The Billion Ringgit Water Deal

I was beginning to wonder what happened to the newly elected opposition Petaling Jaya Utara MP, Tony Pua. There had not been much news about him since he won the seat (to me, at least... maybe I've not really read enough). There was this great hype about him selling off his business to join politics to serve us people. However, I am not really surprised to find that he is one of the mastermind behind Selangor state's planned acquisition of the water bodies in the state given his business background.

The current opposition held state government made an offerring of RM4.6 billion to the four concessionaires in the state without buying over their liabilities. Three of the concessionaires rejected the state government's offer. During the midst of negotiations, Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd (PAAB), a unit of Minister of Finance Inc. came out with an offer of RM5 billion - RM400 million more than what the state government offerred. I guess we know whose brilliant idea this might be. Kakacaucau!

Looks like the federal government ran out of ideas on how to serve the public better and instead hijacked the opposition's idea on the planned acquisition to do the same thing - to prevent the contractual tariff hike of 31%. The federal government claimed that the negotiations started back in September 2008. So if this is true, it might be that the opposition who are the one that stole the idea. Hmmm... who do you trust? ;)

I don't really know what I am saying in the business sense here but I think this about sums up the situation. Much more details at Star Online.

ps I'm a bit amused, though, that previously, the federal government went on a privatising spree and now attempting to buy them back... a way of pumping in more money for...?

Update 28 February 2009: My bud AndrewK's pointed me to another link with some scary news. This link appears to have reports that conflicts with the one in Star Online (link in two paragraphs above). You be the judge who is lying and who is more accurate. The truth is out there! I hope we Selangor people are not going to die a death of dehydration.

More Streamyx Slowness

Just reached home last night and tried out the internet. Just as what my friends said, it's slow. I did not even get connected for half an hour but I think that was another problem. The Streamyx slowness is this (via Star Online):

Streamyx broadband users will have to bear with sluggish surfing speeds until March 5 due to technical problems, according to a statement by Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM).

The statement said there has been a disruption of TM’s Internet services since Feb 18 due to circuit faults on the Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN2) between Malaysia and the United States.

Due to this, customers using Internet services may now experience slow browsing while accessing content hosted in the United States, said the statement.

Additionally, customers using Internet Protocol services such as Virtual Private Network (VPN) and other critical business applications linked to the United States may also experience some service degradation.

To alleviate the problem and ease the congestion, some links have been rerouted, TM said.

Previously about Streamyx here.

HOME!

HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME! HOME!

Yes, I'm shouting! HOME! So great to be HOME!

And Before Leaving Vietnam...

... I leave you with some unknown berries just outside where I stayed:
Alright, leaving in about half an hour for the airport (I so very, very, very hope). Finally! HOMEEEEEeeeeeeeeee...

And when I get home, I promise you visitors, THE SKY!

Simple English Wikipedia

I get very lazy to search words in dictionaries even though I don't understand them. Well, if I am online, I might just go define: word in the Google search bar but if I am reading a physical article (no, not ebooks), I normally don't bother. To my delight, Wikipedia's got a version written in simple English! The main page even says it! "The Simple English Wikipedia is for everyone! That includes children and adults who are learning English." :D

The guidelines when contributing to this simple English version:

• Use easy words and shorter sentences. This lets people who know little English read them.
• Write good pages. The best encyclopedia pages have useful, well written information.
• Use the pages to learn and teach. These pages can help people learn English. You can also use them to make a new Wikipedia to help other people.
• Simple doesn't mean little. Writing in Simple English means that simple words are used. It does not mean readers want simple information. Articles don't have to be short to be simple; expand articles, include a lot of information, but use basic vocabulary.
• Be bold! Your article does not have to be perfect, because other editors will fix it and make it better. And most importantly, don't be afraid to start and make articles better yourself.

And guess what? I got to know about it from xkcd. ;)

A Plus Point To Work Here...

...only if my company offers donuts this way:

Too bad it doesn't. So there goes the plus point.

From Pixdaus: Helping Hand

It's Monday morning and I am still at foreign land at work. Not to mention I was also at work yesterday and the day before and the day before and the... can someone please give me a helping hand here? :'(

Rush Hour in Vietnam

Monday's coming and it's time to brace for the rush in a few hours!
Traffic jam here in Vietnam is slightly different from that in Malaysia. The motorcycles here outnumber the cars greatly so the jam is caused by the bikes instead. :O

Supposed to ZzZzZz...

Sigh... it's a Sunday and I am working in the office in a foreign land...
Previously, also created from Garfield's Comics Creator here.

