:(

http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/ir/news/0804101830.html

I shall need to find another not-found-in-Singapore brand to fall in love with.

Happy New Year 2007!

And btw, bombs just went off at Bangkok.

I got to know through Screenshots that some khalwat videos have surfaced in youtube. I searched a bit and I came across this.

Two things.

Youtube has become a pretty powerful tool since video recording has become increasingly common.

I don’t really care much about the scandalous stuff (yup, don’t care about the politician’s version either). But the one on bully brings back vague recollection of the video on a Kuching girl being bullied. It really makes me wonder if school bullies are becoming a worrying problem in Malaysia.

I mean, back when I was in school dockey years ago, I’ve heard of bully cases, but I would consider such situation pretty much under controlled. Now, videos of bullies are surfacing occasionally. I believe for every video that surfaces, many other cases remained unknown except to the students involved.

Such thoughts worry me. Is Malaysia breeding hooligans? I don’t expect a zero-case situation, but when the idea that bully cases are increasing starts cropping on my mind, I simply feel rather uncomfortable with the disciplines imposed in school, and the direction of Malaysian education.

Oh well… I suppose politicians are busy having fun with each other rather than caring national big issues…

As the days get hazier, I take this opportunity to wish you all Happy Mooncake Festival.

*cough *cough

Singapore will be celebrating its 41st birthday tomorrow.

And perhaps to the surprise of most Malaysian, Singapore National Day Parade (NDP) is a pretty big event in Singapore. A month or so before tomorrow, preparation was carried out, where it involved students and NSMen and all walks of Singaporeans.

This year’s theme is “Our Global City, Our Home” to reflect on Singapore’s global community. And this year, the National Day celebration concides with Fireworks Festival which sees 3 other nations giving spectacular firework displays.

Every year, Singaporeans will register to enter a random draw for NDP tickets, and there’s event a preview show.

If you are still not convinced that Singapore National Day is a big event, then go to its official website here.

What I find lacking on the website is the information on the essence of the celebration…

Happy Birthday Singapore!

p.s. A Singaporean whom I knew, once told me, NDP is the one day of the year, that he felt proud being a Singaporean…

Vivocity will be the largest retail & lifestyle mall to open in Singapore come this October 2006. Before then, here are some preview photos of the place.

Incidentally, this is also where my current workplace is at. It’s still under construction, so I had to put on all the safety gear to enter the place (No… you won’t see me in those). The place is hot, and getting from section to another in the construction place is really tiring. Of course come October, it’s gonna be a different scenario all together. But the question in most people’s mind is, will Vivocity actually meet the deadline?

Oh well, I’m sure the place will be opened in time for the Christmas shopping season… the least to say.

I’m currently watching a Singapore programme on TV on budget airlines.

What I’m compelled to ask is, how is it that one of the most succesful budget airline in this region, i.e. Air Asia does not get enough airtime? Afterall, it’s on Channel News Asia and it’s a channel that’s trying to grow in Asia. But of course, I’m asking a silly question, since it’s a Singaporean channel and the focus is apparently on Singapore budget airlines.

One Singapore budget airline, Tiger Airways, mentioned that it’s a big wall in front since it’s not allowed to fly to any city in Malaysia. It’s basically the case of demand is not met. Well, let’s put it this way- it’s all about politics.

Remember this, some time back, Air Asia was not allowed to fly to Singapore, even after Air Asia has tried ways including getting a bus company to ferry its passengers from Singapore to Johor Bahru airport to fly to KL. It was such a pain-in-the-ass process to obtain a KL-Singapore route, that its CEO decided to throw in the towel. Of course, Singapore kept its stand of being ‘fair’ by keeping its Changi airport tax the same for Air Asia as other big airline companies. However, Changi should realize that Air Asia is operating on a different business scheme compared to those big airline companies. But after some time, it become quite an open secret that Singapore is trying to protect its future investment in the budget airline industry, and thus Tiger Airways was born.

