Citibank In 2

This sounds like big news: Citibank will be split into an independant credit card unit and a consumer group. The purpose is to bring the giant banking corporation back into profitability after it was badly hit by the subprime crisis.

Lingerie for the Dead?

For the Chinese, burning paper-made products like hell money, houses, cars, servants and even aeroplanes has become the norm, but paper lingerie! Wow, this one is totally new to me! Check out the article from Star Online Nation "Paper lingerie a 'hot' item"!!!

“Most customers find them very cute and usually added a few sets to go with other paper clothing and items such as dresses, bags and shoes for their female family members to use in the other world.”

Selangor Free 20m3 Water in June

Most Selangor domestic water consumers will receive 20m³ of free water from 1 June this year. Most because those with bulk water meters, such as flats, apartments and condominiums residents, will not be enjoying those so soon.

Newly appointed opposition Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim mentioned that the state government had worked out a formula that will benefit the people, the Selangor state and also the environment (which I guess in this case is the water wastage that might happen because of the free water).

Source: Star Online Nation "Free water from June 1"

My Failed Adventure

Was full of oooomph yesterday to go on a little adventure with the camera today. Checked with some friends for any suggestions but in the end, I became lazy and just sat in front of the computer the whole day, falling asleep now and then. *SHY!*

Did the above failed thing with Inkscape in Ubuntu Linux. Guess that is the most productive thing for today. :(

WTF!?!?!?

The Irritating Phone

Have you ever encounter phone calls that would come at your most inconvenient moments? I just had one. I was sitting next to the phone the whole time and it remained silent. When I was in the process of taking a leak, the phone rang. Worse, when I looked at the missed call, it was without any caller ID. Sigh...

And The Story Continues...

Sorry to leave you all in a cliffhanger like that from my previous post from a few days ago. Since I am now in Ubuntu Linux again, I should continue with my story:

I stopped at the part where I could not boot from my Ubuntu thumbdrive nor Windows (please do not be confused with the incident from my most recent post). This time, I took out the internal hard disk and booted from the Ubuntu Live CD. Did the installation again but partitioned the 8GB thumbdrive - allocating 5GB for the file system, 500MB for swap (which I later removed, but that is another story that perhaps will be forgotten) and the remaining for normal storage (I had this wishful thought that perhaps I can use the remaining space as just a normal plug and play thumbdrive for Windows but then Windows do not support partitioned thumbdrives - found this out much later).

After another long session, I got to boot into Ubuntu with the thumbdrive again and waited and waited for some of my friends to come into MSN Messenger (using Pidgin in Ubuntu to access my MSN account) and also at the same time contemplating if I should just drive back to my office to get the Windows CD to run the Recovery Console.

Some more waiting later, WoonCC (linking to his flickr account because he seldom blogs :P) came into MSN and he agreed to meet and bring his Windows CD. And so we met, booted from the CD, went into Recovery Console and at the prompt, typed "fixmbr" and I can boot into Windows again! :D

How Ubuntu Linux Saved My Work and Andrewk Saved Windows

There was this big tender that we almost completed and everyone was compiling the documents. Only my certificate was missing, so I rushed home to retrieve my softcopy to e-mail it back to my colleagues. When I reached home, my laptop would not boot into Windows XP (FYI, it shutdown properly only about 20 minutes before)!

PANIC! SHOCK! HORROR! But thankfully, I have Ubuntu Linux in my thumbdrive. Phew! So logged into Gmail and did the rest.

Meanwhile, I was surfing the net to try to find the solution to my Windows problem. When I tried to boot, all I got was a blank screen with the text "Missing ntldr. Press ctrl + alt + del to reboot." Gosh! I did that so many times. Why not at least tell me to use a recovery disk or something?

Initially I Googled the error but decided I should look for it in Microsoft's website. I was taken to the solution page... but my friend Andrewk who happened to just logged into MSN Messenger at that time pointed out that that solution was for Windows 2000... *shy* So added the word "XP" into the search string and came to the right knowledge database. From there, Andrewk provided me with the ntldr and ntdetect.com files and I can boot into Windows XP again.

