Hmmmm .... random stuff, stuff i found, cool stuff, funny stuff, lame stuff, stuff lah! ... boing boing boing!
So its not only in Malaysia where Copper Cables are being stolen. This news article below talks about an incident where copper wires and cable are stolen from a hotel in Dayton (Ohio, USA).
Amazing!! If copper is so in demand these days, perhaps i should strip all my AV cables in the house (and mind u we have a lot .... lot of AV cables ... one big box full) and ball it up and sell it to someone!! he he ...
Dayton detectives are searching for suspects who broke into the soon-to-be demolished Admiral Benbow Hotel and stole an undetermined amount of copper electrical wires and Dayton Power & Light Co. cables.
Members of the Dayton police burglary squad received a call about the break-in about 2 p.m. Wednesday, Detective Jamie Bullens said. Dayton Power & Light employees were making an inspection and checking to see if the vault was secure when they noticed the break-in.
... more
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Thursday, November 30, 2006
64% of Malaysian Bloggers are Women - Yeow Mo?
64% of Malaysian Bloggers are Women [Article below]
"Yeow Mo"? Is that so?
"Yeow Mo"? Is that so?
Most of the people we know that blog are men or guys!! Hmm .... i wonder if the statistics taken are correct or not. Off my head, we would believe that most of the people on our Blog Roll are guys, unless we dont have many frens who are ladies? Hmm...
Let's disect our Blogroll . . .
Let's disect our Blogroll . . .
HAH!! See, we have 53% bloggers who are Guys, and a 47% bloggers who are Girls! So the Guys still out weigh the girls .... by a narrow margin! :)
hehe ... just to prove our point!
Most bloggers are women
KUALA LUMPUR: If you are a Malaysian and you have your own blog, the odds are that you’re a woman, aged 25 or under.
Sixty-four per cent of local bloggers are female and 74% of them are in that age group.
This is a finding of an international online survey involving
more than 25,000 Microsoft MSN web portal visitors in August and September.
The survey, Blogging Asia: A Windows Live Report, was conducted in Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
It found that 41% of Malaysians who went online also blogged.
Malaysia’s bloggers primarily do it for entertainment and to share their lives with family and friends.
“Blogging has moved into the mainstream in Asia and Malaysia, and has become a popular way to stay in touch with family and friends,” said Grant Watts, Microsoft South-East Asia general manager for online services group.
The survey found that 56% of Malaysians blogged to express passionately held views, while 49% blogged to keep friends and family updated.
Some 34% just like having a little corner of cyberspace to call their own.
Only a small number, about 3%, said they were practising “citizen journalism.”
As for blog-reading habits, 63% of respondents said they read blogs for entertainment, while technology, travel and music were the three most widely read blog topics across Asia and in Malaysia.
The majority of blog readers, 81%, are most interested in blogs written by friends or family.
Far behind in popularity are blogs by celebrities, pop stars and workmates.
Blogs by business leaders and politicians garner the least interest.
Blog readers said they looked for good writing and plenty of pictures.
Source : STAR
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Toll Rates Up ?? Why Ler?
Aiyoh, how can? Our Toll Rates are already so high. We pay Road Tax, our cars are so expensive, and our roads are so badly maintain, and here we have pay higher Toll Rates?
Why lah? Our petrol prices are already so high, if the toll prices go up even more, then gone lah, no need to drive on the road, we shall all resort to cycling to work and back!
Sigh ... LDP toll is mentioned as one of the Toll Plaza to increase their prices. And that's the one i use! double sigh!
Toll rates will be increased for five concessionaires come Jan 1, 2007, according to Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.
He said the Government could not afford to compensate the concessionaires for the Guthrie Corridor Expressway, Karak Highway, Grand Saga Cheras-Kajang Highway, Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong (LDP) and Kesas Shah Alam Highway the estimated RM2bil, if no increase was approved during this round of concession agreements.
It is understood that this is how much the Government will have to fork out until the concession agreements lapse.
Citing an example, Samy Vellu said the original toll rate when the LDP first opened was RM1.50.
“But because of complaints by the people, it was reduced to RM1. Just because the toll was reduced, it did not mean the balance of 50 sen did not have to be paid,” he said, adding that the Government had to compensate the LDP concessionaire RM68mil last year and RM76mil this year.
Samy Vellu said the quantum of increase would only be finalised after a study by the ministry to make sure the increase was reasonable and would not burden the public.
