Champions League Atmosphere in Khartoum

On Wednesday, where the Champions League finals between Man Utd vs Barcelona was to be played in Rome, we were invited to Petronas headquarters to watch the match live over there.

Malaysians from all walks of life were there. The Petronas management has put up a huge screen. What a good staff welfare planning.

They switched off the surrounding lights and my colleague's camera couldn't capture quite good. Moreover, there are fine dust all over his lens.

The match had just started and some people (including me and colleagues) were still eating roti telur, roti canai with free flow teh tarik.

That's the big screen and there are quite a number of people. Who do they support?

Let me tell you ...... almost all of them are Liverpool-Chelsea-Arsenal-turned-Barcelona-fan for the night.

Those sourish fellas just cannot bear Man Utd winning another trophy. During the two seasons where Chelsea was the English Premier League champions, me and my friends who are Man Utd don't feel that way till you have to belittle Man Utd day in day out.

Till today, you can still read comments in my or friends' Facebooks (those who are Man Utd fans) where they are still receiving sourish comments from the Liverpool-Chelsea-Arsenal clan. Hahaha ........ they are so cute. They just can't face the fact.

This was half-time break and everyone rushed to get another cup of drink.

Sad night indeed where Man Utd was beaten 2-0 by Barcelona.

Barcelona really well and Man Utd was no where near their usual. Man Utd could still beat a lower ranked EPL team on their not so good day but playing against Barcelona in a such a final is just not the same.

Just have to wait for the next season to watch those exciting matches again and renew the Liverpool-Chelsea-Arsenal rivalry again.

Thanks to Petronas for that wonderful night.
Tags: Champions League Finals, Man Utd, Manchester United, Barcelona, Petronas

RON97 and RON92

Extracted the following article from Paul Tan's blog.

You might have seen numbers like RON97 and RON92 at your neighbourhood petrol station. Fuel with a RON97 rating is more expensive, RM1.92 per liter at time of writing with the lower RON92 rating going for RM1.88.

Have you ever wondered what they mean? Why is RON97 more expensive than RON92, and can you use RON92 to save on fuel costs?

Let’s have a discussion. What petrol do you use regularly, and why do you like your choice of petrol? Or are they all the same to you?

RON97, RON92, who is this RON person?
You might have seen numbers like RON97 and RON92 at your neighbourhood petrol station. Fuel with a RON97 rating is more expensive, RM1.92 per liter at time of writing with the lower RON92 rating going for RM1.88. Have you ever wondered what they mean? Why is RON97 more expensive than RON92, and can you use RON92 to save on fuel costs?

RON stands for Research Octane Number, a rating used to measure a fuels knocking resistance in spark-ignition internal combustion engines. Before we attempt to understand this mumbo jumbo, we have to know what knocking is. Knocking is what happens when parts or all of the air-fuel mixture prematurely ignites before the flame from the spark plug can reach it. This can be caused by ignition timing that is too early or engine overheating, where the heat from the cylinder itself causes the mixture to combust before the spark plug can burn the mixture. This causes a decrease in performance and might also harm the engine.

It is a misunderstanding to think that RON97 fuels produce more power than RON92 fuels, even more so with the fact that in reality a higher RON number means the fuel burns less easily! RON refers to the ability of the fuel to resist knocking and nothing else.

By pumping the RON97 into a car which engine only requires the RON92, all you're going to get is an emptier wallet which hardly counts for performance gains via weight reduction!

Engines are designed to have a minimum RON rating for its fuel. Do check your service manual for the minimum RON rating that it requires. For engines that require a minimum of RON92, you might as well pump RON92 fuel and save abit of money since RON92 is cheaper by 4 cents per liter. Another common minimum RON rating is RON95, but since we do not have RON95 fuel in our market, we have to use RON97 fuel for the engine. These engines normally have higher compression ratios, like the one found in the Satria GTI so it needs higher knock resistance to withstand higher compression.

If you find that your engine can use RON92 petrol and decide to save abit of money, do check out if a petrol stations RON92 petrol is leaded or unleaded. All RON97 petrol is unleaded, but some RON92 petrol might be leaded although this is very very rare. Buy me a teh tarik with the money you save, thanks!
Tags: RON97, RON92, RON, Research Octane Number, Unleaded Petrol

Best CEO in Henan Province

Guess who's the best CEO in Henan Province of China?

