"I Tai Kor Mah!"

Been to the cinema lately? Seen the Digi advertisement before the movies? The one with this guy in the cinema talking loudly on the phone with a Digi Yellow Coverage Fellow 'sitting' next to him (signifying strong Digi signal while at the same time sending a message to similar inconsiderate people)?

Have you had any personal experience similar to that? Well, maybe not as bad as this. I have in so many occasions been sitting next to these kind of people. They are not only inconsiderate, they are also darn irritating with intention to spoil the movie for everyone sitting around him/her. You give a stare and they still ignore you as if it is their right to chat on the phone.

If not because the society is still quite civilised (despite the increase in crimes) and still governed by law, these people could end up having their phones thrown away or get beaten up. Other than monitoring pirates recording the whole movie, cinemas should also monitor for this even though this might not be directly related to their profits.

Photo from Star Online here.

Shocking! Just Being Near Close Obese Friends Can Make You Fat

It is true! Check out this article from Reuters via Star Online here. Come, be close to me and let me spread obesity to you. Don't worry, there are no studies done yet if reading a fat person's blog will make another fat. Below are some snippets:

Researchers who have studied "networks" of obesity think so: they found that if someone's friend becomes obese, that person's chances of becoming obese increase by more than half.

Siblings and spouses also have an influence, although a reduced one -- people whose siblings became obese were themselves 40 percent more likely to grow obese, while people whose spouses became obese were 37 percent more likely to.

*****

If someone became obese, their friends were 57 percent more likely to become obese over the 32 years, they found. If people named one another as contacts, they were 171 percent, or more than double, as likely to become obese if the other did.

The effect held for three degrees of separation. If a person became obese, their friends were more likely to become obese, but also friends of friends. It also occurred in shorter periods within the 32-year span.

*****

The findings held even if people lived 800 km apart or even further. But having an obese neighbor did not affect a person's likelihood of becoming obese -- which suggests that common environments are not to blame.

*****

"I do see this quite a bit clinically -- that an individual will come in and say, 'I have been best friends with this person since college and we just slowly gained weight together.'"

Plagiarism in the Making

My first What The Duck post. Interesting take on plagiarism:

Sylar Mind Melds

According to IMDb.com, Heroes villain Zachary Quinto is rumoured to be in final negotiations to play Spock in the upcoming Star Trek movie (2008)! From evil evil evil brain eating killer to heroic Vulcan. Hmmm...

There's Always An Excuse

Our Works Minister is amazing! He found the reason why the roof of our Parliament House is leaking: Heavy rainfall has contributed to the leakage...

He had been given RM12 million to rectify this problem of which "RM4 mil would be used for the review while the remaining RM8 mil would be used for immediate repairs."

The was the question why the roof was not repaired during the RM90 million upgrade of the Parliament House in 2005. He also has an answer, which is: At that time, there was no leaking problems and the roof was in good condition.

Source: Star Online Nation "Samy: Heavy rains contributing to Parliament House roof leak"

The Turning Point

The Turning Point
Originally uploaded by thepres6.

Check out the highly reflective water!

Mosses

I remembered when I was really small, I see my parents and grandma scrape mosses off walls and floors. Then, today, Star Online came up with such an attention grabbing topic: "Expert: Moss plays important role in flood prevention". Don't ever look down on mosses anymore! Certain species can absorb a lot of water so that erosion does not occur easily. These are not limited to those on the ground. Consider the ones growing on trees. Seems like mother nature never fails to amaze.

Besides this, certain moss species can prevent cancer and bacteria. At the end of the article, I learned that Australia and America use mosses for horticulture and fuel (?), more often than not, over-harvest the natural ones in the jungle.

Is It True? International Symbol for Marriage?

Could this be true? Is it an international symbol?Source: Best Pic Ever

Warning to MCA by Lowly UMNO Youth Leader

The sudden and uncalled for announcement made by our Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak about Malaysia being a Islamic state and never a secular state I was not going to bother to post it here, but this piece of news from opposition leader Lim Kit Siang's blog that was published on one of our local Malay daily, Berita Harian, really made my blood boil. Here is what UMNO (United Malays National Organisation, a component of Barisan Nasional, the ruling party of Malaysia) Youth Movement's leader Hishammuddin Hussein said or wrote in a warning letter to MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association, component of Barisan Nasional):

“Saya beri amaran kepada pemimpin MCA supaya berhenti membuat kenyataan sedemikian. Ingin saya tegaskan, saya bukan pemimpin naif yang akan membenarkan perkara ini berterusan. Amaran saya ialah berhenti membuat kenyataan."