The last toll increase was on Jan 1, 2005, when Plus Expressways increased toll rates by 10% on the North-South Expressway. In April 2002, Kesas highway also raised its rates by between 20 sen and 60 sen.
More News : STAR
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Why lah? Our petrol prices are already so high, if the toll prices go up even more, then gone lah, no need to drive on the road, we shall all resort to cycling to work and back!
Sigh ... LDP toll is mentioned as one of the Toll Plaza to increase their prices. And that's the one i use! double sigh!
Toll rates will be increased for five concessionaires come Jan 1, 2007, according to Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.
He said the Government could not afford to compensate the concessionaires for the Guthrie Corridor Expressway, Karak Highway, Grand Saga Cheras-Kajang Highway, Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong (LDP) and Kesas Shah Alam Highway the estimated RM2bil, if no increase was approved during this round of concession agreements.
It is understood that this is how much the Government will have to fork out until the concession agreements lapse.
Citing an example, Samy Vellu said the original toll rate when the LDP first opened was RM1.50.
“But because of complaints by the people, it was reduced to RM1. Just because the toll was reduced, it did not mean the balance of 50 sen did not have to be paid,” he said, adding that the Government had to compensate the LDP concessionaire RM68mil last year and RM76mil this year.
Samy Vellu said the quantum of increase would only be finalised after a study by the ministry to make sure the increase was reasonable and would not burden the public.
The last toll increase was on Jan 1, 2005, when Plus Expressways increased toll rates by 10% on the North-South Expressway. In April 2002, Kesas highway also raised its rates by between 20 sen and 60 sen.
More News : STAR
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Consumer Benefits with New Rules for Maid Agencies
Finally the government is helping the consumers to save some money by setting up good rules and guidlines on what Maid Agencies should earn.
We recently got our new Indonesian maid and it cost us a Bomb, and we were trying to figure out how did the breakdown of the Maid Agency work. Was calculating and recalculating, but it all seemed to be a HUGE PROFIT to the Maid Agency, whilst we (consumers) were at their mercy, cos we had no contacts, nor the know-how on how to legally bring a helper from Indonesia to Malaysia.
Well i hope with the guidelines coming into place soon, this will bring down the complains from the consumers.
We also had a friend who went thru another Maid Agency for an Indonesian Maid fairly recently. They were really happy with her performance and was going to confirm her (nowadays they have this "Try and Test the Temporary Maid" thingy), and just as they were to confirm her, they found out - must pay this extra, pay that extra, and the worst thing, the latest was that the immigration didn't wanna renew the maid's working visa! SIGH!!
Anway, let's hope the govt and the agencies gets their act together in order for us to get proper and affordable help around the house.
New rule for maid agencies
By SIM LEOI LEOI PUTRAJAYA:
Maid agencies are required to sign an undertaking with the Government to comply with new regulations that include capping the recruitment and processing fees of Indonesian domestic helpers at RM2,415.
Agencies that refuse to commit themselves to the new rules already in effect would not be issued permits to bring in maids from Indonesia, said Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad.
“Previously, they didn’t need to sign any agreement or undertaking with the Government, but now they have to. We will call a meeting very soon with the agencies to explain to them the requirements,” he said yesterday.
The RM2,415 new rate is a vast reduction of the amount Radzi had announced in August, when he said RM3,700 was the maximum employers had to pay agencies for Indonesian maids.
The breakdown of the new RM2,415 rate is:
·RM635 for agent’s fee;
·RM500 for airfare from Indonesia;
·RM360 for Government levy;
·RM190 for medical examination;
·RM60 for work permit;
·RM15 for re-entry visa; ·RM10 for processing; and,
·RM645 for miscellaneous costs such as lodging, transport from airport and airport charges.
Of the Old RM3,700 rate;
RM1,000 was the fee paid to the local agent
RM1,700 to the Indonesian agent
RM500 was the processing fee and another
RM500 for airfare.
“In the past, some agencies have charged as high as RM5,000 for each maid. If we don’t control the rate, this will lead to inflation,” said Radzi, adding that employers had been squeezed by the agencies.
On the maid’s pay, Radzi said the Government had not set any minimum wage.
The average monthly salary paid to an Indonesian maid now is between RM450 and RM500. The minister recently announced in Jakarta that Malaysia and Indonesia had signed an agreement to fix the fees to bring Indonesian maids over.
