Last Friday an earthquake came and tore Japan apart with a magnitude of 9.0 striking an area 370 kilometers northeast of Tokyo. It was the fifth largest earthquake worldwide since records began. That offshore quake then sent a tsunami with a wall of water up to 9 meters high, hitting the Japanese coast, wiping away towns and villages in its path.

The disaster is not yet over. The Japanese have one more crisis to endure.  The quake and the tsunami caused serious damages to Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, about 65 kilometers south of Sendai. The reactors are designed to automatically shutdown in the event of an earthquake with diesel generators pumping water around them to keep them cool. However,  flooded by water from the tsunami, they failed.. That’s when things get from bad to worse over there..

While the nuclear crisis is unfolding over there, the rest of the world is wondering about how bad things are.. The thing is, experts are not able to provide the right indication on how bad things are and how bad things will be pertaining to the radiation leaks there. And they called themselves experts..  But, what I like most is, while unable to agree on the severity of the crisis, all of them agreed that things could get worse. At least they agree on something. “Hello experts! The whole world is waiting! Read more on “How bad is it? Depends on which nuclear expert you ask“.

How’s that? Should we, although a distance away from Japan be worried? What do we do if the radiation made its way down here? Based on the local news, it is too far for the radiation to travel here. I seriously hope that we are not underestimating the force of nature by saying that.. One of the latest news said that, “Readings show our radiation levels are normal, says ministry“. Hopefully, we will not have to read or hear about a sudden rise in radiation level in Malaysia, ever..

Now, what about our own plan to build our nuclear plant by 2023? My take on this: Lessons for us to learn today and may the leaders make their decision wisely because no matter what we said or think, Malaysia will soon need alternative sources of energy.

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Nature’s wrath.. Human fragility.. Tragedy..

Speechless..

Japan Quake – March 11, 2011

Pictures from Google

The always forgotten one… Today Lee Chong Wei won the Malaysian Open 2011 and again becomes a hero to Malaysia. However, this post is about a different kind of hero. Heroes that risk their lives to ensure the sovereignty of Malaysia and Malaysian no matter where they are, all over the world. These are the men and women of the Malaysian Armed Forces, who rarely got any fair coverage from the media for what they have done for the country. Why? Maybe because there’s not much profit talking about these brave Malaysians… That’s my personal guess…

How many of you heard or read about how the Royal Malaysian Navy (TLDM) rescued Malaysian chemical tanker MT Bunga Laurel and its 23 crew members from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden? Probably only a few. Do you know that they even captured 18 Somali pirates including a mother ship? Many would just say, “Good” and that’s about it… And yet their credibilities are what ensuring that we could sleep tight at night…

This post is about honoring them. Read on…

This was an event that got international coverage and yet very minimal coverage locally except for the local newspapers who managed to put the news on for about a day or so…

And they had to fight pirates that were armed with guns and not just machetes…

And their superior trainings and equipments made the difference at the end of the day. And yet there are still noises in the country questioning why the government spent money on modernizing the Armed Forces.

And these are the happy faces rescued from the pirates. They could have been your family members or friends.

A big applause to TLDM! They really deserve it!

Here are a few links to the incidents:
M’sian tanker and crew saved from pirate attack in Gulf
Malaysian navy foils hijack attempt off Oman
Malaysia navy foils ship hijack attempt, seizes pirates
Precision teamwork

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The whole country was shocked by the latest accident involving a bus. This is the worst accident ever as 28 people were killed, as reported in the news on TV tonight. the cause of the accident is still unknown at the moment but the usual suspects are speeding and mechanical failures.

