Friday, April 06, 2007

GlaxoSmithKline

After blogging about GlaxoSmithKline, one reader gave me the following links:-

1) GlaxoSmithKline embroiled in scandal - Indymedia UK

2) GlaxoSmithKline News - a blog acting as a watchdog on the pharma giant's activities

3) Sexorat Sufferers - a blog that is dedicated in reporting GSK's activities and products

Tags: GlaxoSmithKline, GSK, Pharmaceutical, Health, Consumer Healthcare

Good Friday

Today is Good Friday. The significance of it is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the cross at calvary.

It is fitting that Christians glorify the Cross as a sign of Christ's resurrection and victory over sin and death, of course. But we should remember each time we see a cross that the Cross of Jesus' crucifixion was an emblem of physical anguish and personal defilement, not triumph -- of debasement and humiliation, not glory -- of degradation and shame, not beauty. It was a means of execution, like a gallows or a gas chamber. What the Son of God endured for us was the depth of ugliness and humiliation. We need to be reminded of the tremendous personal cost of love.

Reading: Gospel [Passion]: John 18:1 - 19:42
The reading leads us to the incidents/happenings on how and when Jesus was crucified as reflected in the movie, The Passion of the Christ.

Reading: The Easter Story - Canadian Bible Society
The reading takes us to the betrayal on Jesus Christ till His resurrection day.

Tags: Good Friday, Jesus Christ, Cross, Christianity, Crucifixion, Calvary, Gospel

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Graduate Prior to Marriage

In the province of Fujian, the Pinghe County has implemented a new ruling for their citizens there.

If you want to obtain work permits, driver's licenses or even to get married, first of all, you MUST HAVE a junior high or middle school diploma. Reason of implementing such ruling is to stamp students from dropping out of schools as they wished and to maintain high literacy rate in the county.

Sadly, the county government doesn't take into consideration of the poor folks who were unable to continue to fund their school-going children any further. Thus, it will cause such school-going children to be jobless and unmarried in future. Really weird ruling where common sense doesn't prevail at all.

And when someone intended to re-register to study for the diploma, they were forced to pay money before they can get admission. Such rulings allowed local government to manipulate the situation at the cost of the citizens. (source: Danwei)
Tags: Fujian Province, Pinghe County, China, Weird, Middle High School, Diploma