Now that a standard rate has been set, agencies can no longer arbitrarily charge employers.
Source : STAR
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
We recently got our new Indonesian maid and it cost us a Bomb, and we were trying to figure out how did the breakdown of the Maid Agency work. Was calculating and recalculating, but it all seemed to be a HUGE PROFIT to the Maid Agency, whilst we (consumers) were at their mercy, cos we had no contacts, nor the know-how on how to legally bring a helper from Indonesia to Malaysia.
Well i hope with the guidelines coming into place soon, this will bring down the complains from the consumers.
We also had a friend who went thru another Maid Agency for an Indonesian Maid fairly recently. They were really happy with her performance and was going to confirm her (nowadays they have this "Try and Test the Temporary Maid" thingy), and just as they were to confirm her, they found out - must pay this extra, pay that extra, and the worst thing, the latest was that the immigration didn't wanna renew the maid's working visa! SIGH!!
Anway, let's hope the govt and the agencies gets their act together in order for us to get proper and affordable help around the house.
New rule for maid agencies
By SIM LEOI LEOI PUTRAJAYA:
Maid agencies are required to sign an undertaking with the Government to comply with new regulations that include capping the recruitment and processing fees of Indonesian domestic helpers at RM2,415.
Agencies that refuse to commit themselves to the new rules already in effect would not be issued permits to bring in maids from Indonesia, said Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad.
“Previously, they didn’t need to sign any agreement or undertaking with the Government, but now they have to. We will call a meeting very soon with the agencies to explain to them the requirements,” he said yesterday.
The RM2,415 new rate is a vast reduction of the amount Radzi had announced in August, when he said RM3,700 was the maximum employers had to pay agencies for Indonesian maids.
The breakdown of the new RM2,415 rate is:
·RM635 for agent’s fee;
·RM500 for airfare from Indonesia;
·RM360 for Government levy;
·RM190 for medical examination;
·RM60 for work permit;
·RM15 for re-entry visa; ·RM10 for processing; and,
·RM645 for miscellaneous costs such as lodging, transport from airport and airport charges.
Of the Old RM3,700 rate;
RM1,000 was the fee paid to the local agent
RM1,700 to the Indonesian agent
RM500 was the processing fee and another
RM500 for airfare.
“In the past, some agencies have charged as high as RM5,000 for each maid. If we don’t control the rate, this will lead to inflation,” said Radzi, adding that employers had been squeezed by the agencies.
On the maid’s pay, Radzi said the Government had not set any minimum wage.
The average monthly salary paid to an Indonesian maid now is between RM450 and RM500. The minister recently announced in Jakarta that Malaysia and Indonesia had signed an agreement to fix the fees to bring Indonesian maids over.
Now that a standard rate has been set, agencies can no longer arbitrarily charge employers.
Source : STAR
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Friday, November 24, 2006
Sun's Free E-Paper
I trully enjoy what the the Sun Newspaper website now has to offer - which is all their pages featured online - via a PDF format.
Previously sun2surf only featured some of their articles for the day, and many of the other articles were not online. But now even if I miss getting a free copy from my condo, I can still browse and read the full Sun online.
One funny thing though, when u read their Full Newspapers - http://203.115.192.124/friday/fri_page23.html - it always starts on the Last Page of the newspaper. Hmmm I wonder why?
Anyway, its still good cos they have the Scroll Bar on the Left which allows you to skip from one page to another. Kewl!
Anyway ... a Good job to the Sun - for keeping it free for all! :)
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Our Warehouse Sales Blog hit the 20,000 mark!!
Awesome news! We are so so so glad that our shoppingNsales blog have really been doing so good in terms of number of hits. Sales, shopping, warehouse sales, promotion stuff must be one of the other Malaysian's favourite past time apart from food!!
Today we hit Two Milestones for shoppingNsales.
- 1,322 hits! Woo hoo! We had the highest number of hits on one single day - (7.50pm)
- 20,068 hits! Woo hoo! We just hit the 20,000 mark!
We guess for many of you, the numbers are not really that outstanding, as many blogs are in the hundreds of thousands. But for us as new bloggers (only attempted to blog in July 2006), these are great milestones for us!
We only started shoppingNsales in September 2006, and to have more than 20,000 hits in just less than three months is a great feat (from our perspective that is) :).
