Muslims more numerous than Catholics

A great appraise for the baby-making ability of Muslims. The numbers would be more interesting if they measure the poverty proportions among subpopulation of different religions. The gap is widen.

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press Writer
Sun Mar 30, 2:48 PM ET



VATICAN CITY - Islam has surpassed Roman Catholicism as the world's largest religion, the Vatican newspaper said Sunday.


"For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us," Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Formenti compiles the Vatican's yearbook.

He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population — a stable percentage — while Muslims were at 19.2 percent.

"It is true that while Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer," the monsignor said.

Formenti said that the data refer to 2006. The figures on Muslims were put together by Muslim countries and then provided to the United Nations, he said, adding that the Vatican could only vouch for its own data.

When considering all Christians and not just Catholics, Christians make up 33 percent of the world population, Formenti said.

Spokesmen for the Vatican and the United Nations did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment Sunday.

Chimpanzee and many dogs

Chimpance & Bulldog's Gim

Genius Chimpanzee is a fireman

Visit Them

Genius Chimpanzee Rides A Train

Visit Them

Genius Chimpanzee Goes Fishing

Visit Them

Genius Chimpanzee Makes Noodle

Visit Them

Nightmare of every conventional Mathematician

Jesus Christ!!! I just can't stop laughing after seeing this video.

Oh wait, maybe these genius overloaded the arithmetic operators? Even better, the number 1,2,4 and 5 are actually symbols representing a greater factor in the entire formulation. Geez, now they start to look like math genius :p

Multiplication Tricks

You don't really want to use this way to do multiplications involving number 5 or above, that is darn lots of lines to draw :p

Regression Model Specification Principles

Model specification refers to the set of variables included in the regression and the regression equation's functional form. The principles below cal guide model specification:

• The model should be grounded in cogent economic reasoning


• The functional form chosen for each variable in the regression should be appropriate given the nature of the variables


• The model should be parsimonious


• Validate the regression model assumptions before accepting them


• Apply the model using out-of-sample observations

Frente - Bizarre Love Triangle

Every time I think of you
I get a shot right through
Into a bolt of blue
It's no problem of mine
But it's a problem I find
Living the life that I can't leave behind
There's no sense in telling me
The wisdom of a fool won't set you free
But that's the way that it goes
And it's what nobody knows
And every day my confusion grows
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for the final moment
You say the words that I can't say

I feel fine and I feel good
I feel like I never should
Whenever I get this way
I just don't know what to say
Why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday
I'm not sure what this could mean
I don't think you're what you seem
I do admit to myself
That if I hurt someone else
Then I'll never see just what we're meant to be
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for the final moment
You'll say the words that I can't say
Every time I see you falling
I'll get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for the final moment
You'll say the words that I can't say

F-Statistic

RSS is the Regression Sum of Squared
SSE is the Sum of Squared Error
n is the total number of observations
k is the number of independent variables in the regression equation

k and [n - ( k + 1)] is the number of degree of freedom for calculating a F-statistic.

For unbiased MSE calculation, the number of regression coefficients need to be substracted from the n to form the number of degree of freedom for the denominator.

In my understanding, F-statistic aims to highlight the ratio of explained variation to unexplained variation for the regression equation.

The basic concept is roughly like this: Assuming the absence of such regression equation in estimating the value of a dependent variable, let say Y. We probably will use the arithmetic average, denoted Y-bar to estimate the value of Y. In other word, in such cases, all of the variations would be unexplained, which means you can't really tell what factors that causes your prediction deviates from the actual.

So now, some smart ass come out with an equation that claims to be a better estimation method than arithmetic average. Ideally, the RSS will be larger than SSE because now the regression cofficients in the equation would partially (might be fully) explains the deviation from the actual.

If the equation performs as good (as worse) as the arithmetic mean method, then F-statistic would give you a 0 value because RSS will be zero.

Standard VI (A) Disclosure of Conflicts. Directorship Issues.

In the investment industry, a conflict, or the perception of a conflict, often
cannot be avoided. The most obvious conflicts of interest, which should always
be disclosed, are relationships between the member, candidate, or their firm and
an issuer (such as a directorship or consultancy), investment banking, underwriting
and financial relationships, broker/dealer market-making activities, and
material beneficial ownership of stock. A member or candidate must take
reasonable steps to determine if a conflict of interest exists and disclose to clients any conflicts of the member or candidate’s firm when known. Disclosure of
broker/dealer market-making activities alerts clients that a purchase or sale might
be made from or to the firm’s principal account and that the firm has a special
interest in the price of the stock.

Service as a director poses three basic conflicts of interest. First, a conflict
may exist between the duties owed to clients and the duties owed to shareholders
of the company. Second, investment personnel who serve as directors may
receive the securities or the option to purchase securities of the company as
compensation for serving on the board, which could raise questions about trading
actions that could increase the value of those securities. Third, board service
creates the opportunity to receive material non-public information involving the
company. Even though the information is confidential, the perception could be
that information not available to the public might be communicated to a director’s
firm—whether a broker, investment advisor, or other type of organization. When
members or candidates providing investment services also serve as directors, they
should be isolated from those making investment decisions by the use of fire walls
or similar restrictions.

Burn, Burn, Burn. Bang. WD40.

Drinking Reboiled Water.. Hazard?

I read a small article today on the SinChew newspaper about the danger of drinking reboiling water and also why you shouldn't use these facial steamers too frequently.

And I suddenly realized that the state of contents quality control, accuracy and completeness is way of the it's intended path. As usual, there are always people (in this case, journalist) irresponsible enough, copy-and-pasting the article from somewhere and cross their finger and hope that the chief editor didn't shout at them.

Misrepresentation and Misconduct. Two main phenomenons we keep encountering in this information age.

