Know your right!

Head down to nearest post office today, register for voter, know your right!
Vote for your choice, decide the fate of our country!

If you at KL or nearby, do drop by, these people really working hard for this campaign, support them!
http://dosomethingepic.net/

FW: 請讓所有人知道此事‏

請讓所有人知道此事
大約三個星期前，我在加油站加油。那時大概是晚上十一點半左右；有一部車朝我接近，車內有兩男兩女。

開車的那個男人問我： 『妳擦哪種香水？』
我感到有些疑惑，然後我問：『為什麼問這個？』

他說：『我們有在販賣一些較便宜的名牌香水。』
我回答他我身上並沒帶錢。

接著他從車內的一疊紙中抽出一張遞給我，上面寫著很多香水的名稱。 我快速的瀏覽一遍之後還給他，並再說明一次我沒錢買。

然後他告訴我沒關係，他們有收支票、現金、或信用卡。
結果車內的其他人開始大笑。

我接著進入我的車子跟他們說謝了不用了。
之後，就在昨天，我收到這封 e-mail ，它讓我整個人都寒起來了。

請仔細閱讀以下這封信。這不是笑話 。

希望男性朋友也可以將這件事提醒讓你們的太太、女兒、母親、姊妹等人知曉。

這世界似乎已變得越來越瘋狂了。包裹內放置炸彈和停車場出現販賣香水的神經病。

但請務必要小心。

我昨天下午在停車場，有兩個男人過來問我擦什麼香水。

然後他們接著問我要不要試用一些他們正在販賣的很棒的香水，而且價錢公道。

但是如果我幾個星期前沒有收到一封詐騙的警告信 '要不要聞聞這香水？' ， 我真的很有可能去試用 。

這兩個男人依然站在車道上，我想等看看有無人經過這裡。

我向前制止了一位正走向他們的女士，指出他們的位置，告訴她 有關我收到一封 email 的事。

若是有人在商場或停車場接近妳 , 推銷較便宜的香水要妳聞的話 。
'! 這不是香水！那是乙醚！ ' 當你聞到它，你就會昏倒。!

然後他們就會拿走你的皮夾、你身上所有的值錢物品、甚至天知道 還有些什麼。

! 如果不是這封信，我很可能會去聞那' 香水 '。

謝謝寄這封信給我的好心朋友，使我免遭到原先有可能遭遇的事。

所以我轉寄這封信給你們。請務必轉寄出去給你所有的女性朋友，並且請提高警覺，注意此類似事件！

如果收到此封信的是男性，請你們轉寄給你們的女性朋友們！

這是真的！相信我，我經驗過！我當時正在停車場上， 那時正是午餐時間。

這種事在白天夜晚都有可能發生的。有三個男人走向我。我回到我辦公室時立即報警。

就如上述 email 所說的，' 讓所有人知道此事 ' 。

讓你的朋友、家人、同事、甚至是任何人都知道此事。

因為這封信幫我很大，當時遇到的情況，我的第一個念頭便是此信的警告

Fw: 发生在泰国的真人真事：女生一定要读‏

[分享] 发生在泰国的真人真事：女生一定要读。
大家好。这是我第一次在这里发帖。
想跟大家分享，我今天收到的一封电邮。是一位泰国朋友转发给 我，我读了觉得很难
过，也觉得应该翻译出来，让大家知道发生在泰国的这一桩事。
以下的【我】，是代表原作者。
我不需要把我的名字 说出来，接下来的事件，就是我不能把名字说出来的原因。
大概在新年过后的2个星期，我的太太辞去工作，打算换新工作。那天，她就到
Central（曼 谷的一间著名购物商场）的一间书局，去找她喜欢看的书。