The numbers also show that people are enjoying the information attained at the Blog (we are hoping) and that the sales and warehouse sales info are useful to the mass. We guess everyone just wants a good deal .... :) Malaysians lor ... we always wants the best at the most affordable prices.
Woooooo hoooooo .... :) We just feel good. Anyway ... there's still so much to learn about the blogging sphere, and if you guys have any good ideas do share with us on how we can improve it further ... please let us know.
Help keep our Numbers growing .... Visit shoppingNsales :)
Huggies Video - Absolutely Adorable
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
RM2,400 Fee for a Maid
JAKARTA: Malaysia and Indonesia have signed an agreement to fix the fees to hire Indonesian maids at RM2,400 per person.
Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said that with the accord, foreign maid agencies in Malaysia could not seek a higher fee from potential employers.
“We have fixed it at RM2,400. This is acceptable as it will not burden the employers and the maids. Agents are reminded not to charge more than that,” he told reporters after launching Malaysia's second generation passport at the Malaysian Embassy here.
Jakarta is the fifth foreign capital where the passport will be made available to Malaysians.
Radzi said those who did not toe the line would have their licences revoked.
The maids, meanwhile, must come up with the RM1,300 for their agents in Indonesia, who would make the necessary arrangements for their employment in Malaysia.
The agreement, which is an extension to the bilateral agreement on maids signed by Radzi in Bali last May, was signed by the ministry's secretary-general Tan Sri Aseh Che Mat with the Indonesian Immigration yesterday.
Radzi said the Government planned to make it compulsory for employers to pay for their maids' health insurance policies as well as disbursing at least 30% of the maids' first month salary to them.
“This is to ensure that the maids have some cash to spend,” he said.
At present, there are more than 380,000 Indonesian maids in Malaysia. – Bernama
Source : STAR
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said that with the accord, foreign maid agencies in Malaysia could not seek a higher fee from potential employers.
“We have fixed it at RM2,400. This is acceptable as it will not burden the employers and the maids. Agents are reminded not to charge more than that,” he told reporters after launching Malaysia's second generation passport at the Malaysian Embassy here.
Jakarta is the fifth foreign capital where the passport will be made available to Malaysians.
Radzi said those who did not toe the line would have their licences revoked.
The maids, meanwhile, must come up with the RM1,300 for their agents in Indonesia, who would make the necessary arrangements for their employment in Malaysia.
The agreement, which is an extension to the bilateral agreement on maids signed by Radzi in Bali last May, was signed by the ministry's secretary-general Tan Sri Aseh Che Mat with the Indonesian Immigration yesterday.
Radzi said the Government planned to make it compulsory for employers to pay for their maids' health insurance policies as well as disbursing at least 30% of the maids' first month salary to them.
“This is to ensure that the maids have some cash to spend,” he said.
At present, there are more than 380,000 Indonesian maids in Malaysia. – Bernama
Source : STAR
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Library Things catalogs your books online & Boks Books Books
Stumbled on it by accident and found out that Library Thing is such a cool website!!
Cos we wanted to compile all our books that we have in our home, but didnt really know how to put it all together. We actually started out by making a list in Word, typing out the name of the book and the author .. but quite the leceh.
But when we found Library Thing, WOW this is way way cool, cos u can also add the Book Cover (picture) and ISBN and you have Widget add on (Fun Section), which u can add on to your Blogger - like what we did in our Right Sidebar.
For those of you who are avid readers, you can put up all the books that you own online and have discussion, comments and things like that.
Another thing about Books (for me that is). Once u read a book, u normally don't read it again. (Unless we are refering to the Big Book - the Bible)
Well, especially if its fiction (or aka Airpot Books, books that u buy to read on long haul flights). Anyway, i have close to a hundred of these books and now don't know what to do with them.
-> Hmm if any of u have any great suggestions on what i can do with them ... pls let me know.
Meanwhile, here are two great Book related Sales that may interest you.
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Cos we wanted to compile all our books that we have in our home, but didnt really know how to put it all together. We actually started out by making a list in Word, typing out the name of the book and the author .. but quite the leceh.
But when we found Library Thing, WOW this is way way cool, cos u can also add the Book Cover (picture) and ISBN and you have Widget add on (Fun Section), which u can add on to your Blogger - like what we did in our Right Sidebar.
For those of you who are avid readers, you can put up all the books that you own online and have discussion, comments and things like that.