Basically, the article tried to pass you a message like this "Tap water contains nitrates and you shouldn't reboil those water because it will make the contained nitrates concentrated and your body doesn't really like concentrated nitrates" and "Tap water containes chlorine and boiling water makes chlorine vapourize and you shouldn't treat your face with vapourized steams".

I think, the guy who said this basically exaggerating the effects of these. The statements make are totally not scientific at all. Ok, it might be possible that the statement originator have a longer version but anyhow the journalist just summarized it and inflated the "picture" and hope it will attract many readers.

Ok, my understanding is like this:

Point 1. Not all sources of water contains chlorine and/or nitrates.
More information

Our source water in Malaysia might be contaminated by:

• fertilizers and manure


• animal feedlots


• municipal wastewater and sludge


• septic systems


• N-fixation from atmosphere by legumes, bacteria and lightning

Point 2. Reboiling water without nitrates in it wouldn't create nitrates.
If your have a cheapo point of entry and another cheapo point of use water softener, you can reboil the water after the tap N number of times that you wish. Same concept applied to chlorine.

Point 3. Nitrates doesn't kill
Only a significant level of nitrates will causes harm to human health. Don't freak out, nitrates are all around you.

Main & 2nd Boards To Be Combined, Mesdaq To Be Revamped

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia's Main Board and the Second Board will be combined into one catering for big established companies while the Mesdaq market will be revamped for smaller companies in efforts to improve the equities market, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Tuesday.

The streamlining of the board structure by merging the main and second boards would establish a unified board for more established companies with strong track records, he said when announcing several measures to further improve the Malaysian equities market and make it more attractive for foreign investors.

The revamp of the Mesdaq market will allow relatively smaller companies to access the equities market at an earlier stage of their life cycle, Abdullah said in his keynote address at the "Invest Malaysia 2008" annual conference here Tuesday.

He said the unified board will have uniform listing requirements, and comprehensive disclosure-based regulation with easy entry and fast removal.

The prime minister also said access to the unified board will be premised on sufficient level of disclosures and corporate conduct of the companies and promoters.

For the revamped Mesdaq, he said the listing of emerging companies will be sponsor driven where advisers will play a greater role in bringing listings to the market and maintaining ongoing supervision.

"By reducing the number of boards and the amount of listing requirements, we will help to catalyse more high-quality listings to add to the vibrant and dynamic nature of our equities market," he added.

Abdullah, who is also the Finance Minister, said the government will establish a market-making framework for Bursa Malaysia.

Market-makers could include proprietary traders in commercial and investment banks as well as foreign traders. "They will be obliged to be present in the market at all times, to provide liquidity for the market," said Abdullah, adding that this initiative will help price discovery, promote innovation and enhance liquidity in the market.

To spur interest among financial institutions to act as the market-makers, Abdullah said the government will offer incentives such as tax concessions and lower fees.

As for the bond market, the government will liberalise the bond market approval framework to increase efficiency and competitiveness, he said at the conference attended by over 600 local and international delegates featuring over 30 corporations.

At present, there is already a "green-lane" process for bond offerings made by highly-rated bond issuers.

Such issuances are deemed approved, which means issuers will only be required to submit their applications to the Securities Commission as a matter of formality.

"Moving forward, we will extend this "deemed approved" process to all domestic or foreign issuers who are rated "AAA" from domestic rating agencies or a minimum "BBB" rating by international agencies," the prime minister said.

He said the government will also extend this process for the issuance of non-ringgit bonds by all local and foreign issuers with a minimum "BBB" rating by international agencies.

"We believe that these measures will enhance the breadth of our bond market, and consolidate Malaysia's position as a leading bond and Sukuk market within the Asia-Pacific region," said Abdullah.

The Prime Minister also announced that the government will allow the establishment of a third credit rating agency in the country to ensure better supervision and add competition.

The rating agency would be allowed to have up to 49 percent foreign equity.

Currently, the two rating agencies in the country are Rating Agency Malaysia Bhd and Malaysian Rating Corporation Bhd.

-- BERNAMA

Classic Linear Regression Assumptions

The assumptions of the classic linear regression model are the following:

1. A linear regression exists between the dependent variable and the independent variable.


2. The independent variable is not random.


3. The expected value of the error term is 0.


4. The variance for the error term is the same for all observations. (Homoskedasticity)


5. The error term is normally distributed.


6. The error term is uncorrelated across observations.

Practice more, then you will learn :)

Money Lessons From the Boob Tube

Yeap, You gotta learn from da masters.

---

by Geoff Williams
Thursday, March 20, 2008


It's no secret that you can learn something about the way money works by watching television programs like "Power Lunch," on CNBC, and "Money for Breakfast," on FOX Business. But for those of us who don't read stock quotes and fund prospectuses for fun, watching those shows can feel like work. Sometimes, you want to just sit back and watch Andy and Barney outwit some small-town crooks and not think too hard.

Fortunately, if you want to enjoy a fun sitcom or a trashy reality show and still learn how to make money, you can. You just have to watch them with a slightly different mind-set.

If you really think about your favorite TV programs, you can pick up almost as many financial lessons as you could by watching Maria Bartiromo on CNBC.

Don't believe us? Then read about the money lessons in these eight classics.

The show: "The Cosby Show"

Channel: TV Land

What you can learn: See what family life can be like when both parents work hard to become successful, affluent professionals. The family goes through the trials of daily life while putting family first -- and managing to laugh, hug and drop lots of clever one-liners.

Money quote: In this famous dialogue from the pilot episode, Theo tells his dad that he doesn't aspire to make a lot of money like his parents. He wants to make just enough, like regular people. And so using Monopoly money, Cliff offers a classic lesson in economics.