正当她在看书的时候，有一个年级大概30岁的女人走过来跟我太太攀谈。 说，她也喜
欢那类型的书。然后又跟我太太分享几本很好看的书。





整个交谈的过程非常的愉快，过后 对方给我他太太她的名卡 ，而我太太则给了对方电
话号码，因为觉得大家都是女人，防备心就没这么强。
过后，她们常有通电话，最后更相约出来见面聊天喝茶，也顺便借 书给我太太看。才
把书交给了我太太，就行色匆匆的离开，说要赶着去上班。
但是这本书，我太太已经读过了，于是我太太就得再约对方出来，以 把书还给她。
她们第二次的见面，也是在Central，那时已近中午，对方就约我太太去foodcenter共
进午餐。到了那边，就介绍 一位也在那儿坐着等的一位男子，说这是她的同事，这男
子也喜欢读那一类型的书。
男子问我太太要吃什么吗？他可以去买。太太不好意思，就叫 了跟他们一样的粿条
汤。而我太太一直说要去买水给大家，但是那个女人就抢先去买了。
吃着吃着，大概吃了半碗，喝了一些水，我太太就觉得有 点头晕以及疲累。
再过没几分钟，就无法自控了。那女人就过来扶着我太太。然后告诉那男子，说我太
太可能是晕倒，来我们一起扶她到外面，空 气比较好。

那时，我太太说不出话，也几乎站不起来。他们扶着我太太，来到停车场。途中，男
子打电话叫车来，还不到一分钟，一辆 van就到了。

然后，他们两人合力把我太太推上车，然后关上车门。车上还有另外两位男子。
当车子开出去的时候，我太太尝试喊叫， 但就是喊不出声。而车上的男子，也用手来
盖住她的嘴巴。
车子开了不久，那位在food center遇到的男子，就开始把我太太的衣服脱下。太太奋
力挣扎，但是却敌不过他们。另外两位男子，也帮忙脱。
接下来的事，恐怕无需 我继续描述下去。而那位在书局遇到的女人，就负责拿相机拍
照。也不知过了多久，当再次情形的时候，才发觉自己被丢在油站的厕所。
我去把太 太接回家，询问她发生了什么事，但是她什么也不说。只是在家里坐着
哭。。。。。。
就这样过了三天，太太的母亲打电话来说，家里收到一封挂 号信。要我去拿。我去到
打开一看，只见有一叠照片，以及被勒索现款40万泰铢，作为赎回照片与底片的费
用。我愣住，什么也说不出。。。只 是觉得心很痛、很难过。





我跟父亲以及一位当警察的朋友商讨此事，他们都觉得应该向警方报案。因为这40 万
泰铢对我 们两夫妇来说，可不是一笔小数目。我们只是普通的上班族。
在约见交赎金的那天，我们也联通警方的配合，结果成功的捉到2个人。但是只拿到一
部 分的照片。

而警方则继续追踪另外的3个人，但是还不确定还有多少照片在对方手上。
不久我也接到他们的党羽的两次电话，恐吓我，他 们将会把照片上载到网上。
目前，我太太也没有去上班了。只是在家里难过的坐着，也不想再见任何人了。
而我也不敢到什么地方，一下班我就立 刻回家陪她。我们的生活，就只有恐惧、惊
慌、胡思乱想，就像是精神病一样。
因此，我才把我们的经历写出来跟大家分享，
现在，那些 【在别人身上建造痛苦，以换来金钱】的做法，已经是很普通的事了。
希望大家在读了这篇文章后，有多一些的警惕。
愿我这次分 享的功德，可以为我家庭带来多一些的幸福。
也希望，大家可以转载文章，让更多人可以知道。
谢谢。

Embrace life – always wear your seat belt!

Embrace life – always wear your seat belt!

Why be a vegetarian?

Read the pdf below:

http://sites.google.com/site/oudateduncle/Whybeavegetarian.pdf

If you can't be total vegetarian, try to reduce the dairy and meat consumption.

用心祝福身邊所有人事物-感恩

p/s: see also how I convert the powerpoint to Flash
http://outdatedpenanguncle.blogspot.com/2010/03/free-powerpoint-to-flash-converter.html

E-mail is Making You Stupid

– Joe Robinson, a business coach and trainer, is the author of “Work to Live” and the audio CD “The Email Overload Survival Kit”. This article originally appeared on Entrepreneur.com –

The research is overwhelming. Constant e-mail interruptions make you less productive, less creative and – if you’re e-mailing when you’re doing something else – just plain dumb.

Within the heart of your company, saboteurs lurk. Disguised as instruments of productivity, they are subverting your staff’s most precious resource: attention. Incessant e-mail alerts, instant messages, buzzing BlackBerrys and cell phones are decimating workplace concentration. The average information worker – basically anyone at a desk – loses 2.1 hours of productivity every day to interruptions and distractions, according to Basex, an IT research and consulting firm.

