Thursday, August 27, 2009

Pro Movers in Khartoum

What's that guy doing up there? I thought I saw a long pole hanging there.










True enough that a long pole was being pulled up. My friend was saying that hiring a crane would have done the job in one hour. Maybe they tried to save cost.













Few strong men at the road on ground zero. They pulled not only one but about a dozen of it. They took turns to jump higher up the thick rope and hoped that their weights would make pole go higher.

I saw one of smaller size guy jumping up to pull but the rope didn't budge hahahahaha. He held on to the rope and his feet were dangling. If I could have capture the whole scene many people would be rolling on the floors.
Tags: Strong Men, Professional Movers

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Meteorology Report in Australia

It was April and the Aboriginals in a remote part of Northern Australia asked their new elder if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild.

Since he was an elder in a modern community he had never been taught the old secrets. When he looked at the sky he couldn't tell what the winter was going to be like. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he told his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the tribe should collect firewood to be prepared.

But being a practical leader, after several days he had an idea.He walked out to the telephone booth on the highway, called the Bureau of Meteorology and asked, 'Is the coming winter in this area going to be cold?'

The meteorologist responded, 'It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold.' So the elder went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.

A week later he called the Bureau of Meteorology again. 'Does it still look like it is going to be a very cold winter?'

The meteorologist again replied, 'Yes, it's going to be a very cold winter.' The elder again went back to his community and ordered them to collect every scrap of firewood they could find.

Two weeks later the elder called the Bureau again. 'Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?' he asked.'

Absolutely,' the man replied. 'It's looking more and more like it is going to be one of the coldest winters ever.

''How can you be so sure?' the elder asked.

The weatherman replied, 'Our satellites have reported that the Aboriginals in the north
are collecting firewood like crazy, and that's always a sure sign.'

Tags: Aboriginals, Northern Australia, Bureau of Meteorology, Meteorologist, Winter in Australia, Firewood, Funny, Humour

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Viagra in Liquid Form

Went to Beetles cafe after dinner yesterday and thought of having some fresh fruit juice for a change. But I saw something unexpectedly, the Viagra in liquid form!?!?!?!?! And if Viagra is not strong enough, they have the Super Viagra ready for you hahaha.

Don't know why they name it Viagra as the ingredient itself comprise Dates, Honey, Milk & Ice Cream. The Super Viagra drink comprise Watercress, Dates, Banana & Kiwi fruits. Weird!

No, I didn't order the Viagra drinks ...... no point.

I tried the Batout instead. Now, when I saw that word I pronounced it as "Bat" "Out" to the waiter. He looked at me blur blur. I repeated my order and he said something else after I pointed the name of the drink to him. He might not be able to catch my english slang I thought.

When he repeated our orders, he read something which stunned me. He pronounced the drink as "Ba" "Tout". You tell me who's correct.

After the waiter left our table, we laughed. Looking at the menu again, almost all the drinks are in english names. How in the world could he pronounced the drink as Ba Tout instead of Bat Out!?!??!?!?!
Tags: Viagra, Super Viagra, Viagra Drink, Liquid Viagra, Fruit Juice, Batout

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Respectful Public Title of Datuk

There is a myth about people in Malaysia having the opportunity to buy the public title of Datukship or even Tan Sri if you have the right connection with either the state government or federal government.

Why is such title so important? Such public title will place you high in the eyes of the public where such title holders are usually well to do people, having done lots of stuff that have benefitted the nation/state or did some extraordinary stuff while representing the nation/state's name.

Nevertheless, some people do deserve such title.

Some may abuse such title to further achieve their selfish ambitions or to enable them to carry out immoral / unlawful acts without being questioned or detected easily.

Reading the Star newspaper reports - Five Ah Long ‘kings’ nabbed and Datuk faces death penalty for drug trafficking, two persons with the public title of Datuk have been implicated.

I wonder when were these two Datuks been bestowed with the public title, before they became involved in such notorious crimes or when they were already involved in it? And which state government granted this public title to them? Or was it even the federal government? No personal profile checkings before issuing such high public titles to them?

It made such public title to be of no value if more Datuks are implicated in various crimes. Or is the myth real after all?
Tags: Datuk, Datukship, Tan Sri, Public Title

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Fancy Winning a Bentley or Lambo?

Dubai airport's Dubai Duty Free section is really good with their promotion of getting travellers in buying the raffles tickets. Two thousand tickets on sale at 500 Dirham ..... a one in how many chance???

Imagine your grand prize is either a Bentley Continental Flying Spur or .....









..... a Lamborghini Gallardo LP560.

How not to be tempted when you see such prestige car models. No, I wasn't tempted.

Only one reason - a general Malaysian citizen will not be able to fork the enough money to pay for all those import taxes and other crazy duties to bring this car back to Malaysia if I do win it.