Here's my Fiction Library Book List : delephant's library
Another thing about Books (for me that is). Once u read a book, u normally don't read it again. (Unless we are refering to the Big Book - the Bible)
Well, especially if its fiction (or aka Airpot Books, books that u buy to read on long haul flights). Anyway, i have close to a hundred of these books and now don't know what to do with them.
-> Hmm if any of u have any great suggestions on what i can do with them ... pls let me know.
Meanwhile, here are two great Book related Sales that may interest you.
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Monday, November 20, 2006
Awesome Tips for Beta Blogger
Just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to Peter from Blogger Tips and Tricks.
He's got some awesome cool tips for helping new users with Beta Blogger.
So far I've been using Beta Blogger for 1 1/2 months and the good and have discovered some good and bad stuff about it.
GOOD STUFF
ADD ON STUFF
Hope u found the stuff useful! By the way .. Peter is a Malaysian too! :) awesome dude!
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
He's got some awesome cool tips for helping new users with Beta Blogger.
So far I've been using Beta Blogger for 1 1/2 months and the good and have discovered some good and bad stuff about it.
GOOD STUFF
- Labels - works like Tags in Wordpress
- Archiving by Month is pretty cool, and much easier to find stuff (easier to open by month)
BAD STUFF
- Google Search doesn't work on Beta Blogger : Fix it here
- Can't Add Page Elements to Header & Body of Text to Beta Blogger : Fix it here [Add More Page Elements to your Header and Body so that you can include Ad Sense]
- The built in Ad Sense doesn't support your own Categories. So you have to fix it yourself by adding your own code. Set it up well so that it will help you make money for your Blog.
ADD ON STUFF
- How to add an Excel Spreadsheet in your Beta Blogger : Find out here
- How to add a Moveable / Scrolling Text in your Beta Blogger : Find out here
Hope u found the stuff useful! By the way .. Peter is a Malaysian too! :) awesome dude!
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Man Fined for Saying Four-Letter-Word on Plane
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A 65-year-old Australian man was fined S$10,000 ($6,423) by a Singapore court for uttering the word "bomb" on a flight to Indonesia, The Straits Times reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper said he made the remark after trying to find space in the overhead lockers.
Paulin was charged under the United Nations anti-terrorism regulations, which carry a maximum fine of S$100,000 or up to five years in jail or both.
He apologized to the court for his remark, saying it was meant as a joke.
Source : Reuters
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Riccardo Paulin, a retiree, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to having asked a flight
attendant "Where do you keep the bomb?" on a flight operated by
Singapore regional carrier SilkAir to the Indonesian city of Surabaya, the
newspaper said.
The newspaper said he made the remark after trying to find space in the overhead lockers.
Paulin was charged under the United Nations anti-terrorism regulations, which carry a maximum fine of S$100,000 or up to five years in jail or both.
He apologized to the court for his remark, saying it was meant as a joke.
Source : Reuters
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Maid Stories
Wanted to collect some stories and news on Indonesian Maids or Maids in Malaysia.
Here are a couple of interesting Maid Stories from the News, will add on to this as time moves on.
Maid Stories from 1 September 2006 onwards
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Here are a couple of interesting Maid Stories from the News, will add on to this as time moves on.
Maid Stories from 1 September 2006 onwards
- Maid admits knife threat against boss & Indon maid threatens employer with knife
- Good employers make all the difference
- Indon maid flees from abusive employer
- Maids abandon wards and run off with RM16,000
- Indon maid gang-raped and robbed
- Trial of housewife who allegedly abused her former maid
- Fired Indonesian maid causes a stir
- Where Filipinos gather
- Court allows ex-boss’ bid to stay trial on maid abuse
- Express service from Immigration Department
- Maid held over RM1.3mil robbery
- Maid no substitute for parent
[tags : delephant fun stuff]
Have u met Liam from Yahoo?
Dunno what’s wrong with me….
I am just fascinated by the Yahoo Tutorial icon called Liam. Already bloged about how much i like Yahoo MailBeta! Now just gonna add that the Liam icon is rather fascinating!
Anyway …. i just wanna say that these Yahoo animated Gifs are cool. Not sure if there are any out there who feels the same. If u know where I can get more …. let me know!
Liam - Bouncing Ball
Original Link - http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/pim/dclient/d/img/liam_ball_1.gif
Liam - Breakdancing
Original Link - http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/pim/dclient/d/img/liam_breakdance.gif
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