Raya Eidul Adha, Holidays....

It all comes to one thing, bad economy. Poor action my the Malaysian Govt not to reduce the price of fuel by 40sen instead of just 10sen makes things bad. But the relationship of Tolls is getting on my nerves. Every holiday, the toll roads are packed up to the brim. It's bad, and today I was stuck in the rush, whilst getting my deliveries up.

Singapore, notorious for being heavy handed defused the tension by getting rid of the tolls which causes so much agony on eve of public holidays. Come on people, the toll concessionaires already made tons of money already and even Che Det admitted that he made a serious judgment in signing off the concessions. I'm not brainy enough to say that, but it's always that tolls,and the consumer associations making fuss and giving the public more trouble, by suggesting fines for 4th rear passengers etc.

I remember back then, that we as Singaporeans packed the seven of us in a cranny old Datsun 120Y which would never pass the MOT, without belts and likewise, the lack of accident. Hot headed drivers and bad road conditions cause most of the accidents and deaths, not plain vehicular safety. Smoke from lorries and loads of dirty roads lined with gravel even on the metropolitan roads of Kuala Lumpur cause alot of accidents involving motorcyclists, not plainly because of their bad riding. It's like crossing a minefield every day on Malaysian roads, and thus why these riders ride fast so their time on the street is drastically reduced.

I hate to see any more deaths on the upcoming Ops Sikap. It's sad to see someone arrive in a body bag.

Happy birthday little one...

Well,this is the 4th birthday for my little Angel of Joy.. Athira and despite of things to be..I am not sure if I can make it back for her birthday.



Well, I do remember she likes to play at the merry go round on the horse, on Genting Highland and despite my plans..I have to shelve em for the moment as costs and economic means are right now not justifiable.

Anyway, Happy birthday little one. Miss you.

HBOS merger with Lloyds TSB, what it means to you

Halifax Bank of Scotland, the oldest bank in Britain is going to be merged into conservative Lloyds TSB, which means the biggest British Bank in history. Under which many things have to change, and of which these are the things you need to know.

Bank of Scotland notes (aka Scottish Banknotes) will now cease to exist if things are done the Lloyds TSB way. Which means, former notes of Hamilton , British Linen and other old banks and brands which Bank of Scotland (aka Banc Hal Alba in Gaelic) took over many years back will now change. I am not been briefed on the changes.

Sainsbury's joint venture with BOS known as SAINSBURYS BANK will also change, as BOS 50% holding and licensing will then be transferred to the new entity by LTSB. In actual fact, TSB took over Lloyds and well, we just see how it goes.

Intelligence Finance (IF.COM) and Midland Shires will also cease to exist. Internal sources said that savers of these brands of Halifax will then be changed over.

Existing customers with Bank of Scotland who just got familiarised with the Halifax's Society Roll 8 digit numbers (D/ (or coded 4) for current, 2/ for savings, 14/ for pensions, etc which can be known on your debit card 4917xx4x-xxxx-xxxx) will then be totally changed over to the LTSB system of just plain sort code and account number.

E-Savers, coded 11-18-11 (2/) will change to the new format. As for ISAs , TESSA and Cash ISA / Mini etc, will also change to the new system. Just forget the old Roll Numbering. This is unless the acct is opened at the local branch.

Is your money safe?
Plainly, I have the greatest clue here. Sources say that the currency notes by HBOS will be useless. So EXCHANGE FOR ENGLISH NOTES ASAP. Clysdale Bank Notes is still good even though it uses HBOS as it clearing agency. Royal Bank of Scotland notes are still legal tender despite buying over ABN AMRO Asia Pacific Region.

Financial Protection by the FSA covers only 35,000 quid per person, irregardless of your number of accounts. So if you have a good sense of money in the Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Intelligent Finance, Midland Shires and the like, take them out NOW! Includes any ISA and SHARE BASED. You can top up share holdings, but it's your call, if you are gutsy enough.

What it means is,if you have money stashed out over 100k, you are a sitting duck! 10k is a good safe bet on each bank, namely Barclays, RBS Group (includes NATWEST ,Ulster etc etc), Clysdale Bank, HSBC (Try to avoid as it's partly to blame for Merrill Lynch fiasco, main shareholder)

Nationwide is a 50/50 bet, and ABBEY is now part of Santander group, the flame as they call it. So Alliance & Leicester (GIROBANK) is about to be acquired by them, so stay away from A&L!!