Translation:
"I am warning the MCA leaders to stop making such statements. I stress that I am not a naive leader that will allow this to continue. My warning is to stop making statements."

Hah! Warning? Warning a major component party by a youth party? One of the statements he was referring to was made by MCA Secretary-General Datuk Ong Ka Chuan that MCA has ample proof that Malaysia WAS a secular state and not an Islamic one.

Let's see if there are any replies from MCA to this keris wielding (that is another story) Hishammuddin who spoke out of his turn.

More Progress on the Shearwey Case

Previously posted on 20/07/2007 @ 2201:
Ong Chee Leong, the boyfriend of victim Shearwey's mother, Jess Teh was charged with murder of the little girl. Meanwhile, the couple were also charged with possession of cannabis. The case will be mentioned on 14 September 2007.

Update 21/07/2007:
Star Online has a longer article and photos of the accused:
And the charges:Besides that, the daily also reported that there were more than 150 very irritating people waiting outside the court to catch a glimpse of the accused. Here is part of the article:

Two housewives from Bukit Kecil, Sungai Pinang, said they woke up early and quickly finished their housework so that they could come and see what the couple looked like and how they behaved.

“We took a sapu van to get here as we don’t know how to drive,” said Wong Ah Lan, 60.

“We are busybodies,” said her neighbour who only gave her name as Yin, 47.

They met a friend, Kok Yin Lan, 56, from Pulau Betong who went there with three other women from her area.

”This is my second time here. I came today because I heard that Ying Ying’s grandparents would be present and I wanted to see what they looked like in person,” she said.

Sources:
1. Star Online Nation "Ex-karaoke lounge manager charged with Ying Ying's murder"
2. Star Online Nation "Mum, boyfriend charged over child's death"
3. Star Online Nation "Curious for look at accused"

Other related stories:
1. Missing Child
2. Missing Child Shearwey Ooi Found Dead
3. Shearwey's Arrested "Close Relative" Revealed?
4. More Media Coverage of the Shearwey Case

The Power of YouTube

YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen

Americans are making YouTube big, very big! Upcoming election candidates fear the contents in YouTube because there are numerous videos that make fun of them, some real, some not. At the same time, election candidates are making use of YouTube to broadcast their announcements, agendas and asking for inputs. YouTube members post their questions to these candidates via the free service.

Only one conclusion! Respect YouTube for what it has become!

Source: Reuters "YouTube role grows as U.S. election nears"

A Little About Americans, Chinese and Japanese

A simple study of blocks concluded that Americans are more individualistic, therefore harder to understand others, whereas the Chinese function more as a collective. Meanwhile, another
study indicated that Japanese look at the eyes of the person they talk to while the Americans look at the mouth. Hence, a Japanese talking to an American will cause some confusion and misunderstanding... :O

For an in-depth view of this, check out LiveScience "Study: Americans Don't Understand Others"

Google Reader Formatting Issues!

Is anyone facing any problems with Google Reader? Mine does not display properly anymore since yesterday. Almost like the mobile version now... only worse... I could only think of two things that might cause this on my side:

1. Google Offline plugin - it was updated automatically
2. Firefox 2.0.0.5 - it was updated yesterday

Went to the Google Reader discussion board and found a few users facing the same or similar issues. The links to these discussions are here, here, here and here.

This is very depressing. I have been relying on Google Reader to keep me updated with feeds but since yesterday, I had to login and logout and refresh and this and that to get back the proper page! FRUSTRATION!

Update 8:39pm
No more frustration! I have logged in and out three times and everything seems ok again!

Sexy Space Suits

It is coming! There is proof! Here is even a photo of it (left). Very soon astronauts can have body fitting suits to wear and not the big bulging ones that hinder mobility. Yay! But don't be too happy just yet as this is a prototype and will not be ready too soon. Maybe in about 10 years. mOh.

Source: National Geographic News "New Skintight Spacesuit Design Unveiled"

.asia

The ".asia" extension is now available for application from www.dotasia.org. DotAsia Organisation is the company assigned by regulatory body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

Like what the DotAsia website says the sun rises in Asia! ASIA POWER!

First source from Star Online TechCentral "'.Asia' open for booking"