Cliff: So how much do you expect to make a week for "regular people"?

Theo: $250.

Cliff: (pointing to the bed) Sit down. I will give you $300 a week. $1,200 a month. (Cliff hands the money to Theo)

Theo: I'll take it!

Cliff: And I will take $350 for taxes.

Theo: Whoa!

Cliff: Oh, yeah. See, the government goes for the regular people first. So, how much does that leave you with?

Theo: $850.

Cliff: OK, now you'll need an apartment because you are NOT living here. Now an apartment in Manhattan will run you at least $400 a month. (Cliff takes $400)

Theo: I'll live in New Jersey. (Theo takes back $200)

Cliff: Now you'll need a car. (Cliff takes $300)

Theo: I'll drive a motorbike. (Theo takes back $100)

Cliff: You're gonna need a helmet. (Cliff takes $50) Now figure $100 a month for clothes and shoes.

Theo: Figure $200. I wanna look GOOD.

Cliff: So, how much does that leave you with?

Theo: $200. So, no problem.

Cliff: There IS a problem! You haven't EATEN yet! (Cliff takes $100)

Theo: I can get by on bologna and cereal. (Theo takes back his $100) So I've got everything under control PLUS $200 left for the month.

Cliff: You plan to have a girlfriend?

Theo: For sure.

(Cliff takes the remaining $200)

Cliff: (pointing at Theo's empty hand): Regular people.

The show: "Ugly Betty"

Channel: ABC

What you can learn: It may not be "The Office," but it is life in an office, albeit one at a fashion magazine called Mode, and throughout the series money is often a subtext of the show. In some cases, the show provides a subtle look at the class system: Betty Suarez is the sweet heroine of modest means, who is beautiful despite not being one of the beautiful people.

Many individual episodes, however, often feature slices of life revolving around finances. For instance, in the first season, Betty has to organize the finances of her publisher boss, Daniel, which leads to her eventually learning that some of her co-workers have falsified expenses; Daniel is yelled at by his father, Bradford Meade, who still owns the magazine, and gets his company credit card cut off for a week; Wilhelmina, the magazine's assistant editor, uses her company credit card expense account for a "butt lift." And on it goes.

Money quote: "A job is not about making friends. It's about making money and stealing office supplies. By the way, we're out of coffee filters." -- Hilda, Betty's older sister

The show: "The Simpsons"

Channel: FOX

What you can learn: You thought it was a cartoon, but if the animation were distilled into one oil painting hanging in an art gallery, the title might read: "A Fool and His Money."

Over the years, Homer Simpson has lost his family's life savings, become a grifter, been audited by the IRS, accepted a loan from his bartender Moe (who we learn is also a loan shark), and given up work for eight days so he can be the second person in line to get some football tickets.

And who can forget the time that, after attending a seminar where they learned to be smart shoppers, Homer took his family on an expensive trip to Tokyo? While there, they lost all their money.

Money quote: "Bart! With $10,000, we'd be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things, like love!" -- Homer Simpson

The show: "The Colbert Report"

Channel: Comedy Central

What you can learn: Jim Cramer and Suze Orman? Mere pretenders, compared with the financial wizardry of Stephen Colbert, who has his finger on the pulse on Main Street America more than any other financial guru on television. Oh, sure, you'll hear political commentary on "The Colbert Report," but there's also a wealth of monetary advice that admittedly, if followed, will get you followed by sheriffs and IRS agents.

Colbert's regular segments include "Bears & Balls," in which finance-related questions are asked, and he provides answers ("Buy gas. It's a sure-fire commodity with no risk except for the sure risk of fire.") Then there's Colbert Platinum, in which the host thoughtfully showcases outlandishly pricey products that only the superrich can afford. But that's OK. As Colbert points out, these segments are for billionaires. Cash-strapped millionaires should change the channel.

Plus, Colbert promotes the idea of being entrepreneurial, always hawking products based around his name. He encourages his viewers to buy wrist bracelets for a counterfeit cause like sore wrists, but the very real money goes toward helping worthy causes, most recently sending $170,000 to the Yellow Ribbon Fund to help injured soldiers and their families.

Money quote: "Saving the planet appeals to the wealthy -- because they own so much of it."

The show: "Sex and the City"

Channel: TBS

What you can learn: Carrie Bradshaw, Samantha Jones, Charlotte York and Miranda Hobbes are all living in the corporate world -- "Desperate Housewives" this is not. Financial lessons abound, particularly when following Carrie, who has trouble with the "living within your means" guideline.

Money quote: In one episode, Carrie learns she may lose her apartment, is turned down for a bank loan and realizes that during her lifetime, she has spent a grand total of $40,000 on shoes.

Carrie: I've spent $40,000 on shoes, and I have no place to live. I will literally be the old woman who lived in her shoes!

The show: "Two and a Half Men"

Channel: CBS

What you can learn: Money is always haunting the Harper brothers. Alan is a chiropractor, but has his finances tied up in alimony payments and child support. Charlie is a musician, but not the kind who makes platinum albums; he writes ad jingles. After Alan's second divorce, he makes the wry observation that, "In my entire life, my dog is the only person I've slept in the same bed with that didn't sue me for alimony."

Money quote: The best example may be the episode in the first season where Charlie realizes he's spending far more than he's earning. In a heartfelt moment, he discusses his plight with his housekeeper, Berta, who is surprisingly supportive, reassuring him:

Berta: Well, you don't have to worry about paying me this week, Charlie.

Charlie: Thank you, Berta.

Berta: I'll just take this espresso maker and be on my way. Call me when things pick up.

The show: "The Office"

Channel: NBC

What you can learn: Michael Scott, the Scranton, Pa., branch manager of paper company Dunder Mifflin, is a case study for how not to manage one's finances professionally and personally.