As the representative from Tiger Airways lamented on the missing good route between Singapore and major cities in Malaysia, my respond is, ask Singapore instead for your answer…

In any case, I’m proud to hear that Air Asia has plan to extend its coverage to China. That’s good news as that’s a great market to tap.

So when will Tiger Airways fly to Malaysia? Well, the day when Singapore agree to compromise on its term with Air Asia, is the day when Singapore believes that its budget airlines (currently, it stands at three operators) are qualified enough to be competitive with Air Asia, is the day Air Asia is allowed to fly to Singapore.

Fine… Italy won the World Cup.

8-)

But at least they got the butthead from Zidane.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a supporter of France, I just thought that Italy won’t be team to lift the cup.

Anyway, I’m not sure a lot of you there wanna learn about singing high pitch.  Get the wonderous tip from this fella:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG-Wp0-H_sY&eurl=

Very profound right?

Before PPS being flooded by the World Cup 2006 result later on, I shall make this post now…

So who will win the game of the year? The spaghetti team or the wine players?

My bet is on France actually.  I think the French has more burning desire to lift the trophy this time round especially this game will most probably be Zidane’s last WC match, and perhaps other French players as well.  I would think that they wanna make this WC the one to be remembered.

I’ll be watching perhaps the first half of the game before hitting the bed (I gotta work tomorrow, not like some lucky ones, including students who are given some kind of time off tomorrow due to the WC).  All the best for both teams.

Update:  It’s 1/2 time now, and the score is 1-1.  I thought my prediction will be all good when France scored the first goal, but mana tau, Italy scored some minutes later.  So will the Pak cik France win? Or will the Si Garang Italian create WC upset?  K, me going to sleep liao… Gd nite

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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

I read about this article through some bloggers who pinged PPS about the news.

I’ve heard tales of sex-capades on airplanes, sometimes on trains, so why not on buses? It didn’t come as a surprise, but to actually read about it in the newspaper, the feeling is rather uncomfortable.

I travel by buses pretty frequently over long distant and I have my share of disgusting experiences. All is equally bad as to finding used condom or panties between cracks of your seat as in the article.

Roaches of all kinds lurk around. They especially love to come out from the window gap to greet. Crumbs of all kinds on the seat is pretty bad too; so far, I’ve yet to encounter a wet seat due to drink spills, and I hope I won’t encounter that ever. And some passengers love to sleep with their cheek on the glass, leaving a blurry stain on it; and not to mention those who have greasy hair…

How many times, the air-condition is blasting directly on you, which will start to drip halfway through the journey? And broken seats where you cannot lower the back of the seat? And this wet musky smell… that has to come from somewhere.

Perhaps one improvement is that more and more buses are adopting the “2+1 seats in a row” seating. It has been quite awhile since I sat in a “2+2 seats in a row” bus. And, it has been awhile, since I say in a bus with toilet smell…

Enough ranting about bus travelling for the day…

Condolences

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 20 (Bernama) — Prime Minister’s wife Datin Seri Endon Mahmood passed away at 7.55 am Thursday at the Prime Minister’s official residence Seri Perdana Putrajaya, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told Bernama.

It was during the last days of WA FM 97.6 that I heard about WA FM 97.6 is appearing online. I tried a few days back, but there was nothing. Just now, I tried again, and to my delight, there’s already a message board up for fans to post their wishes and comments ahead of its official launch on Friday 21 oct 2005.

Click here, and perhaps read through those messages and you might just find your favourite DJs emails or websites…

I was awaken yesterday before noon because my cousin’s car broke down. I was supposed to wake up to collect my new IC that morning, but I didn’t. However, to be awakened by someone else besides myself spells disaster for the whole day, and indeed yesterday did; I had a throbbing headache throughout the whole day.