That time is money. Computer chip giant Intel, for one, has estimated that e-mail overload can cost large companies as much as $1 billion a year in lost employee productivity. The intrusions are constant: each day a typical office employee checks e-mail 50 times and uses instant messaging 77 times, according to RescueTime, a firm that develops time-management software. Such interruptions don’t just sidetrack workers from their jobs, they also undermine their attention spans, increase stress and annoyance and decrease job satisfaction and creativity.

The interruption epidemic is reaching a crisis point at some companies and shows no sign of slowing. E-mail volume is growing at a rate of 66 percent a year, according to the E-Policy Institute. More people are texting. More are using Facebook or Twitter for work.

“It’s worse than it’s ever been,” says Michelle Rupp, owner of NRG Seattle, an insurance brokerage with a staff of 12 who feel pounded by the avalanche of messaging. “It’s so hard to stay focused. Everything bings and bongs and tweets at you, and you don’t think.”

Yes, it is possible to blunt the interruption assault. But business leaders must go on the offensive in a realm most are oblivious to: interruption management.

The Myth of Multitasking

Human brains come equipped with two kinds of attention: involuntary and voluntary. Involuntary attention, designed to be on the watch for threats to survival, is triggered by outside stimuli–what grabs you. It’s automatically rattled by the workday cacophony of rings, pings and buzzes that are turning jobs into an electronic game of Whac-a-Mole. Voluntary attention is the ability to concentrate on a chosen task.

As workers’ attention spans are whipsawed by interruptions, something insidious happens in the brain: Interruptions erode an area called effortful control and with it the ability to regulate attention. In other words, the more you check your messages, the more you feel the need to check them–an urge familiar to BlackBerry or iPhone users.

“Technology is an addiction,” says Gayle Porter, a professor of management at Rutgers University who has studied e-compulsion. “If someone can’t turn their BlackBerry off, there’s a problem.”

The cult of multitasking would have us believe that compulsive message-checking is the behavior of an always-on, hyper-productive worker. But it’s not. It’s the sign of a distracted employee who misguidedly believes he can do multiple tasks at one time. Science disagrees. People may be able to chew gum and walk at the same time, but they can’t do two or more thinking tasks simultaneously.

Say a salesman is trying to read a new e-mail while on the phone with a client. Those are both language tasks that have to go through the same cognitive channel. Trying to do both forces his brain to switch back and forth between tasks, which results in a “switching cost,” forcing him to slow down. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that productivity dropped as much as 40 percent when subjects tried to do two or more things at once. The switching exacts other costs too – mistakes and burnout. One of the study’s authors, David Meyer, asserts bluntly that quality work and multitasking are incompatible.

Brian Bailey and Joseph Konstan of the University of Minnesota discovered that sleeve-tugging peripheral tasks triggered twice the number of errors and jacked up levels of annoyance to anywhere between 31 percent and 106 percent. Their interrupted test workers also took 3 percent to 27 percent more time to complete the reading, counting or math problems. In fact, the harder the interrupted task, the harder it was to get back on track. (A Microsoft study suggests it takes a worker 15 minutes to refocus after an interruption.)

The damaging effects spread well beyond the office cubicle. Kate LeVan, a communications consultant in Evanston, Ill., coaches executives whose brains are so scrambled by electronic interruptions that they stumble during key face-to-face interactions: board meetings, investor pitches, sales presentations. “They can’t have an extended conversation for more than a few minutes,” LeVan says. “That’s the impact of having all this data going back and forth. They have problems in conversation because they can’t focus.”

Here’s how the brain behaves when your attention slips away from a task: The hippocampus, which manages demanding cognitive tasks and creates long-term memories, kicks the job down to the striatum, which handles rote tasks. So the gum-chewing part of the brain is now replying to the boss’s e-mail. This is why you wind up addressing e-mails to people who weren’t supposed to get them. Or sending messages rife with typos.

The striatum is the brain’s autopilot. And no part of your business should be allowed to run on autopilot.

Paying Attention to Paying Attention

In her 2009 book Rapt, Winifred Gallagher argues that humans are the sum of what they pay attention to: What we focus on determines our experience, knowledge, amusement, fulfillment. Yet instead of cultivating this resource, she says, we’re squandering it on “whatever captures our awareness.” To truly learn something, and remember it, you have to pay full attention.