However, I rebooted back into Ubuntu here to blog this story to show my support for this open source free operating system. WAY TO GO!

Wide Wide World of Lumix FX35/FX36 OUT NOW!

This is a follow-up to my previous post "Wide Wide World of Lumix": Saw the advertisement in the local newspaper The Sun earlier this morning and I read the review by Camera Labs (via PhotographyBLOG) last night. Can't say I am too impressed after reading the review. Two main factors: (1) no control over flash exposure and (2) no manual focusing. I know I shouldn't be too fussy on things like these but I believe we should deserve more for the price (approximately USD$290 - USD$350). Not sure how much it is in Ringgit Malaysia yet. Let's see how things go as more reviews surface. Still love the 25mm lens. :P

Cool Sultan

Check out our Sultan of Selangor and the ladies @ the Stylo KL Fashion awards. On his right is MCA's first woman minister, Datuk Dr. Ng Yen Yen, while the rest, I don't know who they are. Sorry for my ignorance. :P

From Star Online "Stylo KL Fashion awards a toast to finesse"

The Hottest Years

The hottest year since 1890s is 2005 with all the other following 4 years within recent years. From NASA:

Over the past 30 years, the Earth has warmed by 0.6°C or 1.08°F. Over the past 100 years, it has warmed by 0.8°C or 1.44°F.

Current warmth seems to be occurring nearly everywhere at the same time and is largest at high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. Over the last 50 years, the largest annual and seasonal warmings have occurred in Alaska, Siberia and the Antarctic Peninsula. Most ocean areas have warmed. Because these areas are remote and far away from major cities, it is clear to climatologists that the warming is not due to the influence of pollution from urban areas.

Second Post In Ubuntu

This is my second post in Ubuntu Linux. Let me tell you my experience. Went out to buy a 8GB thumbdrive with WoonCC. Full of optimism to install Ubuntu in this thumbdrive so that I can boot with it from any PC. After getting home, got to work, following tutorials from here. Failed many times and gave up for the day. The next day, tried a few more times and still failed.

Therefore, took out the internal hard disk, ran the Ubuntu Live CD and installed the whole thing on the thumbdrive. That took about 30 to 45 minutes. Re-inserted the internal hard disk and got the thumbdrive to boot. I was thrilled but the performance from booting with a thumbdrive is sluggish. Occasionally, the application will halt momentarily, presumably to load stuff from the thumbdrive. :(

After some fooling around I discovered that there are security updates just like in Windows. I had to download and install 200+ of them. GASP! That took several hours. Besides that, with the help of WoonCC, i discovered some fun stuff, particularly the Cube desktop. I could switch between workspaces by rotating the cube (screenshot below)! Oh forgot to mention about the workspaces... basically you can have as many desktops as your machine can take and in Linux these are called workspaces... I think... :P
After awhile, I switched back to Windows XP and I plugged the thumbdrive in. Windows said it can't open it and suggested that I format it... since the whole Ubuntu installation only took about 4GB, so I thought maybe I should partition out 2GB for data usage in both Windows and Ubuntu. So I went about to reinstall Ubuntu... at this point, I must say i am a *NOOB*! This time I did the installation WITHOUT taking out the internal hard disk and at the end of all it, I can't boot from the thumbdrive and I ALSO can't boot from the hard disk!

And I noticed that I have typed too much for this post so I shall stop for now.

To be continued...

Blogging in Ubuntu!

This is a first for me! Blogging from within a Linux OS - Ubuntu. :D Wow, what an amazing piece of operating system! And best of all, it is free and comes with a whole list of other free applications and programs! I can basically start off surfing the net with the pre-installed Firefox. New experience for me here. Will report back later. ;)

"Temporary" Opposition Leader Announced

NSTOnline reported that the three opposition parties (PKR, DAP and PAS) that formed the new opposition coalition have confirmed that Dr. Wan Azizah (PKR leader) will be the new opposition leader until her husband, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim returns to politics (expected in April).