For instance, in the one-hour episode titled "Money," Michael is deeply in debt, thanks to his penchant for making extravagant and unnecessary purchases, from a Porsche to bass fishing equipment and an $80 magic kit, which he planned to use to entertain potential clients. In the same episode, Michael takes on a second job as a telemarketer to bring in extra cash.

Even what Michael did in his youth, before he joined Dundler Mifflin, is a financial cautionary tale. As a young man, he admirably put aside money for his education while working at an Arby's restaurant. But his plans to go to college were destroyed when he lost his entire savings in a pyramid scheme.

Money quote: "Yes, money has been a little bit tight lately. But, at the end of my life, when I'm sitting on my yacht, am I going to be thinking about how much money I have? No. I'm going to be thinking about how many friends I have. And my children. And my comedy albums. I mean, I have a yacht, so I obviously did pretty well, money-wise." -- Michael Scott

The show: "The Apprentice"

Channel: NBC

What you can learn: In real life, just as on the show, there are co-workers who will demoralize their team and who will be happy to sell your soul if it means currying favor with the boss, who you will hate. Yet there will be other staff members who you will take a bullet for, or even risk hearing, "you're fired," if it means protecting your workplace pal. If nothing else, by watching the show, you can experience what it would be like to work for The Donald -- Trump, that is -- whose shoes are probably worth more than your mortgage.

Money quote: "I take solace in the fact that I have a higher IQ than the other 15 contestants, which just goes to show you that there's little correlation between IQ and success in lemonade sales."-- David Gould, who may have been a little frustrated about being the first contestant to be fired in the first episode of the first season of "The Apprentice."

Copyrighted, Bankrate.com. All rights reserved.

Original Post

Even a Mass Murderer need WD40. Why not you!

Everybody need WD40. Like Bender from the Futurama says "Kiss my shinning metal ass... IF you got WD40". Ya, you got me. I added the last line :p

Never smash a WD-40 can.

Light, Fire, Explosion. I really start to fall in love with WD40. It shines!

All Hailed Almighty WD40

2 of the doors squeaked, 1 of the Solex lock got rusted and unable to be opened and many other trivial but irritating stuffs which might drives you nuts over the long run. If you are dealing with the same situation like I do, please... get a hold of this WD40 problem solver.

OMG, they even have a fan club. Click Here Ain't I missed a lot of fun before this?!

I spent RM12.90 for a bottle of WD40 with extra 20% WD40. Now, I'm spending my boring weekend spraying around my home. Geez, should get a dog and spray WD40 on them. :p



From WIKI:

Main ingredients, from the material safety data sheet, are:

50%: Stoddard solvent (mineral spirits, somewhat similar to, but not the same as, kerosene)
25%: Liquefied petroleum gas (presumably as a propellant, carbon dioxide is used now to reduce considerable flammability)
15+%: Mineral oil (light lubricating oil)
10-%: Inert ingredients
The German version of the mandatory EU safety sheet lists the following safety relevant ingredients:

60-80%: Heavy Naphtha (petroleum product), hydrogen treated
1-5%: Carbon dioxide
It further lists flammability and effects to the human skin when repeatedly exposed to WD-40 as risks when using WD-40. Nitrile rubber gloves and safety glasses should be used. Water is unsuitable for extinguishing burning WD-40.

There is a popular urban legend that the main ingredient in WD-40 is fish oil.[2] Although it is unknown whether the formula contains fish oil, material safety data sheets for the product show that the main ingredient is Stoddard solvent, not fish oil.[3]

Fantastic Usages of WD40:

• 
  

  Attract fish. When sprayed on fishing bait, WD-40 covers up the scent of human hands on the bait to better lure fish, according to USA Today. The WD-40 Company receives hundreds of letters from consumers confirming this use, but prefers not to promote WD-40 as a fishing lure since the petroleum-based product could potentially pollute rivers and streams, damaging the ecosystem.

  
  
• 
  

  Cure Mange. While spraying a dog with WD-40 gets rid of parasitic mites, according to USA Today, the WD-40 Company, feeling that the potential misuse of the product is too great, refuses to condone using WD-40 to cure mange on animals.

  
  
• 
  

  Prevent squirrels from climbing into a birdhouse. Spray WD-40 on the metal pole or wires.

  
  
• 
  

  Remove a ring stuck on a finger. Several medical journals claim that WD-40 is the perfect cure for a toe stuck in the bathtub faucet, a finger stuck in soda bottle, or a ring stuck on a finger.

  
  
• 
  

  Remove chewing gum, crayon, tar, and Silly Putty from most surfaces. Spray on WD-40, wait, and wipe.

  
  
• 
  

  Clean decorative snow from windows. Spray windows with WD-40 before spraying with artificial snow so the decorative spray will wipe off easier.

  
  
• 
  

  Prevent dead insects from sticking to your car. Spray WD-40 on the hood and grill so you can wipe bugs off easily without damaging the finish.

  
  
• 
  

  Make hangers glide over a clothes rod. Spray WD-40 on the clothes rod so hangers can be pushed back and forth easily.

  
  
• 
  

  Clean clogged spray paint can nozzles. Remove the nozzles from the spray paint can and the WD-40 can, place the nozzle from the spray paint can on the WD-40 can, give it a couple of quick squirts, and replace both nozzles.

  
  
• 
  

  Remove oil spots from driveways. Spray with WD-40, wait, then blot. The mineral spirits and other petroleum distillates in WD 40 work as a curing agent.

  
  
• 
  

  Thread electrical wire through conduits. Spray WD-40 on the electrical wire to help it glide through winding conduits.

