Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Post Xmas blues

I have been quite out of touch with my blogs recently mainly that I am generally facing the bloggers block,nothing worth to write about other than just to see,look and observe. The Brits have had a white Xmas and the normal tube strikes on boxing day which I pause to ponder, is it worth living in London again?

Though I miss it too much with my fond memories of me and my family and that I missed my little daughter Athira very much, Singapore faced the almost same fate with retailers fretting as much as the commuters when SMRT was hit with a triple whammy!!

Thing is, there was supposed to have backup protocols in place. Are we getting too complacent with things and taking it too much for granted?? Or are we going to wait for nature's wrath to be ready for floods, uninsured losses and loss of livelihood? Or must a train full of commuters must suffocate or gassed out to death, only then will changes be made.

Nationalise the whole bus and train service. We Singaporeans own it not corporate entities. If Malaysia no leh, we are more than that, just as long as Jangan asal boleh ( Chin chai anyhow)

Happy holidays yo


Saturday, December 24, 2011

Of stupid SMRT woes

I am quite proud of the robust transport system in Singapore but of late I am quite disgusted with it, mainly due to the severe disruptions that almost could have had lives lost. I am talking about the North South line issues that led to the suffocation within the coach if it was not for the quick thinking and wittiness of a Samaritan who broke the window for ventilation.

Heck days earlier,the new circle line was disrupted and led to more woes for those who work and relied on the services. I was one of the pissed off people who just got refunded $0.80 for the journey refund which when I took the alternative bus ride,it cost me another $1.70 resulting me more than $2 out of pocket which the normal fare just costed me $1.78 rather than the $4.80 in all. Plus that I losses 3hrs of income. Just what dumb luck to have 3 strikes in a row.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Mobile Travel Tips

Many have been asking me how to save money when UR overseas.... deferring the hefty costs of calls and calling back home to check on things. I agree roaming charges are hefty, especially data packages, even by our 4 operators, namely MAXIS, DIGI, CELCOM, U-Mobile*TuneTalk*SalamFone*XOX*Merchant-Trade grouping. There is no roaming for P1,YES! or even TM TDMA for what I know (unless on Wifi VOIP Access)

Let me assure you that THIS IS NOT A PAID OR SPONSORED POST, but generally a good travel tip. If you are using Bill (postpay), make sure you have your ROAMING switched on. Take out your simcard from your Smart Device (iPhone, BB, Android etc) and use a LOUSY 2G fone such as the old ancient NOKIA 3320 or without a camera one, as it's really put to use later on.

Subscribe to a 3rd party roaming service such as FlexiRoam who charges RM10 or so a day on UNLIMITED ROAMING CALLS. Do note that you are basically diverting your call from your fone # to the 015x service and rerouted to you local roaming number.

What is LOCAL ROAMING NUMBER?? Well, some operator may give you a static local number, such as XL for Indonesia for CELCOM users so people in Medan can just ring you up just as if it's local/inter state.AXIATA has their agreements in many countries but no LNR given in Singapore. Otherwise, get another sim card for your smart fone. Depending on your device, you may need a micro simcard or just carry a cutter for that purpose!

Here's some tips!

In Singapore, STARHUB offers cheap call packages. You can get FREE CALLS to Malaysia, UK landlines and US too by using the 018 prefix. So to call Malaysia, instead of using +6012-3456789 you use 018-60-12-3456789 and all you pay is the local minutes (18c/min). Happy 128 also works the same. The initial card cost about $12 to $18 depending on your type and that also works for DATA!!! Of course you can get a dedicated Micro SIM card for your iPad and iPhone but it's costlier for $32 with the same amount of money loaded ($15) and the charges are more. But you get to use the FULL SPEED of 7.2Mbps compared to the full fledged 2.0Mbps on standard SIM. BTW, the standard is $7 (RM 20) for 7 days with 1GB quota which is a good value.If you are floating in and out, it will be $20 for 30 days (1GB)!

Of course, incoming calls are payable. Just pay 50c a day to activate the free incoming calls plan or use the Happy Card. Compared to our Malaysian Prepaid plans... that is a good value. The MAXMOBILE DATA ONLY offers unlimited too... with 5GB daily quota! Speed? 7.2Mbps!

Why I said U need a chao kia fone? When someone rings you, see the caller ID. if it's your friend, call them back at your local number, or if it's urgent, let the fone be diverted into the Roaming Service Number...so you can get it where you are.

Is it worth it? If you are a heavy user, yes... otherwise, SKYPE with Credit and Local SIM CARD is cheaper, so U can reply on your device via Skype. You can send SMS on SKYPE too...with your Malaysia # as a caller ID.

So where is the good deals??

Singapore: STARHUB with 018
United Kingdom : Use any operator you like, call the JUST DIAL IDD service (ask me) for the free call to Malaysia. Just use your local minutes to call back.
Indonesia:Use WIFI to call back
Australia: OPTUS is a good deal too!

Others, let me know... and those who have experience.... share with me.... so we all can save.

Prepaid users... I've better ways for U too....

Good luck

...........

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Alibaba - any good deals on board?

I have been dragging my feet about writing this article about the products on offer at ALIBABA. The fact is that there are many sellers and buyers on the platform, and that we have to be fair to everyone. I have been trying to be as honest and as positive as possible but sometimes, there are many jokers and clowns on board ALIBABA. Too bad, with the upcoming IPO, I feel the buyers will be more cautious given the current economic state.

 

Buying mobile phones from China is a drag. They usually ship with DHL and if you think you will get it within 3 days, you are absolutely wrong. I tried with many sellers and the fact that it is almost impossible to export directly from China is a drag, so usually they give you a Land Consignment Note number where the local carrier will carry it across from Shenzhen to Hong Kong awaiting repackaging with the Battery Export License, and then another wait, while the number is changed.  In actual fact, it takes 72 hours from Shenzhen to Hong Kong and another 24-48 hours for the loading of the cargo on board the aircraft and from there, standard shipping times go about.

 

I had something purchased from a few sellers in China. They all claimed to be the manufacturers. And I was quite annoyed. Very annoyed that after payment, things take 12 days to arrive. Heck even an AIRMAIL parcel get to me within 3 days, and that because DHL has lousy shipping network in Malaysia, serving only Capital and Major Cities. I had to drive 75 miles to go collect it from their depot and if I did not collect, they will pass to another carrier where it will take another 3-5 days to arrive.

 

What UTTER RUBBISH. The declaration forms are also totally messed up. They also demand you pay using WESTERN UNION which I will not allow, since they don’t protect me at all. After insisting on PAYPAL, they ship it out late.

 

I honestly am quite disappointed with the quality of things. As the Chinese saying, “ YOU GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR”. I asked for an ANDROID IP4 Look-a-like with DUAL SIM. It came with an older version , no in-built memory (4mb??!) and no memory slot, and only single SIM SLOT…and of course, the item did not pass my standards for testing. I had to counter demand the payment for the dodgy products sent, but then you have the issue of returning the item back, as China prohibits import of their products. You can return these mobiles etc without the battery, but the cost is too much. When Paypal dragged their feet on this, all you have …is to lose out.  We lost a few hundred bucks on these junk (bricks!)… and we learnt our lesson.

 

If you wish to deal with the Americans.. think again too..since they are also fly by night. They have many stolen goods for sale..and this is the reason I will not deal with them. For a real deal, of huge quantities, ask to meet them to check first…and then you confirm the payment by Cashiers Order or L/C.

 

ALIBABA-A THIEVES MARKET….. be careful with the junk sold!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Formula One in Singapore - A NIGHTMARE FOR MANY!

I for one support those who are really affected by the Singapore F1 in town, with all the traffic diversions and all, it is not something I am looking forward to.

However, I do support the F1 being in Singapore, since they create tourist arrivals which means more money for some, hoteliers alike. However, this is my latest suggestion to the F1 committee…

 

BE REAL, GET REAL… RACE ON THE LIVE TRACKS, meaning you do your racing on the actual streets , with real traffic moving in and out of the area.  Just as any illegal racer will do…

The best and suitable location:
TUAS CHECKPOINT , TUAS MARINA with the AYE open for real use (so ok, we cordon off special zones for them)

The time?? 5.30pm – 9pm when the Singapore Malaysia traffic is the most heaviest and you get to race against the real racers of East Asia – The Malaysian Commuter Motorcyclist… NO SPEED LIMIT for everyone! So you get head to head and race on the live 3 lane with cars and bikes and the Causeway Link CW3 & CW6 buses trying to get home….. Little modifications will be made..so you get to race from Ahmad Ibrahim PIE roundabout to Tuas , turn left at Coca Cola, Zip Zap again onto the main highway , hairpin U turn into the road again.

My Suggested Route:

Flag off at JALAN AHMAD IBRAHIM Southward (so ok, close that road, go against the flow )

Tuas Road, Right into Tuas Ave 3, Right into Tuas Ave 3, into AYE Heading Tuas Checkpoint (MAIN FLOW – LIVE TRAFFIC!!!)

U Turn at Second Link (WATCH OUT FOR THE CW3 BUSES) into AYE and HARD LEFT U TURN into PASIR LABA ROAD

U Turn at PIE Upper Jurong Road, Head into AHMAD IBRAHIM (LIVE TRAFFIC!!!)