It's......... complicated...

As described in my flickr:

I noticed the cables around Ho Chi Minh city are wired like this. The electricians have my total respect on how they managed to troubleshoot. I was told that they are in the process of cleaning them up to get ready for some form of rapid transit system.

Someone's Getting Married in Vietnam :)

Caught this early morning while going to (GASP!) work (GASP! GASP!):

Touch 'n Go Conspiracy II

"Touch ‘n’ Go Sdn Bhd is targeting sales of at least RM10 million from one million new cards the company expects to sell this year."

Of course they do. They force us to change our cards every 10 years.

"Self-Charging" Batteries

I would certainly like to have self-charging batteries - don't need to plug in any chargers and look for power points. And the best part, it can be charged by placing it any where. These batteries with built-in solar cells (above) sure come close. Just need some source of powerful light, preferably the sun, I suppose. These are just prototypes and the cells charge very slowly. Hopefully, the resourceful Knut will be able to create a commercial product really soon! :)

via Inhabitat via Notes from Knut.

Coca-Cola in Glass Bottles! :D

Not seen these for awhile. It's widely available here in Vietnam. :)

Milk Fruit

Previously, I've heard my colleagues mention about a fruit where its flesh has a milky taste and I tried it last night. Sorry, forgot to take photos but this link should be sufficient. According to the link, it appears to be from Cambodia and I am here in Vietnam. I did ask some English speaking Vietnamese about this milk fruit previously but they don't seem to know what it is, so I guess it is possible that it is not a Vietnamese local fruit. I am a amused by how a tree could produce a fruit with "milk" inside, though. Nice, tasty and juicy. Yum, yum.

Oops, forgot to mention that the one I had had a greenish outer skin whereas the one shown from the link had a purplish skin. The link also mentioned that it is greenish when it is still raw but I am quite sure the one I had was ripe. :)

Talcum Powder Scare

Another year, another health scare. Consumers’ Association of Penang president S.M. Mohamed Idris said that:

1. Harvard Medical School in Boston studied over 3,000 women and found that those using talcum once a week had a 36% chance of getting ovarian cancer, while those using talcum daily had a 41% chance.
2. Researchers have found talc particles in ovarian tumour and they have also discovered that women with ovarian cancer used talcum powder on their genitals more frequently than healthy women.
3. Talc particles are capable of moving up the reproductive system and becoming embedded in the ovary lining.
4. Talc can cause the baby’s airways to swell and lead to pneumonia, and has been linked to asthma in children. Statistics show that several thousands infants die or become seriously ill each year due to inhalation of baby powder.
5. Consumers should revert to using the traditional ‘bedak sejuk,’ which is made of rice flour or powder made from corn flour.

Don't know what is bedak sejuk (or if loosely translated, cold powder), though. I was thinking of those were you can mix with water and paste it all over the face.

Source: Star Online

From Pixdaus: White Lion

Extended trip. Yawnnnnn!

Previously, younger white lion cubs here.

Internet-Less For A Day and A Half

I went around the whole of yesterday WITHOUT internet access and I did not really think much about it! Amazing. I wouldn't have thought that I could survive a day without going online but it actually happened yesterday. Maybe it was because I was moving from one place to another and got all excited taking (albeit struggling in a swerving van) casual photographs of streets of Ho Chi Minh/Saigon. I shall post something soon.

I suppose yesterday would be one of the rare days when I got to move around in Ho Chi Minh city. Otherwise, I would be travelling to and fro the factory and apartment. Oh, forgot to mention I was sent to the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh since Sunday evening. Was supposed to be around till Friday but last night I heard from a colleague that I just got it extended to another week. Sighhhhh...

ps Come to think of it, I was internet-less for a day and a half taking into account I left for the airport since Sunday 3pm. This must be the greatest achievement of 2009!

Things I Would Love To Say As An IT Administrator...

I'm not an IT administrator but really am quite fed up with helping out on IT issues lately, so I have thought of a few things... some things that I wouldn't say but really am always tempted to:

Silly colleague: What's my password?
Me: password.
Silly colleague: Can I change it?
Me: No.

Silly colleague: I can't go online.
Me: Good.

Silly colleague: [look left, look right] Pssst, can you install Messenger for me?
Me: No.

Silly colleague: I think I've got a virus.
Me: No worries. [take out OS CD, put in tray, boot, format]. Oh, do you by any chance have any important data in there?

Silly colleague: My PC's got no power!
Me: The utilities board just reduced the price by 2.5% after increasing it by over 20%. You can expect their service to degrade. Blame them.