  
  
• 
  

  Prevent grass clippings from clogging up a lawn mower. Spray WD-40 on the underside of lawn mower housing and blade before cutting the grass.

  
  
• 
  

  Clean sap from gardening equipment. Spray with WD-40, wait, and wipe clean.

  
  
• 
  

  Prevent mud and clay build-up on bicycles. Spray the bicycle with a thin coat of WD-40.

  
  
• 
  

  Remove baked-on food from a cookie pan. Spray WD-40 on cookie pan and wipe clean. Then wash with soap and water.

  
  
• 
  

  Remove dirt and grime from barbecue grills. Remove the grill from the barbecue, spray with WD-40, wait, and wipe clean. Then wash with soap and water.

  
  
• 
  

  Remove chewing gum from the bottom of a shoe or sneaker. Spray on WD-40, wait, and pull the gum free.

  
  
• 
  

  Keep dogs, maggots, and flies out of trash cans. Coat the trash cans with a thin layer of WD-40.

  
  
• 
  

  Take squeaks out of new shoes. Spray WD-40 into the leather and shine.

  
  
• 
  

  Remove grease stains from linen. Spray WD-40 directly to the stain, rub it in, let is soak for a few minutes, then wash through a regular cycle.

  
  
• 
  

  Take squeaks out of a box spring mattress. Remove the fabric covering the bottom of the box spring mattress (by simply removing the staples), and spray the springs with WD-40. Staple the fabric covering back in place with a staple gun.

  
  
• 
  

  Polish wood furniture. Spray WD-40 on a cloth and wipe.

  
  
• 
  

  Clean crayon from a blackboard. Spray WD-40 on the crayon marks, let soak for 10 minutes, then blot clean with a cloth.

  
  
• 
  

  Free a tongue stuck to frozen metal in winter. Spray WD-40 on the metal around the tongue.
  
  

  
  
  

Meet the Spartans

Just when you thought that eating sirloin steak mixed with durian is the worst thing could happen in your pathetic life, you are far from it. I totally stunned after watching "Meet the Spartans" which as a matter of fact, it's the first movie that makes me desperately escaped from my seat even before half length of it was shown.

If I could use one word to describe how bad this movie was, I tell you that it is "Stupid, Sick, and Suck Big Time". The film crew really caught me by surprisingly showed me how talented they are in orchestrating an intelligence insulting, ass blowing and time wasting 1 hour+ piece of crap.

Last word for this movie: YUKS!

Bold moves at the helm of a Malaysian Giant

From the age of 16, Francis Yeoh supervised projects and made decisions, preparing him for a career at YTL. (Palani Mohan/Bloomberg News)

Francis Yeoh, chairman of Malaysian conglomerate YTL
By Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop Published: March 14, 2008


SINGAPORE: To the untrained eye, Francis Yeoh, chairman of the Malaysian conglomerate YTL, has had a charmed life in business. But appearances, Yeoh will tell you, can be deceiving.

"People think it's very easy," Yeoh said recently during a business trip to Singapore. "My God, it's so far from the truth. I've been like Sisyphus - every time rolling a stone up the hill and the next morning it rolls down again." After a brief pause, he added, laughing, "Well today, I still feel like Sisyphus but at least some stones are now staying up there."

YTL, controlled by Yeoh's family, is one of the largest Malaysian conglomerates, with a market capitalization of 12.3 billion ringgit, or $3.86 billion, and a significant presence in property development, cement manufacturing, power generation and information technology. The group recently posted a net profit of 189.33 million ringgit for the quarter through Dec. 31, up 24 percent from a year earlier, on 7 percent growth in revenue, to 1.52 billion ringgit.

The forerunner of the YTL group was a small construction company founded by Yeoh's father, Yeoh Tiong Lay, in 1955, a year after Francis was born. However, when the 24-year-old joined his father's business in 1978 as executive director, he was not handed a business on a silver tray: The company had ran into financial difficulties during the 1970s oil crisis and his father had had to scrape together enough money to send his eldest son to study in Britain.

"My father absolutely insisted on me studying," Yeoh, 53, recalled. "He realized the vagaries of his industry. He knew things were changing."

Because Yeoh had not spent his teenage years in malls or amusement parks, but on construction sites, where from the age of 16 he had supervised projects and made decisions - "really moonlighting as a student" - he felt ready to take over when the time came.

"My father trusted me," Yeoh said. "And when I joined he was happy to surrender. He'd worked out hard already, he was still quite young, but he understood that the industry was moving on."

His first major decision, one that would change the company's future, was to invest in engineers and equipment. "My father was looking at it as a risk, worrying about the next contract," Yeoh explained. "But I felt you will never get the contracts if you don't invest in people."

Yeoh established YTL's reputation in the 1980s by using the latest technologies, which allowed it to build high-rise properties faster than its competitors. "We came up with a technique using slim-form where we could build a floor every seven days," he said.

The young businessman impressed the then prime minister, Mahathir bin Mohamad, and YTL was given government contracts to build 12 district hospitals throughout the country.

Moving into owning property was a natural progression from being a contractor, and YTL started acquiring huge land banks. Today it has 122 million square feet, or 11.3 million square meters, of land in the capital city, as well as prime beach real estate in Malaysia. It also has holdings in Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore.

But probably Yeoh's boldest move was to venture into power generation in 1994, when the Malaysian government started to privatize the sector. Because he could not get his plans financed in ringgit by foreign banks, which wanted deals only in U.S. dollars, he persuaded the government to raise funds through a 15-year ringgit-denominated bond.

With smaller foreign currency exposure than other Asia-based companies, YTL emerged from the Asian financial crisis at the end of the 1990s in better shape to expand abroad. YTL bought British utility company Wessex Water for £1.2 billion, or $2.4 billion at the current exchange rate, in 2002 and owns power investments in Indonesia and Australia. Today, Yeoh pointed out, 70 percent of the company's revenue comes from abroad.