STRAIGHT ON, Pit stop at COCA COLA!

 

That with no POLICE CORDON or special check etc…

 

That … is what I can call, RACING….

Of course, they have to redo the Pasir Laba Road…but it is worth it…

 

Grandstand at AHMAD IBRAHIM  stretch, Pasir Labar and a few others…

Many can watch on the side with no guard rails….

 

How much it will affect the traffic.. none..but the F1 drivers better be super careful with the crazy riders and bus drivers and more…..That will test their skills and nerves…

Make it 200 laps….DAY TONA racing… on F1….

Only make ONE LANE RED ZONE …so no one can enter just like the Red Bus Lane…. Give them a bit of safety if they want to use ONE lane..they want to test their luck, overtake on live road….

 

What say you, FORMULA ONE? TONY FERNANDEZ? RICHARD BRANSON??? ALONSO?

 

 

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Wallet in your phone

Be prepared Malaysia, your wallet will soon be a thing of the past. A current research & development by a Government Linked Company here based in Kuala Lumpur boasts the disappearance of your wallet in the near future. Why? Because of the new payment system which boosts the number of micropayments within the commercial and consumer entities. With transactions less than RM100, all you need to do is to WAVE your phone onto the device, be it an Android or iPhone , it is SIM-DEPENDENT.

WHY MY MOBILE? Because, you never leave home without your mobile phone, as it’s the blood line of the 21st century. Of course, it will be tagged to your Savings or Current / Bank accounts and also your favorite Visa, Mastercard or Charge Card. Security wise, it will be far more secure than you think, since there will be more than 3 Factor Security Authentication tagged in place.

 

For micro payments, it takes just as how your Touch-N-Go card or VisaWave/Paypass works. You just wave it. It is tagged directly to your e-wallet and if you lose your phone, it won’t work because you have black listed it, so the SIM Registration is the first security factor. It can be tagged to your PREPAID SIM CARD just as how you load your Phone Credit. Usually for less than RM50. It does not hurt much if you loose RM50 right?? Your data on the SIM CARD is also stored offsite. This may be used to PRE AUTHORISE YOUR FUEL PURCHASE. Great for Mamak shop, Petrol Station or  Groceries Shop. Also great to pay for your parking and toll.

 

For Payments between RM50-RM250 such as Supermarkets, Departmental Stores, Utility and Government Dues like PTPTN or MARA or LHDN, the user can either call in to a short code / Toll Free Number or SMS the transaction code for the final amount.

1)Merchant Enters Amount

2)User Enters Phone Number

3)User Select type of payment (PREPAID/CHARGE/FAST DEBIT/PAYPAL/OTHERS)

4)Enters Payment PIN CODE

5)Enter TYPE OF ACCOUNT for others (Maybank2U SAV/CHECK etc etc)

6)SWIPE FINGER PRINT for Auth.

Terminal will then run the PREAUTH TAC CODE to be sent to the customer phone

Customer will then enter the 2nd Level code in and it will complete.

 

For payments between RM250-RM2000, Voice recognition will occur. System will call the customer if it is against the standard fraud detection. In this instance, at the point of registration, BIOMETRIC recognition will begin, full fingerprinting and Voice recording be done. Recording A-Z ,0-9, Customer FULL NAME, Identity Card Number, Mother Maiden Name, etc… A security Word like a Alphanumeric password that only the customer will know. The system will ask for the certain Alphabet/Number of the word, just as banks do.  For example Code word is WHOAM1 and the request code is 1,2,4, the reply will be W,H,A

 

Why this happen? Because sometimes we borrow our fathers, brothers, sisters, wife/husband card/phone/topup card etc… so no one can forge your voice genetic or even your finger print.

 

Just in case you lose your phone in the middle of the night or been robbed or left everything… you can pay your cabby for your ride home and your fingerprint will be the authenticator for the payment. There will be a little buffer like say RM50-100 just in case we ran out of cash, or if the pre-auth have not been lifted. We all know that we are at times, been in a tight fix, waiting for the pay at the end of the day … so this is the human side of things. Something like SOS-TOPUP

 

The system will also have a DEMAND PAYMENT for a PEER-to-Peer payment, just as how you pay your friend. Be it he in Malaysia or overseas, USSD request can be made just as how it is done on Paypal. You will probably know how SHARE-A-TOPUP or ASK-A-TOPUP  on your prepaid mobile. So when the other party receive the request, he can accept or deny by doing a short code auth. (*100#/*118#/*128#), Select the menus, Enter AUTH CODE WORD.

 

This is going to be great to the merchant because the P2P rate is so low (about 5-20c) per transaction, less than 0.5% (About RM1) per Debit transaction just as MEPS or 1.5% for Charge. It reduces the cash on the till at the merchant, and if the merchant allows it, CASH BACK service, like NETS-CASH in Singapore. It charges maybe RM1-RM2 to the customer which the merchant can cash out up to RM500 or so, depending on their comfort level. Supermarkets may like this. There will no longer a clutter of so many machines on the till. Just one. ONE TO PAY, and One to sell PREPAID, ALL SERVICES, ONE to PAY BILLS. ALL BILLS. Merchants get 10-30c for bill payment, so it’s a good service. No excuse NOT to pay your PTPTN MONEY. No need to go to Post Office to cash your Retirement / Pension Warrant. You can also topup your Touch-N-Go/EzLink/NETS-Flashpay/CEPAS and accept SINGAPORE CUSTOMERS.

 

What may happen later on, is you can pay for your toll using your phone….. and even buy tickets.

 

So who is handling this?? Like I said.. government linked agencies.. since they want money back from borrowers. No more excuse too far to go to the bank, post office , BSN etc. It’s just round the corner. Like PAYPOINT in UK. I say it’s call ONE2Pay.

 

This is really Service!!!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Termination of TM Prepaid Homeline

Just to let many of you know, the old RING RING program which relies on the home user to prepay their home line for calling and rental credit is coming to a close. I have been swamped with many customers who are still on the prepaid program, on how and what will happen after this.

 

What it is, actually is the number of inactive number of customers (me included) who use the RING RING CARD (aka iTalk Card) to purchase airtime for their residential landline phones. Though the actual calling rate is 40c for local and mobile phones (Same Zone), and between RM1.20 to RM2.40 for outstation calls (aka long distance), the savings is on the line rental which is actually RM3 per month, and it must be recharged every 30days. If one relapsed the recharge period , they have a grace period of 30 days before the incoming call facility is TOSsed (Temporarily Out-of Service – TOS) and a new Starter pack is needed (RM30) obtainable from TM Point outlets (not dealers).  Recharge coupons are activated by purchasing iTalk cards (RM10/30/50).

 

However, due to many relapses and the lack of recharge starter packs (RESTART PACKS) , TM are running out of numbers in many areas , such as Penang , Kulim, Seremban, Melaka, Muar , Bahau and the regions. Thus , the termination of contract or automatic conversion process for all. Any have loads of money prepaid into their account, and this is the issue. As such, from what I was told and saw, by end of September 2011 or Early October, all Prepaid Numbers are converted and Normalised into POST PAY services at standard call plans.

 

What is means, is that the current rental plan will be RM25+RM4 (itemized billing , Paperbilling and duties) per month and that is supposingly the minimum. There is another stealth program, which is RM15 for DOMESTIC CALLS ONLY, meaning within the same exchange. For example, if you are in Seremban 06-677xxxx, you can call the same exchange of Seremban, Senawang and Rasah ( 677/766 ) zones only and no regional or mobile calls. It only allows free incoming calls. It is good for those who don’t use much. But contrary to what many people say, it’s quite dangerous, if you need to call your next of kin etc.

 

Another package is the ITKS plan for STUDENTS. This has no rental but prepaid card is needed to call out and no incoming calls accepted (HOTLINE SERVICE). But honestly, this is not good. Streamyx or UNIFI packages offer free landline call plans for RM110/mth!

 

If you need more details.. please ask!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

BLOGGING NOT FOR MONEY!

Salam Aidil Fitri to all…. And hope everyone is enjoying their days!
It’s tiring and I’m quite poofed! Then I was going thru my daily job tasks ..which btw, today is still operational…. And I saw the posting on NUFFNANG about RUMAH AMAN…which needs to raise RM20,000 (about US$8000 or S$10,000) for the rewiring.

So thus … I am pledging FULL HEARTED to the cause… and all my earnings to date (which is nothing, few ringgits)…  is to be donated to the cause.  So do help out.. do click on the NUFFNANG AD and support the cause.. so there is the Singapore Ads and Malaysia Ads… support whichever you feel is great! If you are not from either…. Then tell me..and I help U sign up.
Each click is worth 20c so please every click do count. This MERDEKA… I am supporting the charitable causes…since I cannot do much…. I want to help out….

This raya…there are happiness all over. Not to forget those who are less fortunate…so please help out…
Thank you


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Happy Holidays...

Salam Aidil Fitri to all my friends, family and foes alike. Despite what happened for the past year or so… I am still me.. struggling with all the tasks I am given and it’s been a challenging year so far. Tomorrow is the Singapore Presidential Election #SGElect as they put it on twitter ( or #SGPresident / #SGElections hash tags) but mostly… I am not bothered to vote this time round since the 4 candidates are just goons to me.. worthless clowns who aspire to be the Singapore Prime Minister…but failed to get the job. They are too much affiliated to the PAP…so it’s not worth it. I’m anyway excused since my address is in Malaysia (Home Address)…so I can opt not to vote since my passport …. Is with the home ministry for renewal of the Expatriate Pass / Permanent Resident application process.

