Man vs Animal

In Santiago, Chile, a dog rescues his furry friend who was hit by a vehicle. See the video below.

Meanwhile, in Foshan, China, this happened (viewer discretion advised).

Who's the one with the 'hati binatang' now?

p/s: The toddler has since died from her injuries.

Kids These Days

The world of technology is ever evolving. What was the in thing as recent as a few months ago might be so yesterday today. Back in my days, there were cassettes,  the Walkman, VHS. Ask kids these days and they'd have no clue to what I just mentioned above. 

And with such advanced technology like the smartphones and tablet computers, its a matter of time before people would no longer know books and magazines. Case in point, see video below.

I wonder what the future holds.

Minyak Gamat

This thing called minyak gamat (sea cucumber oil extract) works wonders! Whatever it is, be it cuts, bruises, itching, muscle pain, or aches, this potion can insyaAllah relieve you of that pain.

I remember a long way back after my circumcision, the doctor said he heard that putting minyak gamat would help. So minyak gamat was applied to everyday and when I revisited the doctor a week later, he was amazed to see no scarring.

The potion

Amazingly, this medicine is mostly used only traditionally. I would suspect that such would have great potential if more research and advertisement were to be put into this medicine. 

I admit, the sea cucumber looks weird.

 

Perihal Mat Indera

Whose this Mat Indera guy people have so been talking about lately, ever since Mat Sabu raised the issue in a ceramah a couple of weeks back?

People have been talking, saying that Mat Indera was responsible for the Bukit Kepong attack. I knew a bit about Bukit Kepong, from the movie by Jin Shamsudin. I knew that in the movie, a police station was attacked by some bad ass communist guerrilla. But that's really all I knew. Honestly, I initially had no clue that Mat Indera ever existed!

Bukit Kepong, the movie

So amid all the issue highlighted by Utusan and KJ, I decided to read some history about this guy. Here's a photo of him.

Bad ass or hero?

Read more of the story of Mat Indera here, here and here. For those of you too lazy to do so, here's a brief knockdown.

Mat Indera, or his real name, Muhammad Indera is a descendent of a worrier from Siak. Apparently, he was said to be a religious person, being a Hafiz as well, and his teachers, among others were Kiai Haji Fadzil Bentan and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's father.

He became involved with politics to help drive out the Brits from Malaya and joined Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM, lead by Dr. Burhanuddin Helmy- another name that was only mentioned in passing in our textbooks) and Angkatan Pemuda Insaf (API). Probably inspired by the Indonesians in their fight for independence from the Dutch (using primitive weapons like bamboo spears), Mat Indera took his battle into the woods, guerrilla style. That's where he met Bintang Tiga. Even though both parties had different missions, as the saying goes, 'the enemy of your enemy is your friend' Mat Indera soon joined forces with Bintang Tiga.

Aware of the threat posed by Mat Indera, the Brits wanted him, DOA. They set about spreading rumours and propaganda about the man, saying he was a dangerous communist man with no religion and moral values, and they offered $25000 for his capture.

Then came the Bukit Kepong incident. Some say he didn't authorize the killing of the police officers, let alone burning of their dead bodies (he had just wanted to catch some of the officers). Some say that he arrived late at the battle field, and wasn't involved in the fight. Others claimed that he tried to prevent the killings of the police officers, going as far as pointing a rifle at a communist member to stop him from humiliating the dead. And some claimed that he even helped some of the officers escape.

After the incident, his bounty rose to $75000. Finally, the Brits caught some of Mat Indera's men and collaborated with them to capture Mat Indera, promising them land and wealth. Mat Indera was caught and hanged to death in 1953. An end to yet another freedom fighter.

There lies a hero- Tok Janggut

If you look closely at the story of Mat Indera and how it was portrayed by the Brits, there's vast similarities with that of Datuk Maharajalela, Mat Kilau, Datuk Bahaman, Abdul Rahman Limbong and Tok Janggut (see above). Tok Janggut also fought and killed Malay police officers and soldiers who sided with the Brits (scumbags), and he was portrayed by the Brits as a rebel and traitor to the Sultan of Kelantan. When Tok Janggut was finally killed, his body was humiliated to the highest degree by being paraded all over town and then hung upside down for all to see. You can read his story here and here. And for all that, what did out text book portray him as? Read below, an extract from Buku Teks Sejarah Tingkatan 5 (KBSM).

