I read with disdain an article today which reported that a 21-year old Singaporean beauty wanted to be a millionaire by the time she reaches 22, and has ask Singaporeans, via YouTube recording, to donate 10 cents to her so she could achieve her dream. And she has the odacity to confess that she just doesn't want to work! She even provided her bank account number!
It is known that her action has spurred condemnations widely by online users, including yours truly.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Astro B.yond - Rediscovering the Xperience
Got my Astro set upgrade to B.yond within the last week, and since then it as really open up a w dimension, plus a new experience, in watching moview/TV. No regrets there.
Currently, only 5 channels are transmitted in HD (High Definition) :
831 - Astro SuperSport HD
832 - ESPN HD
431 - HBO HD
573 - National Geographic Channel HD
575 - HISTORY HD
Ok, what's the difference for those who are not familiar with the term HD? Imagine that you have been watcing programmes through your 21" colour TV. Somehow, you decided to take your TV watcing experience to another level and bought youself an 42" LCD or Plasma TV. After painstakingly installing you new set you discover that most of the programmes shown on Astro are blur. That's because the picture set in that particular resolution got expanded to fill up the 42" screen. It's like blowing up a picture of a passport-sized photo to an A4 size.
That's was what I've experienced when I got a 37" Samsung LCD TV, the plus side was it came free thanks to MBF Cards. Months later I upgraded my video cable from the decoder to LCD TV with an S-video cable (RM168) and the picture improve about 20%. After a while the euporia died down and mostly then I preferred to watch DVD movies.
Now, after having experience the picture quality of HD I was really excited and truly impressed with HD. I never knew D quality would really blow my mind into a new experience! It was like watching Blue-Ray picture! Even DVD quality cannot match B.yond HD quality! With B.yond HD you can experience five times the detail of standard television broadcast. Sharper pictures, more vibrant colours and crystal clear such that you can even spot details on a person's face.
I signed up last month at their roadshow in KLCC concourse after having been briefed that during the promotional period they would change your decode, satellite dish, smartcard and provide HDMI cable - all for free, just top up RM20 to the monthly bill. And I dare say it's worth it. Anyway I was told that Astro would be increasing the number of channels to be broadcasted in HD progressively.
Previously I don't watch History nor National Geographic channel, but with HD I found myself hooked up with it, only if the movies at HBO HD (431) sucks.
Take it from me, if you are those freaks who enjoys better quality watching TV/movies, go for it. It's really about rediscovering new experience and will bring your excitement to a whole new level!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Nazri: Children of mixed parentage are bumiputras
I read with great interest tonight on the topic (click on the link above) and the affirmation from Datuk Seri Nazri Abd Aziz that, according to the Clause 6 of Article 161A in the Federal Constitution, Sarawakian children of mixed parentage, where one parent is a native, has bumiputra status. He further reiterated that, in Sabah, children of mixed parentage are considered bumiputras.
Now, I am beginning to wonder whether we, Sabahans, have been erred all through the years since the inception of the constitution, or Nazri, who as erred, but "on the right side". In Sabah, a child is accorded bumiputra status if his/her father is a native. Many of my Sabahan friends are not bumiputra for the very fact that their native mothers married non-native.
However, the Sarawak State Constitution states that a child is considered a bumiputra if one of the parents is a bumiputra. But some quarters claimed that the bumiputra status is only accorded to the child whose father must be a bumiputra, and not either.
It is a sad and long standing issue for Sabahans and Sarawakians of mixed parentage, especially where ASB is concerned. By virtue of my father being a Kadazan, I am accorded bumiputra status regardless of my mother's chinese origin. There was no hitch in applying for ASB for my 1st daughter, as she is also a bumiputra, and my wife is a Malaysian of Indian ethnicity.
However, a year later, when I applied one for my 2nd daughter I received a letter from PNB requesting for evidence of my father's citizenship and copy of IC, my father's father's (my late grandad) documents, and my documents, apparently to provide evidence to enable my daughter to open an ASB account. I was really flabbergasted mostly at the reason they provided, which was to "kemaskini" (update) their records. Who were they trying to kid? Maybe they were gullible once themselves, but not Sabahans nor Sarawakians!
I wasted no time shooting them an email claiming that my daughter has every right under the Constitution to be allowed ASB account, and Lord knows what else spewed forth from my keyboard in the heat of the moment. Barely a week passed by when I received a reply from them that they have waive some conditions and I just had to provide them with my own documents. The trouble we had go through despite the obvious facts!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
School education churning out EDUCATED citizens or "A"-scored pupils?
"Only 4 As?", a father queried.
"7 As out of 8? What's wrong with you?", scorned one mother.
"Great! I'm really proud of you!", I congratulated my younger daughter last Thursday on her SPM results.
Now, what's wrong with the picture? The picture is only wrong if you paint your own picture and hope your son or daughter would end up exactly like the picture you've depicted. What's worse is if you screw them for not ending up like it in the end. You ought to be screwed upside down for de-moralising your own child, who, after having tried their best, (and you even compared their 'best' against your own level) and having endured the agony of waiting for the results, got a slap from life with your cruel and "un-parently" remarks.
Look at some of the rich and successful individuals all around the world. Delete from this list all who are rich by virtue of inheritance. Delete also those who are successful as a result of puppeteering, meaning those who are lucky to have good connections. Lastly, look up those who have only hit a low passing mark, or none at all. There you are..