Beer Can Be Good, Too

For males, 1 to 2 12 ounces glass of beer daily, and for females, 1 glass a day, is good for cardiovascular health. Don't just let wine steal the limelight, the article mentioned. Besides that, beer may also give a boost to the brain!

Caution! Drinking too much will have the opposite effect - higher risk of heart disease and in women, breast cancer. So, drink wisely!

Read more at Forbes.com.

New Cabinet Lineup

List of the new cabinet lineup via NSTOnline:

Prime Minister:Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Deputy Prime Minister: Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak

Ministers in the Prime Minister's Department:
Minister: Tan Sri Bernard Giluk Dompok
Minister: Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Minister: (Sen) Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim
Minister: (Sen) Datuk Amirsham Abdul Aziz
Minister: Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz

Deputy Ministers Ministers in the Prime Minister's Department:
Deputy Minister: Datuk Johari Baharum
Deputy Minister: (Sen) Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim
Deputy Minister: S.K. Devamany
Deputy Minister: Datuk Hasan Malek

Ministry of Agriculture & Agro-Based Industry
Minister: Datuk Mustapa Mohamed
Deputy: Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim

Ministry of Unity, Culture, Arts & Heritage
Minister: Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal
Deputy: Teng Boon Soon

Ministry of Defence
Minister: Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak
Deputy: Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop

Ministry of Domestic Trade & Consumer Affairs
Minister: Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad
Deputy: Jelaing Mersat

Ministry of Education
Minister: Datuk Hishammuddin Tun Hussein
Deputy: Datuk Wee Ka Siong
Deputy: Datuk Razali Ismail

Ministry of Energy, Water & Communications
Minister: Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor
Deputy: Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum

Ministry of Entrepreneur & Co-operative Development
Minister: Datuk Noh Omar
Deputy: Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah

Ministry of Federal Territories
Minister: Datuk Zulhasnan Rafique
Deputy: Datuk M. Saravanan

Ministry of Finance
Minister: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Minister: Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop
Deputy: Datuk Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah
Deputy: Datuk Kong Cho Ha

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Minister: Datuk Seri Rais Yatim
Deputy: Datuk Seri Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar

Ministry of Health
Minister: Datuk Liow Tiong Lai
Deputy: Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad

Ministry of Higher Education
Minister: Datuk Khaled Nordin
Deputy: Datuk Dr Hou Kok Chung
Deputy: Datuk Idris Haron

Ministry Housing & Local Government
Minister: Datuk Ong Ka Chuan
Deputy: Datuk Robert Lau
Deputy: Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin

Ministry of Human Resources
Minister: Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam
Deputy: Datuk Noraini Ahmad

Ministry of Information
Minister: Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek
Deputy: Datuk Tan Lian Hoe

Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs
Minister: Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Syed Jaafar Albar
Deputy: Datuk Chor Chee Heung
Deputy: (Sen) Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh

Ministry of International Trade & Industry
Minister: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
Deputy: Datuk Liew Vui Keong
Deputy: Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan

Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment
Minister: Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas
Deputy: Datuk Seri Panglima Abdul Ghapur Salleh

Ministry of Plantation Industries & Commodities
Minister: Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui
Deputy: (Sen) A. Kohilan Pillay

Ministry of Rural & Regional Development
Minister: Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib
Deputy: Tan Sri Joseph Kurup
Deputy: Joseph Entulu Belaun

Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovations
Minister: Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili
Deputy: Datuk Fadillah Yusof

Ministry of Tourism
Minister: Datuk Azalina Othman Said
Deputy: Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib

Ministry of Transport
Minister: Datuk Ong Tee Keat
Deputy: Datuk Anifah Aman

Ministry of Women, Family & Community Development
Minister: Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen
Deputy: Senator Noriah Kasnon

Ministry of Works
Minister: Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed
Deputy: Datuk Yong Khoon Seng

Ministry of Youth & Sports
Minister: Ismail Sabri Yaakob
Deputy: Wee Jeck Seng

Is Nessie Dead? :O

Long time Nessie hunter 85-year old American Robert Rines believes that the legendary Loch Ness monster is dead because of global warming. He will be making one final trip to Loch Ness to look for the remains of Nessie. More on this at Celsias.