The current person in charge of the Shaolim Temple is Shi Yong Xin, being the head abbot cum CEO too. He has been instrumental in bringing the Shaolin culture to the tourists and able to develop a good tourism development.

Under Shi's leadership, the Shaolin name has become a brand itself and has set up modern marketing strategies, international performance tours and online merchandising.

But some tourists or locals are critical of the tourism development plan. They said that the temple is linking itself to money or profit nowadays where this sacred place was known to be for prayer and meditation, by the locals or the monks. Now, tourists would have to buy tickets to enter the Shaolin Temple and in order to see some kung fu, tourists have to buy tickets for the performance.

Shi's team said that such moves in the modern day is necessary to preserve Shaolin kung fu and culture. They did mention that even movies are highlighting about Shaolin or kungfu such as Shaolin Soccer, Kungfu Hustle and Kung Fu Panda.

So, why not Shi and his management team ...... wonder who are in the management team?

For Shi's hardwork and perseverance since he joined them 20 years ago, he was rewarded with a car worthed US$125,000. That's really a CEO standard.

Reading: Shaolin Abbot fights back against critics - China Economic Net
Reading: Buddhism Inc. in Capitalist China - abc News

Tags: Shaolin Abbot, Shaolin Temple, Kung Fu, Martial Arts, Henan Province, Shi Yong Xin, Shaolin Culture

City in Danger?

Another email came in depicting terrifying situation where crime almost happened. This time at a shopping centre car park.

----------------------------------
I would like to share a life saving incident that all our loved ones needs to be aware.

Last Saturday, 11th April 2009, my girlfriend and I were in Mid Valley “The Gardens” for a movie. We finished around 8.40pm. I had parked my car just right above the ‘GSC Signature Cinema’ on the 5th floor. As we were getting into our car, we realized that the parking fee had not been paid. We decided to stop by the Auto pay station on the lower parking level to do the payment.

We drove 2 floors down and couldn't locate the Auto Pay Station. We decided to park our car at 2nd floor wondering if there should be a pay station in the mall at the lobby area. My girlfriend decided to wait in the car as she was on the phone. I was walking into the mall looking for an Auto Pay Station, failing to find one, I decided to walk 1 floor down. About minutes time, my girlfriend called me on my mobile phone and she sounded terrified. She was shouting for help. She told me that there is a guy who is trying to get into the car. The guy was trying to get into the car very calmly, pretending getting into his own car. He failed to open and refuses to continue trying as he noticed that she was on the phone calling for help. Luckily, she had locked the door just right after I got out earlier. I run up as quickly as possible to reach her.

The moment I reached to the parking area, I saw the guy walking away slowly from the car. He was walking towards the ramp heading to the upper level. As I ran up the ramp, though I could still see him I realized that I was running away from my car again. It could be teamwork just to divert my presence from my car. I got back to my girlfriend quickly to calm her down.

We made an official report to the Mid Valley security management to investigate on the CCTV. It was a lesson learned for us to be more careful in the parking zones. I’m happy that my girlfriend is still here with me today. Please be watchful in parking zones.

Tips that we should be aware - Never leave valuable items or your family members alone in the car at parking location.

Thank you.

Kind regards,
Remmy Anderson
Tags: The Gardens, Gardens Car Park, GSC Signature Cinema, Auto Pay Station, CCTV, Mid Valley Security

Scary Incident in a LRT

Re-posting Samantha Kong's incident while commuting in a LRT

I got cut by a man with his knife
Yesterday should be a day full of joy and fun for me. I had a great time at Sunway with Amber, we went shopping for our things. Later that, watched 'LoveY Man' with Reyvan, Derrick, Evon and Mei Quan. However, all that ends when I went back to my place using the train.

Derrick dropped me and Amber at the Kelana Jaya station. Amber stopped at Bangsar station where I got to stop at Masjid Jamek and changed to Star LRT station to go to Titiwangsa. So everything was fine initially till at Sultan Ismail station when a creepy scary guy entered the train. The worst part of it, at the same station many people got off from the train.