Building societies like Saffron Walden, West Bromwich, Kent Reliance are so far safe as they only lend to what they have. ISA rates are not brilliant but they are safe. The Co-op Bank is kind of a hit and miss now.This is due to the Travel Industry in shambles, and the sales been hit hard at their stores.

Islamic Bank of Great Britain (Islamic-Bank.com) is another source of putting your money in. Backed by many great governments and it's based on Halal Concept. The Islamic Banking sector is not even hit during this crisis as they don't borrow from another bank to make money out of their transactions.

So I have started my run off the bank. Mortgage wise, try the alternative. It's all subject to the competition laws etc in UK, so they may be bought over by an external bank.

So watch out!

Nuffnang Server Hacked?

Yo! I was gob smacked when I saw the deadly page of WORDPRESS CONNECTION PAGE chugging out every little info of the site and the vulnerability of their database servers.

Error connecting 192.168.1.10 still don't mean people can't access your servers and it's internal run time through backdoor hacks.

Come on Tim,your admins should know better. Even with 2.6.1 x3 has it's set of flaws and now, by virtue as a WORDPRESS DEV TEAM, I have to make this findings so YOU GO AND REVAMP the frigging problem.

Sorry guys!You should pay me for finding this flaws.Just to think if someone adds a malicious code as uses this as a piggy back to access the whole sets of database servers, then the server logs will be compromised and alongside with our earnings.

No wonder some of them are earning over RM10,000 a month. I guess we know why, right guys.

Explain please.

Getting the best of your LEXMARK Ink Cartridge

Did you know that when you buy a new printer, they just leave you with just less than a quarter tank full so that you have to get their refills? Yeah. That's how things are, and for your info, it's in ALL BRANDS, some as miserable as 10%. Be it HP, Canon, Epson or even Lexmark, they are the same. It cost more to refill than to buy their original supplies.

Now that you know, did you know that EPSON is the BEST printer about? Yes, but then, when you replace the print cartridges more than 3 times, you need to replace the print head, which literally means you need to discard it as it's too expensive, thus wanting you to purchase the new one. An UPGRADE. Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) is about 300 pages at 15% for most, but Lexmark gives a bit more. Since they are cheap, their refills, my God, cost a ton!!

I had to refill my LEXMARK X9350 which is an ALL IN ONE Printer / Fax / Scanner / Card Reader / WiFi / Bluetooth and PDF today and the 44XL (Extended Capacity) cost RM75. The Color costs RM90 at least from Low Yat. I did hear about people refilling HP, Canon but not LEXMARK as they are abit sneaky in the way things are done. I had to break it open, the refill I mean and then I saw what holds the ink in, just a cheap skate SPONGE!!

So SPONGE BOB SQUARE PANTS, now I had to do the ultimate sin, to do the REFILL using UNAUTHORISED SUPPLY. Thing is, you should stand by a set of original refill so if you screw up,you have a set just to make sure that your warranty is NOT VOID.

Things to remember:
-Ink MUST NOT RUN ON RESERVE. A few pages after low is OK, so it don't dry up.

-Find a GOOD SUPPLIER for the INK,preferably a reputable HP or Canon one.

-REPLACE the whole cartridge after 2-3 refills. Do not fill more than 80%!! The PRINT HEAD will be so useless that it's buggered. Lifetime is 3 months after you DIY!

-USE A PLASTIC / METALIC Sticker to cover the holes you made!!

Tools of the trade:
PEN KNIFE
REFILL KIT
Small screwdriver (test pen is OK!)
Something long and sharp. Bamboo sticks is NOT advisable. Palm leaf twig (LIDI PENYAPU) is best.
Cotton Buds.
Newspaper to cover the mess you about to make!
Strong TORCHLIGHT.

Steps:
1) REMOVE the plastic STICKER from the top. NOT the COVER!!

2) Drill the holes needed to refill. Black needs one. See there is a marking on the PLASTIC COVER. Drill it there, where it show something like a cooling grill. Black needs ONE. Color needs 3-6 depending on model.
This is where you need the powerful torchlight. Shine on the side to see where the partitions are. These wells are the the one you need to drill to. Its in the format of 6 wells, 3 on each side. You need to drill only 3. Normally, its two on top, and two by bottom sides (meaning two wells from bottom left and two wells from bottom right) Alignment is based on the way the sticker is placed onto from the top. There MAY or SHOULD be markings to indicate these wells.Otherwise, drill 6 holes.

