Day 1: Fundamental Analysis

My plan is to stick with EUR/USD and try to get something from there. I currently have a system which I will reveal when I have the time to do so. So let's start with fundamental analysis for Europe and US.

First of all, the biggest news yesterday was the 50 points Fed cut which spurs equities to rally upwards. Sad to say it is bad news for the USD as it EUR/USD (from hereon called "euro") soars. Markets are currently in consolidation on uncertainty after the rush yesterday. As can be seen here on the USD/JPY (from hereon called "gopher").
Look at the latest movements. The sudden spike was due to yesterday's rate cute of 50 points and then it cools off with a little of correction before moving sidewards with no clear direction of where to go. I am of course not trading on gopher but looking at how both stochastics and RSI linger around the midpoint is a clear sign of market consolidation.

I suspect all we need is a good news for the price to suddenly go up or down. I suspect that global equities rising leads to weakening of the yen but we'll see the full extent with a bit more time to come.

Back to the euro, now that we know people are uncertain about how the USD is relative to the JPY, we could say people are uncertain about whether the USD is overpriced or underpriced. It all depends on the euro. Let's look for signals, from fundamentals (i.e. news articles).

Here are some which I think might be relevant.

1. Belgium break-up fears.
   With no new government for 101 days after their general election(good grief), concerns are growing that the country will finally split up. Uncertainty is not good for euro right now, as it casts doubts of a "united europe". No doubt about this.
   
2. Greenspan casts doubt on publication of inflation goals
   "They will have to go through a tricky process of explaining if inflation deviates from target" Quite true, but I don't see how this affects the euro.
3. US housing market outlook worsens
   Tricky this one, since the crash is not yet evident. It's going to be bad for the US economy as builder sentiment fell for the 7th consecutive month. Bad, but still waiting for the crash to actually happen.
4. Clouds gather in Germany as sentiment sinks
   New data added to evidence that the best of Germany's economic revival was over, although economists did not expect a sharp decline in performance. Bad for euro, since they are still uncertain whether Germany's recover was TRULY over.
5. Dollar plunges to new low versus euro
   Reasons: fed cut on interest and discount rates, UK inflation fell below BoE's target in august, Northern Rock crisis to have lasting effects on consumer confidence.
   

I think those are the relevant news. Nothing really significant but it shows a probably weakening euro in the long run and an unpredictable USD.

Day 0: Beginning of a new trade

So I've been talking about forex for a while now. Since the investment club plan is put on hold for the moment until the preliminary meeting, I've decided to explore trading in the forex market.

I'll try to explain what I've come to understand so far.

Forex = Foreign exchange

Forex trading is done by trading on a pair of currencies. The big 5 currencies traded are USD (US dollars), GBP (Great Britain Pound), EUR (Euro), JPY (Japan Yen) and CHF (Swiss Franc). There are some other traded currencies as well but because of the size of their economy to be comparatively smaller than the above mentioned, I shall for the time being avoid them.

In layman's term, forex trading is more or less like trading the economies of a country compared to the other. For example, I would buy (go long) on GBP against the USD if i think the british economy is progressing, or the american economy is regressing, or both.

It is not always this simple though, as there are many factors that can determine the strength of the currencies.

If you are interested at this point, simply head to BabyPips to learn more. It's a lovely and informative site, take my word for it if I say it's the BEST forex site for beginners.

Let's get started right now as I start a strict trading regime. But before all that, just a little comic to calm the nerves.


He is in fact wrong, money can buy happiness, but that depends on what type of happiness it buys. If you're talking about fast cars and the adrenaline rush then you have an idea of what I'm thinking. So the aim of my trade is of coz to make money (fake money but still as important nonetheless, it's my pride)

So here's the brand new account with USD1000 and a leverage of 1:100, which means I have USD100,000 to trade but could lose money A LOT faster than a 1:1 account, double-edged sword this is.

I shall talk about my plan next.

Euro Yen Power

Did I say 159.85? It's going towards 161.00 now.

13 Sep 2007 14:19 GMT

BULLET: EURO-YEN: Breaking through tech resistance at MNI....

EURO-YEN: Breaking through tech resistance at Y159.97/00, MNI Techs
suggesting a close above this level would be a positive sign. Stops
going off now, with little seen on the orderboard until offers around
Y161.00.

Looks like I can cover my losses today, not a bad trading day I would say. So many things learnt, still it never ceases to amaze me the market can move on absolutely "NOTHING".

Forex, Khairy

Started doing a little demo trade on the forex market in 2 eventful days. DEMO only, hehehe guess I don't have that much confidence in trading real money. And I can see why people always say try it on a demo account first, it's really risky, much riskier than equities.

First, Oil barrel reaching US$80 per barrel, and second, EUR/USD hitting the wonderful 1.39 mark, seems like it's going to hit 1.4 soon.

Also, fingers crossed for EUR/JPY to hit the 115.85 mark so I can earn some more $$$.

Anyway main news today is this.

Love him or hate him, he's a daddy now. Congratulations.

Red wine to try

No.1 currently on my list of wines to keep(or drink)


Introducing Chateau Monbousquet. This is a Bordeaux red from the region of Saint Emilion. The one that caught my eye is this year 2000 Chateau Monbousquet. According to this website here, the right time to drink this is from 2006 to 2018 so expect the price of this to be reasonably expensive. Trust me when I say the price of this wine will rise again within the next few years as I've already seen a lot of wine wholesalers running having the "out of stock" label on this wine.

The one I've got a chance to try was the Chateau Monbousquet 1999 which is very lovely and much cheaper than 2000. Still was a great experience.

So if you're a wine connoisseur, give this wine a try. Tell me what you think.

Dining at Kai Mayfair and New Ideas

Yesterday I had the opportunity to dine at Kai in Mayfair, once voted the best chinese restaurant in the UK, thanks to my uncle :P I suspect Hakkasan to be the current best in UK so "pa, the next time you come to UK let's go to Hakkasan"

As with most of the fine dining here, the food were quite beautifully prepared. Taste-wise you would expect them to taste more or less like your normal chinese food, just that it comes in smaller portions and with fresh ingredients.

I didn't take any photos but will try to search online for some of the dishes I tried.

Here's the menu.

Our orders last night were:

1. Wasabi Prawns
2. Aromatic Crispy Beancurd
3. Tan-Jia's Lobster Broth
4. Asparagus, Spinach & Glass Noodle Salad
5. Stuffed Aubergine
   
6. Roasted Pork Belly
   
7. 'Yin-Yang' Dover Sole
8. Almond Jelly in a light syrup with fresh fruits
9. Pumpkin Cream with Purple Rice and Coconut Ice Cream

Can't remember all the desserts we ate.

Verdict on atmosphere:

Very nice atmosphere, one of the more quiet restaurant which is quiet odd considering the fact that it's a chinese restaurant. I particularly liked the effort by the restaurant to have a harpist playing last night, thumbs up for that. I was told it can be quite quiet sometimes during lunch.