"YTL Power is one of the few companies that has demonstrated a steady yield and commendable growth for regulated assets," said June Ng, an analyst from Hwang DBS Vickers Research, in a recent report.

His next move will be into coastal development. Yeoh, who is an avid art collector and flies his own helicopter, has been accumulating coastal land in Southeast Asia.

"Just like there was wealth in Europe and property prices on the coast went up 1,500 percent over 25 years, I think the same thing will happen to coastal properties in Southeast Asia," he said. "But here it will take a maximum 15 years, and we've already been in this curve for seven years."

小情歌, Little Love Song....

小情歌

词曲:吴青峰
演唱:苏打绿
苏打绿-小情歌
这是一首简单的小情歌
唱着人们心肠的曲折
我想我很快乐
当有你的温热
脚边的空气转了
唱着我们心头的白鸽
我想我很适合
当一个歌颂者
青春在风中飘着
你知道就算大雨让这座城市颠倒
我会给你怀抱
受不了看见你背影来到
写下我度秒如年难捱的离骚
就算整个世界被寂寞绑票
我也不会奔跑
逃不了最后谁也都苍老
写下我时间和琴声交错的城堡
最后谁也都苍老

First Hand iPhone Experience in Malaysia

I found the below article from a blogger somewhere, sounds like a first hand experience on iPhone in Malaysia. More to come....


Original Post

Day 0: Apple iPhone Arrives in Malaysia
It was weird noticing many not talking about the Apple iPhone in Malaysia. Hence, the first article I wrote; Why Malaysia is Not Talking about the iPhone? Then approximately 2 months later at a recent Apple event, Steve Jobs announced the new line of iPod Nano together with the iPod Touch.

In less than a week, I got wind many who were reselling Apple iPhone in Malaysia. Some were doing it through the Low Yat forum while others ordered through blogs like iPhones Unlocked. And thanks to Shiew from iPhones Unlocked, I’ve a 7-day (or longer) ownership of my very own Apple iPhone in Malaysia.


I collected the Apple iPhone from Shiew at Centrepoint around 10am. To my surprise, I never did realize how thin the Apple iPhone would really be. Upon delivery, he helped me activate the Apple iPhone and showed me what was needed to be done if I needed to activate another sim card.

Just in case many do not know, the Apple iPhone can be used in Malaysia with DiGi and Celcom networks. However, you will have a problem receiving incoming calls on a Maxis account. Because of this, I’ve went out of the way to purchase myself a DiGi starter pack.

The activation of the sim card on my Apple iPhone was relatively easy. The wireless worked great as well while at Starbucks with Shiew. He even proved to me the YouTube function now works with the firmware; 1.0.1. The newest firmware is 1.1.1 but the folks of iphonesimfree and iPhones Unlocked are working out the kinks before an official release.

After the collection of my Apple iPhone I headed home and fiddle with my new found toy. As usual coming from Apple, the packaging is top notch and the contents are placed very tightly and neatly in the box. In the package, you will receive a pair of earphones, a dock (which contributes the weight), a wall plug (though American standard) and a USB sync cable. Inside a thin black package, you’ve got a quick iPhone tutorial leafleft, an iPhone terms and conditions and a cleaning cloth. Trust me, by the end of the day you would be anal about cleaning the Apple iPhone. Especially with all the oily food we eat in Malaysia.

Once I was done inspecting the Apple iPhone, I tried setting up the Apple iPhone to my wireless network. The bad news here is after fiddling with the configurations for 20-30 minutes, I couldn’t get my Apple iPhone to connect. In conclusion of the time wasted, the Apple iPhone doesn’t support ‘all’ routers. I’m currently using a PLANET LAN router together with a PCI wireless router. I tried setting up both DHCP and Static settings on my Apple iPhone but still failed.

Wireless networks aside, it was time to setup my Apple iPhone for calls. Due to Maxis not enabling me to receive calls, Shiew suggested me to use my Maxis in my Apple iPhone then use my DiGi number in my old phone. What will happen is if a call tries to connect to my Apple iPhone, I’ll forward it to my DiGi line to answer. Therefore, unless you’re already on DiGi then you won’t have such a tedious time with your Apple iPhone.

Once everything was set up, it was time to sync my Apple iPhone with my Windows PC for the first time. Once connected, the iTunes popped up and detected my Apple iPhone device. Here, it took to a very simple wizard asking how I wanted to sync my contact, my calendar, my internet browser bookmarks, music, podcasts and videos. The syncing of data was very fast and photos I took with the Apple iPhone were transfered unexpectedly very fast as well.

Now, the Apple iPhone camera may not be a 3 Megapixel or 10 Megapixel to brag about but I have to admit this camera is one heck of a capture tool. Pictures taken in good light seem to look clear on the Apple iPhone screen and makes you doubt if it is that clear. And I have to admit it, the pictures were really that clear. Phone cameras in low light have never been expected to produce top notch camera quality so the Apple iPhone is about the same here.


As the day ended and I flashed the Apple iPhone to a coupe of friend in Malaysia, it was time to see if my Bluetooth handsfree could be detected with the device. Before I tell you how that went, here’s some additional information about the Apple iPhone. You can’t transfer files to friends via Bluetooth. According to Shiew, he said this is to prevent the ability to hack your Apple iPhone later. Anyway, the connection of my iTech Bluetooth headset didn’t prove successful. So I’m assuming that’s another strike for universal compatibility of the Apple iPhone.

Tomorrow, I hope to tryout the iPod and video functionality of the Apple iPhone. Hopefully as well, I could get Hotlink to answer to my query on how do I forward calls using my account. So that’s that for now on the Apple iPhone in Malaysia from me. Please feel free to click on the images and view them at a larger state.