 

About Eid.. this year.. to me it’s about being able to understand how those unfortunate souls suffer throughout the whole year, with less than what they can live on, be it Muslims or not. It saddens me that the Muslim Zakat can’t be used to feed the non-Muslims… but in following of the Prophet himself.. he fed many Jewish beggars with it… so it’s all about HUMANITY. It’s sad when there is media exposure, only then we see Sharizat and the UMNO people coming to help… and not the MCA or otherwise. I was referring to the article on the Star that 2 school kids got to sell their books just to buy rice.. it’s really sad… where is the CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY of the supermarkets such as TESCO, ECONSAVE, GIANT and alike???

 

Anyway, do drive safe.. where ever you are and where ever you are heading. Plan ahead..and give EXTRA TIME. Be happy.

 

Salam Aidil Fitri is what I wish…

To all my friends, Readers, Family, Foes alike….

Forgiveness, Closure and remorse is all I have to ask….

To you who read this … I bid you and your family well…

Wish you a safe trip… and Salam Shalom Safe and be well...

 

 

 

Monday, July 4, 2011

Difference between Streamyx and Unifi

First off, Telekom Malaysia has been trying to get things moving for us in Malaysia, offering the fastest broadband so far to the central regions, Johor and Penang Island.

Streamyx is the ADSL which offers download speeds of 384kbps, 512kbps, 1Mbps, 2Mbps and 4Mbps for the consumer and it had been known to be able to stream up to 8Mbps for some line. Since it is ADSL, the upload speed is capped at 384kbps due to the upstream frequency allocated by the ITU G.Lite which is at 25-130KHz and the download at 140-1100KHz having said that the audible bandwidth of 6- 1200KHz is what our copper and ears can take without much loss of signal. SDSL is a different thing all together, which is the reverse of ADSL.

UniFi or United National Internet Fidelity service offers Video, Internet and Phone at the same time to the consumer and majority of which are served by FTTHx technology or Fiber To The Home Technology where a piece of fiber optic cable is split into many pairs (usually 8) and then split / spliced for sharing at the terminator unit. This is usually allows up to 500 homes per dark fiber cable which has 4 pairs in them.

The main difference with Streamyx and Unifi at a glance is the Price and Digital IPTV Set Top Box that is provided with the service. For RM149, it offers 5Mbps service and a Digital TV box for you to watch TV on the RESIDENTIAL PACKAGE. Among other freebies are a free DECT Phone, Free Unlimited Landline Calls, WiFi Router and which is all guaranteed by TM for up to 12 months, whereas your contract is 24 months. Streamyx is 12 months contract.

Unifi also offers packages of 10Mbps for RM199 and 20Mbps for RM240 although the fair usage policy is about 60Gb , 75Gb and 90Gb for the VIP5,VIP10 and VIP20 respectively. There is no capping for business users, but the price is at RM249, RM599 and RM899 for the BIZ5,BIZ10 and BIZ20 with Static IP assigned for the Biz 10 and Biz 20 with calls worth RM50 and RM100 included respectively.

In terms of downloading and Uploading.. here is the good thing:
THE SPEED IS UNCAPPED so if you have VIP5 package, then you get 5M upload and Download speed!

I copied this without permission from ViVr2.com ...as I can't find a 20M line to test.

So if you want either streamyx or Unifi.. please sms me 017-4648814 with your details and I will get it registered and done up for you soon.

Do note that UNIFI waiting period is as long as 3 months due to the lack of contractors to install the service. So don't say I did not warn you.

Happy 4th of July

Today is the Independence Day for our American friends, and last week , the First of July was Canada Day for their northern neighbours and so.. I wish them all..

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY
HAPPY 4th of July!!!
 
(from the British and the Colonists)

Just to let you know Hostgator is having a 40% discount on EVERYTHING except domain names, so you might want to grab that one, unless you want to use the special codes.



Monday, June 27, 2011

Pondering over a DELETE BUTTON IN LIFE.

Something a ponder of the day... Thanks to my friend Amos Dong who wished for a DELETE button in life.

Here is to you bro... a point to ponder.
I learn a way...after very painful ones...and this is an advise from my late wife ...


Hubby,In life .. we have many skeletons that we buried and shoved in our closet of life.. which must never be opened or uncovered for you will live your life like a walking zombie... so if you have to go thru again a place that has sad memories..and not to remind yrself of that past.. bring someone who brings you happiness and joy... for that will over write the sadness that is within, something like a video tape.. and thus ... your walk in life is no longer haunted by those very feelings and that "langkah kita tidak akan pendek lagi untuk elak tempat tersebut" (meaning we won't try to avoid that place again in phobia)... and if someone says so and so.. let it be so..for stick and stones will break my bones but words and slurs can't.

Remember these words for you will never be imprisoned again by life.. for the most cruel prison is where we live with regrets , shame and melancholic feelings.
 
Those are so thru and just better than going for AA Meetings. Pain is there..but far less than ever...

Saturday, June 25, 2011

ODesk English Test.... A fraud?

Something I have to ask, as I did this test out this particular test after I noticed that one Pakistani guy who can't speak right was the TOP of the candidates.. in fact he scored 100% and I decided to give it a try, after I feel it's rigged.

Why I made those claims? I did TWO tests.. on TWO Accounts and the answers were checked by the MS Word Dictionary and it gave 98% for a 40 question test... and 2% is what? For time? There is no Multiple Choices in that set of questions where you need to tick 2 or more and I feel it's defective.

As a Toastmasters Member and a WAOE Council Member, I am obliged to follow by the code of ethics and practice good public speaking methodologies including proper use of grammar and spelling and pronunciation and in my books, these tests are fake.

Anyone with a MS Word opened on the side or even a blogger screen can type the word in and see what is the wrong one. I did that in the first set, checking EVERY QUESTION and it comes to 98% and within 20mins and the second time, it's a no brainer... and within 10 mins.So my point is, why a spelling test when you can cut and paste and cheat?? The only way I see it is to derive a page, with proper AMERICAN ACCENT SPEAKER pronouncing the words out and we spell it out, something like Part One of the GCSE English 1119 Paper or like the IELTS.

That itself will show us who is the boss.

For the employees of oDesk..sorry I offended you, but this is deserving...and I have to say the truth. The Honest Truth, and it sucks.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Condolences to my cousins....

It was just after dawn that it dawned on me my sister rang me up to say that my only male uncle (heir/waris) to the family, Mr Abdul Hamid bin Mahadi @ Leman had passed away this morning. He was just 58 or so.

It dawned upon me of a silly joke that he said to me last year, the last time I saw him at the funeral of another relative, Puan Hajjah Norhayati Abdullah, which I quote, "Once you reach 50, all of us are waiting for the bell " which means, on reaching 50, we are all waiting for our number to be called by Izrail, the Angel of Death.

It is that, I seldom cry at funerals, but this particular uncle, is just the like of my dad, only their way of life is different and that what makes me sad this morning, is that he is at an early age, and I was not able to know him far better than what I knew of him 30 years back.

Being my father's elder brother, of course there are some misunderstandings, but what make me sad, is that they never buried their differences, and now, one of them is waiting for his turn to the other world, to be buried in the grave, that one did not able to ask for forgiveness or so.. when he was still alive.

That he reminds ourselves to be humble, that during the last time I saw him with my family, was at Tesco Bukit Indah and I did not even notice him, until he shouted out my name..and I was searching about to who was it.. and that is how bad I was.. I can't even recognise him until I saw my aunt...who was just as the same as 20 years ago.

To my cousins, Azhar (Kek), Azman..and my other cousins who I did not get to know.. my deepest condolences to you.

Al-fatiha.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Join me on SAYS MY

There is a new Tweet - Post player in town and I might as well mention it...
SAYS MY is the new kid on the block and you should give it a try. If you got Nuffnang, Churp Churp, iZeAs.. then you should try this at home!


It looks and feels like Nuffnang.. but hey.. I am more than happy to try anything out now.

Have fun!

Friday, June 17, 2011

They can try threaten...

I suppose the latest DDOS attacks by the ANONYMOUS and RED DRAGON team is just the tip of the iceberg for the MCMC team as they claim they have the list of perpetrators who hacked into the servers. The media is just going along with the Try Scare Them Out tactic which, is all about nerves of steel.

Come on MCMC, these people just want what they want to do, download. The DMCA itself protects copyright owners of their works and rectification is better than trying to whack a dengue mosquito with a shotgun, only to hurt yourself in the feet.

DDOS can be avoided easily if they have the proper equipment and technical expertise. However, the government employees really lack the skill and carrot to deter this from happening in the first place and that poor government websites were defaced.

However, how much of data from MyEG, Polis Diraja Malaysia were compromised? I do believe if they managed to hit the server itself, data would be leaked by means of database piercing. One good example was the Sabah Tourism website. The email addresses, root user password are all open , only hashed by an MD5 encryption.