BMW Sauber F1 Team

Oh yes! Formula 1 is back in Kuala Lumpur. With that, most car manufacturers or sponsors are displaying their cars/products through various promotions/events. The main F1 event, the Malaysian Grand Prix leg, will be on from 6-8 April 2007 to be held at Sepang International Circuit, 45 mins drive from the city centre.
I was at one of them yesterday evening. At the courtesy of BMW Sauber F1 Team with Petronas of Malaysia, the petrol supplier to the team. BMW Sauber has set up a Pit Lane Park in the vicinity of KLCC Park which was walking distance from my office. A slow stroll with another colleague to the Pit Lane Park under a windy weather was perfect.
Scheduled to open at 7pm, we were there by 6.40pm and a sizeable crowd was already there. By 7pm, an estimated crowd of about 100++ lined up to get in.
We were provided with 2 ear plugs and a tag. FYI, the tag has no special privileges.
That was how close we could get our hands on it. As we made our 2nd round later, due to more people, you could not step in too near or even touch it.
A specially built paddock lounge for BMW owners & invited guests. This paddock lounge will be the place to be, besides the F1 track in Sepang, to view the F1 race on Sunday.
Unfortunately, the paddock is only opened to BMW owners on the race day. Find some BMW owners who would be staying at home on Sunday and borrow their BMW car keys to obtain entrance. Yeah, a car key is all you need to get in.
The pit stop challenge! Everyone was given a chance to feel the intensity during a pit stop.
Without fail, I got my hands into it as well. Partnered a reporter, I was tasked with taking the wheel out and putting the next wheel in so that my reporter mate could drill the cap back on. False start on the first time as the timer was not switched on. Finished first though.
On the 2nd attempt, we did even faster and finished ahead but the other 3 tyres were changed at a much slower pace. The end timing was 10.7 seconds. The announcer said that we will destroy the team's chances with that timing. If you are able dip below 10 secs, you'll be given a certificate.
A virtual challenge was available. Didn't really like it but the fastest lap on the clock during my time there was 1'40" by a foreigner. The top 3 performers' name would be displayed at a scoreboard. The whole game structure was designed and sponsored by Intel.
The BMW Safety Car.
Close-up photo take on the vehicles that would go for a spin later on.
A scaled-down Formula One car that would be driven by Nick Heidfeld later.
Chris Pfeiffer's bikes. Chris is a renowned street bike performer.
This place was initially a car park but was turned into this pit lane liked area.
Time passes by. Forced to wait till 9pm for the performances. Caught hold of the Petronas Twin Towers, the world's former tallest structure, now placed 2nd. Further to the left was the KL Tower (or Menara KL).
That was how delicate & serious they were in tuning the car prior to a simple performance.
Out came the Formula One car driven by Nick Heifeld.
Only a few spins here and there, good enough to cheer up the crowd of about 220 at the grandstand. Further down the lane, there were about another BMW/Petronas 200 guests. Lining at both sides of the lane was about 100++ people. The ear plugs were good as the engine roared at a high decibel.
Chris Pfeiffer soon came out with his outstanding stunts/tricks. Here, he braked at an instant. Can't catch a good photo as the phone cam doesn't have a faster shutter speed.
Chris was burning his bike's back tyre to the thrill of the crowd.
A three-wheel bike? He spun so fast that that was what I caught. Chris, being a professional rider, has won the Streetbike-Freestyle in the recent Indoor World Championship held in Zurich, Switzerland.
Post-mortem discussion on the car's performance? Nick, in the centre, was quite a short guy.
The setback in this big event was that the night's programme was not known till it was announced much later. Good thing Wednesday's night event was from 7pm-11pm. That too, I have to be there till 9pm for a half an hour performance. Imagine coming on the next few days where it starts from 3pm-11pm, how would one know when the cars be given a spin around. Do I have to be there from 3pm-11pm to wait for it to be announced?

Moses and Jesus

A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables, and when he picked up a CD player to place in his sack, a strange, disembodied voice echoed from the dark saying, "Jesus is watching you."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze. When he heard nothing more after a bit, he shook his head, then clicked the light on and began searching for more valuables. Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he heard, "Jesus is watching you."

Freaked out, he shined his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice. Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot. "Did you say that?" he hissed at the parrot. "Yep," the parrot confessed. Then it squawked, "I'm just trying to warn you."

The burglar relaxed. "Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?" "Moses," replied the bird.
"Moses?" the burglar laughed. "What kind of people would name a bird Moses?" "The kind of people that would name a Rottweiler, Jesus.
Tags: Jokes, Funny, Humor, Parrot, Moses, Rottweiler, Jesus

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

World's Oldest Blogger

News just got around that a blogger from Australia could be the oldest blogger in the world right now.

Introducing Olive Riley who has just posted 11 postings in her blog, The Life of Riley, as of today.

Reading: World’s oldest blogger at 107! - Susan Loone (Like what Susan has mentioned, nobody is too old to blog and blogging is the "in thing" now just like how email or sms has its own revolution)

Zee Cine Awards 2007

Of late, the Indian movies industry prefers to hold their awards show in Malaysia. Good work by the Ministry of Tourism in drawing such an event to Malaysia and it augurs well for the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 at the same time. This time it's the Zee Cine Awards 2007 that was held on 2 April 2007 in Genting Highlands.

Click here for Zee Cine Awards' winners.

Previously, the GIFA Awards was held in Dec 2006.

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 ...