Verdict on food:
Let's list the verdict in order above.

Starting with the appertisers, I thought the wasabi prawns could do better with a little more actual wasabi with it as I like that little tingling feeling in my nose when I taste wasabi.

The aromatic crispy beancurd is a great idea I thought. To some, it's just regular "siew ngor"(vegetarian goose) cut into strips served in a pancake with peking duck sauce and the usual spring onions & cucumber. Simple ingredients, great effect. Not to mention it's great for vegetarians.

Tan-Jia's Lobster broth is yummy with its sticky chicken stock over lobster and cooked spinach. The overpowering chicken stock complements the lobster well where you taste 2 distinct sweetness together. The stock was so flavorful I couldn't even taste the usual "bitterness" in the spinach, I usually like this bitterness but in this dish I prefer otherwise.

The Asparagus, Spinach & Glass Noodle Sandwich came with honey & lime dressing. I thought if the chef could shred the spinach and asparagus to make them easier to eat the whole experience would be better. No offence to the chef but a suggestion if he thinks of improving this dish.

The stuffed aubergine is yummy. The only downside to this is that I might be able to replicate the same dish in my own kitchen with my own ingredients. A suggestion for improvement could be to cook the aubergines and line them up symetrically on a nice plate. Also maybe they should serve the sauce separately and not flood the aubergines.

The roasted pork belly came with an apple salad with a sauce. I thought the sauce complemented the pork well. Just a little problem, the belly was a bit too fatty, they should instead use a slightly leaner meat. Personally I still prefer the roasted pork belly I get from Haatyai. No offence to the chef, you could replace this roasted pork with the one from Haatyai and customers will enjoy it more.

I thought the 'Yin-Yang' Dover Sole was quite a creative dish. The bone of the fish is fried to crispy and shaped into a bowl. Under the bowl, deep fried pieces of dover sole are accompanied by a sweet and salty sauce. In the bowl, the same pieces of fish are accompanied by a thick curry sauce. They were tasty but I thought that if we could replace the sweet and salty sauce with the usual "chilli-kicap-limau" sauce which is served in "chap-fan" stalls in Malaysia it would be better.

The above 3 dishes were eaten together with rice.

We had 4 dished but the 2 desserts mentioned were the best. Pumpkin cream dessert was made to look like pumpkin soup served with coconut ice cream and purple rice, a must to try when you visit Kai. All of us enjoy the Almond Jelly which wasn't too sweet and tasted better than "tau fu far".

Dining here gave me a few ideas on some businesses which might work in Malaysia so budding entrepreneurs take note here.

The 'Yin-Yang' dover sole eaten with rice gave me an idea to possibly serve smaller cubes of fish coated in sauce and then lightly battered in cooked rice. This is to be eaten like sushi but obviously with less portions of rice. One can maybe open a "sushi-bar" style eatery in Malaysia to serve these type of dishes. Possibly even coining a new name for this style of eating. Just replace the cubes of fish to cubes of anything you can think of and serve immediately.

Alternatively, you could serve a plate of rice (layered thinly) so people could coat the food themselves. This is an age where experiential marketing works so by doing this, it gives customers a sense of involvement in preparation of the food which increases the whole experience altogether.

So, any takers of this idea? What do you think?

Good start or are we still early?

High-end, upmarket living at Perak hub

IPOH: High-end, upmarket living with branded goods and at least 50 fine dining restaurants to choose from.

That is the lifestyle the state government wants to promote among locals and tourists with the unveiling of the RM250mil Perak Tourism Hub project at Bandar Baru Medan here.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Tajol Rosli Ghazali said he was impressed with the concept of Penang-based Emerald Capital Group in wanting to bring the “best of the city into a single place.”

“We want the best food in the city to be made available at the hub including special gifts and branded goods which are sold only in Kuala Lumpur,” he said yesterday at the ground-breaking ceremony of the project, which comprises four multi-storey towers.

This, he said, could attract visitors from as far as Thailand and Penang to stop here to shop for branded goods.

Tajol Rosli said the project would be an integrated one-stop tourist information centre with an extensive shopping mall, a clubhouse with complete recreational facilities, cineplexes and a banquet hall to accommodate 2,000 people.

The project is expected to be completed by 2010. [Source: The Star]

Exactly the type of thing that is pushing the bustling city of London to even higher grounds. Think of the Fat Duck, Le Gavroche and Nobu here. Don't get what I mean, check out the world's best 50 restaurants here. It is exactly the type of thing Malaysia needs, right?

Just in response to 5xmom's article on "Tell me why Malaysians go to Singapore for holidays". Singapore is the other city with an increasing emphasis on quality of service and most importantly the "experience". By experience, I do mean the experience of fine dining.

All I can say is this is a good move. Just a little problem, there are already several fine dining restaurants in KL and not many of them have the means to survive.

The problem here is Malaysians are not too willing to spend that much on fine dining. How many of you are willing to fork out RM100 per head for a meal? Not many I suspect, and even if you do I think you're expecting Jogoya's buffet which is totally off.

Another aspect of fine dining is wine appreciation. All restaurateurs can tell you that the big money is to be earned from the huge margin on wine sales. That is exactly the type of thing that keeps a restaurant alive. As Gordon Ramsay once put it, "If the food you serve is fucking tasty, customers enjoy the meal. When customers enjoy the meal, they are going to spend on wine, and then you make money."

So think about it. Are we Malaysians still a bit too early for fine dining? Do we have the spending power to keep the industry alive? Only time will tell.

I'll leave you guys with 1 last question. How much are you willing to fork out for a plate like this?

p.s. this is "Letter soup" from El Bulli, ranked #1 restaurant in the world. Interesting? You fucking bet it is.

References:

1. High-end, upmarket living at Perak hub, 7 September 2007, The Star.
   

More Namewee

Here's RPK's take on Meng Chee's Negarakuku incident. What I find most interesting are the comments, here are some.

1.Zakaria mat derus built his mansion eventhough he knows he dnt hv the proper approval or documents yet he dnt care about our malaysian law and carry on building it.
Action: false apology and some crying drama for sympathy.
Verdict: Forgiven and case close.

2.Bung mokhtar and Said insult women with nasty remark "bocor" in parlimen.
Action: False apology
Verdict: Forgiven and case close.

3.Said ask the customs enforcer officer tp "close one eye" on some timber shipment.
Action:Continue to haunt customes dept accusing them not selling him a mecerdes benz of his choice.
Verdict: still a monkey in parlimen and forgiven.

4.Baddrudin MP Jerai calls indian "keling" in parlimen.
Action:False apology
Verdict:forgiven and case close.

5.Meng chee, singing "Negara Ku" in rap.
Action: Apologize and seek forgiveness.
Verdict: Will be procecute or strip of citizenship.

Yea....... quite true.

Please explain why people like Nordin Mat Top,Hambali and few more well known terrorist figures still have a Malaysian citizenship ha?

Yes again..... quite true....