Central Limit Theorem

Everybody should know Central Limit Theorem. You know right?

Basically, Central Limit Therom states that:

• The sampling distribution of the sample mean from a random sample representing the underlying population regardless of the population distribution is approximately normal.


• The mean for such sampling distribution is the population mean.


• The variance for such sampling distribution is the population variance divided by the sample size n.

A good mnemonic device to help remember the Central Limit Theorem is X ~ N(miu, sigma-squared/n). Literally it means X, the sample mean is a random variable that has an approximate normal distribution N that can be fully described by two characteristics, miu (the population mean) and sigma-squared/n (the squared of the population standard deviation divided by the sample size).

One of the utility of Central Limit Theorem is to help you establish a framework when estimating population parameters using sample statistics.

August Rush

"The music is all around us. All you have to do is listen."

If you're currently inundated in the mist of shallow and utterly boring repetitive movies, it is a great chance that you will be captivated by the breeze of refreshing air brought by August Rush.

The story of a charismatic young Irish guitarist and a sheltered young cellist who have a chance encounter one magical night above New York's Washington Square, but are soon torn apart, leaving in their wake an infant, August Rush, orphaned by circumstance. Now performing on the streets of New York and cared for by a mysterious stranger, August uses his remarkable musical talent to seek the parents from whom he was separated at birth.

Hey Gorgeous, Happy Birthday Yo

Stephiecat, Happy Birthday. :)



Hope we can gather to celebrate your big day again next year.

Risk Management Revisited

I just being through 2 very unproductive mandays, which I think if I tell it to someone else their typical response will be "Pal, get used to it". No, dude, that's not the way I deal with counter productive activities.

"Do the best". A famous phrase that you keep listening from positive a.k.a optimistic people. I agreed. However under circumstances, obtaining the optimal result is just intractable to realize. If you coming from a background of data mining, statistics or other optimization related domains, you should know the importance of compromising for local optimum solutions. Heard about trade-offs?

Another good example, one of the project manager in the company that I know asked me: Hey, is 3 months enough for the end to end delivery of Project A? In fact, without knowing the scope and resource constraints of the project, I'm actually doing a bad estimation if answering the question. The moment I found out about the pricing of the project, immediately I would be able to commit some timeline for it. Basically, at the end of day the project will need to achieve it's "best" by trading off the scope/resource/time/cost because avoiding cost overrun and delivering the project on time are the primary objectives as far as I'm concerned.

Moving forward. Proof-of-concepts.

Many people don't really get a grasp about what REALLY is POCs and perhaps confuse it over other activities such as POTs.

IMHO, POCs should exhibits the following characteristics:

1. Clarifying and demonstrating the understanding of customer-focused concepts.

The key point here is that you can't go wild and simply do a POC without knowing the concepts that are high priority from the perspective of customers. By doing this, you can guarantee certain level of buy in about your solution.

Counter productive direction: Do things that you care, do things that you think are advanced and do things that cover everything else in the proposal.

2. POCs are for elimination of risks
"I need the new POCs by tomorrow". Sounds familiar? Of course if the presales team is strong their existing POC assets should cover most of the variations of any future anticipated POCs. The worst case scenario is you don't have present materials to leverage and you don't know what're the customer expectations (Clueless about their wanted concepts). The risks include you might misled your audiences (Intended?), misalign their expectations and miscommunicate deviated information to your implementation team. The reward is the same yet the risk is higher. Quantitatively (if all the aspects are really quantifiable) in statistics, the expected value of POC return is higher per unit of risk (standard deviation).

Among some of the best practices I worshipped during my days:

1. Perfecting sub-optimal solution, rather than pursuing rather disabled global optimum.

2. Pick the most restrictive constraints and use it to calibrate the other constraints. Pessimistic way of doing thing. Things will go wrong if you ever thought of it once that it might goes wrong.

3. Avoid using real customer data set for POCs. If unavoidable, the earlier you got your hand on the data sets, the lower the risks you need to manage. Non of the customer related concepts that I'm aware of really induced the need for using real life data. Most customers are willing accept if your POCs are using fictionous data which are "real" enough to prove the targeted concepts. Don't use junk sample data of course.

4. Integrated POC from a Consortium
Avoiding complex integrated POCs which otherwise can be done independently. Remember, the idea is to prove concepts and not to complicate matters. If the concept in question is to demonstrate the ability to integrate solutions as a big whole, make the integration points clear and concise and make POC just to highlight these integration points. Most of the time, customers just want to know where are these integation points during POCs, rather than seeing the actual integrations itself.

5. Know your audiences
Don't ever try to out smart your audiences by talking to them about matters outside their knowledge domains. Yes, they might salute your "knowledge", yet this defeat the purpose of POCs. They're confused instead.

The 5 values of XP methodology are:

Communication
Simplicity
Feedback
Courage
Respect

See you guys in... let say another 5 years?

Congratulations to opposition coalition for putting up such a nice show in this Malaysia General Election 2008.

Let us analyze some of the impacts caused.

1. MCA and MIC

The three biggest components in Barisan Nasional are UMNO, MCA and MIC which basically represting their belonging race in Malaysia.

As far as the results concerned, the self acknowledged identity of being #2 for MCA and #3 for MIC flamed the parties.

Mr. Chan Kwong Choy made a good decision by not going into this mess of mud water. Bravo for his "go before you reach the top" way.

Contradictorily, the fellow Samy did the opposite and now flunk out in some sense of humiliation. Who's next? Rafidah?

What will happen to MCA then? Well, nothing much, life's goes on. Power reduction in cabinet, loss of members, flushing of top leaders and working as usual if not harder.