It was not easy to take this picture without anyone interrupting. It was so eye catching and grabbing everyone's attention.



I will usually get a seat way back the plane for my Dubai-Khartoum or Khartoum-Dubai flights. The plane is normally not full and I'll choose the row where there are three seats.

You'll normally get the whole three seats to yourself. Seldom sleep either but the comfort of having nobody next to you coupled with the armrest is priceless.

Moreover the plane's so-called kitchen is usually located at the back of the plane. No, not that I can chit chat with the pretty stewardesses but I can get my non-stop flow of drinks throughout the flight. Sipping your favourite drinks while watching a movie ................ back home, I won't get such luxury time to enjoy as such.

Not sure how long will I be in Khartoum for this trip but me and another colleague brought along more than a dozen DVD movies to watch.
Tags: Dubai Airport, Dubai Duty Free, Dubai, Khartoum, Bentley Continental Flying Spur, Lamborghini Gallardo LP560

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Sim Card Malfunctioned - Whose Fault?

Replaced my mobile's sim card just last week at Maxis Centre located at Menara Maxis. The sim card just got KO on its own without warning. For almost five days, I was hoping for it to return back to normal and trying to arrange for a time to go to a Maxis Centre to check on the sim card.

It was unbearable with your sim card giving you problem. After work, off to Maxis Centre and approach the Hotlink counter after filling in a form.

Staff: May I help you sir?
Me: I think my sim card is not functioning at all. This is the message I'll get on my screen. (showing him the mobile screen)
Staff: Let me check your info first. I think your card has been issued for quite some time back.
Me: Yeah, maybe two years ago.
Staff: Time to change. Have you filled in the form to request for a sim card replacement?
Me: Yes!
Staff: RM10 is required for the sim card replacement.
Me: Why do I have to pay? It's your sim card that malfunctioned.
Staff: The sim card has been in used for so long. Various reasons could have contributed to it. Say the method of charging your mobile phone, sim card was not taken care of, your mobile's circuit may have caused the damage or someone could have mishandled your sim card.
Me: The sim card has an expiry date? Still it's your sim card that malfunctioned.
Staff: That's the company policy sir!

In my mind at that point of time, he has named more faults of mine than I could of his. So, he won? I'm the guilty party since all those reasons could have contributed to the demise of my sim card.

Why can't Maxis take the blame? Another sim card of mine from another telco has been working well for almost ten years now.

It's not the RM10 that I'm so attached to but it's more of a principal.
Tags: Maxis, Hotlink, Maxis Centre, Menara Maxis, Sim Card Replacement, Telco

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

PTAs Asking For Status Quo

Parents are voicing out now since they knew that their kids' PTAs could be used as an official channel to request the gahmen or the Ministry of Education to allow their kids' schools to remain status quo, i.e. to teach the Mathematics and Science subjects in the English language instead of reversing it back to the Malay language.

What to do? The gahmen went ahead without consulting the parents at schools. They are the ones that should be consulted but who cares about them. That's the gahmen that some have voted for and I hope that those voters are not the same people that are voting for the two subjects to be taught in English language now.

As PAGE has highlighted a possible avenue for PTAs to voice out their preferences, which was the school'one school did it via a PTA EGM as written in a previous blogpost.

Another school tried to do the same but was not that fortunate. The school authority of SMK Seri Hartamas managed to lock the school and bar those parents from entering the school premise to conduct the PTA meeting. The parents were adamant about the vote and it was conducted outside the school premise where majority of the parents that responded (more than 90%) voted for status quo.

The heat is picking ........ Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister apologised in a press conference saying that the parents or teachers shouldn't have been barred from entering the school to convene a PTA meeting.

On the other hand, the education ministry’s director-general Alimuddin Mohd Dom, has other feelings about it. Reason given - the PTA was not allowed to convene an EGM as its agenda to discuss the PPSMI policy placed the school’s teachers in a tight spot.

Now, more of the schools' PTAs are joining in .......... they are from SMK St Francis, SMK Gajah Berang, SMK Tinggi St David, SMK Canossa Convent, SMK Infant Jesus Convent, SM Catholic, SMJK Tinggi Cina, AM Yok Bin, SMK Tun Tuah, SM Pulau Sebang, Sekolah Tinggi Methodist Melaka and SMK (P) Methodist Melaka.

Is the gahmen or the education ministry doing anything about those requests? Or turn a deaf ear?

Related post - Parent Action Group for Education
Tags: Parent Action Group for Education, PAGE, Ministry of Education, Parent Teacher Association, PTA, Sekolah Kebangsaan, PPSMI, Science and Math in English, SMI, SMK Seri Hartamas

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 ...