E-interruptions are making it so hard to do that that Google, Microsoft, IBM and Intel are members of the Information Overload Research Group, formed in 2008 to collaborate on research, develop best practices and host forums to share new approaches. It’s self-preservation as much as anything; computer engineers were among the first to show symptoms of e-interruption exposure.

Ten years ago, Harvard Business School’s Leslie Perlow famously chronicled the interruption of a high-tech software company. Its engineers were interrupted so often they had to work nights and weekends. After studying the workplace for nine months, the source of the dysfunction became clear: No one could get anything done because of the bombardment of messages. Perlow came up with an intervention: Quiet Time. For four hours in the morning, the 17 engineers worked alone. All messaging and phone contact was banned. In the afternoon, communication could resume. Given time to concentrate, the engineers got a project for a color printer completed without the graveyard shift.

Intel is using Quiet Time at two of its sites. Other companies, including U.S. Cellular and Deloitte & Touche, have mandated less e-mail use, encouraged more face-to-face contact and experimented with programs such as “no e-mail Friday.” The results often are surprising: employees build rapport with colleagues–and they save time. Co-workers can settle something in a two-minute phone conversation that might have required three e-mails per person. Each change reverberates throughout a company, especially since–as a University of California, Irvine, study found – 44 percent of interruptions an employee experiences are from within the company.

Nearly everyone needs such boundaries to get anything done in this 24/7 work world. Count Chad Willardson among the converted. He’s a senior financial advisor at Merrill Lynch Private Wealth Management Group and operates a financial services practice with a partner for Merrill in Riverside, Calif. He used to check for new messages every five minutes, a potential 96 interruptions during an eight-hour day.

“The more I checked e-mail,” he says, “the more anxious I would feel over every request and question.” Now he checks e-mail manually, and only four times a day at prescribed hours – the schedule that Oklahoma State University researchers describe as optimum. He says he gets a lot more done, is more in control of his calendar and feels much less stressed.

In fact, stress-management seminars often reveal executives driven to wits’ end by their own inboxes. During one session at the aerospace company Lockheed Martin, many managers vented this frustration–until one raised his hand. “It’s not a problem for me,” he said. “I’ve gotten my e-mail checking down to twice a day.”

He explained that his staff knew he preferred to communicate by phone and they don’t send him e-mail unless it’s important that the information be in writing. And because he checked e-mail only twice daily, they had been weaned from the idea that they’d get an instant reply.

Chances are this wasn’t just good for the manager, but for all his employees, too. By modeling interruption-management, he was likely reducing the volume of interruptions throughout his division. Everyone understood that he viewed excessive messages as a drain on his performance – and by extension, theirs.

One thing was clear that day at Lockheed: When the manager volunteered his solution, it was as if he’d levitated. Other managers looked stunned. And envious.

6 Mind-boggling Info about China That May Interest You

From stocktube.blogspot.com:

#1 » 40% of Chinese small businesses either went bust or almost went bust during crisis

A report mentioned that just after 9 months China claimed its small business sector was surviving the global recession, new figures surprisingly shown that about a whopping 40% of them either failed or close to failing between Nov 2008 and Mar 2009. This is indeed a big headache to the Chinese government who was considering withdrawing the huge stimulus packages late 2010.

While the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences reported 20% of small businesses had crashed and another 20 per cent went "to the brink of bankruptcy" during the climax of the global financial crisis, Chen Naixiang (economist and director of the academy’s research center) also reported that most of the 20% businesses on the brink of failure have been revivied thanks largely to the recovering economy.

#2 » Buy Chinese stocks if you wish to finance Chinese government

China has three main stock exchanges – Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange and of course Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Of course unlike Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Shanghai Stock Exchange is still tighly controlled by the Chinese government. The Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges have over 1,500 listed companies with combined total market capitalization of US$ 2,658.2 billion (2008) rivaling Hong Kong Stock Exchange (US$ 2,121.8 billion) as Asia’s second largest stock market behind the Tokyo Stock Exchange (US$ 3,925.6 billion).