They could have planted a trojan and use the whole subnet to tunnel into other parts of the network or subnet masks which act as a packet sniffer or alike and there goes your credit card details, encryption details and passwords. I recall this happened way back 5 years ago when MyEG had a flaw in their processing service and I had a whole bunch of people renewed their licenses for FREE.

To make and run a server is simple for them but maintaining and securing it is always the issue. I honestly don't understand why they want to do that, but, it's a sure waste of money, resources and time. I could do a better job at that with Pinoys and Indians working 24/7 monitoring them.

So..what is next? Expect more DDOS....
SECURITY....

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

No more RON95 for Malaysians!

Read this carefully my fellow Malaysian friends, if you are not driving a Malaysian Registered Car.. then you cannot buy RON95 despite you showing your MyKAD at the station. The only way to bypass this ...is pay at pump and if the station don't care.. buat don't know lah....

For CNG vehicles of Singapore.. sorry people.. no more subsidised NGV for you too. But I think, many stations won't bat an eyelid if you fill up in Melaka or KL as you are far away from home.

But in my opinion... they should only BAN RON95 sale TOTALLY in WHOLE OF SOUTH JOHOR less a few Petronas stations with Primax95. And they should offer RON97 and UL110/130 instead for the KAKI RACE drivers..and for you who don't know what UL110 is..it's Petrol for the Aircraft, Gasoline 110% proof, which is expensive but very good and cost savings. Plus that it's also known as NITRO to many in the US.

I support the move, since RON95 is for the poor people, not Singapore Bound vehicles. You are a Singaporean or Malaysian, and can afford a Singapore car..then too bad.. fill the good stuff. Don't be a cheap skate Mr Kiasu.

Otherwise, drive a Diesel engine car.. saves more..and economically more green as they are mostly now derived from green alternatives (read: COOKING OIL!). I will honestly support their cost savings.. heck, otherwise, just have less petrol stations. Be green, drive a Diesel! A full tank on a Renault Kangroo gives you 800km! Cheaper too since it's RM1.80 a liter or about 79cents.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

How is your ADSENSE so far?

It's been a very long while I did SEO and Red-Hat tricks and I did have to look at how things are really going for me...and I am quite shocked when I saw the real deal here.

So what I am seeing here, that is the US market is really making money for me... but what ads are actually coming up? I have been hearing it's not Google Adsense but of lower quality Adchoices which the monopoly was by... Hostgator and AMEX on some.

Surprised? I am because it is usually supposed to see higher value ones, on heavy keywords such as finance et al, so why is that so.. I am not sure...

Anyone can give me a guess? I am quite intrigued by these..and surely my friend Diana Tan will be asking herself. But I am paying a small team to analyze the ads for me.... so let's see how it goes.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

You want me to leave....

It's very irritating that some people think so highly of themselves that they can tell everyone of your mistake of not covering up... a man who is on the beach half naked (well.. I was out of the water and took a photo chest up) and they are making a fuming fuss of the fact that I was NAKED when talking of a Muslim woman's modesty, is all about covering up, and meaning head to toe, and that is still point blank in their profile, and make no amends of it.

We are all entrepreneurs and alike, we respect each others beliefs and for me, why must I make a fuss of someone when that someone can be my customer. But here I was in the firing line, and I make it a point to hold my ground.

Of which, sadly, I think it is a waste of time and effort to keep myself in the company of MELAYU TRADE facebook group as all I see is a group of grown up gals who run businesses out to make a mockery of things and before I loose my darn temper, and make myself foolish and of agony, I better of de-friending them as I don't see any good with Malay Women Entrepreneurs.  It should be renamed The Bickering Bitches of Malay Women Traders instead as they have nothing else to do than to sell themselves online, far worse than a prostitute or Boh-Sia on the sidewalk of Chow Kit Road.

It's sad, that Tradition (Adat) of the Malay Culture is all about going against the teaching of Islam. It's all the medieval culture that brings nothing more than doom to the society. Islam teaches us to be modest and respect others, and a man is to cover from his navel to the knee and women everything except the face, hands and feet (below the ankle) as ordained. WTF is all I can say.

So I better leave...and if my own family wants me to leave, because I am always a looser, then they are far off worse than me. For that is a cause of many broken homes, of bad families and kids going wild et al as the Family Institution is no longer there. I for one have principles, and of one is not to break a promise or appointment with a customer, especially the House of God, be it a Mosque, Church or Temple, as you are sure to be cussed and cursed by the Almighty if you thread on His property. I won't risk bad karma for that matter, and I have to go out even in the twilight , late into the night, to earn a living and what I get in return from my own family? Nothing more than being cussed and sworn at.

So is this justice? No, there is no justice in this world, and for me, doing something for charity or a charitable institution is payment to the Almighty for the Grace bestowed upon me, and I for one, expect nothing else, other than be able to carry on living and spreading the word and sharing the Grace of God. And if I am to die unexpectedly, I don't expect anything of my body or soul, for all I wish for is to complete the tasks at stake.

I am tired, really am, but who am I to say much more. All I care is for my family and I miss my daughter, Athira for I missed her much, that the money I need to travel to see her, is better spent feeding her siblings. Sacrifices, and of the better of two evils. What can I say...but to admit my faults.

But to ask me to leave...

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Why in Singapore private ambulances are not given right of way

I symphatise with the problem private ambulances face, but the core issue is the NON-STANDARDISATION of the VEHICLE makes people not realise there is an ambulance at the back.

There just need alot of changes to the industry too, as they are at fault too. Being in the medical profession, I see the light in both ways, as the driver and as the medical person in the back.

Just having red warning lights and siren won't just do, people can't see them from far, and that there should be proper guidelines to what is considered an EMERGENCY AMBULANCE and not a FERRY AMBULANCE which looks typically , a Van or Minibus used by the SAF with a Red Cross. A Van Jenazah or carrying the dead looks just the same.

1) Strobing lights with BLUE LIGHTS at the height of about 1.2M is needed to let the driver in front see there is an ambulance behind him needing the right way.

2) Our traffic lights require the IR Strobe Sensors installed so that if one is approaching, the light automatically change back to GREEN ALL AHEAD for them to pass, just as how in Malaysia, UK, US and Europe has implemented.

3)The ambulances must be of standard spec. I suggest either the same of the US version of the Ambulance which the SCDF is using, or at least a Merc Vito, LDV Transit equivalent. They must be painted with FLORESCENT GREEN and SUPER BRIGHT COLORS all about. Along with the LED Strobe lights of blue and red, these will make sure the ambulances are not tailed.

4)Proper Education. Ambulance Drivers must learn NOT to take the task easily and AVOID TRAFFIC JAMS. Why they face issues when the SAF "Ghostbuster" sirens are given way is that their hospitals are in grid locked areas such as Beach Road, Siglap, Orchard Road and many more....compared to CGH, SGH, AH, TTSH which are just off MAIN HIGHWAYS! Saving lives are the cause of their work, so just get to ANY hospital first , then transfer later. Otherwise, a Helivac is more appropriate.

5) Fines and Cameras are useless when a life is lost. Government and local authorities has to play their part too. Ambulance companies too... must know that their business is to save lives.. and must not take things easy. Hospitals too must be adequately free of hindrance. That person inside may be your child.

I have at many times took the critically ill to hospital in my own personal car,be it them bleeding their guts on my sofa as I know every minute counts and I don't get anyone holding me up when I have my hazard lights on and flashing headlights..... so why the ambulance?

Regards
Dr R Azrin

Monday, May 23, 2011

Weird Dinner

Sometimes I am always doing weird things and this is one of them. Chilli Sprouts and Jering (Jengkol) which is a member of the Stinky Family of Beans including Petai and Kerdas what nots.

Honestly, I prefer the Jering skinned off leaving only the nutty flesh without any outer coverinng as it does not taste the bitterness nor the stench. However, the urine do stink and not as much as the Petai.

Coming to why Chilli Sprouts... which is the reason for me to try out, is it as what Jamie Oliver said it would be, spicy and hot and the answer is NO! The seed does not display any of the tangy sensations that biting into a hot chilli pepper will do and that for one, is a plus for me since I can take the heat, but a little bit allergic to the after effect, giving me the Monkey Business problem, scratching all over like a flea ridden animal. Which by the way, I am not having fleas or what not, just that a dry itchy scalp problem, solved by Head and Shoulders.

The ripe old Jering is best eaten COOKED or BOILED OVER. It just taste like Chestnuts and old and riped ones are hard to come by, costing as much as RM3 for just 8 pieces.

As for the young ones, usually 20pcs cost you RM5!

Now, that is ORGANIC!
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Friday, May 20, 2011

Wanted: Wordpress Theme Developer

Due to multiple fraud and resume spam, I have to post some extra checks in place.
I need a few persons or teams to come up with designs within 2-3 hours. These must not be BASE64 Encoded as 100% full copyright will be ours.

Please provide me the following:
YOUR FULL LINKEDIN Profile and your company if AGENCY (MANDATORY!) I need you to FOLLOW ME (add me) and follow our company so we know you are serious.

I don't want what you have done, these can be bogus and recycled. I want to see DEFAULT TEMPLATES you have designed on your website (just as how a preview works on Wordpress)

Showcase it to me here.Then place your bids on oDesk.
Good luck.