Here are some quotes  from the local newspapers:

“The impact of the crash was so severe that bodies were flung several metres away from the wreckage while others were trapped deep in the mangled vehicle.” – The Star Online – 27 killed as tour bus overturns in Cameron Highlands (Update 5)

“In the 11.40am incident, about 15km from here, the bus which was carrying 37 people onboard and was coming down from Cameron Highlands, breached a concrete divider, somersaulted and crashed roofside into the rocky slope before halting on its side in a monsoon drain at the foot of the slope. – NST Online – 27 dead in Malaysia’s worst road accident (updated)

“Kemalangan bas di Jalan Cameron Highlands-Simpang Pulai, hari ini yang meragut 28 nyawa adalah yang paling dahsyat dalam sejarah negara.” – Berita Harian Online – Nahas bas terburuk negara

The news also appeared on BBC Online – Tourists killed in Malaysia crash. Many people are questioning why a double-decker bus was used to go up and down of the hilly Cameron Highland. Even on the flat highway, the stability of a double-decker bus is questionable.

We once took a ride on a double-decker bus from Shah Alam to Kota Bahru and that was  our first and  last long distance bus trip. It was not an enjoyable ride at all and at certain point it was kinda scary… Even when we drive on the highway these day, we can easily spot speeding buses…

They just don’t care…

Updated on December 22, 2010 – Only 27 deaths and not 28 as reported earlier.

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The only goal by Heinze

Just finished watching the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa live telecast of the match between Argentina and Nigeria. Ended up with Argentina beating Nigeria with only a goal. Argentina 1 – Nigeria o.

In my opinion the game deserved a draw… Argentina’s fans surely hate that remark…

And Messi… Well, he was a mess… LOL!

I think Maradona had lost more calories than Messi just now…

On the other hand, Enyeama, the Nigerian goalkeeper was superb! Messi could not beat him.

I was shocked to read about the attack by Israeli’s forces on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara that was leading a convoy of six aid ships to blockaded Gaza. It was reported that at least 10 people were killed and many others injured. The fate of two Malaysians on-board, journalist Ashwad Ismail and cameraman Shamsul Kamal Latip from Astro Awani, was unknown until now.

Picture showing Israeli soldiers aiming a gun on the deck of a Turkish ship, part of an aid convoy heading to the Gaza Strip, after Israeli soldiers boarded the vessel in international waters off the Gaza coast.

So where is the UN? Where is the US, the so called champion of the free world? Is it because that there was no American on board, it doesn’t really matter? As usual, Israel gets away with everything and nobody on Earth can do anything apart from protesting on the streets and the braver ones, throwing stones at some Israeli’s tanks…

Picture from The Star Online and more news at No word on fate of Malaysians onboard attacked ship (Updated).

Then I was shocked to read about a 2 year old toddler in Indonesia who smokes up to 40 cigarettes a day! Wow! That boy shot to fame instantly. I think some of his videos on YouTube has been removed but I managed to find one video at Break.com here: http://www.break.com/index/two-year-old-toddler-smokes-cigarettes.html

When you watch the video, you would be amazed that he smokes like a pro! According to the news, the parents could not do anything as he would throw a tantrum if he doesn’t get his smoke. Talk about addiction at a shocking level…

According to the Chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection in Indonesia, Seto Mulyadi , “Smoking has been a part of our culture for so long it isn’t perceived as being hazardous, as causing illness, as poisonous.” “A lot of adults who are around children will smoke. They will carry a baby in one hand and a cigarette in another. Even mothers don’t understand that they are poisoning their children.”

True enough!  That’s the main reason that we stopped taking ferry from Port Klang to Dumai and choose to go via Melaka instead… I wonder what will happen to Aldi next… Smokers out there, what say you?

Read Smoking toddler causes Internet outrage: Two-year-old smokes 40 cigarettes a day (video) for details and another video.

Well, enough of shocking stuffs… To lessen the shocking impact, let me change to a happier topic. I just remembered that I have not banked in the check from Nuffnang received in March 2010. It was for my second cash out this year. Another cash out is expected this month and with that, I have already paid for my hosting… Thanks Nuffnang!

What can I buy with that amount? Definitely cigarette would not be in my list… I can use that for one week of petrol or one week of toll to go to work… Or buy a new mouse to replace the one that I just bought tonight for RM12.90 at Tesco since I just realized that a cheap mouse is a retarded mouse… It could not move smoothly and that’s annoying. Nevertheless, it is still not shocking…

Till then, take care and have a nice life!

