Cute Baby

To the proud Mom, Sharifah Zamzariah and Dad, Din of Ahmad Muzaffar.

Japanese woman caught living in man's closet

He became suspicious when the food started disappearing. But she lived there FOR A YEAR. That was a story about a Japanese woman who had been living in man's closet for a year without him noticing it until he found that his food started disappearing.

Strangely does it sound to be but over here that kind of story we never heard of. What we used to hear is that some guys will enter your house and demanding whatever they want and then leave. Or you felt asleep at night and in the morning you found out that most of your belongings are missing.

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Wau Kuching (Kite)

Wau

In Northern Malaysia, kite is known as Wau. The frame of the ‘wau’ is made of bamboo which is strong and flexible.

Wau also has a special feature which is the noise making bow or hummer. The noise makes the kite to come ‘alive’.

The bow in the frame allows balance in the kites.

There are several types of WAU.


Wau Bulan

Wau bulan is an intricately designed Malaysian moon-kite (normally with floral motifs) that is traditionally flown by men in the Malaysian state of Kelantan. It's one of Malaysia's national symbols, along some others being the kris and hibiscus. The logo of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is based on this kite.

The following is a picture of Wau Bulan.



The following picture is Wau Jalabadi.



The following picture is Wau Merak


WAU KUCHING

Another type of popular wau is called a cat kite as shown below.

New Set of Threats After the Earthquake in China

The earthqauke that rattles inner part of China recently posing a new set of threats i.e. possible flooding due to the creation of several new giat lakes. The lake had risen to 725.3 metres (2,380 feet) on Monday, only 26 metres below the lowest part of the barrier, he said. By Monday night, around 600 engineers and soldiers had gathered at the landslip and were taking turns to work through the night.

read more | digg story

Poor Customer Service

I have been thinking of opening a new bank account at one of the bank branches for some time due to the proximity of the bank to our house. But due to some kind of poor customer service such as what have I listed below, I have not being able to fulfill my wish to open the new account. I will continue to visit other banks which also located within the vicinity to do my banking.

However, today I forced myself to endure the gruelling process of opening the new bank account and I would like to share with you why the not so nice experienced happen. I would rather not to reveal the name of the bank and the particular branch of the bank. But if you ever encounter the same experiences, you will know which bank that I am talking about. Similarly, the type of factors that cause the customer service to deteriorate is just common sense and you are welcome to add more to the list by commenting to this blog.

Here are the several typical reasons why I have to postpone my wish to open the new bank account (Hopefully the bank managers of that particular bank can use them for improving their customer service):

1. Waiting time to get your service is too long and unacceptable because the number of operational desk counters is not many (only one or two counters are operational at any one time). Most of the other counters are decorated with the words "Counter Closed".

2. Service time for each counter is very long because they serviced everything that the customers requested from the time consuming process of opening a new account to the simple mundane task of updating a passbook. I am one of those that contribute to the long process because I wanted to open my new bank account and believe me it took too long for them to process and it affects other people in the queue. This problem can be avoided by providing a customer relation officers at the front desk to let the customers fill in all of the details without having to join others in the queue because the number of customers that wanted to open their accounts are not that many but each one of them takes too much of the time from the counter service.

3. Most of the customers also have to wait long in the queue just to perform a simple task of depositing a check or just to update their passbook. The issue of check depositing or cash depositing can be overcome by providing an automatic check depositing machine and cash depositing machine so that those who just wanted to deposit their check just can do it 24 hours a day by using the machines and without having to queue up for several hours just to perform the simple task.

4. Have to wait in line for your turn because there is no numbered queuing system. In order to ensure that you will get your turn, no matter how long is the queue you have to stand behind the queue faithfully waiting for your turn. By using the numbered queueing system will enable anybody to perform other tasks while waiting for their turn.

Those are the reasons that I can think of why I have to postpone my wish to open a new account until the moment where I cannot resist the need to open a new account and have to endure the agonizing pain of waiting in the queue for too long and wasting my valuable time. If you have some other reasons that can help the particular bank manager to improve the customer service, please feel free to add more to the list by commenting to this posting.

Mars Landing!

NASA spacecraft, Phoenix, has successfully landed on the polar region of Mars. It is the first successful landing of the NASA spacecraft. Images sent by the spacecraft after two hours of successful landing confirmed the reports.

It is a great discovery and a new scientific achievement where researchers will be busy analyzing the findings from the Mars mission. It would be very interesting to know whether Mars can be of an alternative place for human habitation. Also, it would be interesting enough to know whether there will be a new source of energy available in Mars given that the scarcity of our own energy resources on earth such as fuel, gas and etc.

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He Took a Polaroid Every Day, Until the Day He Died

Started with a collection of Polaroids, one per day, from March 31, 1979 through October 25, 1997, unravelling of a mysterious lifestyle of a person until the end of his life. Instead of using polaroid, we can also take account of our own lifestyle one per day using digital camera and upload it online.

read more | digg story

DIGITAL DIVIDE

The digital divide is the inequality in access to information and communication technologies (ICT) services. There are several reasons for the digital divide such as class, region, age, gender, Race&Culture, and Nations.