Wanted: AWBS Theme Designer

iExploreAsia Media SG is recruiting a few persons or teams to create and integrate application plugins on the AWBS Hosting Software. The current theme at GizmoNET IntraWEB really sucked and among others, also looks terrible. This is the DEFAULT theme and we would like to make it more lively!

If you know how to create and design Wordpress themes, then it will be excellent as these are to be integrated and functions be pulled from the AWBS services deep within.

Kindly download a trial copy of AWBS and refer to the WIKI for more help.

There will be a need to design not just ONE but many themes, so swift design and turn around time is highly regarded.
Kindly follow me on LinkedIN with your FULL Profile and Picture and Follow the Company (see the icon on the side) so I know you have read this. This is the start of many, so please be professional.

Proposals can be left here, but pricing etc are to be on ODESK.

Thank you for reading this.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Singapore being Efficient and Green

One thing that Singapore is not efficient is about the way things are done for the food supply and which literally means we are 95% dependent on our neighbours and poor quality (method wise) food which are cheap from China.

I am no genius but having lived for the past 2 years odd coup up in Kuala Pilah, I begin to love the Green and Efficient ways of Farming and Hospitality and of which where oil prices are at a steady high, we should look more to being Green and Efficient, and for Singapore sake, INDEPENDENT of Food Security Threats.

Even the Saudis are talking now about food security and I for one have to agree that this is a real issue here. So here are my patented ideas.

Houses or Flats are built 50 floor high and on every ledge, corridor where we usually hang the flag or laundry, we have patios for our greens. Using the method of "Fertigation" by the Malaysian Agriculture Ministry, these vegetables are planted on REAL SOIL combined with 40% peat and this will lower our solar penetration and keep the place COOL (creating a shade and more oxygen). The patio is 40% of the height of the parapet which is about 3 feet or so.

The rooftop is an elevated platform which sits above the water tank where hydra-phonic plants are being grown. Where the water from the septic waste (washing and bathing) had been preliminarily filtered of large particles, it is being pumped back to the roof top to water the plants and vegetables of the parapets and patios. The parapets patios are being fitted with controlled water flow piping and the bottom is filled with coconut husk so that it sits as another filter, so the rainwater and excess water (and it serves as a retention for moisture on hot days) is being collected and channeled back to the real water tables and reservoirs.

The roof also holds another key element, a wind turbine either the typical triple blade windmill type or the vertical standing type, riding on the thermal waves of the hot mid day. That in itself powers equivalent of 70% of the whole block of flats or about 112MW at peak or 45MW at low range where minimal wind is available.

The control of livestock, namely chickens are the key to food security. A typical footprint of a 20 flat HDB flat can accommodate approximately 100,000 chickens (or about one per square feet, namely a flat is about 1000 sq ft x 20 at least) and if we have 5 floors stacked up, taking the same as 10 floors, we have about half a million chickens able to feed us for 3 days every 4 months. So what you do with the wasted foot print? The top of the chicken farm is being home to the foreign workers. After all, these Bangladeshis and Indian workers will be just at home as how they are. Why waste space right? We can hold them all right smack at where BULIM cemetery and Lim Chu Kang are.

Downright a breach of Human Rights? Maybe..but beats staying underground, where they build our bunkers, and they stay in them... an underground housing estate.. cool huh? We can have our Jurong Country Club on top of that for all I care.

One thing that makes me wonder and a cause for concern is insurgency training among our fellow comrades. FIBUA village (AMA KENG to many) is no longer relevant and a brief stint with the British Armed Forces back 10 years ago taught me, we have to do that, in real time. So why not USE their housing as our training ground? We will use standard equipment, but with MINE sets and Paintball bullets as opposed to rubber or chalk blanks, and we invade their homes...as and when we need to. Of course, it will be always a surprise, as our Police Force will be the insurgents and vice versa...trying to take us all out. Our cops are getting too chubby anyway and they really need the work out and so do I.We will only get 2 hour lead time into a real FIBUA training exercise and after 2 hours real training, we move out..and let everyone back to their normal lives..and the cleaners cleaning up the mess we made... They want Permanent Residence? Then contribute.. as we never know that we have to fight a real dog fight just as how Mas Selamat made his Selamat Petang tribute and escaped from the Old Police Academy. BTW, I used to study there at the Madrasah..so it's pretty known that SECURITY IS LAPSE!!

Eventually, We will have to resort to these. We are SINGAPOREANS and WE MUST COME FIRST. So let the jokers and immigrants have a taste of what our forefathers had building this country, living in cramped quarters, where 7 members of the family in a 3 bedroom flat.

We don't want to be dependent on Natural Resources, so why waste? Our Green Energy plan must be put in place and we must NOT rely on OIL or touch wood, Nuclear. We don't want a Japanese Disaster.

I'm no politician, but we have to do it somehow..and oh ya..the Yishun Lake and Jurong Lake can be a place where we rear tilapia or Catfish....so at least we can go fishing often.

QUALITY LIVING. Green Ecology.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Retirement from Parliament

As a whole, I don't support many policies that the current Singapore Government have over the people such as low CPF Pensions and Increased Retirement Age but it is about time that things do change. I for one, am more of the INDEPENDENT person where some policies are holding up for me, but some are not beneficial for the Singaporeans.


Likewise, just as Dr Mahathir stepped down from Malaysian politics in grace is far better than shamed like what SM Goh Chok Tong faced and more of a blow to Mr Lee K Y as the support for the government is at the all time low. I am not in favor of Mr Goh stepping down as he served his time properly and with good policies in check whereas MM Lee should have relinquished his post many years ago due to his poor frailing health. I for one do not want to see him die in office, as it's a shame to see a legend die, grappling over his achievements and be lost and cussed overnight.

What the PAP could do TODAY will affect our support tomorrow.
 My suggestions are as follows:
  • MORE HOMES FOR EVERYONE with prices at less than $200,000 which literally mean 20-50 storey flats all about. First timers like me don't need 4 bedroom flats, just a 3 room will do for the new family especially for us who have been overseas studying etc and want to relocate back,priority should go to us, as we have no where to call home.
  • FULL LOANS for HOUSING without a need of a bank loan for FIRST UPGRADE from their first flat due to growing family. YOU NEED OUR KIDS to feed you for the next 2 decades. You can only LUCKY PICK your flat..no more choosing. Don't want it, then you cannot apply for 5 year!
  • More accessible jobs for us. Make it harder for the foreigners to get work here. TAX THEM AT 40% just as how I paid in the UK.Make their bosses pay National Insurance, just as how we should contribute to CPF, 20% of their pay plus the boss paying another 10% to the pool for their coverage of EMERGENCY HEALTH COVER such as hospitalisations. The excess of the money each year goes to the Poor Singa Fund, meaning to cover our Polyclinic and basic medicines such as cough, flu and other essential cover like A&E. We are the TAUKE.. not them! Excess money go and pay us DIVIDENDS!
  • S Pass to be increased to $4,000 so that only those who are eligible can apply. Make the bosses pay the salaries to the central government so that the wages be credited to the FOREIGN EMPLOYEE ACCOUNT. These people CAN rent flats from us. They must sit for the ENGLISH TEST at 6.5 standard with AT LEAST a credible university certificate.Otherwise, they must sit and pass our GCE O Level English within ONE YEAR.
  • Q Pass for Expatriates to be increased to $10,000 a month! They can only stay in PRIVATE HOUSING!
  • Give the low paying Work Permit class jobs instead to our neigbours next door (Malaysians, Filipino, Indonesian,Thai) instead. The ratio should be 5:1 (Five Singaporeans to ONE foreign worker,with the Singaporean pay combined, the foreigner is drawing no more than 10-20% of the Singaporean salary) Base this figure from GROSS CPF CONTRIBUTIONS of the company. Ease the Malaysian to say 5:2 as in the end, they contribute to our well being and being good to them, is good for our family too.
  • 100% acceptance to UNIVERSITIES with 100% loans without interest. We have to work to pay them off anyway.
  • Those who want PR MUST SERVE 3 YEARS NATIONAL SERVICE FIRST! Women must work for 3 years in the Public Service such as Teacher, Nursing, Civil Defence, Kindergarten Teacher alike! They can only leave Singapore for 180 days every 3 years. Exit Permits a must, Saudi Style! No Reservist Done=NO EXIT! After 3 years then they can apply for Citizenship!
  • NO MORE ERP & COE! However, you can control the issue of vehicle by LUCKY DRAW! ONE HOUSE, ONE CAR MAX!
  • Lower Power and Utilities. Exercise GREEN ENERGY Smart option! The island is too hot now!
  • TAX THE FOREIGNERS, NOT THE SINGAPOREAN! 
  • REMOVE THE GST or at least drp to 3% for just Luxury Goods! That means SIM LIM SQUARE.
  • NO HANGING OUT IN ORCHARD ROAD. THIS IS NO PINOY TOWN! I don't want to see our pride and joy become Bethnal Green aka Bangla Town / Hamlets.
  • Place all the Foreign Workers Quarters near AMA KENG or FIBUA VILLAGE!
  • MRT to be more frequent and straight to Tuas Checkpoint, Woodlands Checkpoint and Tekong Camp!
  • Ministers and MP are all alike. You can only take $10,000 monthly salary! No car for you, take the freaking MRT to work lah!
  • DUAL CITIZENSHIP for those who born Singaporeans and Served NS!
  • Automatic Citizenship of Singaporean Children, where ever they are born!
These are just some of the sentiments. We want also better alliance with Malaysia and beyond so every weekend, we can disappear and have a retreat overseas in green and serenity. So give us the option to tap into our CPF Funds to buy a house in South Malaysia.