Next thing I know, the guy came and sat directly next to me very closely. He started to hold and grab my hand. When I told him to get his hand off from me, he said : "You got very soft hands." I was like WTF! So I tried to pull my hand but he took out a pocketknife and laid the knife on my arm.

The more I struggle, the harder he pressed the knife against my arm. I was so scared and didn't know what to do. He kept telling me that he want to bring me back home and play. I kept thinking how to get out from the situation. As time passes by, the harder the knife was on my arm.

I missed my stop at Titiwangsa because when I tried to get up, he blocked my way. Luckily at the next stop, Sentul, a group of working people came into the train and the guy was distracted by them. Quickly I pushed his hand off from my hand and managed to ran out of the train without him following me.

I thank God that I'm still alive now and nothing really very bad happened to me. So I advise all the gals out there to be very CAREFUL! As you see, I didn't even thought this will happen to me but it did. Never let your guards down!
Tags: Star LRT, Light Rail Transit, Sultan Ismail LRT Station

Phantom Money

In a small town on the South Coast of France, holiday season is in full swing, but it is raining so there is not too much business happening. Everyone is heavily in debt.

Luckily, a rich Russian tourist arrives in the foyer of the small local hotel. He asks for a room and puts a Euro 100 note on the reception counter, takes a key and goes to inspect the room located up the stairs on the third floor.

The hotel owner takes the banknote in a hurry and rushes to his meat supplier to whom he owes Euro 100. The butcher takes the money and races to his supplier to pay his debt. The wholesaler rushes to the farmer to pay Euro 100 for pigs he purchased some time ago.

The farmer triumphantly gives the Euro 100 note to a local prostitute who gave him her services on credit. The prostitute goes quickly to the hotel, as she was owing the hotel for her hourly room use to entertain clients.

At that moment, the rich Russian is coming down to reception and informs the hotel owner that the proposed room is unsatisfactory and takes his Euro 100 back and departs.

There was no profit or income. But everyone no longer has any debt and the small townspeople look optimistically towards their future.

-------------------------------------------
The above analysis may help solve the current financial crisis which is largely triggered by "phantom" money.
Tags: Rich Russian, Euro Dollar, Prostitute, Phantom Money

Running Out of Soft Drinks

Yesterday I blogged about Tea. Today it will be about soft drinks.

How often do you drink soft drinks? I seldom knowing that in long term it will not be healthy at all. It will be once in a blue moon kind of thing.

Even at KFC or McDonalds, I would pay a bit more to opt for Milo or Iced Lemon Tea instead. In Malaysia, soft drinks are aplenty. You can find it anywhere, every corner. The sales are good too. No matter how good is the sale it wouldn't have ran out of stock, right?

But it did happen in Ethiopia. The East Africa Bottling Share Company that produces Coke drinks shuts down its plant because it ran out of bottle tops. It was also rumoured that people in the nation are collecting those bottle tops to be sold back to the company at the rate of US$0.20 (£0.13) a kilogram. It's not so much about the bottle tops but it has caused 35,000 Coke sale outlets to be without any soft drinks to sell.

Suppliers to the bottling plant and distributors of the products were badly affected where 150,000 employees in the upstream or downstream businesses could be going without pay if the situation prolongs. It was mentioned that a state of emergency could have been declared.

This East Africa Bottling Share Company in Ethiopia is owned by Coca-Cola Sabco, a South African company, that owns Coke bottling plants in Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda. Their interest don't end there. Coca-Cola Sabco also owns bottling plants in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

I'm not surprised with that "state of emergency". In Sudan here, the sale of Pepsi and Coke are very good in the sense that it's even consumed during breakfast, for some it's not one bottle but two.

Would you have taken softdrinks as your morning beverage instead of the usual coffee, tea, milo, milk, fruit juice or hot chocolate? My morning beverage in Sudan here is Milo. I brought along 2 kilogrammes of those Milo powder form. Hopefully can last till I leave.

Reading: Ethiopia hit by Coca-Cola drought - BBC News/Africa
Tags: Coke, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Ethiopia, East Africa Bottling Share Company, Coca-Cola Sabco