My aunt wanted me to go along with her to meet up with my cousin. The plan was that I’d drive my cousin to her destination, while my aunt would wait for the mechanic to arrive. Ok… But during the whole ‘event’, I wasn’t really fully awake. I did not even brush my teeth, or comb my hair or change my clothes. I just splashed some water on my hair to make it down (Never wear a Afro hairstyle out, ever…)

I was relieve to be able to make it back home safe and sound. I knew, I wouldn’t be able to sleep back after. So I stayed in front of the computer until it’s dinner time. I messaged a friend, asking him if he would want to go out for dinner. At first he wanted me to go to Cheras (yeah! right!). But we decided to meet up at Old Klang Road for some vegetarian food. Perhaps some green would be good since I hadn’t been eating well, and my body wasn’t feeling that good yesterday…

After dinner with him and his girlfriend, we went to MidValley to jalan-jalan as it was drizzling a bit- better stay indoor. We saw the Honda City Roadshow thingy going on:

This new model is a mainly-cosmetic-change version of the previously released Honda City. no doubt, it looks not-as-weird, but now, it looks pretty plain and ordinary. The colour’s not impressive, but I’m sure the make is good.

We then went to Jusco and Carrefour to do some snack-shopping. Makan a bit, and we left.

Yup, it was an uneventful pretty-mundane day yesterday…
(What were you expecting? A whole lot of baboons escape from the zoo and chase after me? Please lar, the headache was bad enough lar, no need for such excitement…)

These few days, I’ve been listening to WA FM 97.6 with just a tat more attention; its broadcast will come to an end tomorrow.

WA FM has been quite a good companion after I’ve started driving in KL. Its morning segment is feather light, very good to start my day with. Same goes for the morning songs selection. Come night, its music is a good listen as well. Thus, when announcement that WA FM 97.6 would stop broadccast on 31 Aug 2005 comes about, it was quite a sad news. I was delighted to hear that that was no longer so. But the joy was not to last, when the news that WA FM 97.6 will be taken off air on 15 Oct 2005.

Callers have been calling in, wishing the DJs all the best, and relating their personal experiences with WA FM 97.6. Some DJs were brought to tears, reminiscing who WA FM 97.6 had been.

I personally like WA FM for its very personal approach in broadcasting. It’s like some kopitiam time everytime I listen to that channel. The DJs speak with so much easiness and frankness, just like friends. There are laughter, seriousness and some times awkwardness in the air, but everything is a-o-kay….

I’d signed the petition, but I did not place much hope in it… Perhaps that’s why the petition did not work?

Goodbye, and all the best WA FM 97.6…

Welcome, people to Project Petaling Street’s new face…

It has been hinted for quite some time, that another addition to the blog-tal will be made. I wasn’t sure if PPS RSS had already been incorporated last time, but I suppose the whole idea now is more organized compared to previous. With PPS Wiki and PPS Directory, I hope the convenience is there. (I remember searching for info all over PPS page, clicking one link after another… and also missing out on someone’s blog until he pings again next…)

I agree with him that the 5 main link pages should have somewhat similar look and feel to them. Looking at the front page though, I began to think back the reason I’ve visited PPS all that too often- to access the latest blog entries. Sure, many features were lacking then, for example a blog directory (which exists now) or an archive (will there be?), but it takes 2 clicks now to access all those new pings… And where are the resident, like jeffooi and sixthseal and so forth? I would certainly like to have a glance at their blog first at the ping page before going there. Finally, it’s not all that easy to navigate across the pages, say, from PPS Ping to PPS Directory…

With this new face, it seems like PPS is no longer only a ‘ping’-ing portal, but serves to promote itself…

Somewhat reminded me of this.

And btw, Selamat Hari Jadi Malaysia. 42 atau 48? Walau apapun, umur sudah cukup tua ya?

People are dying. Previously, Jacko was reported to have attempted suicide, and now, Osama bin Laden’s body is reportedly found hanged by CNN journalist.

This is most probably the typical email message that you would receive with regard to the news:

Osama Bin Ladin was found hanged by two CNN journalists early Wedensday evening. As evidence they took several photos, some of which i have included here. As yet, this information has not hit the headlines due to Bush wanting confirmation of his identity but the journalists have released some early photos over the internet..