Do you believe in Nessie? Maybe the movie The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep will revive the world's attention.

INSANE: I Lost Count How Many Times Oil Price Set A Record This Year

From Reuters.com:

U.S. crude was trading at $106.87 by 9:59 a.m. EDT, down $3.34 from the previous close. Earlier on Monday, it hit a new record of $111.80 and then fell to a session low of $105.11.

Previous oil insanity:

1. INSANE: Oil's Unrelenting Upward Trend
   
2. INSANE: Oil Tops My Previous Post In No Time!
   
3. INSANE: Oil Surged Past US$108
   
4. INSANE: Oil @ US$103.95?
   
5. INSANE: Oil Topped at US$102.80
   
6. INSANE: Oil Continues the Post US$100 Trend
7. INSANE: Crude Oil Prices Touched US$100 A Barrel

Learning English - Leprechaun Leader

Here is something interesting from Investopedia:

A corporate manager or an executive who, like the fabled Irish elf, is a mischievous and elusive creature said to possess buried treasures of money and gold.

Investopedia Says...
According to Irish folklore, the location of hidden treasure is revealed only when the leprechaun is caught. In the case of a leprechaun leader, the "buried treasure" is not usually buried, but rather in a protected offshore account!

Examples of leprechaun leaders are the executives of Enron, who stowed away millions of dollars until they were finally caught.

Also spelled "Lepre-con Leader".

INSANE: Earthquake in Malaysia?

Is Malaysia no longer earthquake free? :O

From Saturday's Star Online:

Tremors in Bukit Tinggi

PETALING JAYA: A mild earthquake measuring 2.0 and 3.2 on the Richter scale struck Bukit Tinggi in Pahang at 7.16am, 7.35am and 8.50am Saturday.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department said it caused weak tremors in Bukit Tinggi and surrounding areas. The department assured that there was no cause for concern as the tremors were mild.

INSANE: Crocodile Left Alone In Danga Bay???

A 2.5m crocodile was sighted in Danga Bay, Johor Baru yesterday and firemen were called in to catch it. It is believed to be swept in by floodwaters. The firemen tried to lure it out of the water with a chicken but failed. What I found scary was this part of the news report from Star Online:

Johor Baru Fire and Rescue Department commanding officer C. Kesavan said that the firemen were only trained to catch crocodiles on land, not in water.

After two hours of trying, the firemen gave up and left the scene.

I hope this is not the end of the story! I had been to Danga Bay once and it is a tourist attraction-cum-night spot... can't be safe with a roaming crocodile!!!

Moko The Dolphin Saves Whales!

Let's now take a break from crazy political stuff and rising petrol prices. In New Zealand, a bottlenose dolphin named Moko saved two stranded sperm whales, a mother and her calf from possible death. Human rescue workers tried to free the whales but the mammals kept getting stuck again and again.

Then along came Moko, who approached the whales and appeared to lead them as they swam 200 yards (180 meters) along the beach and through a channel out to the open sea.

Source: National Geographic News "Dolphin Saves Stuck Whales, Guides Them Back to Sea"

Missing 11 Year Old Boy

Anyone with information of 11-year-old Muhamad Asmawi Jalaludin from Kampung Kerinchi, please contact Rakan COP hotline at 03-2115 9999 or SMS to 32728 or call Rozita (mother) at 019-255 0279. Details of the shared news (via Star Online) from andrewk as follows:

KUALA LUMPUR: An 11-year-old boy, Muhamad Asmawi Jalaludin, who went to play with his friends at the Kampung Kerinchi flats located about 200m from his house on March 9, has gone missing.