Yet another selfish Malay noble man who didn't want to pay the taxes?

Was that really all in Tok Janggut's fight? He didn't want to pay taxes? Lost of political powers and influence? Is that really how we want to remember him as?

Are these stories of traitors or freedom fighters? History is written by those in power. Wallahualam.

That's a Big Croc!

See below.

Thats a big croc!

That's surely a big crocodile. The salt water crocodile, measuring 6.4m and weighing 1075kg was captured in a village in Southern Philippines. It took some 100 people to pull the beast. I'd imagine even the late crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin would have a hard time taming it! Read about it here.

The site of the big croc reminded me of news I read a few years back, when an 11 year old shot and killed a giant hog.

They should make a movie: Giant Croc vs. Giant Hog. That'll sell

I wonder what they eat to grow that big.

Investment

I'm not an economist.

I'm not a player in the stock market.

I'm not an agent of anything trying to get a commission from what I'm about to tell you.

I work as a forensic engineer to make ends meet.

And I admit I'm not really good at this field subject (i barely made it out of my micro and macro economics class alive!).

But here's my word of advice. In this downward moving and unpredictable economy we're in now, invest in anything GOLD. As of today, gold price is in access of $1880/ounce. Thats more than RM200/g. Utterly Ridiculous.

I started investing in Kelantan gold dinars last October. They're definitely nice to look at (see above photo). I bought a couple for RM580 each back in October 2010. You know what a dinar costs now? RM850! But good luck getting them, peeps. They're a tough catch.

Get the latest gold and dinar prices here and here.

Gaddafi Out!

The Battle for Libya is drawing its conclusion after a six month battle beginning last February. The capital, Tripoli, was claimed to be under the control of the rebels on 22nd August 2011, or formally known as the National Transitional Coalition. The end of Col. Muammar Gaddafi is definitely near. Read more here and here or any other news agency. Here's a good read from the NYTimes.


Good job Libya!

Silver Lining

We were first taken aback by reports that after the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the Japanese people were still following social order albeit their ordeals. They were very calm, patiently waited in lines to buy necessities (even though for hours), they shared unselfishly with others, voluntarily cut back on electricity and gasoline, and no one looted. These are stark differences to scenes observed in other disaster struck places like Acheh, Haiti and even the 'western' New Orleans.


And now, some five months after the disaster, Japanese police claim that $78 million of missing cash have been turned in. The Japs have sent the standard for ethical awareness.


We Malaysians, have a loooong way to go. Remember this image?


This was from a report in The Star of a road accident involving a truck carrying coins in Melaka. After the accident, in which coins were strewn onto the highway, motorist stopped their vehicles on the side of the highway to collect the coins. And they were not collected to be returned to the owners, even after the owners pleaded. You can read the report at the link above. And we're not talking about 100 ringgit notes, or 10 ringgit notes or heck, 1 ringgit notes. These are just 10, 20 and 50 sen. That's how cheap we are. And judging from the photograph, most of them were Malays, Muslims. We should be ashamed.

Its about time we stop adopting just the J-pop, K-pop, culture and dramas from those countries in the East. Its time we adopt their moral values, as well.

Crossing Roads

When I was little, I was taught in school the way to cross the road is by looking your left first, then your right, then to your left again.



I didn't know that was the case also in Malaysia. I came upon twice in the radio, yesterday and today, when the DJs said to look left, right and then left again which left me puzzled. Malaysia is left hand traffic (as opposed to the US right hand traffic) so why would you look to your left twice, when the car coming from the right is approaching you faster??

What me thinks is that this is just another foolish and at face value acceptance of things in the western world. sigh..

Joining the Cause

The government's decision to build the 100 storey Mega Tower called the Warisan Merdeka is very much indeed worrying to say the lease.

That's why I'm joining the cause to support and promote the 1M Malaysians Reject 100-storey Mega Tower fan page on Facebook. Check out the box I attached at the bottom of the blog.

That's why, come next general election, InsyaAllah I'll be voting.

Come on fellow countrymen, lets make a change!

2012

An earthquake in China, a massive mudslide in Brazil, a cyclone in India, a volcanic eruption in Iceland, cold winters in UK caused by low solar activity. One might be forgiven for thinking that these were scenes from the movie 2012.