All I can say is, please keep yourself updated ‘properly’ with all the news around.

And so, PPS is filled with ‘Pings’ about the haze and hail. The haze has apparently reached dangerous level, such that schools in KL will be closed on Thursday and Friday.

Someone manipulating the weather?
Well, perhaps so. Haze is most probably caused by the burning around this region, whereas hail was probably by cloud seeding?

Go here or here and here or here and here or nah beh king’s entry, you’ll roughly sense the not-so-age-old dispute between bloggers and reporters. It’s pretty hilarious trying to imagine what could have happened at the event:

As mr. brown and xiaxue busy taking photos with their fans, clicks of blogger friends sitting at the corner finger-pointing that’s who and who, and kenny at the corner doing his thing, some poor reporters were rushing around with question marks flashing above their heads.

No lar, don’t think it went that way.

I wasn’t there personally, so I cannot comment what exactly took place at the event. But I suppose everyone was relieved that it was not some kind of round-up to curb blogging….

Nope, I did not wish to be there, but congrats to fellow Spore bloggers that it went well (from general responses that I read lor).

Hooooooorrrrr!!!!!!!!!
So they are the ones…..

Firstly, the names:

1) Tan Sri Nasimuddin SM Amin
2) Datuk Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim
3) Datuk Mohd Haniff Abdul Aziz
4) Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad

They were given more than 25,000 Approved Permits (APs) to import cars into Malaysia this year, out of 67,158 APs issued this year.

And now the figures:

Nasimuddin, managing director of the Naza Motor Group, holds 9,412 APs mainly under Naza Kia Sdn Bhd. Syed Azman, Mohd Haniff and Azzudin have got a total of 16,214 APs under several companies.

This is the first time names of AP recipients are made public, even though it was stated earlier that such move wouldn’t be taken.

Now, the former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had previously claimed that 54,000 of the 67,000 APs issued last year were given to 20 companies, while the remainder went to 82 companies. Now that’s 80% of the total APs issued last year.

This year, about 38% goes to 4 businessmen. If we are to use last year’s claimed 80% as a gauge, does it mean that about another 42% have also gone to another small group of people? Will their names be mentioned as well?

Is Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz jumping now?

Read more here.

Updated July 19, 2005 @ 10:47:
A question came to mind this morning: Why the change in stand by the Government to reveal the AP holders?

For as long as Google.uk has the black ribbon up, I’m putting up one here as well as my support to the London bombing victims.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Under the realm of Longhorn, Microsoft is rolling out its Server Beta by August, which is slated to be released in 2007, a year after 2006-predicted-release of the next OS by Microsoft. Prediction was that Longhorn Server Beta would be made public in conjunction with a live chat some time in August.

Now, previously, reacting to Longhorn OS development, Mac has a whole line up big cats. I’m just wondering if Mac will put in line more creatures for better attack…

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/longhorn_server_preview_1.asp

Everyone ridiculed at the idea of playing the national anthem Negaraku in the cinema. The government then reiterated some rules and regulation with regard to the anthem, and that includes fine or jail for being disrespectful when Negaraku is being played. Thanks to Screenshots for embedding the anthem in the website, I suppose everyone’ll be standing, and standing, and standing…

I went to the ICTS Computer Exhibition 2005 at PWTC yesterday. It was a pretty small exhibition at a medium size hall. I saw this very small device by CAAT for playing mp4 files. Priced at RM399, it has 256MB. My first thought: So small, see what?!
I also managed to see the Imation Disc Stakka which was released some time at the end of last year. (Ok… perhaps it’s already available at Low Yat months before, but this is the first time I see it with my own eyes)
The first thing that came to my mind was its size- rather big sitting there… Each Stakka can accommodate 100 disc each and each of te Stakka can be towered up. The idea is pretty good, but I’m not sure if it will take off. The promoter wasn’t that good, all he did was teaching how to rename and organize the CDs, giving Duuuhhhh! explanation on organizing…