Brickfields acting OCPD Supt Azri Abdul Rahman said Muhamad Asmawi usually went to his friends' flats nearby to play videogames.

The boy had gone to the nearby flats at around 5pm on March 9. When questioned by the police, his friends said that the SRK La Salle pupil had gone home at 6.30pm that day.

When the boy left the house, he was wearing a pink T-shirt and grey shorts.

"The boy was last seen at the Mid-Valley Megamall by a friend. We are scrutinising the CCTVs in the shopping complex to find out if he was there," Supt Azri said on Thursday.

He added that Muhammad Asmawi's mother, Rozita Abu Hassan, 50, had received an SMS demanding ransom of a sum of money.

Police have identified the sender of the SMS but have yet to track the person down.

Rozita, when met at her home in Kampung Kerinchi here on Thursday, said she waited for her youngest son to return until evening and decided to search for him in the area but to no avail.

"Usually he goes cycling and plays football in the evenings and would be back by 5pm," said the mother of seven.

INSANE: Oil's Unrelenting Upward Trend

What a lot of posts about the increasing oil price. I'm having trouble catching up and also feeling lazy to post. Oil is up to US$110.20 per barrel, mainly due to the falling US Dollar.

Source: Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

Previous whole load of oil price increases this year:

1. INSANE: Oil Tops My Previous Post In No Time!
   
2. INSANE: Oil Surged Past US$108
   
3. INSANE: Oil @ US$103.95?
   
4. INSANE: Oil Topped at US$102.80
   
5. INSANE: Oil Continues the Post US$100 Trend
6. INSANE: Crude Oil Prices Touched US$100 A Barrel

Anwar Pictured As Opposition Leader

The Western media is promoting Anwar, Parti Keadilan Rakyat's (PKR) advisor, as the opposition leader in Malaysia... or so it seems. It is apparent in this article from Bloomberg.com. However, in Malaysia, he is at the moment rather quiet. Perhaps he is waiting for April, where he will be eligible to return to politics and (rumours abound) to take over PKR.

INSANE: Oil Tops My Previous Post In No Time!

Just blogged that oil price peaked at US$108.21 and now I read that it set a new record at US$109.20. This is getting really mad!

This year's oil watch:

1. INSANE: Oil Surged Past US$108
   
2. INSANE: Oil @ US$103.95?
   
3. INSANE: Oil Topped at US$102.80
   
4. INSANE: Oil Continues the Post US$100 Trend
5. INSANE: Crude Oil Prices Touched US$100 A Barrel

Lingham & Correct, Correct

My boss pointed out to me an interesting advertisement in a local daily of a local chilli sauce. ;)

INSANE: Oil Surged Past US$108

It's been 'awhile' since I have blogged about oil prices and yesterday, peaked at US$108.21 a barrel. :O Source: CNNMoney.com.

This year's oil watch:

1. INSANE: Oil @ US$103.95?
   
2. INSANE: Oil Topped at US$102.80
   
3. INSANE: Oil Continues the Post US$100 Trend
4. INSANE: Crude Oil Prices Touched US$100 A Barrel

Malaysians Can Hope Again

Update 11:38pm: Table of results (from Election Commission of Malaysia):

2008 General Elections Parliamentary Seat Results

2008 General Elections State Seat Results

Today marks a new beginning for Malaysian politics as the coalition of opposition parties (DAP, PAS and PKR) took major seats, both in parliament and state, away from ruling party Barisan Nasional (BN) during Saturday's general elections. Even though the BN once again took enough parliamentary seats to form the government of Malaysia, the opposition denied the 2/3 majority the party enjoyed for so many decades. BN can be assured that their lives in parliament will not be so smooth sailing as before. ;) Besides not being able to capture Kelantan, BN lost their control over four states, namely Kedah, Pulau Pinang, Perak and Selangor (shocking!).

