for certain performances to ensure familiarity with the new hall / stage area.

The Easter celebration began with the Chinese Church's presentation which was superb when they rendered their songs.

The morning service continued with Pastor Ben Ranis and Pastor Esther Lee leading the congregation into worship.
Part of the crowd that were worshipping during the worship time. An estimated crowd of 500 attended the Easter service.
The youth team presented their drama with a good moral behind it. The old lady in the drama had to pretend that she has died in order to get her three sons to come back to visit her. The three sons were so frightened with the "resurrected" mother who told them that it was the only way for her to see her three sons.

Have you been visiting your folks lately? What the old folks need is your time and not your Astro or materials stuff that you could provide.

The Easter service went on with another dance performance that has children as young as 5 years old.
Our Nigerian sisters came in with their dance movements. Always admired the way they shake their bodies, really natural. Even our Malaysian ladies were in awe of it.

These were the people that came up for prayers
seeking God to heal their sicknesses.

Our Nigerian brothers and sisters had their own presentation belting out three songs (or was it two? sorry guys).
The finale song entitled "Song of Ezekiel" was the last performance of the Easter service.
Was supposed to be one of the flag bearers but due to my thigh injury, unable to perform the dance this round.

Tags: Easter Day, Easter Service, International Youth Centre, Chinese Church, God

Coated Snacks in Johor Baru

Singaporeans and Johoreans had been warned to be extra careful of what you put into your mouth. Crispy snacks like the pisang goreng or fried banana and keledek or fried sweet potato (local snacks which I liked too) were said to have been made more crispy not through the proper cooking method. How have they done it? Rumoured that plastic straws or bottles were thrown into the boiling oil before frying those snacks. The Consumers Association of Penang would be launching an investigation into such claims. How true is it?

Reading: Scare over 'coated' snacks - New Straits Times

Tags: Coated Snacks, Goreng Pisang, Keledek, Crispy Snacks, Consumers Association of Penang, Plastic Straw, Plastic Bottle