The number of Internet users is found to be directly related to the class of society. Younger population has more Internet connections throughout the world. Surprisingly, as found out by the study, female users is less than male users. European and Asians are found to be more frequent users of the Internet services than the Africans. As expected, there are more number of Internet users in USA and UK.

I agree that part of the reason for the digital divide is the basic resources available for providing the ICT services. For example, the basic infrastructure for the ICT services should be readily available and this is the main problem for the developing countries to find the money and resources to provide such a facilities.

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Never piss off an Engineer

Engineers or Mathematicians are very funny.

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Goebilt Jetty

Goebilt is a small town along the Sarawak river. Pengkalan Goebilt or Goebilt jetty as shown below is a main gateway for locals to go to places along the seashore. It is also the main teriminal for fishing vessels.



View Larger Map




One of the fishing vessels at the Goebilt Jetty.

View of cargo ships loading and unloading containers at the Senari loading and unloading terminal area.



View of fishing boats along at the river bank.






Just completed project at the Goebilt jetty.

Durian Tree

Durian Tree and a hut. Durian is a type of fruit available in the Southeast Asian countries. The fruits taste delicious but with pungent smell. Some people cannot tolerate the smell especially westerners. That's why you will find this sign "No Durian Allowed" almost available in all hotels' lift throughout Malaysia.

Durian tree is very sensitive to weather. In order to produce a lot of durian fruits, a good combination of weather is required. A dry season is needed in order for the trees to undergo stress, a process when the bark cracks, allowing green buds to emerge. It is important for the tree to undergo stress during its fertile period, which is when it produce hormones.

Excessive rain during the supposedly dry season resulted in many trees not flowering. Not enough rain or too much rain is detrimental to the production of durian.

For me, durian is the most delicious fruit around.

Ferry Service

There are two alternatives route to go to coastal areas such as Asajaya, Sadong Jaya, Sebuyau, Etc. One alternative is using the route from Kota Semarahan to Asajaya using ferry services. Most travellers prefer to use this route since it is much shorter route. The ferry services are carried out using two ferries running concurrently between the two sides of the Samarahan River.

One of the two ferry carrying vehicles from one side to the other side of the river.


View of the Samarahan River.

Another ferry carrying passenger and vehicles going to the other side tof the river.

View of the ferry deck where the captain take control of the ferry.

View from onboard of the ferry.

One of the ferry approaching the side of the river.

The use of the ferry services comes with a fee. For passenger car, you have to pay RM1.00 per usage and I think is is very cheap as compared to burning fuels by using the alternative route. Besides, the fee, during peak period, one has to wait in the queue sometimes can be more than 20 minutes if the traffic is very heavy. However, due to the size of the ferry which can carry more than 30 passenger cars, the waiting time is reduced significantly.

Happy Mother's Day

Wish my mom and all mothers a happy mother's day. We appreciate you for all of the burden and hardship that you have been entrusted until today.

Damai Beach

View of Damai Beach facing the South China Sea. The weather is calm and the sea is very gentle.





The road leading to the Damai Beach Resort. The background is the Santubong Mt.

View of the swimming pool of the Damai Beach Resort.

Several Ways of Saving Fuel

Due to the rising oil price, an increasing number of motorists resort to several ways of utilizing every last mile from a tank of fuel. The most current method is called ‘hypermiling,' which is reported to be able to double gas mileage.

Hypermiling consists of pumping up tires to the maximum rating on their sidewalls, using low viscosity engine oil, and drafting behind other vehicles on the highway to reduce aerodynamic drag. The last method is very controversial method because its involved safety issues and can lead to highway accidents. Other type of hypermiling techniques are keeping speed down, accelerating gently, and avoiding excessive idling.

Throughout the world, ever increasing fuel prices create uncertainties in people’s mind especially in term of economical concern. Their dollars are being stretched to cover the same mileage as before. Fuel prices topped the problems followed by jobs availability and healthcare.
Another method of saving fuel is to reduce the dependency on vehicles. One way of achieving it is by doing your business at home or to concentrate fully on your own home business. One type of profitable home business opportunity can be found HERE. Another way of relying less on vehicles is to do all of your shopping online. One of the biggest and best stores for online shopping site can be found HERE.

Labor Day Celebration

Power boat competition being held in conjunction with labor Day Celebration in Desa Ilmu. There are several stalls nearby where small enterpreneurs have the opportunities to sell their products. The type of products suitable to be sold at such occasions are drinks, fastfoods, snacks, etc. However, the amount of money that they made depends on the number of visitors attending the function.

Annual event to celebrate the labor day being held at Desa Ilmu, Kota Semarahan by Naim Chendera. Among the events are Power Boat Racing, tarik tali, etc.

Looking for a spot to relieve yourself. Thanks god that there is a portable toilet bin nearby but need to queue up for your turn.

Poco-poco aerobic being held at the occasion.