All I ask is simple:
FOR SINGAPOREANS, 
BY SINGAPOREANS, 
WITH SINGAPOREANS

Come on PAP....if you are serious..then this is your task!

Monday, May 9, 2011

What MM Lee forgot

MM Lee spoke on the defeat of the PAP against their arch enemy, Workers Party yesterday and I think JB Jeyaratnam would be proud  of his sacrifice.

 

However, old man is too gullible..and he should step down, just as Dr Mahathir… and what I commented… to his post.

 

It's time for the PAP to WAKE UP and LISTEN... SMELL THE COFFEE... and don't be pampered! To many, these people are so elusive that they are the main reason of  your defeat and drastic drop in support.

We supported you for the last 40 years...and we appreciate it, but as a prominent politician said to me, it is time to move on, move forward and not always look back, otherwise we will always be looking back at how we were governed by the British, which BTW are so cocked up even today!

So now, No more ERP, No more Foreign Imports, and concentrate on US, your Electorate. These Chinaman, Pinoys and Annehs are there to suckle our hard earned money, and when dry, they run back home. What about us? Of Our Kids? Of Our Future?

Have some honor and dignity. LEARN and LEAD. Nobody is indispensable in Singapore politics, kick those who drag you down and in a year or so, call for a by-election on those wards to see , if you really mean what you said.

Many of us are already are fed up..and we are here to give them a chance...to make sure you do a proper job..TODAY..not yesterday. How many of us are not in Singapore and 'cari makan' in Malaysia, the so for called poorer neighbour? Heck of a lot! Why? It's worth it, less stress, better enviroment, and being treated an asset and respected, not like how we are in Singapore.

Too bad many of our Singapore Talents are refusing to come back...for as long as the PAP is thinking sky high on Cloud Nine.

Have a break. Have a Kit Kat... and then work super duper hard!

…PS: I was your Electorate…. Now in another..because Tanjong Pagar is still a Slum!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Many Thanks

I take this opportunity to thank EVERYONE (40 of em) who left me notes and well wishes on my Facebook Wall on my birthday! Also to Nadia, Tia Baby and my sis for the call… and one thing for sure, it shows how much people do care about you.

 

I did asked many to come and visit the blog and leave comments since there was none ever since I moved off my own servers to Blogspot. I had my own set of issues which I have to tackle and I admit, we all make mistakes which we are not proud of. But family should come first, and I do care much for the affairs of my own brother, despite his short coming and other matters, that he is not cheated of his life and waste his youth as I did. I was not proud of it, and still regretting it till date, over 20 years on.

 

Oh, if you supported my vendors and advertisers, thanks again..and do let me know if anything cocks up….. And for that I take my hat off to you.

 

Sincerely

 

Azrin

 

 

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Yes ...it's my birthday!

Thank everyone for your birthday wishes and all...and All I ask now..is to support my Nuffnang advertisers and leave a comment... so I can follow your blog etc back.. I need to check on my network stats..seems many things are not working well....

Please...and btw, anyone here can lend me $3000 by tomorrow??
Thanks again!

And oh yes.. PLEASE follow and Like my blog (FB)...

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

You get nonsense when you pay good money.

I put out over a handful of work positions on oDesk this week to anticipate the heavy workload that I will be swamped over the next few weeks, and What Did I GET?

I got called a Racist, Faggot and many other names, but on the whole, the saying “If you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys” does not befitting those I have to tolerate.

 

All I asked is simple, a real profile for me to check out and your real credentials. LinkedIn is where you can showcase your work, profile, colleagues and customer base to the world, as to what and how professional you are in the real world. If you can’t showcase your work, then I can always say you are pulling a fast one on me.

 

So right now.. is there any decency in Agencies? If you are reputable, you have at least access to your email and love to post your profile.

 

I don’t know… Comments please?

 

Monday, April 25, 2011

Happy Holidays for me?

It’s payday week…and I’m already dead broke. Seriously, I really need to relook into the overall finances and rework on my financial plan, otherwise I will be filing for a Chapter 13 again.  Yeah, I filed Chapter 13, Chapter 11 and once Chapter 7 on many grounds, as a corporate entity (Liquidation) in the US, Restructuring of Corporate Finances and Personal Bankruptcy in the UK. At times, mostly it was NOT MY BLOODY FAULT! But in business, things do happen, and if shit happens, you have to flush it down and start anew.

 

May day is a day for Holidays. Also a Bank Holiday in the UK, and some knew it as Labour day, this is a day for us WORKERS to be happy and take the day off. Not for us , Enterpreneurs and Bosses alike. It is a nightmare as we try consolidate things and plan ahead. Like April 5th in the UK, HELL BREAKS LOOSE DAY as the accountants and auditors are chasing us for accounts and balance sheets. Taxman love this time of the year as we have to submit everything to them by MAY DAY! ….and I am calling MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY!

 

Why? The sales figures have been …shy far off the targets. Grants were not delivered and thus funding were brought to a standstill. That is more than USD4.7 Million in funds frozen solid which mean a hefty sum of commissions for me. Sales figures are far off the charts, in the RED due to the lack of funds as my ROI for research and marketing is at least 20 times the investment. And since I get about 5-10% of the sales figure or 30% of gross profits, that is a huge OUCH FOR ME.

 

Reasons:

Failure to secure entry into the Saudi Market due to deception by the Saudi partner.

Research Grants frozen.

Sales figure dependant on Research and Marketing Grants

Manpower lacking

Promotion Grants lacking

Credit limit breached

Trade Credit retracted

Increase in Fuel costs resulting in severe overhead costs

 

What it means to me now is that what I am supposed to clear, is not cleared so gathering more interest and fees and I’m basically on the brink of bankruptcy.

 

I still got Citibank, Standard Chartered and Diners club to check off, on top of CIMB.

So if you are clever, invest in Gold and Support my advertisers..if there are any.

 

Happy Holidays you all!

 

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

You deserve it

Someone here complained to me that Chan Li Lian aka 5xMom kept on bad mouthing her etc, and my POV stands, which is that if you can't be nice to others, then don't expect others to be such to you.

You see, if you bring it on your own self, and be so selfish... then you are to blame for the demise. Be it Timothy Tiah given ice cream and give freebies and you don't, why must you be so bad hearted that you must bad mouth the rest.

If you keep on taking and taking and taking without being a little bit back at others, then you seriously deserve to be isolated from everyone. Just as when people are talking , you shut them out and don't want to hear.

So don't blame me..and now I make it a point that I too have to shut this person off!

Good riddence to bad company? Maybe.. you decide...
I got to decide who gets my vote!

Singapore Elections

WHOA!

 

Let’s put it in this way…  Singapore Elections are done on a SATURDAY AGAIN! And what about us who are not in Singapore..make us travel back again for just a CROSS?? Please.. send me the air tickets or pay my transport..then I am eager to vote… This is a waste of resources since we can now do SMS voting.. or online.. why not make us happy by making our life easier.

 

Vote for PAP? Maybe.. because Workers Party don’t serve my needs. All I want is INDEPENDENTS!

 

Who wants to vote for me .. please cough up the deposit…

 

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Accessing US Websites

SEO geeks and others are always trying to find out the best ways to access the network and being able to see what kind of traffic and adverts on your site, specific to each page is a real dream. Like this site, it actually has an ePM of GBP189.27 of value due to it’s keywords such as Chapter 7 , Bankruptcy, banking and Finance and I really appreciate when I can see who are advertising on my site.

 

Using a VPN helps. Same as downloading and watching videos that are restricted to just the mainland US and for that I thank USA IP for the help. For us website owners and bloggers, this is an essential tool so if you target Chinese mainland traffic, you can now know what video ads are being shown on screen. They are really cool and even my friends websites are now showing REAL POTENTIAL!

 

So, if you think it’s time to sit about..don’t… capitalize on the traffic. Do surveys etc using VPN Networks.

 

And for $75 a year..it’s well worth it.

 

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Fake profiles and Quack pot Doctors

I was going through the list of candidates on oDesk and I am quite surprised that many claimed to be Doctor of Medicine by just with 3 years in university in Pakistan or Philippines. Don’t they have any integrity within themselves to know that MBBS or MD takes at least 7 years of training, despite 3.5 years of theories. There is somewhat a very wrong sense of belonging when the provider don’t check who the candidates are and some are still in the undergraduate stages and would be the equivalent of the second year, and already claim they are a Doctor just because they can deliver babies.

 

What is wrong with the market here anyway? Where is the checking? Now I have the deep resentment against these people tarnishing the professionalism of the life saving industry. Someone can get killed just because of these idiots. Homeopathy Doctors are NOT MEDICAL DOCTORS. They are just the same as a Chinese Traditional Medicine Practioner. Even I don’t call myself a Medical Doctor as I am just a Military Medicine Medical Practitioner, despite having done my PLAB and houseman in the UK and served 2 years in the front line.