MIC? The cloud over the top, second and third positions in MIC will cause a major overhaul and this overhaul shall be influenced by people from UMNO.

2. DAP and PKR and PAS

B.N. is smart by now having two bishops to balance off the power struggling underneath the nation. MCA is too weak a character to stimulate audiences' appetite. Thereby another supporting role came up: DAP. Giving out way to DAP strew MCA up without conflicting the interest of UMNO. To recap, B.N. still control the federal government. The chinese population MUST monitor closely the happenings of these 2 parties from now on and my instinct told me that one way or another, the chinese will need to prepare for some trade-offs and drawbacks.

DAP, PKR and PAS can really be good allies? I don't know. No historical data to inform my knowledge on this matter. I guess some fundamental types of collaboration conflicts will definitely need to resolve to alleviate potential bottlenecks.

The one THING that they should NOT bring up to the table is the issue of racisms. It is this issue that brought them the trophy and it can be the one that doom them and us.

3. Mahathir and Post-Mahathir
The outcome of the election might be tally with Abdullah's interests, to reform the government with his loyalty base. "Pre-historic" left over from the dictation of Mahathir still permeating the field and this time the election flushed out many of them, our beloved PM must be laughing at the back now. No other excuse that's better than "People don't like you, get lost!" to sack these cabinet members. I foresee many new faces shall appear out from the surface during the coming cabinet formation and no surprise, they will be Abdullah-compliant. I guess everyone want to know whether Rafidah already converted to "Abdullah-compliant" army?

4. Beyond 2008
Again, I saluted the wisdom of the strategic planner behind the scene. They really look at the big picture. Global recession is starting and it's time to put the burden or blame to someone else. Year 2008 to 2012 shall be the tough year for any people, corporations, societies and governments around the world. Increased living expenses due to inflations and economy instabilities will find its' ways to hit you and me. I think over the course of next few years, the opposition coalition will takes critics for being unable to prevent those from happening (Who can?!!). Sacrificing 5 years of non-full control for better voters buy-in in the future sounds like a pretty good long term strategic plan to me. Salute the mastermind!!

Manipulating and Manipulated

I know and understand that the mental influential of fear aspect is at least 5 times order of magnitude more powerful than the possibility of hope. People tends to believe more in negativity of outcome.

Obama and Hillary.

Obama is the first BLACK US president.
Hillary is the first WOMAN US president.

If you start to think about which direction is worst than the other, then most probably your decision is affect better by fear. Can't you just start by thinking "which is better"?

Let me localize the scenario to the country of Malaysia. Malaysia will go through a general election at least once every 5 years and usually there are 3 major categories of candidates contesting in the election: Barisan Nasional, Opposition and Independent.

Now, ask yourself a question, who's marketing strategy is more superior? Let us analyze from the angle of independent candidates. First and foremost, neither they can promise any realizable hopes (HOPE) nor they can inject the sentiment of fears to the public. They are just merely pathetic individuals aims to increase their presence in the market and metaphorically is just like a hat for a horse(for what!!).

In my opinion, oppositions made a terrible mistake. They need to understand one fact: They don't have the luxury of making use multiple themes in getting the attention of voters. Mixing up the elements of HOPE and FEAR in their strategy really fire back. If people get confused, they rather stay the same and vote for BN. It's like here i promise to give you candy where after 5 minutes later i tell you something bad about something else. The messages are NOT strong enough.

Before I continue, I like to stress that I'm not bias toward any of the parties and my analysis here is purely for the sake of analysis.

B.N. in other way, DON'T need to raise more hopes than necessary since people already sweetened by the pre-election candy. It's all about FEAR, FEAR and FEAR. An excerpt from TheStar dated 07-March-2008:

Abdullah: Vote for a
voice in the Government
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi reminded the Chinese community that if they gave the DAP their votes, they will end up not having any representation in the Government. 

This is definitely a "blackmail" disguised under the words of our "Bapa Pembangunan Insan" (Go and google the wiki about this). Sadly speaking, besides few percentages of more enlightened and educated chinese, this message really get to the mind set of the rest. Again, I reiterated the success of FEAR in their campaign.

Malaysia is 51 years old soon.

Historically speaking, any successful developed nation MUST go through a period of revolution. US, China, Japan, Germany and many more, you name it.

A transition period is imperative for Malaysia, regardless of whether it is mentally, forcefully, fundamentally or cruelly done. I foresee no such sequence of circumstances shall occur at least in the near term, therefore I conclude Malaysia will stay within the range of + or - 5 years of development progress. Negative progress might be due to global economy recessions and eventual social depressions.

I foresee too that the effort of BNM to regulate the appreciation of Ringgit shall fall due to dynamic external forces or extreme depreciation of US dollar. China Yuan plays a very important role here.

Of course, the rule of thumb is the further to the future I forecast, the greater the deviation it will be compared to actual happenings. Hopefully Malaysia do work out great at the end of day.

God bless us.

Validate Your DB2 Backup Image

Everyone knows that a disaster recovery plan would be practically useless if you never really try the thing out... at least on regular basis. Constant environment changes and infrastructure evolutions can render your DR strategy flatten at the precise moment when you really need it to restore your business operation.

Same matters applied to your DB2 backup images (versioned backup) that you takes maybe on monthly basis depending on the criticality of the data and business continuity. So, what you plan to do? Restoring the image one by one during your precious coffee break to one of the available development machine? You must be joking me!!! Amateurs who know little about DB2 might do that.

Start pranking around and get serious. We need to use some tool to do the plumbing for us. Fortunately enough, DB2 do provides us with that tool.

DB2CKBKP

This tool is located at \bin\db2ckbkp.exe (Windows)

Have fun.