I could name some names, but it would take me some hours of research, and I bet you wouldn't even try to cross-reference and validate my findings. But you and I already know that there many out there who work hard and smart and have become successful, and for some, way too successful!
What I'm trying to present here is to express my deepest condolence to the death of a strong team of people whom we once called "teachers", comprised of selfless individuals dedicated to the noble profession of educating the young all the values of life and providing them the means to tackle life after school.
What we have now are mere staff, who after having sufficiently obtained their minimum grades for graduation, being employed by the education ministry, and being paid on meagre salary, which is not really commensurating with the dynamics of this economy, struggling to impart the syllabus, "cleverly" frameworked by the so-called scholars, to the pupils, whilst juggling with the ever-increasing administrative functions.
It is no wonder that many pupils are forced to make extra sacrifice attending out-of-school tuition till late nights. Tell me, who actually are the real teachers, those employed in school or from the tuition centres?
The irony is every year certain schools are proud to claim that so-and-so number of their students scored the most number of As, when the students actually got around to understand the concept and fundamentals from the tuition centres. Can I deduced that they practically learned nothing from schools!! Or rather, what did they learned from schools?
Too much hype is place on the number of As. But what is the "essence" of As? Are there any built-in survival kit with which school leavers can equip themselves and live in the cruel world of employment? Or do they continue to attempt to score more As by enrolling themselves in higher education? Get a degree, perhaps? A Bachelor after that? Or a Masters? So long as they could avoid employment cos they're not ready yet?
Do the As contain EDUCATION? Or are they just results of good memorizing techniques?
When they grow up in the employment world, having scored several As, and having claimed a Diploma, a Degree, or even a Masters, what would You and I think of this fella who, as a result, drives a Benz, or Camry, gets spotted throwing a soiled tissue out the window on a highway, or refused to offer a seat to an elderly person? For all you know, this "successful due to great scores" fella, who lives in an expensive house behind you, gets spotted one dark night throwing a plastic bag of rubbish into the monsoon drain at the back of your home? Do you really think 18 As means a person received 18 times the education?
3 As, 2Bs, 2 Cs & 1D. I really felt so overjoyed and on top of the world! My daughter's happy too.
"7 As out of 8? What's wrong with you?", scorned one mother.
"Great! I'm really proud of you!", I congratulated my younger daughter last Thursday on her SPM results.
Now, what's wrong with the picture? The picture is only wrong if you paint your own picture and hope your son or daughter would end up exactly like the picture you've depicted. What's worse is if you screw them for not ending up like it in the end. You ought to be screwed upside down for de-moralising your own child, who, after having tried their best, (and you even compared their 'best' against your own level) and having endured the agony of waiting for the results, got a slap from life with your cruel and "un-parently" remarks.
Look at some of the rich and successful individuals all around the world. Delete from this list all who are rich by virtue of inheritance. Delete also those who are successful as a result of puppeteering, meaning those who are lucky to have good connections. Lastly, look up those who have only hit a low passing mark, or none at all. There you are..
I could name some names, but it would take me some hours of research, and I bet you wouldn't even try to cross-reference and validate my findings. But you and I already know that there many out there who work hard and smart and have become successful, and for some, way too successful!
What I'm trying to present here is to express my deepest condolence to the death of a strong team of people whom we once called "teachers", comprised of selfless individuals dedicated to the noble profession of educating the young all the values of life and providing them the means to tackle life after school.
What we have now are mere staff, who after having sufficiently obtained their minimum grades for graduation, being employed by the education ministry, and being paid on meagre salary, which is not really commensurating with the dynamics of this economy, struggling to impart the syllabus, "cleverly" frameworked by the so-called scholars, to the pupils, whilst juggling with the ever-increasing administrative functions.
It is no wonder that many pupils are forced to make extra sacrifice attending out-of-school tuition till late nights. Tell me, who actually are the real teachers, those employed in school or from the tuition centres?
The irony is every year certain schools are proud to claim that so-and-so number of their students scored the most number of As, when the students actually got around to understand the concept and fundamentals from the tuition centres. Can I deduced that they practically learned nothing from schools!! Or rather, what did they learned from schools?
Too much hype is place on the number of As. But what is the "essence" of As? Are there any built-in survival kit with which school leavers can equip themselves and live in the cruel world of employment? Or do they continue to attempt to score more As by enrolling themselves in higher education? Get a degree, perhaps? A Bachelor after that? Or a Masters? So long as they could avoid employment cos they're not ready yet?
Do the As contain EDUCATION? Or are they just results of good memorizing techniques?
When they grow up in the employment world, having scored several As, and having claimed a Diploma, a Degree, or even a Masters, what would You and I think of this fella who, as a result, drives a Benz, or Camry, gets spotted throwing a soiled tissue out the window on a highway, or refused to offer a seat to an elderly person? For all you know, this "successful due to great scores" fella, who lives in an expensive house behind you, gets spotted one dark night throwing a plastic bag of rubbish into the monsoon drain at the back of your home? Do you really think 18 As means a person received 18 times the education?
3 As, 2Bs, 2 Cs & 1D. I really felt so overjoyed and on top of the world! My daughter's happy too.
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