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They are the hottest words in the news today and they have  nothing to do with buying shoes as Christmas present or anything to do with shoe fetishism… The bush that appears in the title has nothing to do with shrub or anything related to low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems or anything similar to that…

We are talking about the President of the United States here. It is about George W. Bush, who is supposed to be or claimed to be the most powerful man (in the absence of Superman, Spiderman, Cicakman and other superheroes) in the world that had recently been given an unofficial flying-shoe-farewell by an Iraqi reporter.

It was not a simple “ceremony” that we can just forget after a few days as we are talking about about an event that includes two throws, two ducks (not the quacking type), two flying size 10 shoes,  a room packed with surprised witnesses and a humiliation on a worldwide scale.

It is something that every blogger must post in his or her blog to mark one of the _________ (fill up the blank with a: greatest  b: funniest   c: worst  d: use your own word) historical moments in 2008! What a perfect timing that was as we are about to leave 2008 behind…

Below is a video that you must watch to see  how Bush were attacked by the the shoes wielding reporter!

This is what his brother said:

Dhirgham al-Zaidi, who sometimes worked as his brother’s cameraman, described the reporter’s hatred for the “material American occupation” and the “moral Iranian occupation.”

Muntadhar al-Zaidi’s feelings were influenced by watching the agony suffered by everyday Iraqis. Most of the reporter’s stories focused on Iraqi widows, orphans, and children, said the brother.

Sometimes the 29-year-old journalist would cry. Moved by the tales he reported of poor families, he sometimes asked his colleagues to give money to them. On most nights, he returned to his home in central Baghdad — one of the country’s most violent slums and the epicenter of several of the war’s pitched battles.

Dhirgham al-Zaidi said he is “proud” of his brother whose act, while rash, was a statement of behalf of “millions” of other Iraqis. Dhirgham said the shoe throwing was “Iraq’s reaction” to the war and years of U.S. sanctions against Iraq before the conflict began. The reporter was not motivated for personal reasons, or because he has “anything against the American people,” he said.

More news can be read at:

Iraqi journalist throws shoes at Bush in Baghdad
Shoe-thrower’s brother: He wanted to humiliate ‘tyrant’
TV station urges release of shoe-throwing journalist

ps:
I have nothing against the American People in general. In fact those Americans that I personally know are decent, friendly and helpful people. Hopefully Obama would bring a new beginning to the U.S especially in the eye of many other countries in the world.

Japanese are well known for being innovative and it is proven by their ability to come up with many things based on what people have invented earlier. Now they have come up with another brand new stuff that has become a hot seller online in Japan. Believe it or not, they have invented bras for men!

These are mainly targeted to the cross dressing-men but since it is sold online, I would not be surprised that even straight men would be buying it. May be for the fun of it or just out of curiosity. The item is being sold online at Rakuten, a major Japanese web shopping mall.

So, if you are interested to buy one, you can go the website but make sure you are able to translate it as the website is in Japanese so that you would not be buying something else… By the way, it is not that expensive to get one. You only need to pay about $30 per pair.

Anyway, here are some quotes from the news:

“I like this tight feeling. It feels good,” Wishroom representative Masayuki Tsuchiya told Reuters as he modeled the bra, which can be worn discreetly under men’s clothing.

“I think more and more men are becoming interested in bras. Since we launched the men’s bra, we’ve been getting feedback from customers saying ‘wow, we’d been waiting for this for such a long time’,” – Wishroom Executive Director Akiko Okunomiya

I wonder what will come up next?

So now who said that bras are only for women? Now husband and wife, and friends can shop for bras together…

Read Bra for the boys an online bestseller in Japan for the full story.

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What a morbid title to start the week. I am sure that most of us do not need to be reminded that death will eventually come and take us away from this world and nobody can escape that no matter how hard you try. Anyway, I am not going to write about how to face and accept death or what is waiting after death as I am not an expert in that subject matter but I just want to highlight three recent news that is related to death.