Wow - RPK,

True to form, when you are out of form.

Under the weather, and you kick up a storm.

You used 24 paragraphs, 2,176 words and 11,928 characters for the article and you summed it all up with a crisp last sentence:"Come to think of it, some of what Meng Chee said in that video is not too far from the truth."

LOL.....

What kind of person are you?

You need to get sick to "whack" others?

Please look at most of your commentators. I do not think they need to get sick before "whacking" the others!

What an excuse, huh?

When the Ministers in the Government of Malaysia tried to correct a wrong, you still "whack" them with your reasoning like red herring, diverting attention etc.

I think you have seen so many wrongs until you cannot figure what is corrections.

Yeah, like you said, just forgive. What the Ministers, be it from UMNO or MCA, are doing should be considered a "start" to better governance.

You agreed it is blasphemous of the rapper. To me, he is kind of "raping" the Country's National Anthem! Supposing someone is caught raping, we cannot just beat him, right? Forgive him? I think we still have to charge him in court. This is the civilise method.

Therefore, was that not the Law Minister suggested? I do not see anything wrong for a Minister in the Country trying to correct a wrong. Besides, the rapper has even admited he is in the wrong. Even a juvenile who did something wrong WILL be punished accordingly. So, he who sings has to face the music!

SEMUA tak jadi sama lu!

The above commentator clearly missed the hippies era, but well said as well. Raping the national anthem...... nice phrase...... now lets all go hump the national anthem. Here's RPK's response

Raja Petra wrote:

Dear Sajida, sebab you cakap macam budak belum sunat. Sebab tu I tahu. Allah tak marah kalau hina National Anthem. Tapi Allah marah kalau membunuh, rasuah dan menzalimi rakyat. Siapa lebih penting dan Siapa yang you lebih takut? Orang Melayu suka bergaduh sebab isu sunat macam pakai kopiah puteh semasa sembahyang lebih afdal atau tidak. Tapi makan duit rasuah takde siapa nak bincang. Lepas tu dengan duit rasuah tiap-tiap tahun buat umrah. Yang sunat tu ketepikan dulu. Selesai yang wajib dulu baru cerita pasal yang sunat. Fardu tinggal. Yang sunat dikejar. Itulah Melayu.

17/08 17:12:52

Lots more go see for yourself. This is funny hehehe.

Namewee

First came the song on youtube......



Then radio broadcasted it.....



Then came the response...... all the furore of the garmen



Then taiwanese news interviewed him....



Then the garmen said they wanna investigate him if he's taking a loan from the garmen or a garmen-sponsored student.......

HELLO GARMEN!!! HOW CAN YOU LOSE HIS FILE?? YOU TELL ME YOU HAVE TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCMENT THAT YOU WANNA CHECK IF HE'S A "SPONSORED" STUDENT?



Damn dumb...

Then malaysian news made a big splash out of it and demanded his apology..... which he did.....





Look at his dad's plea, and the cabinet rejected his apology.....



Then a day after that, the cabinet "accepted" his apology......

Ladies and gentlemen...... this is your (our) government....... how about just let it go, do your fucking job running the country (into the ground).

Hypocrisy it is.

Let known your dissatistifaction

That is exactly the difference between Malaysian and UK residents. I've just received my free trial of Moneyweek today and guess what caught my eye. In the bottomline section on the 2nd page, here's 1 of the numbers I saw.

£110,000 How much taxpayers' money the Health and Safety Executive spent on a 140-page, year-long study of risky behaviour at amusement parks. Main findings include the fact that passengers often stick their hands above their heads on rides.

You don't have to go to university to figure out that THIS


would pose a hazard to safety.


£110,000 and you could see people complaining. Do we ever question whether there are any unnecessary projects given out by the government for our 9MP or more recently the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER)? Do we ever think what would happen if we just overbuilt without ever considering whether these infrastructures would be ever occupied.

The fact is there is absolutely no evidence of Malaysian increasing their spending and certainly no evidence of increase of disposable income. With prices going up and up do you see your salary going up and up?

Let's take some time off to think about this.

Man Utd signs 9-year-old

Just on the strength of a Youtube video.

Just another talent spotted on Youtube, check his video out. He does look quite promising. Not that I'm a United fan but new football talents do excite me. That means more exciting football.

Anyway, keep your eyes on this Lewis Hamilton of football. Remember Lewis going up to Ron Dennis when he was 9 telling him that he's gonna be driving for Mclaren when he grows up.

WOoosh

Taking some time off from reading the wonderful Norwegian Wood, which turns out to be quite a love novel, I would like to tlak about the headline of the week.

Uncle Jeff joins DAP

Everybody in the blogging world knows that.
Everybody who reads newspaper in Malaysia knows that.
Subsequently, everybody in BN knows that, I smell trouble for them.
I think those boys from the 3rd or 4th floor are smelling smoke and they are rushing for the fire extinguisher.

If you ask me who I would vote for during the next election, XXX or Jeff Ooi, my answer is Uncle Jeff.

Why?
At least he lets me know his political thinking and how he intends to tackle political issues. Unlike the incumbent, they have the power of money on their side, Jeff has instilled that certain trust among his readers. Love him or hate him, you gotta praise his guts for taking matters head on.


The timing of this is perfect. Certainly it would set the government back if they were planning the General Election before National Day. Jeff's in the hot seat now and it would not be wise to rush things, agree (3rd/4th floor boys)? Unless you are willing to sacrifice like a seat to the opposition. Not too much harm? Think again.

Until then let's see how things unfold. I've just seen some news flying around in The Star a few days ago about the rulers of the country having to abuse their powers to detain people at their pleasure. Another constitutional crisis started by UMNO? It was a quick update on The Star but I couldn't find the same news on the paper the same day, conspiracy?

Update me if you have seen that news or heard anything like that.


p.s. Kai Yan n Kelwin, Good to be back.

Go down if you're not going up

Watch your comments in your blog, because the police are starting to catch bloggers.

When your dad tells you that, you know things are turning sour, so it's getting bad or even rotten. The big talk recently is that RPK was arrested(or called in for a statement) by the police. One wonders where this is all heading?

Ideally, as a country we should be going up and only up. Instead, I see us going around in circles. Don't get what I mean?

First, RPK vs those in the corridors of power. Then they strike back at him. Then he strike back at them. Then they bash him again. When RPK said he won round one, in fact there were already hundreds of round fought. Well, so who will win this 1?

Personally I want RPK(on one side of the ring) to win and I think he is going to win. He has thrown everything away just to get some action with those he loath, and when you're at the bottom, pushing you won't make you drop further. On the other side of the ring, the PM has everything to lose, personally I think this is a rather stupid move by him, why make a big fuss? Now all eyes are on you and game on.

Let's watch. In the meantime, I won't be reading what happens until we have some conclusions. Instead, I've bought a copy of Norwegian Woods(挪威的森林) by Haruki Murakami(上村春树) which I hope will keep me entertained. It's been a long while since I've read a chinese novel(translated from japanese) and I want to enjoy it.