Silly colleague: I need a new PC. Mine's really old.
Me: Sure. Where's the cash?

Silly colleague: I've got software problem.
Me: Ha! Ha! Ha!

Hmmm... What else? What else?

Tree, the Fireman that Saved Sam the Koala

The popular female koala Sam saved from the Australian bushfire by volunteer firefighter Dave Tree:

You can see how she stops and moves forward and looks at me. It was like a look saying "I can't run, I'm weak and sore, put me out of my misery".

I yelled out for some water and I sat down with her and tipped the water up. It was in my hand and she reached for the bottle then put her right claw into my left hand which was cold so it must have given her some pain relief and she just left it there. It was just amazing.

Sam's got 2nd degree burns to her paws which will take 7 to 8 months to recover. Sam's found a boyfriend in Bob at the shelter she is in.

via Star Online.

How do you end a sentence in parenthesis with an emoticon?

This is a prevailing question that I face occasionally when typing out e-mail replies, etc. and so far, there doesn't seem to be any solutions...
Comics from xkcd.com.

Eclipses

There was an eclipse of the sun beginning of this Ox Lunar New Year and tomorrow, there will be an eclipse of the moon at the end of the celebration of this lunar new year. Traditionally, all these eclipses were never good omen and if we still believe that, this should negate all the bad energy and amplify the positive. Ummm... think so not?

Vista's Own Defragmenter

Been defragmenting my drive for over an hour now and I still have no clue how long more to wait. The Disk Defragmenters of the past that came together with XP, 2000, Me, 98 and 95 (can't remember what the 3.11 one looks like) give an indication of how many percent had already been defragmented - no indication of how much of time left - but at least I would have an indication of progress.

Check out the latest one from Vista: This may take from a few minutes to a few hours!!! @%^@#$%@$!!!!! Couldn't it be any more vague than this? How's the one in Windows 7?
And when it's done, it doesn't even indicate that disk defragmentation has completed or something to that degree. Sigh...

Neutral Grounds

Have you heard of the Perak Darul Ridzuan political upheaval of recent days? Yes - must be a like some sort of a roller coaster ride for you. No - it's ok, you are just being neutral like the sultan. There was a power tussle between the now ex- state government whom are the current opposition with the new state government whom were the state's opposition earlier. But expect a fight till the end from the officially outgoing state government that seem to have balls of steel. Clashes of balls next?

There was this MP who earlier had defected from the now new state government to join the ex- but after a few days, he defected the ex- and rejoined his old, tagging along with three others who claims that they were leaving the ex- to become independents. Independents that give friendly support to the new state government.

After considering their integrity and selflessness, the state Sultan agrees that a new state government shall be formed base on majority (31 to 28 seats). However, I never knew independent parties gives friendly support to a certain body count as part of them. But of course, our former Agong and judge would know best. A man with a plan.

Another ex-, our ex-prime minister thinks otherwise, though. He said these defections would only tarnish the party. But wait, check out the lovely and innocent smiling faces here. These are the people that will put the people's interests above theirs.
Oh dear, I need to buy me new shoes so that I can get rid of the really old ones. Ta.

Photo of smileys from Star Online.

Once In A Billion Years

It really felt like once in a billion years to have the Federal Highway this silent. Look! So little cars! Took this photo last Wednesday. Really great to be the passenger than the driver! :P

And while I am at it, I attempted that tilt or shift or whatever lens thing where the motorcycles, some cars and the flyovers all look like models. Of course, I did not have any tilt lens. Instead I blurred out the sections with The Gimp. The original... umm... not so original because I've scaled it... is below:

Malaysia and Her Minerals

It's been years since I have read about how resourceful Malaysia is with natural minerals... since left school. More than 10 years. Coming to 20! Gasp! Ahem! Anyway, I was rather delighted to read that we still have many potential states with minerals (according to our Mineral and Geoscience Department, that is):

The department has identified Perak, Pahang and Terengganu as potential areas for tin, Terengganu, Pahang, Kelantan and Perak for iron, Sabah and Pahang for copper, and Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor and Sarawak for gold.

Perhaps these can help out after our oil resources dry off.

Link: Star Online "Silica potential for Terengganu"

Long Breaks Do End... :(

Reality sank in this morning. Woke up and realised that tomorrow's a working day! Had a really long break since last Saturday but the 9 (NINE!) days of no work sure passed quickly and now I'm only a few hours away from dragging myself out of bed early early in the morning to get ready for work. MADNESS! Who invented work?