The news are about three different people, from three different places and with three different intentions and ended up with three different outcomes. In all three incidents, death was present, in one way or another.

You jump, they catch you. The first news was about a 38 year old woman who was looking for death by committing suicide. However, she did not get to meet death as she was rescued in the nick of time by the police from jumping off the ledge of a four-storey, under construction building in Kuala Berang, near the Sekayu Junction, in Trengganu yesterday.

The mother of one had a previous record of being mentally ill and according to the same news shown on the TV last night, she wanted to kill herself because of her husband is having an affair with another woman.

So, in this case, what do you think of that woman? Was she not thinking straight at that moment and forgot that she has a child? What about the husband? Is he the main cause or just an excuse? Nevertheless, it was not her time and death did not come for her.

Read Woman saved in the nick of time for the full news.

Circumcision went wrong. The second news is about a 10 year old boy from Kuala Lumpur who was enrolled by his mother into a mass circumcision program has been admitted to the ICU at University Malaya Medical Center due to some complications suffered during the circumcision ceremony.

According to the parents, their son complained of extreme pain when he wanted to pee and at the same time his testicles have swollen. Apparently, the doctor who performed the circumcision had installed some kind of device on the boy’s penis.

The doctor at the medical center had to perform a surgery to prevent the infections caused by the installed device. At the time the news was published, Farhan is still on the life support system at the medical center.

The doctor who performed the circumcision when contacted blamed the boy and his parents for not attending the briefing and following the right procedures.

So, this is what you get when you want to save cost and send your child for a RM10 circumcision with 300 other children. Now who is to blame? Farhan is now playing hide and seek with death…

Read Masuk ICU lepas khatan for the full story (in Malay).

Do not disturb the wasp hive (Sarang tebuan jangan dijolok). The last news is about a 10 year old boy from Kuala Kangsar, Perak who died after being stung by wasps while he was walking to a nearby sundry shop.

According to the news, a group of 10 youths were pelting the hive with sticks and stones before Year Four student Mohamad Amirul Hafiz was stung in Kampung Padang Asam in Padang Rengas here. According to the great grandmother of the boy, the hive had been there for some time and no one had been attacked before.

Looks like he was at the wrong place at wrong time and death was the result. Do we blame the 10 youths who disturbed the hive or the people who knew about the hive? How about we blame the wasps for attacking the wrong person?

Read ‘Boy would be alive if wasps not disturbed’ for the full story.

There you go. One cheated death, one hanging for dear life and one has left us. May there be a lesson for us to learn from these…

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There are two good news for Malaysians recently. The first one is the further reduction of the petrol price effective yesterday. This reduction is inline with the continuous decline in global crude oil price.

That means now I can have more petrol and that would be really nice for my RM200 per month budget. Of course it would be nicer if it keeps on coming down.

Anyway, premium unleaded petrol (RON97) is now priced at RM2 per litre, while unleaded petrol (RON92) now costs RM1.90 per litre (from RM2.05). Diesel has been lowered to RM1.90 per litre, from RM2.05.

I say petrol should go down further! What do you say? By the way, this is what Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said:

Shahrir also said the pump petrol price might fall back to RM1.92 or lower by the end of this month, or by Dec 31 at the latest if the downward trend of global crude oil price continued. The previous fuel reductions were made on Nov 1, Oct 15, Sept 24 and Aug 23.

The next item that goes down is the ceiling price for rice. Malaysians consume a lot of rice and some Malaysians can go mad if they could not eat rice even for a meal. They have to have rice with whatever that they are eating…

The new ceiling prices are RM2.60 a kg for ST5, a reduction of 20 sen, while ST10 will be cheaper at RM2.40 compared with RM2.70 previously.

So, this one should go down and has gone down and that is good!

Read the full news at GLAD TIDINGS FOR CONSUMERS: Double joy with reduced fuel and rice prices.

However, this last item has been going down almost everyday since last month and this is something that should be going up and not down. It is none other than our KLSE Composite Index.

Can somebody or something push this up! It has been staying below 900 for a long time now and my unit trust investments are affected by this.

This one should not go down!