Social entrepreneurrrrrrssssssss

I came across this news on The Star which is aimed at social entrepreneurs. It says:

Young entrepreneurs who have businesses with social causes, here’s your chance to pitch for funding from international organisations later this year.

Striking isn't it? Does MORSEHack qualify for this? It probably needs a better name, any suggestions?

The criterias according to the article are:

• those below 30 years old
• have revenue-generating enterprises that benefit the community
• use information and communication technologies (ICT) widely

Not too sure about the revenue-generating part but definitely the benefit the community part. Also, ICT is the core of MORSEHack isn't it? This all looks so tempting, doesn't it?

1. Social entrepreneurs get chance to pitch for funding, The Star, 16 June 2007.
   

Not so boring Mr Woo

Another one of boringest's not-so-boring links. This 1 I am truly amazed at, even my engineering friends said this put them to shame. Such dedication.

I'd say, Honda, please, just go sign this fella on contract to help build the best robots ever. Sheesh

Enjoy the video, WATCH IT I TELL YOU, you wouldn't regret it.

Be amazed, be very amazed.

Biofuels again?

I hate going down the stupid line of people arguing that biofuels are efficient etc etc. Contrary to popular beliefs, it is NOT efficient at all.

The thing with biofuel is that it is supposed to be a petroleum replacement, and like everything that can replace petrol, it has to function like petrol, i.e. emit all those unwanted gases.

5 myths debunked in this website. (Remember all these are FALSE beliefs)

1. Biofuels are clean and protect the environment.
2. Biofuels do not cause deforestation.
3. Biofuels allow for rural development.
4. Biofuels do not cause starvation.
5. Biofuels of the "second generation" are within reach.

Thanks to boringest for provinding those boring links.

So IOI, better rethink your strategy. And government of Malaysia, please consider again when you want to open more lands for oil palm plantation.

BTW, Pak Lah was quite knowledged when he tried to explain that oil palm is the tree and palm oil is the oil, not bad, but does he realise it was the IAP conference he was talking in? That explains why the likes of Bill Gates is never ever gonna show himself in these kind of conferences.

Weird eh, considering it's a meeting to discuss about IT issues. Haha, maybe he was fantasizing about his marriage already then :P

Are you kidding me?

For those who haven't heard the news (which should be on the front page of every mainstream newspaper in Malaysia), Pak Lah is "finally" getting married. RPK was right, and we know it. Nonetheless, I wish them both a happy marriage. Maybe this is the thing we need into the political scene, someone who could make Pak Lah look at correct direction instead of being led around by the No.1 son-in-law.

Hurray.

On another note, the news that caught my eye is this.

Studying under a street lamp........ that's a first. A good move by MIC and I applaud that.

Hey, it's not easy to have to walk 7 kilometers to school everyday ok? Ask yourself, do you find walking around One Utama or Midvalley in the weekend tiring? And that's for your own pleasure as well.


Community message

Moral of the day, the next time you feel an urge to buy some "more" new clothings, think about what you are going to do with your old ones. Give them away to charity or sell it off, make sure it goes to the right people who really needs these cash which you consider to be "extra".

Russia vs US part 1

Freaking exam, shits shits shits. Sigh sometimes I ponder what's the point of exam, but without it who bothers studying anyway?

3 down, 2 more to go, hardcore studying underway.

This update is just to alert you about something interesting I saw today on FT.com.

I'm not joking. This must be on the headlines of every major newspaper in the world, in particular in the US. Stay tuned for more Putin action.

Wondering what missiles the Russian have? (Btw, do you know Malaysia have our missiles targeted at Singapore? Hahahaha)

Check this website out. So far, Putin wants to target US bases in Europe. So it should be under Air-to-Surface, Surface-to-Surface (Naval), and Surface-to-Surface (tactical). Not bad right??? Wait for World war 3....... already waging with me against the exam.

Bomb you.

Happy day for you?

It was a happy day for me. Why?

For Chelsea fans, congratulations on winning the FA cup.

For Man Utd fans, in YOUR FACE!!!! But you did win the Premier League title.
shorttalk: I actually went to the bar to watch this match. There were loads of Man Utd fans around us and it was obligatory for me and my friends to provoke them. Hahaha, I mean it's just football and they can really get very emotional when their team loses, it's the UK after all.

For those who don't know who I support in football (I actually got asked this question during one of my interview to make sure there's no conflict with the office atmosphere), the answer is none other than........



Yes, I do have to admit myself to being a Juventus fan and also a Del Piero fan. It was absolutely disastrous when they were involved in the Serie A scandal which resulted in them demoted to Serie B.

No matter, the past is the past and the current Juve is rejuvenated under Didier Deschamps.

After bombing Arezzo 5-1 with 3 games to spare, the Old Lady is back in Serie A. Oh YEA!!!!

One more season to go until we get to see some European action once again from Juve.

Now, all follow Del Piero and go "YEEEEAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR"

Job Update & Palm Oil Bitches

Firstly, my job update. I went for an assessment day 2 days ago with a human resource consulting firm(Mercer HR), I thought it went pretty well. The HR personnel contacted me yesterday to deliver to me the news that I got rejected, AGAIN. Nothing much to note here, other than the fact that she told me the reason I failed was because they think I was more suited towards working in the life/non-life insurance business rather than on pensions.

A note to you Malaysians who don't know about pensions. Pensions in Malaysia is managed by our lovely KWSP who is known for a lot of mismanagement of money but nonetheless is the BIGGEST investor in the Malaysian market. Things here in the UK is a bit different however as they were no central agency managing everybody's pensions.

Sure there is a state pension but most of people's pensions really depend on their employer. For instance, if you're an employee of Tesco, then Tesco would be responsible for your pension. It is however customary that they "sub-contract" these responsibilities out by taking up a trustee to do these work.

It is required by law that every trustee has to appoint an actuary to help them value their funds at least once every 3 years. This is where consultancies such as Mercer, Watson Wyatt and Towers Perrin come into play. Weirdly, many misconceptions about actuarial jobs being "boring", "mathematical" isn't always true. From the lots of interviewers I've had, most of them admitted that A-levels maths is probably the only requirement for them to do their job.

This however does not mean that an actuary doesn't have to know the sophisticated, complicated side of statistics and mathematics. They still have to sit for exams and most likely the exams are going to involve these high-level problems(hint hint). So basically, the hardest part of their job is to sit for exams????

Hmmmm............... anyway hope that gives you an insight on the things an actuary does in pensions. I however, am really starting to question what kind of career I want. I mean it's not possible that I know it now but is actuary a good choice for me?

---

On a lighter note, read tomorrow's The Star to see a very familiar article pop up.

Well...... not too familiar but on an issue I've already mentioned ---- Palm Oil.

Read my previous posts here and here.

If you're too lazy to read, then I'll give you an idea of what I was trying to say.