3) Dip the stick to see which well to see what color it is for, it SHOULD be Magenta, Cyan and Yellow. That is where the stick and cotton bud is useful. It all looks ALMOST the same.

4) Fill about 5-10 ML. Or about 80% Too much and you will break the nozzle sensors.

5) Clean up and tape the holes AIR TIGHT. The stickers are useful.

Good Luck. This will be a great way to save your money.
Do buy originals, and keep a spare set just in case. Lexmark is hard to find the parts. Also, that don't rely on DELL as they just give them away, to make you part with your hard earned money.

Of Being Lazy, and Of Being me

Well, Beijing Olympics is here, a Good Excuse to be merry, jolly, for the 8-8-8 is like jackpot to the Chinese who are auspicious about everything. For me, it's another week of working hard that I have no frigging time to update all my 72 blogs! And not to say I forgotten about paid posts that I missed many work set out for me.

It's not being lazy, funds are a little short as things are more costly now, that I lost about 20 of my domains which I did not renew. Some were poor investments so I don't care much.And not to mention that it's hell for the past weeks.

Anyway, that's being me.

Of Biscuits and Blogs

Well, funny with the Malaysian Broadband, it's never reliable in huge cities like Kuala Lumpur where they even boast 4G technology when they can't even sort off the teething issues with their 2G voice calls, 3G Celcom Broadband sluggishness or the Maxis Broadband unavailability of over 5 meters high due to many silly reasons. Not to mention that idiotic TELEKOM MALAYSIA BERHAD landline contractors are just like cowboys, doing things as they like.

Well, which comes to the reason that I am using a BISKUT JULIE can of love letters to boost my capacity with not even single bar on 3G or 3.5G+ CELCOM Broadband (forget MAXIS or DIGI HSDPA aka 3.5G aka WCDMA) which basically works like your silly TV aerial where you must see the transmitter and be near as you can (and die of radiation poisoning in the meantime) and in essence, if the transceiver tower gets your signal out, you are good, as it blasts as much as needed to get through to you.

Which is like what you hear on Rocket Science, Brainiac Science Abuse right??

Of which, I've been reading the steady flow of paid blogging (at high pricing of $100 onwards) for page rank 3 and up, since Google themselves are going to the punchline.

I just don't get that..are Google going to stoop as low as Ted Murphy or what? Or are they buying Paid Posting out? Who knows. Those with Page Rank and dedicated traffic enjoys the moolah.

Drugs Song

This is funny, for medical students, this hymn is a good way to remind themselves of the base medicine.
Notes and stuff courtesy of Amateur Transplants and go get their CD (even when they earn more than singing)

Dead or Alive

Something is really amiss with me these days as I am getting wierd dreams of being run over by a high speed tanker trunk and me...in a rickety car.

It's really giving me day mares as these are when I take a nap during my long tiring day at work, working from 8am to extremely dead hours of the morning, 2-3am and then still having to head to work to enter some details or so, plus the 3G Internet is frigging unstable at times.

Whatever the issue it, I better talk about it, since one of these days, I may be in one, with long drives, and odd hours, thus why now I'm insisting on working in pairs, since when I'm too knackers, I need a break.

Boss, mind you seeing this, because, safety is also an issue here.

Using the white balance feature in a digital camera

The White Balance feature on the DSLR Cameras literally means to make it more white or dark, something like the contrast and brightness feature on our TV Box. Also denoted as WB, it actually has many usage for the avid novice photographer.Let's understand how it works.

The White Balance is used to determine the scenario the picture is taken, from Bright Daylight, to Cloudy to Shade to Orange / Yellow Light to florescent light to Flash Mode and to custom Mode.

It is also used alongside with the AV Value and without which the White Balance is useless.
The AV is set at (0) as center reference point without adding or reducing the brightness of the photograph. It has values from -2,-1, 0 ,+1,+2 subdivided into further quarters for custom adjustment.

Here is a senario: Imagine you are taking a picture of the street party you just came past, and it's all under Incandescent Light or Yellow Orange Street Lamp. The people are moving and you don't have a steady hand. The Lighting is great to the naked eye, without the need of the flash,and you set it to the AV feature.

Snap One: Picture is set at White Balance Yellow Light. Comes out Dull. Some of the actions are blurred as people are moving. Your shutter takes about more than a second to snap the photograph. That is the typical photograph you get with Standard Orange Lamp