 

Where is the sense of pride here? Please …someone answer me?!

Friday, April 1, 2011

How can you work with such....

I have been in the media and online technology field for almost more than 10 years and the recession do take it’s toll on things. I have attended many trade fairs in the region and I have seen the drop in participation and provisions to the industry, namely the pampering to the media industry.

 

Key trade players are not putting their advertising dollars and sense forward and the exhibition organizers are cutting corners. This week alone, I attended a few and there were a real letdown to my own standards and I am not speaking representing the media agencies or crew but it really feel that we are not needed anymore.

 

Why I say so is that the lack of coverage of the press about the events in forums or feeds such as LinkedIn or even ‘chatter’. And that shows a lot when even the RTM was not present at the opening ceremony of a key exhibition in Kuala Lumpur Convention Center or KLCC which shows there is something wrong with things or there was a lapse with the appointments made by the organizer and the honeypot provided to the media crew. Being KLCC is in the heart of the city center, and notoriously everything is expensive there. Parking is a real murder and even with a media truck make things harder to park and very costly. Many now hire freelancers to pick up the slack due to cost cutting measures or lack of manpower or resources to go there (mainly because there was no incentive for these editors or anchor people to be enticed to be present.. ie: Money and Time) so we do our best but when there was NO MEDIA ROOM and there was NO MEDIA PRESS KIT.. then something is really amiss. All I took back was a pen drive which had a virus in it (spyware) and a press release paper and that was that. No feeds, exhibitor profiles or even brouchers / leaflets for us to write about, in terms of new technologies and this and that. And no coffee. There was times that do happen at some expo because of lack of space, they allocated a small area to utilize the network and coupons for our food and drinks at the café (which serves terrible food btw!). Only cold water was served!

 

So it’s heck of a leg work for me, going about the booths to see what is there to write on and only ONE DECENT exhibitor was attentive enough to approach us to provide information to what they were supplying and providing which was SATO LABELLING WORLDWIDE. Despite being a small player in the Malaysian health market, they are doing their best in making medical errors a thing of the past such as patient label bands, Printout stickers for the IV and medicines and stuff. I do appreciate what they do because as a medical professional, we make many mistakes which causes death and every little bit especially in good labeling and instructions (for the patient , after discharge) are key to survival and recuperation .  Honestly, it’s a simple thing, but with good labels and barcode tagging (or RFID), mislabeled baby swap jokes are something of the past or wrong prescription dosages (TDS be QDS etc). It also cut on time and money since everything is accounted for and there should be no expired medication running about and killing someone for that matter.

 

Despite them enticing me with a possibility of winning an iPad if I go to their product seminar, I had to give it a miss since I was up on time, but the gesture is much appreciated. Their male sales staff are very attentive and always have an eagle eye for details to spot where their next sale will be is something I have to comment on, with high praises. I would have tried my luck and stayed put but I had an interview during that time with a delegate so it’s something I do remember by and I was hoping to win an IPAD (just for fun…they could give me one though!) Their quality in their product bag was THINK QUALITY, THINK SATO and they are showing the best in their quality. I just hope the Ministry of Defense would use that system instead as the current system is a real pain in the back and with every label printed means one item less on stock and we have accurate stock keeping and accountability. Their pricing is not dear at all. Far cheaper than the Australian counterpart.

 

As for our Malaysian sector, only the Malaysian Health Ministry Department of Medical Tourism are so eager to explain on what they do and the whole nine-yards. Compared to SIRIM and others, I’m so sorry but they really fail the yard stick this time round.

 

So what I think of xxxxxx Expo held on 28-30 March? A real disappointment due to the bad running of the show by the organizers.

 

Better luck next time with the media ok?

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Bankruptcy issues in Malaysia

Many don't know that bankruptcy is not the end of the world. Many people still carry on with their life despite their run of bad luck as many in Malaysia are made bankrupt due to silly mistakes like bad car accidents or being a co-signer (guarantor) to car loans.

Of more than 1.7 Million bankrupts in Malaysia, there are more than 90,000 civil servants of the Malaysian government that are made bankrupt just because they failed to pay on their car loans or being a guarantor to one.

This is especially sad as there are no discharge from bankruptcy even after many years in Malaysia and for just RM30,000 , one can be made a bankrupt for that small matter. That amount works fine 20 years ago, but now anyone having an income of RM1,500 earmarked as the living below poverty line, it does not make much sense when cars are sold for RM90,000 for a Proton Inspira compared to RM20,000 when the Saga made debut.

What I propose is for the amount to be raised to RM100,000 as even that is insufficient to buy a small house being that a low cost home is valued at RM220,000!! In itself, that does not solve the stigma and problems of the borrower and creditor.

Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Act in the US Legal Code states that if someone declares under this Chapter, then he is to be stopped from being harassed so that he can catch up on payments and with no interest charged. This is inline with the Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) rulings in the UK where a debt can be written off, or heavily discounted to the extent of the creditor of getting some sort of capital back from the debtor.

Many businessmen and women operate out of the concept of law in Malaysia when they are already made bankrupt. They use proxies, fake documents or even secondary identification documents to leave the country such as Indonesian Passports or the such. Using proxies are a thing of common doing where someone else lends their name to act on the Cash & Carry business, Signing Cheques and stuff for the company.
Some even use OFFSHORE ACCOUNTS such as Gibraltar , Cayman Islands and along those lines to launder their funds. It's a lose-lose situation for the debtor and creditor as no money will ever be paid.
Chapter 7 is where one has the whole slate wiped clean upon satisfactory regular payments to the Official Receiver / Assignees. Singapore practices this system where you get a wipe down after 3 or 7 years, depending on your debt. Many countries such as UK practice this method and is not a burden to the creditor too as they get some sort of payment back.

Since doing work on oDesk , I came across many technical knowledge on Chapter 7 which gives me insights to the business Legal Issues. So do check these sites out and learn how you can get your finances back on track. What we need to do is to learn from our mistakes and not to make the same thing again.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

A real life question and dilemma...

This question was posed to be by a close friend, whom I know personally and find it disturbing.

 

Thing is that she works in a small bank, more of a community bank in the area with just 4 branches and she had her run of endless bad luck. Her son and husband were caught in a bad traffic accident thanks to a drunk and made her husband unable to work due to the spinal injury. That made him lost his job at the local yard. Her son was also badly injured and required much medical assistance. That bumped her finance off track, raking up over $80,000 in bills alone.

 

Now that the credit crunch is still about and with her meager pay as a Front Desk Officer (aka Teller+Customer Service) of $2200 a month before tax, made her unable to keep up with the minimum amount due. The interest thanks to Capital One, American Express , Diners Club and a few others are just as bad as borrowing from ” Richie the Loanshark” at over 39.9% APR (I bet even the mob will have some sort of humanitarian sense and not smack her that high of a rate) . So she intends to file for bankruptcy in the state of Michigan. The charge cards which were initially used to secure the medical services are charging her 12% PER MONTH in interest alone! This is despite her complex healthcare benefits and medical insurance who guaranteed payment. The biggest lenders won’t even consider listening to her.

 

Being a small town, this has been the talk of the town. The big boss (aka the CEO of the Bank) has got wind of it and the HR Manager has been told to let my friend go at all cost. Many were not happy with the decision and the HR Dept are telling him otherwise. So what should she do and the HR Manager do instead? Give her severance and let her go or help her out? Her work has not been that great ever since her family had that terrible accident, and almost literally broke her down in bits and pieces.

 

I know this situation happened to someone back where I worked in London, England and the guy was lucky enough to be working for an Islamic Finance & Amanah company, and that the company bought over the loans, and that the chap had to make a signed agreement to cancel all his other unsecured facilities and credit including his mortgage to the Finance Company where they assist him in the repayments and canceling a huge chunk of the credit card debt as this was part of their Credit Community Service (well, they just yank off any money held under the mosque trust fund's profits as it's part of the agreement to help the needy). But here in Michigan, my friend has no luck with that kind of thing as that don't exist in our society.

 

It's like telling her to get ready to stay on the streets and I am really crying my heart out for her and the family. $80,000 is heck of a lot of money. She is a God fearing Catholic family and even the local church can't help her out.

 

With regards

Is the Japanese disaster affecting YOU?

This is a touchy issue since many of us are on the web and I have seen severe outages in routes for the North East Asia crossing comprising of Pacific Internet, Global Crossing, SingTel Internet eXchange (STIX), AT&T, Cable & Wireless. I’m facing serious problems thanks to the fiber optic outage issue on the northern Asian region as the packets are diverted off to South Pacific and other gateways.

Heck even Google Web Cache service is giving me problems. I had to resort to TMNET DIALUP SERVICE to ensure some connectivity to the South East American hub like Texas, Florida and UK sites which are seriously lagging. Not to mention that I have data stored on my European Clouds… these are loading slower than a 28.8kbps dialup!

 

What a real drag! I thought we learnt our lesson during the last Taiwanese disaster? DURGH!

 

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Doing some work...

Finally, a first job on the ODESK by the Hour.

Please feel free to check out these website forums and register.. I’m just helping to promote them…

 

Bankruptcy and issues of the Chapter 7

Care Givers and Old People’s Issues  - A MUST READ!