It is true that Malaysia needs and is surviving on Palm Oil. A lot of corporations are even making a hell of profit out of it, such as IOI corp and PBB(who incidentally is taking the firm private now). It is a blessing to Malaysia when somebody came up with the idea that palm oil can be used as a biofuel to replace petroleum. But yet another smart ass came up with the idea that palm oil is very inefficient in terms of the lots of waste it produces which offsets any merits we get from it.

A few examples of the problems we are facing because of palm oil are haze, deforestation and waste mis-disposal. Just take my words for it that it is a real upset to see the palm oil industry facing such attacks.

Today, though the attacks have suddenly got stronger. Apparently a group of western NGOs are planning to lobby against palm oil. If they succeed, we might see all palm oil products taken off the shelf in supermarkets across Europe, and that's a BIG threat.

The report from The Star says that Malaysia will be sending representatives there to talk with these people. I quote:

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui
said he would explain the truth to British MPs in London and members of the
European Parliament in Brussels about ”our efforts to conserve the environment
and biodiversity while we develop our palm oil industry.” [Source: The Star]

Well, given Malaysia politicians' track record of being bad at negotiations (crooked bridge), I'm not expecting to see this go too well. Take a look at Mahathir's video on youtube here to get what I mean.

Watch the stock market, as this is a make or break situation for Malaysia.

p.s. sorry for the pictureless post, I'm in the IT center(library) so I don't have the luxury of cutting n pasting pics :D

References:

1. Delegation heads for Europe to counter anti-palm oil lobby, The Star, 19 May 2007.

Bocor every month

Talking about no post to update, after the circus incident last week in Parliament, where 2 MPs, namely from Kinabatangan(of Keluar Malaysia fame) and Jasin(of Close one-eye fame) argued (with a straight face):

“Mana ada bocor, Batu Gajah pun tiap-tiap bulan bocor juga (Where is the
leak? Batu Gajah leaks every month too).”

Batu Gajah here refers to Batu Gajah's MP(DAP) Fong Po Kuan, who incidentally(like all other DAP MPs) have a blog here. Thinking that this matter should be easily resolved had Bung Mokhtar and Said Yusoff issue an apology of the statement, they went further by saying

“It is normal to play with words,” he(Bung Mokhtar) said, adding that it would be wrong if the statement had been made with malicious intent.

Mohd Said said the statement was made in the heat of the argument.
“I don’t see what the fuss is about,” he said. “It is normal to play with words,” he said, adding that it would be wrong if the statement had been made with malicious intent.

Shame shame la. Finally today YB Sharizat wants to take this matter to Cabinet. Even Najib 'bung' in to say

the remarks were not supposed to be taken seriously and that there were certain
parties out to make a big deal of the issue.

Hello Najib, if you still want the ladies to vote for you, better get a grip and become more sensitive. I'm pretty sure that had you have said this during your years in university(of nottingham), you will be subjected to great hatred.

Certain parties out to make a big deal?

Now I can see the issue of pariahs made by RPK here. Heck, even pariahs have their own respect, these 2...... no respect from me sorry. Being politicians doesn't give you freedom to make sexist remarks in public, let alone a parliament session.

Mind you, the sittings at that session was supposed to serve the following function:

The sittings last week were an extension of the March 19 to April 26 meeting for
Parliament to deliberate on several important bills like the Anti-Trafficking in
Persons and Employees Provident Fund amendments. [Source: The Star]

So instead of 'solving' problems, they create more problems. I say throw these MPs out of parliament, make damn sure to let them know

You serve the people, and if you don't serve them
right, you're out.

What say you on this issue?



Reference:

1. Sexist remarks to be brought up to Cabinet, The Star, 15 May 2007.
2. Sexist remarks becoming the norm?, Elizabeth Looi, The Star, 13 May 2007.
3. Let off despite 'sexist' remarks, The Star, 11 May 2007.

Circus show, Microsoft and Sugar

How are you people?


Just fresh from watching the greatest circus show on earth, the only thing I want to utter out of my lips is "how the hell do we elect these monyets?" Both BN and DAP ought to take some time out to think about what they just did in the latest show. Yes, I see rude politicians and I see politicians who wants to make a small matter big. So what's the result in the end?

I don't care if you want to run it like a civilised nation or you want to continue the circus show time, as long as you churn out the results, that's the most I'm asking for. Remember more monkey shows two years ago, the infamous "Keluar Malaysia" quote? That's suratkhabar lama I know, look at how the Yang Dipertua handled both situations, speechless.

Enough of politics.

---

So I promised to blog about the recent RM10.50 Microsoft deal for Malaysian schools.



Not exactly "fresh" news but I had to take a stab at it because it's so related to MORSEHack.

I read about this a few weeks on linuxtoday, and any news related to microsoft trying to get some market share back from allowing linux to eat up all the 3rd world countries is BIG news!!!!

This is one of them. Microsoft is offering student suites at USD3 per copy of software to students on third world countries, but with a lot of catches:

1. The Government (of the qualifying country) must subsidise more than 50% of the purchase price of each PC, with the other 50% borne by the students.
2. A minimum of 10,000 PCs must be ordered and supplied by the Government within one year.
   

Aih, a bit old school this news. If you're wondering why microsoft is so desperate to do this, you should check out the One Laptop per Child initiative. They are running on an Operating system called Sugar, here's a screenshot for you. I'm actually pretty impressed by this.


Nothing too great, it gives a person the basic things needed for everyday life computing. Heck, my mom doesn't even uses computer and this would suit her nicely. Things a person need in their OS are:

• Web browser (you need this to surf the internet)
• Email client (Yes and no, if you're using web-based email clients you don't even need this)
• Calculator (probably useful for students)
• Word processor (Typing documents)
• Spreadsheet (Not even needed sometimes if you're not doing office work)
• Picture viewer (essential)
• Movie + audio player (very essential)
• Paint (To draw)
  

I think that is about the things one needs in their OS, and they have all of that in Sugar, pretty amazing yea?

One thing you will realise when you look at the screenshot, there's no Microsoft applications, meaning no worries of any copyright infringement issues etc, pretty neat eh?

Anyway that's about the only reason I can think about why Microsoft took this drastic move. I seriously think the government should reconsider using linux rather than microsoft. At RM10.50 per software it's still way more expensive than FREE.

Plus, what about all the technical support (follow ups)? How much would Microsoft charge for those? Dear oh dear, it's just getting more and more desperate.


References:

1. Microsoft pitches student-help plan, The Star, 7 May 2007.
   

Update on Job Hunt

smalltalk: Hello Transport Tycoon, Goodbye life. Life after dissertation that is.

Weee, I've got an assessment day with Mercer HR next week, so hopefully it will go well and they offer me a job...... any tips guys?


It's gonna be 2 interviews, a written exercise, a group exercise and a presentation to make the day complete. So tough to get a job......... sigh.

Anyway that's it, haven't heard from the other companies yet.