In all reality, these are just some of the natural disasters that's been happening over the past few days. Frightening, much?? You better be!

China earthquake
Brazil mudslide
Indian cyclone
Iceland Volcano
UK winter

Antara Dua Darjat

In the US, in the not so distance past.....

"Eh aku seminggu ni makan McDonald's je."

"Eh kenapa ni? Ko takde duit ke? Kesiannye."

In Malaysia, present....

"Eh aku seminggu ni makan McDonald's je."

"Wah gile kaya ko!"


Yes, I'm definitely loving it!

This is Ridiculous

This article published in Utusan Malaysia on 14th February 2010 was just outright ridiculous.

This just goes to prove what we people already knew about the BN government: They're just a bunch of suns of beaches.

Malaysia So Hot

I remember back in the days when I was at the States, during fall, winter or spring, we would complain about the cold, cold weather. The Weather Channel website would always give the temperature outside, then include a 'feels like' temperature. The feels like temperature usually depends on the wind velocity, precipitation, etc, which usually makes it feel colder than it really is.

I checked out Kuala Lumpur's weather today and got this


Not that 34C is not hot enough already, but the feels like temperature is even higher!

Car Comparing

It's a well documented fact that we as Malaysians, pay more for our cars. Ever since the dawn of the Proton Saga launch, some 25 years ago, imported car prices have cost at least 30-60% of the equivalent locally produced vehicles. Malaysians dreaming of a City or Vios would have to settle for a Persona or Myvi. Those wishing for a Wish or Stream would have to be content with an Exora or the Alza. All for the reason of protecting our 'national pride', Proton. Well, as the Proton saga continues with no definite end in sight, lets check out the selling price for cars outside Malaysia and dwell on what if's.

Honda Accord
The Honda Accord is quite the pinnacle of car manufacturing giants, Honda. Ever since its launch in 1976, the Accord has sold tens of millions worldwide. The price for a 2.4L Accord in Malaysia is at a hefty price of RM166035.


Its price in the US? $ 21855. Equivalent to RM74683!

Toyota Vios
Those with a bit of extra money looking for a compact economy car, its always the Honda City or the Toyota Vios. The car is sold at roughly around RM75000 here in Malaysia.


Called the Toyota Yaris Sedan over in the states, the car is sold at a starting price of $14165, which equals to RM48400.

Volkswagen New Beetle
The New Beetle is quite a common car at the US. So common is the beetle that it is even available at regular car rentals. That doesn't seem to be the case here in Malaysia as the selling price for the car is RM140000. The car is considered a luxury car here in Malaysia because of that price tag.


In the States, the car is selling for as low as $18700, equivalent to RM64000 only!

MINI Cooper
Here's another 'luxury' compact here in Malaysia with its mind bobbling price of RM238560. That is a real hefty price considering the small size of the car.


It's price in the States? The MSRP is nothing but $19500. Thats only RM66635. Take that!

BMW
Now for some serious luxury. The BMW has always been my dream car, albeit never actually driven one. The sheer looks of the car was always enough to mesmerize me. That's true beauty. The usual BMW 5 series you find in Malaysia is the BMW 530d and its close variants, nicely priced at RM376800.


By comparison, the BMW 535i, which, by model number is better than the 530d, sells for $51250, equivalent to just half of the Malaysian price, RM175130! Guess I'll need to sleep on.

Ferrari
Enter Sexy.


This is the 2007 Ferrari f430 Spider. The base price in the US is $193000. The equivalent cost in Malaysia would be RM660000. That's considerably lower than the RM1.3M you'd have to pay to own one in Malaysia.

The conclusion is that the imported cars in Malaysia are priced at least double it's price elsewhere.

Surprised? Disappointed? Wth? Don't be. Because this, is Boleh Land.

Malaysian Consumers

It's quite obvious that Malaysians tend to be quite on the low side when it comes to anything regarding consuming. We tend to waste, we tend to neglect, and we tend to be naive (among others) when it comes to consuming. And most importantly, most of us know nothing about the power and rights of the consumer. Luckily, this has not gone without notice and the relevant organizations are doing their bits to help Malaysians know and appreciate their role, power, responsibility and rights when being a consumer.