The people of Malaysia have voiced their dissatisfaction over the BN's many exposed corruption and scandals with little to no actions, racial issues, the party's treatment with the recent protests. Most of all, Malaysians now WANT A CHANGE!

But let's not be too happy first. We will still have to wait and see how the opposition will prove themselves or are they just as hypocritical as BN themselves. I hope the opposition will not disappoint the people that have given them this chance and will bring the country out of its current decaying trend.

Cheers to a brand new hope!

Voting Day!

I have voted! Have you?

INSANE: SMS Spamming Madness!!!

I thought Monday's 5 SMSes in English and Chinese from the same candidate were the end of all these spamming but noooooooooooooooo... I have been getting them for the past 4 days now. All from the same candidate! And I just got another one right after 12am a minute ago! This is getting very irritating! So irritating that I am not going to vote for this spammer. Imagine what will happen if this irritating candidate became part of the government! CRAZY! :@

Poison Products II

More products with traces of poison are detected. Bionex and Ju Purt Jen Chin Yen (Cap Fuu Cheng) have traces of sibutramine and ephedrine, respectively. These poisons may cause high blood pressure and/or cardiovascular complications.

Source: Star Online "Products found with poisonous content"

Previous Poison Products posted here.

Scary Self-Employment Revelation

If we are employees, we can always complain about the company and the employer... but what if we are self-employed? :OComic from What The Duck.

Indelible Ink Follow-up: DROPPED!

In a follow-up to my post "Malaysia to Use Indelible Ink In Coming Elections", the Election Commission has announced that the plan has been dropped. They found a loop-hole after spending a bit of money to bring the ink from India. You can read this article from NSTOnline which sort of twist and turn and got me all lost and blur.

INSANE: Oil @ US$103.95?

The following paragraph from MarketWatch sends a chill with oil price surging to US$103.95 (all time high even if you consider inflation adjusted historical rates) with the low US dollar and rising tensions in South America to blame:

Crude for April delivery rallied $2.11 to a near record of $103.95 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in early morning trading. The nominal level has already passed inflation-adjusted historical highs.

This year's INSANE oil price watch:

1. INSANE: Oil Topped at US$102.80
   
2. INSANE: Oil Continues the Post US$100 Trend
3. INSANE: Crude Oil Prices Touched US$100 A Barrel

INSANE: Election SMS SPAM!

Holy mad, mad cows! Today I received a total of FIVE SMSes (4 in Chinese and 1 in English) from Barisan Nasional (BN) telling me which area that I am voting for, when is the election date, the time to vote and the BN candidate in my area. Gosh... FIVE SMSes... MADNESS! And how did this BN candidate get my mobile number? Hmmm...

How To Walk On This?

Can anyone help to explain how to walk on heelless high heels?

Source: The Glam Guide "Spring 2008 Most Wanted? Antonio Berardi Heelless Shoes"

Wide World of Ricoh

Another camera that I would like to consider, the R8 which Ricoh announced recently but with less publicity compared with the other brands. By now, you might notice that I am looking for wider than normal the normal 35mm cameras. This one has a range of 28 - 200mm (7.1X optical zoom). The camera has a new 10 megapixels CCD and a brand new processor called the Smooth Image Engine III. Ricoh also dropped the Caplio name off its R series. The last of the model to carry that name is the R7. The new R8 has a high resolution 2.7" LCD with 460,000 pixels. This is a great improvement, especially compared to the current crop of 100k+ and 200k+ ones.

What really attracted my attention was, despite being a fully automated digital camera, it features a mode that will use the smallest available aperture. Definitely not as flexible as those with full manual or an aperture priority mode, but having this mode would allow maximum depth-of-field and would give my favourite "star" effects especially when shooting at night.

Check out the camera's official site here.

Previous post on a digital camera with an even wider lens:
Wide Wide World of Lumix