I did however went to London last Friday for an interview with a reinsurance company. Not too sure if they liked me, but I certainly like the interviewer, she's such a nice person. Plus she tried to hook me on to this other actuarial recruitment company, sweeeeeet.......

So for now, consider myself trying to work hard for the interview next week.

Absence

Will be absent from the blogging scene for a few more days, at least until Friday, my absolute deadline for my dissertation.

In the meantime, will have to put down some to do list when I come back including....

• tag from KY a.k.a. Freethinker(I hate tags)
• Update on the most recent RM10.50 offer from Microsoft to third world governments and its impact on MORSEHack.
• Update on my job hunting.
  

Erm..... that's about it, see ya all in a few days. Sorry arr I promise to be back with more goodies goodies.

p.s. paiseh KY, have to do your tag a little later k?

Adverts, Twin Towers and Skydiving

smalltalk: Lunch interview today, wish me luck. Fingers crossed.



I have to admit, when I heard about Mahathir's mega projects I thought it was really a big black hole for everybody's tax money. But it did some good in the end, although a small amount of people REALLY profit from it.

(A certain somebody who is now making a move to take his company, Maxis, private :D )


For those who are wondering, I got this off FT.com's website. Look, the 2nd easiest tower to recognise is out twin towers. It really put Malaysia on the global map doesn't it? Here's another nice pic of it.


But here's another mega project that you might have seen in the newspaper for the past few days (or weeks).


The once "mat-rempits" have done the country "proud". Check howsy's post on this for more info. The big question is, how did it put Malaysia on the world map? Did we benefit from this jump?

Trust me, do a search on google for news on "Putera Umno" or "North Pole" or "Skydiving". The only news you can see about this are from Bernama, Malaysia's very own news agency.

If there were so many records broken, why haven't any other news agencies reported it?


And there is one big flaw. There were NO photos whatsoever that they made the jump. The only photos were taken when they were on the ground. Chances are most of them didn't actually take the jump?

The only pics I could've found are here, here and here. So what's the truth? We demand some proof on taxpayers' money well spent.

I don't know, you be the judge on this. Whatever.



References:

1. Series of Skydiving records broken, The Star, 3 May 2007.
2. Putera Umno Skydiving Team Returning On Thursday, Syed Azwan Syed Ali, Bernama, 24 April 2007.
3. Comment: Exuberant energy at the North Pole, Rehman Rashid, NST, 27 April 2007.
4. Successful North Pole Landing for Putera Umno Skydivers, Syed Azwan Syed Ali, Bernama, 23 April 2007.
   

Fraud in schools? Believe it!!

I should actually nominate johnleemk's blog Infernal Ramblings as one of the blogs that got me thinking. But I'm not into all these awards thingy as it's just another lame attempt to cook up something that would last for a few weeks.

Anyway I've came across this post of his about "Educationist Defraud a Charity" which he'd written a few day ago.

It was a very valid story and it reminded me of my alma mater. Let me summarize his story first.

His ex-classmate was involved in raising some fund for a charity (outside school I presume). After they had managed to collect an amount which in john's word is "not unsignificant", "the teacher in charge of advising the organising committee told them that she wanted half of the proceeds for the school."

Yes I know what you're thinking. Low-life etc etc.


Let me relate to you a few stories of my own.

As you may have known, I've started putting nuffnang ads on my blog to raise some money to be donated to my secondary school.

Let me tell you this. I'm actually not too keen on doing this for many reasons. One of the main reasons is that we would never know how these money have been put to good use.

I know that with the money, we have been building more classrooms, demolishing my beloved tennis court etc. Word has it that the contractors involved in these are charging the school at extraordinary amount.

What makes it worse is that they are on the board of directors of the school committee. They would also consistently donate RM3k or a little more to the school everytime there's a donation drive. The question is they donate, just to earn it all back from these contracts which would be easily worth more than RM500k? When I was still in school, I was told by the headmaster (whom I know personally) that we still owe the contractors a huge amount of money.





What is it with these people? First, we don't get enough funding from the Education Ministry. Second, our own donation drive (huge ones I assure you) would be just like a money making machine for these contractors.

Word also has it that the contractor involved was on the brink of bankruptcy. Now? He owns a huge hotel called Star City in the middle of Alor Star. How did he turn around? By getting petty cash from the school through his fraudulent schemes of being on the school board and the contractor involved at the same time.

I would call this a scam but I think this is much much worse. He's not conning just 1 person of their money but a whole bunch of ignorant people. Now I understand why my parents were reluctant to donate their money last time when I was trying my best to persuade them to.

I'm telling you "SMK Keat Hwa" in Alor Star. Stop asking for charity until you have proven that our money has been put to good use. Shame on you.


Onto my second story. Another school involved in these scheme is my primary school, SRJK (C) Keat Hwa (H). Here's a story that shocked the nation not too long ago. Photo taken from Paul Ooi's blog.

If you don't know. One of the teachers fell to his death after falling from a ceiling which is infested with termites. I'm telling you this, the SAME contractor is involved in this.


Nevertheless, I'll still donate as I've claimed earlier. For a simple reason that I really want them to improve. The next step would be for them to correct their mistakes and hopefully put all these money to good uses.

Lampe Berger

IS A SCAM!!!!

Holy lot, some of you might not have heard of it but for those who have, I hope you have found out about the truth. I don't really care how much good it does for your health (so they claim)

It's actually a type of aromatherapy thingy. I believe that initially it was really meant to be a healing product of some sort but when it came to Asia, it transformed itself into a MLM (Multi-level Marketing a.k.a. scam, ponzi scheme, pyramid scheme) machine. Remember Amway or Cosway? Let's hope Elken not turn into one either.

My mom tried putting one in my room when I had difficulty breathing or my allergy (which I found out was actually hayfever) hit.

IT DIDN'T FREAKING WORK!!!!

Even my mom stopped using it already after discovering that it doesn't work.

To all you lots who are members of the group, I would advise you to pullout as far as possible. Forget about the money you put in, there's no way you could get that back now. And please stop all those unethical pulling of new members. You're actually destroying their life for all you know it.

There are a few blogs you can read:

• Anti Lampe Berger
• Lampe Berger Help
• Lampe Berger Truth
  

The last I heard there were 2 big issues:

• Lampe Berger was listed on the Securities Commission's list (Investor Alert issued in fact) and taken out shortly after that.
• I heard the latest scam is for a member to pay a certain amount (on top of RM30k+) and they would be enrolled in a twinning programme with some college in Australia. Upon completion can get some diploma of some sort.

There are of course noteworthy things to take form here:

• Their marketing strategy is perfect, and they aim people's greed and emotions. I would say it's the most powerful persuasion marketing technique ever.

If you still wonder why I say this is a scam, consider this:

• What kind of business promises you that you would earn 6-figure salaries within a short period?
• What kind of business makes money with a product that doesn't garner as much revenue to pay for those 6-figure salaries?