Recently, I was in a Tesco in Melaka when I experienced just how naive some of our consumers may be. I was waiting for a friend running his errands inside Tesco when I noticed one of the kiosks outside the supermarket was selling slimming jeans.

Yes you heard me the first time. Not slim jeans, but slimming jeans. Jeans that supposedly shreds your fat when you wear them.

From the poster at the kiosk, the jeans were supposedly made in Korea, and there were three sequential drawings (not even photographs) of the effects of wearing the jeans over time. Amused by the crowd the kiosk attracted, I decided to pop up an ear and go listen to what the seller had to say about such 'astonishing break through technology'.

The jeans turned out not to be jeans after all. They were but thick tights that were dyed in jeans like colors with pockets drawn onto them. The selling price was 50 ringgit. The jeans were designed for ladies. And here's how the conversation went between myself, the seller, and an over zealous lady costumer who was planning to buy the jeans (OZLCWWPTBTJ) :

Myself: So what are the jeans like?
Seller: (probably not hearing me properly because of the crowd) Even guys can wear it.
OZLCWWPTBTJ: Yes, you can wear it underneath your pants. Wear it like you would wear tights. That should be ok.
Myself: (asking the seller) How would it make you skinnier?
OZLCWWPTBTJ: They have infrared.

(As things were just about to become interesting, my friend came and we had to cut short the conversation)

Even IF the jeans did work, you would suspect a person wearing it over time would come to look like this, right? :)


Unless, that is, they come up with a shirt that would go with them jeans.

Malaysia Fifth Friendliest

In a recent survey done by HSBC revealed that Malaysia is the fifth friendliest country in the world, after Bahrain, Canada, Australia, and our next door neighbor Thailand. Read it here.

Well at least that's one for the locals.

How on Earth do You....

I remember watching Slumdog Millionaire where these kids stole the engine, and tires of a Mercedes Benz. But that was in a slum area.

But how do you steal an engine from this?


And yes, at a heavily army guarded area?

Beats me. I don't know.

Abbreviations VS Acronyms

No they are not the same thing, and nor are they meant to be interchangeable.

From Dictionary.com:

Acronyms:
a word formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of words in a set phrase or series of words, as Wac from Women's Army Corps, OPEC from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or loran from long-range navigation.

Abbreviations:
a shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase, used to represent the whole, as Dr. for Doctor, U.S. for United States, lb. for pound.

Abbreviations are used to shorten the writings of words, not to shorten their pronunciation. Thus, it really grinds my gears when I hear people pronouncing words such as BBQ as b-b-q. It's barbecue for crying out load. Others like inc. is shorten for incorporated, so next time don't pronounce it as Monsters Inc. McD? No, its McDonalds. And what's up with bro? I hate the usage of the word here in Malaysia to begin with, but since I'm at it, it's pronounced brother.

After all, you don't pronounce Mohd. as mohd right? Or s-d-n b-h-d? A-b-d? No, its Mohammad, sendirian berhad, and Abdul.

Don't be lazy. Open your mouth a bit more will you please.

Thank you.

When Stupidity Prevails

It's amazing how stupid and superstitious some people can be at times.

I was jump listening to a few radio stations on my way to work today and something on Fly.fm caught my interest. They supposedly had some sort of fortune teller present at the studio by the name Guru G something (I think) that could tell the future. The Dj's were encouraging people to call in so that this Guru G could read their future.

So people began calling in. And this guy, albeit in a joking manner and voice, began 'reading' people's future. Even some Malays called in to have their futures read to them (considering it's haram in Islam to do so). And these callers sounded really impressed by Guru G.

But I knew this guy was just a joke. His accent that he put on was clearly fake. And heck, his predictions weren't really predictions, they were more of what the caller needs to do in the future in order for this and that. But what got people going was the fact that he was able to tell something about the caller without the caller even mentioning about it. Like he would say you have a cousin named bla2.. or you like talking, you wanna become a lawyer. Freaking? No, not really.

So how was this Guru G able to do such 'readings'? The answer didn't require any special powers. The DJ revealed after the show that Guru G simply Googled the names of the callers and talked based on the information that popped up, whether it be based on Facebook, MySpace, Friendster or blogs.

If I was one of the callers, boy wouldn't I be embarrassed! Google is quite a powerful tool. Try googling your name up. You might just be surprised by what you'll find :)