FREE LEGAL ADVISE forum – useful for immigration and stuff!

 

Do check it out and chip in.

 

For those going for my PENNY PER HOUR JOB.. please read the post order properly.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Fake Jobs and Scammy Offers

Of late, we read many fake job opportunities which offers more than the market rate. Forget the Mrs James and Such a name, this is more elaborate and made by so many people, a syndicate I believe.

One of them is that someone will offer you 25% of the sales from any EBAY Auction generated through your userid. Some even offer $150 and they claim that they will ship first, pay later. Don’t be fooled.

I was fooled once and ebay took away my privileges. Took me 3 weeks before I get my account back online. I asked the person for proof of ID and Address and he can only give me a sanitized US Passport. If you compare the details properly, the second line of the MICR does not add up. It’s simple to know if the person is dodgy. Even if you are in another country, then a stamp on the passport will do fine. Someone who is born in 1985 sure look as if he is 40 years old and US don’t issue 10 year passports anymore!

The first line should read <P<USAHANSELL<<PETER<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< not USA<PETER<HANSELL ..there is no way in hell someone is using PETER as his SURNAME and be addressed as Mr Peter.
Other examples of real passports are from SINGAPORE such as PASGPTAN<<AH<KAO (Mr Tan Ah Kao) or P<SGP<MUHAMMAD<<BIN<ABDULLAH (Mr Muhammad Bin Abdullah) or PASGPSINGH<<GURMIT< (Mr Gurmit Singh aka Puah Chu Kang).
In Malaysia they will be P<MYS<MAHATHIR<BIN<MUHAMMAD< as they don’t use surnames for Muslims.




There have been much scam going about, from Victoria, Australia to New Jersey USA and even as remote as Hainan in China. All these can be derived from the email address and headers.

Emails from Yahoo have headers, and so with Hotmail.
Someone said they are in London are actually emailing from KOREA:

X-Originating-IP: [210.204.160.140]
Authentication-Results: mta1292.mail.ac4.yahoo.com  from=tiscali.it; domainkeys=neutral (no sig);  from=tiscali.it; dkim=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 127.0.0.1  (HELO expo2012.or.kr) (210.204.160.140)
  by mta1292.mail.ac4.yahoo.com with SMTP; Mon, 07 Mar 2011 14:40:45 -0800
Received: (qmail 7175 invoked by uid 1000); 7 Mar 2011 15:28:29 -0000
Received: from madikiza@tiscali.it by SpamBarrier by uid 1000 with qmail-scanner-1.16
                        (Spam Barrier 1.1 Processed in 0.974033 secs); 07 Mar 2011 15:28:29 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO User) (119.110.80.26)
  by mail.expo2012.or.kr with SMTP; 7 Mar 2011 15:28:28 -0000

This is a clear cut that this email was sent from ITALY using a machine mimicking EXPO2012.OR.KR and infiltrated email account of MADIKIZA . You can always ask if these are scams or not to me…as I can smell them a mile away.

Some recruiters even fool the University and Ministries to allow them to interview candidates at embassy premises. This is rampant with Middle Eastern countries. I have a confidential list…and if your recruiter is legit, ask the document to be signed and stamped by the Department of Business Commerce or a Court. Legalise the document and verify at the embassy immediately.

I got conned ….while on JOBSTREET. Costly for me….so can I sue JOBSTREET?

Sunday, March 6, 2011

What is COMPREHENSIVE INSURANCE in the United Kingdom

What is a COMPREHENSIVE CAR INSURANCE (UK) and How does that work?

Introduction

Car insurance varies in the United Kingdom which also covers Northern Ireland , the Balwicks of Isle Man, Jersey and Guernsey and the Republic of Ireland as a whole. Also known as First Party Insurance, the vehicle is covered for accidents while in the possession of the Owner, Insured or Authorised Drivers and also to any other parties, such as motor vehicles, public and private property and liability to third party as a result of the accident caused by the named persons.

Comprehensive insurance also covers damage to your own vehicle if it was hit by a drunk, Hit-and-Run , Uninsured or of your own fault such as loosing control and hitting the center divider for example and no other party was injured or damaged. Some even cover you while driving other people car at THIRD PARTY RISK, meaning damage caused to other parties.

There are many conditions of COMPREHENSIVE attached to a comprehensive first party insurance which includes, Social , Domestic , Leisure and Pleasure Use, Commuting SDLP, Business Purposes and Public Liability (Private Hire) coverage.

Should you buy COMPREHENSIVE INSURANCE?

The answer is Yes if your car is worth a lot of money should you run into an accident. In terms of ECONOMICAL SENSE , if the costs of a repair is more than the worth of the vehicle, then it is a CAT C write-off, for example a Proton Persona  which is 4 years old or any motor car which is more than 5 years of age does not warrant repairs should it be in a road traffic accident as repairs will cost more than the car itself. Rule of thumb is that any car whose value is less than 4 times the premium or $3000 is not worth insuring at First Party, unless the cost of First Party Insurance is less than a Third Party Insurance.

The answer is also YES if you are under 27 years old or had a license less than 5 years clocking less than 30,000 miles. These also applies if you tend to drive not just one car at a time such as driving your mom to her weekend activities on her own vehicle.

Comprehensive insurance are usually restricted to just the OWNER , POLICY HOLDER and AUTHORISED DRIVERS so do watch out for the fine print.

Benefits of Comprehensive Insurance / First Party ALL RISKS

The car insured are fully covered against theft, damage to other people , vehicle and property (public and Private) along with own negligence such as driving through BLACK ICE and smacking onto the sidewall of the motorway. Among other things include the following:

-          Driving other people / car at THIRD PARTY RISK (OWNER & POLICY HOLDER ONLY)

-          Theft of Motor Vehicle at Home

-          Theft of Stereo and Belongings inside the vehicle

-          Accident caused by UNINSURED or HIT-AND –RUN drivers

-          Vehicle Recovery (Tow Truck) from accident scene to your home or garage.

-          Green Card Coverage (European Union – Schengen States) Third Party Insurance

-          Complimentary Courtesy Car should your car goes into a garage

-          Outward Bound Passage – gets you to where you want to go from the accident scene to either your home or destination (EU-Home only) by any means possible

-          Discounts at many outlets.

-          Comprehensive Coverage in the British Isles, Balwicks, Ireland.

-          Windscreen cover should your windscreen breaks as a result of a flying rock on the motorway or in an accident.

-          Legal assistance.

These are not comprehensive and dependant on any additional premiums by the insurer. The AA and RAC includes most of these as standard if you take on to be a full member.

What to watch out for in a COMPREHENSIVE INSURANCE

READ THE FINE PRINT. Usually, the excess coverage is usually stated, from $300 to $2000 per accident. Some would say your NO-CLAIMS-DISCOUNT(bonus) NCD/NCB would be protected if you pay an additional premium. It is not wise if you banged up someone else and put a claim in if the repairs are less than the premium and excess combined. The premiums will drastically rise up on your renewal.

Drivers not named on the insurance policy are NOT COVERED BY THE POLICY and thus you may be out of pocket. Automatically, the Motor Insurance Bureau will have to cover the other party(or more) for 3rd party liability.

Look out if it covers COMMUTING. If you park your vehicle in a public car park at a train station and you take a train to work, and realise that someone had nicked your car, then it is not covered as it was not declared to the insurers that you use it to commute to work. Many drivers and riders were caught out in the cold on this technicality. Don’t pinch the additional $30-$70 premium to cover yourself on the commute.

How to buy a COMPREHENSIVE INSURANCE?

There are many ways to get yourself insured. Have your details handy such as the cover note of your last insurer (or current) with the NCD, Vehicle Logbook or Registration Card and details of your drivers such as your wife and those who will be driving your car.

Getting to a nearby underwriting shop is simple but they don’t necessarily mean the cheapest rate. Students get the brunt of the insurers with skyrocketing premiums. Buying online has been a very good sense since you can check out all the relevant premiums and compare them. Don’t go for the Comparision Websites as they don’t normally give the best bargains.

One advise I normally give is to give a job title to yourself to lower the premiums. Students are costly but if you state you work in McDonalds or a local Pizza Hut, then the difference is huge as much as 70% difference. Company Directors, Doctors, Medical Professionals are charged the lowest with Actors, Drivers, Couriers (UPS, FEDEX, DHL) being the highest risk and in that category includes any GOVERNMENT CIVIL SERVANTS, Military Personnel and Police (the like).

How to find the CHEAPEST QUOTE?

CHEAPEST DOES NOT MEAN BEST VALUE FOR MONEY.

That is the actual fact. Check the value of the perks if you wish to compare them properly. These are offered by The AA, Liverpool Victoria, RAC, SWINDON and many more. Some offer cashback. I offer as much as $20 for every premium taken out to my Charity shop.

Evaluate how you are going to use the policy. Are you going to chug away daily in the car and clocking huge mileage? Is 4000 miles enough or about 20 miles daily? Are you going to drive to France on the ferry for the cheap food, booze and fags weekly or monthly?

A third party quote may be just saving you 30% off a Fully Comprehensive Cover and many people don’t realise that. Pay a little more for that extra sense of security.

 

(note: this article is submitted to a customer without payment. This is still my copyright)