If you really want to donate these people, you might as well donate it to me to fund Project MORSEHack. I can personally guarantee you that you will never see your money ever again (same with Lampe Berger) but at least you know that your money will be put to good use for the next generation. Treat it as charity ok?


So readers, be smart or be f**ked. Ok? No other way.





Sheesh Lampe Berger.

I challenge you Lampe Berger, come sue me for defamation and let's make this a big court case.

ICT in schools

Short talk: I'm supposed to be doing my dissertation now....... will resume after finishing this post.


2 pieces of news caught my eyes today. First it was the Govt telling GLCs (Government-linked Companies) to do their bit for rural schools.


Citing Telekom Malaysia as an example, there were 2 points worthy to note from it. It is particularly useful for Project MORSEHack I thought.

• TM has provided broadband to schools (although the quality of it is subject to debate)
• A group of students from Universiti Multimedia (MMU) will stay with their adopted families from within these schools and volunteer their services to the community here.

I think it would be particularly useful if Project MORSEHack also includes a volunteer program at its centres so that students who wants to learn more about

• assembling computers
• linux usage
• possibly a bit of programming

can learn more about it from these various workshops. Other than looking good on their CV, it would also help reduce the burden of cost of running the project.

Do you have any opinions on this?

The second news that caught my eyes was this:
It says that despite the government's spending of over RM100,000 on computer labs, it is not utilised to the max. Well this is where the program could help them.

It is possible that, with the cost reduction in getting the coms and saving a bug chunk from using free software, the school authorities can spend the budget allocated to them on things like printer cartridges and papers.

Servicing the computer takes months and costs so much through official channels. However, it takes less than two hours to service it at the local computer shop at a tenth of the cost. [Source: The Star]

I'm pretty intrigued by this statement. What are the types of servicing needed?

The biggest challenge I can think of is the cathode-ray tube monitor. Until now, I think handling and repairing it is still the biggest computer hazard. Are there any effective ways to reduce the breakdown of these monitors?

Another common scenario is computers being supplied but schools not having electricity. In rural areas, there are generators but no fuel. [Source: The Star]

This is probably the next biggest challenge. But it is on the side of the school. To be eligible for the project I think it is the responsibility of the school to prove that they really have the infrastructure to accommodate these computers.

Minimum requirements should be set:

• A suitable room which can hold the amount of computers.
• Electricity being available in the room.
• A good internet connection to the room.

I think these are the challenges that the project might face.

Honestly, it's a tough job but I can see it happen. What do you think?





References:

1. Do your bit for rural schools, GLC told, The Star, 30 April 2007.
2. ICT failure in schools, The Star, 29 April 2007.
   

Of scams and pissing them off

I promised Kelwin(a.k.a. TenthofMarch) that I would do a post reminding people not to fall for scams. Well at least I could show you what is scam. Read on.......

Not too long ago, I was sent an email of notice that I've won some lottery. This is the email.

WARNING LONG POST AHEAD.

---

FROM:THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE
AWARDS DEPARTMENT AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL SWEEPSTAKES LOTTERY
CORPORATION/EUROPEAN COMMISSION.

Winning Numbers GB8701/LPRC

AWARD NOTIFICATION: FINAL NOTICE

We are delighted to inform you of your prize release on the 24th of
April 2007 from the Australian International Lottery Programme with the
following information:

Date:24/4/2007
Ref: 475061725
Batch: 7056490902/188
Winning no: GB8701/LPRR

Which is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their
e-mail addresses.Your name was attached to ticket number;
47161725070564909 serial number 7741137002 This batch draws the lucky numbers
as follows: 5-13-33-37-42 bonus number 17,which consequently won the lottery
in the second category.

You hereby have been approved a prize of US$450,000.00 (FOUR HUNDRED
AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS) in cash credit file ref: ILP/HW 47509/02 from the
total cash prize shared amongst eight lucky winners in this
category.All participants were selected through a computer balloting system
drawn from One hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada,
Australia,United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa as part of our
international promotions program which is conducted annually .

This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some
multinational companies in Australia as part of their social responsibility to
the citizens in the communities where they have operational base.

Further more your details(e-mail address) falls within our European
representative office in Amsterdam,Holland, as indicated in your play
coupon and your prize of US$450,000.00 will be released to you from our
Australian regional branch bureau in USA.

We hope with part of your prize, you will participate in our end of
year high stakes for US$1.3 Billion international draw.

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE:

Simply contact our Fiducial Agent, REV Micheal Karl Via
(micheal.karl@bos-uk.info)to file for your claim .

Please quote your Date of draw, Reference Number, Batch Number and
Winning Number, which can be found on the top-left corner of this
message.Also you should give in your telephone number to help locate your file
easily. For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information
confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize has
been released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this programme by non-participant
or unofficial personnel.

Note: All winnings MUST be claimed by the 10th May 2007, other wise
all funds will be returned as Unclaimed and eventually donated to
charity.

Congratulations once again on your winning!

ALSO ENSURE YOU TYPE THE EMAIL ADDRESS CORRECTLY TO ENSURE SAFE & QUICK
EMAIL DELIVERY/RESPONSE. ANY BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY ON THE PART OF
WINNERS WILL RESULT TO DISQUALIFICATION.

Best Regards.

Carol Sweet(co-ordinator)

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT VIA EMAIL
(micheal.karl@bos-uk.info)

LOTTERY SPONSORS: CHIEF SPONSORS;

USA, MICROSOFTCORPORATION ASIA

---

Ok, a few points to note here:

• They always have a deadline in which you have to claim before that date. (Just so to make you "kan cheong")
• It's always a huge sum of money, which never in your life would you ever have the chance to win.
• It's always sent to people living outside the country involved (In my case it's Australia)
  

I replied to it (for the fun of it)

---

To: micheal.karl@bos-uk.info

Winning Numbers GB8701/LPRC

AWARD NOTIFICATION: FINAL NOTICE

We are delighted to inform you of your prize release on the 24th of
April 2007 from the Australian International Lottery Programme with the
following information:

Date:24/4/2007
Ref: 475061725
Batch: 7056490902/188
Winning no: GB8701/LPRR


Would like to claim my winning

---

Go ahead, spam the fella's email as much as you want. I'm actually quite surprised he replied to my email. Wow....

---

British Organisation Center
Claims Department
Address-6903 Pouter Dr
E-mail:micheal.karl@bos-uk.info

Dear Wilson Quah,

The Claims department has received your information required for the claims
of your Australian Lottery Winnings ,to this effect we would require further
verifications to prove that you are the correct
beneficiary of this funds.

You are therefore advised to provide us with the following:

1)Scanned Copy of your international passport or drivers license .

2)Full Name:

3)Address:

4)Tel:

5)Occupation:

6)Age:

7)Marital Status:

These information are required due to security reasons ,Also to prevent
impersonation.
As soon as this information has been provided your details would be sent to
the funding bank for transfer approval.
Further inquires should be sent to us via e-mail

Best Regards,
Micheal Karl .

---

To which I replied,

---

Certainly, I would glady provide you with my information.

Just wondering if you're the Michael Karl I know

FROM THE DESK OF MR LUCKY
MICHEAL PERCIFICTRUST
SECURITY COMPANY BRANCH OFFICE ACCRA GHANA.
WEB;WWW.percifictrust corp.com
PRIVATE
PHONE,00233-27-7738400
SUBJECT:GREETINGS FRIEND

GREETINGS FRIEND.

I HUMBLY SOLICITING FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE REGARDS TO
CLEARANCE OF $6.5 
(SIX.FIVE MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS)FROM MY OFFICE
HERE IN GHANA OR 
HEAD OFFICE IN EUROPE THIS MONEY WAS FORMALLY
DEPOSITED IN MY COMPANY BY 
YOUR BROTHER(MR MICHEAL KARL) A MAJOR CONTRACTOR WITH
SHELL 
DEVELOPMENT COMPANY HERE IN ACCRA GHANA.WHOM 
DIED ON A MOTOR ACIDENT WITH THE WIFE AND THERE ONLY
SON MR BOB ON 
14-2-2000.IN VIEW OF THIS MY COMPANY DIRECTOR HAS GONE
TO YOUR EMBASSY FOR 
INSEARCH OF HIS NEXT OF KIN/HIS RELATIONS FOR THE
CLAIM OF HIS 
CONSIGNMENT MONEY BUT TO KNOW AVAIL , SO I WOULD LIKE
TO PRESENT YOU TO MY 
COMPANY AS THE BENEFICIARY/NEXT OF KIN TO THIS ACCOUNT
AS THIS MONEY COULD 
ONLY BE CLAIMED BY YOU HIS RELATIVE A FOREIGNER
FROM
HIS NATIONAL. ALL 
DOCUMENTS TO FACILITATE THE CLEARING PROCEDURES OF
THIS FUND WILL BE IN 
YOUR FAVOUR.THE PROJECTS TAKES JUST SEVEN WORKING
DAYS.I PROMISE TO 
REWORD YOU 40% OF THE TOTAL SUM AT THE END OF THIS
BUSINESS 50% FOR ME 
WHILE 10% WILL BE SET OURSIDE FOR MISCELLENEOUSE
EXPENSES.FINALY FRIEND I 
DINT WANT YOU TO DISCLOSE THIS BUSINESS TO THIRD
PARTY.I GUARANTEE YOU 
THAT THIS BUSINESS WILL BE EXECUTED UNDER A LEGITIMATE
ARRENGMENT THAT 
WILL PROTECT YOU FROM ANY BREACH OF THE LAW.IF FOR ANY
REASON YOU
DECIDED NOT TO ACCEPT THIS PROPOSAL THAT I AM OFFERING
YOU TODAY,PLS
DO GET BACK TO ME IMMEDIATLY SO THAT I  SEARCH FOR
SOMEONE
ELSE.BUT IF YOU ACCEPT IT PLS DO REPLY ME IMMEDIATLY
WITH YOUR 
TELEPHONE AND FAX CONTACT FOR EASY COMMINICATION.
BEST REGARDS,
MR,LUCKY MICHEAL.
N.B
PLEASE  ENTER THE WEBSITE  BUT DONT
CONTACT ANYBODY BECAUSE
KNOW BODY KNOWS ABOUT THIS DEAL APART FROM
ME AND YOU
WE HAVE THREE WAY TO CLAIM THIS MONEY 
(1) YOU COME TO CARRY IT PERSONALLY
(2)IT CAN BE DELIVERD TO YOU AT YOUR DOORSTEP THROUGH
CORIER SERVICES.
(3)THROUGH ONLINE BANKING TRANSFER.
BEST REGARD,

---

HAHAHA, PWNZ his face, think he can con me?

My uncle once told me, if you want to be rich, there's no shortcut, you have to work hard for it.

If you follow this rule, at least you won't be conned the many thousands of ringgit.

He still have the nerves to email me.

---

Dear Wilson Quah ,
I Am not in any way the micheal karl who sent you that e-mail message ,i would advise that you report every case of internet fraud to the internet fraud department of the london Metro Politan police Uk ,Contact information is as follows :

E-mail :internetfraud-department@londonmetropolice-uk.net

Best Regards,
Micheal Karl .

---

I say we SPAM him. Email is micheal.karl@bos-uk.info.

So any of you feeling itchy wanna spam somebody's email, spam Michael Karl's.

If you wanna join in the fight against scams, write a post about it. Together we can fight it.

Ijok and Bag

The week of exam is over. It's going to be a race to the finish line for my dissertation now, so cross my fingers. :D

So the news of the day today which everybody knows is that BN won the Ijok by-election. I don't think this is a disappointment, BN NOT winning is a disappointment if that happens. Thanks to phantoms?(maybe not since it's sort of a landslide victory)

Let's look at this objectively. Compare both candidates for the by-election, Parthiban and Khalid.

We know Khalid led PNB and Guthrie Bhd in the past, he's a corporate man and he makes no mistake in letting people know that he is going to run politics like he runs business(although his performance in the past is subject to debate).

Parthiban to me looks like a better candidate overall, although he's running for a rotten party. He's a family man who raised his sisters, respect. He's a much cleaner candidate(at least in the public eye) than Khalid, respect. Most importantly, he's a teacher!!!!

2 reasons why I respect teachers:

1. My dad was a teacher.
2. Education is sacred.

To me, BN winning that is no big deal. They are going to have to compete for the seats again for the GE and let us hope that the opposition really presents us a REALISTIC case of how to run a country, rather than go on saying how bad and corrupted the current government is.

So, Uncle Lim, Dato Seri Anwar and Dato Nik Aziz, the onus is on you guys to show us the light if you think that you have a better way of running the country.

On a side note, as I said earlier, words on the street has it that the General Election which was supposed to be held just after Hari Raya is going to be postponed. Of cose, when the exact date is, only Pak Lah will know it.

End of the political talk today. I'm damn depressed I couldn't be at home to go witness Ijok the day before polling day. I heard got a lot of drama, and I like watching drama. Sigh........ sadness.

---

Enough of politics, I went out shopping(dragged by someone) and guess what I got.

A BAG!!!

A freaking BAG!!! That's like the first bag I've ever bought for myself in 5-6 years, no joke. I have to admit though that most of the bags i have are gifts from friends and I got one as well from my uncle.

Too lazy to take photo of it and show u guys now so I'll just find the pic of it online and post it here.

Woo hoo, it's a Ted Baker biffo!!! Welcome to Boss Lepton's family.

I have to say it's the nicest bag I've seen so far, non-leather of course. And it has lots of space inside which can fit a laptop plus a book and some notes nicely. Not to mention it looks great.

Ah..... vanity!!! Ok, enough indulgence, have to go back to normal life and dissertation.

Ciaoz


p.s. Kelwin, I'll get the promised post about scam up tomorrow ok? I have a good 1 :D