However eight of the ten top largest stocks are state-controlled companies:

1. PetroChina (RMB 3,656.20 billion)
2. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (RMB 1,417.93 billion)
3. Sinopec (RMB 961.42 billion)
4. Bank of China (RMB 894.42 billion)
5. China Shenhua Energy Company (RMB 824.22 billion)
6. China Life (RMB 667.39 billion)
7. China Merchants Bank (RMB 352.74 billion)
8. Ping An Insurance (RMB 272.53 billion)
9. Bank of Communications (RMB 269.41 billion)
10. China Pacific Insurance (RMB 256.64 billion)

#3 » China’s GDP may overtake U.S. as early as 2020

Deutsche Bank’s Chief Economist for Greater China, Jun Ma, told an investment conference in Hong Kong that China's growth will be underpinned by a rapid expansion in emerging market economies, which will account for about 70% of global GDP growth in the coming decade. China will "massively invest" in these emerging economies using its nearly $2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, extend its leverage by extending loans to the International Monetary Fund and allow the yuan to appreciate in preparation for the currency's potential reserve status.

Jun Ma further added that by early 2020, China’S nominal GDP growth could surpass that of the United States within ten years, a period which will likely be accompanied by a gradual appreciation of the yuan. Ma also expect a final GDP recovery (quarter on quarter basis) to start by middle of 2010 (hopefully this fella is correct).

#4 » By 2025, China will have 10 New York-sized cities

According to a research done by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) in “Preparing for China’s Urban Billion, China is projected to have a staggering 40 billion square meters of floor space by the year 2025. In another words China will be constructing 20,000 to 50,000 new skyscrapers of which each will be more than 30 floors. This is equivalent to a mind-boggling 10 (ten) New York Cities.



Also by 2025, up to 170 cities in China could meet planning criteria for mass-transit systems – more than twice the current number in Europe. Additionally, China will have up to 5 billion square meters of road and up to 28,000 kilometers of metro rail. China will also need to construct between 700 and 900 Gigawatts of new coal-fired power between 2005 and 2025.

#5 » By 2030, China’s cities will add 350 million people, more than the entire U.S. population

From the same research done by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), it was projected that China’s urban population will expand from 572 million in 2005 to 926 million in 2025 – an increase of 350 million Chinese city dwellers which is larger than today’s United States entire population. By 2030, China’s urban population will reach 1 billion people.

Urban investment thus will reach over 24 trillion renminbi by 2025 or 93% of total Chinese fixed investment compared with about 79% in 2007. The urban consumption share of GDP will rise from 25% (or 3.9 trillion renminbi) in 2005 to 33% (or 32.7 trillion renminbi) by 2025. The township of Huaxi in the Yangtze River Delta is a great example of how the Chinese government embraced capitalism to lift 300 million people out of poverty during the last 3 decades.

From a farm community with bamboo huts and ox carts in the 1970s, Huaxi is now an industrial and commercial powerhouse with many live in mansions and most have a car with per-capita income of 80,000 yuan (US$ 11,700) making Huaxi the China’s richest village.

#6 » China has cash to buy 20% of S&P500

United States is still worry about China’s military strength. Of course there’s no way China will reveal her real (military) statistic since it’s so fun watching U.S. sending its intelligence gathering information. Can you still remember the detention of 24 U.S. crews after the collision of U.S. EP-3E Aries II spy plane with Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea back in 2001? United States demanded the return of its spy plane but China said it would only do so after completing its own inspection and collection of evidence. China was having fun stripping the spy plane naked for whatever military technologies or knowhow that China could use.

But the strength of China may lies on its economy after all. Instead of engaging in wars, China may just start buying countries with its huge crates of cash. China’s central bank recorded foreign exchange reserves of US$2.399 trillion as of end 2009 (23% jump compared to 2008) and this was achieved during global crisis, mind you. With this type of money China can buy almost 20% of S&P500, if the Chinese government goes crazy.

Original post: http://stocktube.blogspot.com/2010/03/6-mind-boggling-info-about-china-that.html

47% of our Malaysia stock market is controlled by the Big Boys

From mystockfolio.blogspot.com:

I've recently made a study on the market value of Malaysia Bursa market. Forgot which date I did it, but roughly last few week. The total market capital of Bursa is 392.6b MYR. To my surprise, even not calculating the institutional buyers like funds, insurance companies,trust fund etc, the percentage of total market capital held by our government or government linked companies are around47% with total around 184.7b MYR.

Here is the breakdown:
LTAT-3.4B
KHAZANAH-66B
LTH-4.3B
EPF-98B
PNB-13B

Well, from the above you would have known, the biggest being EPF,KHAZANAH,PNB.
Let me further breakdown
LTAT held only a few shares,around16, the topholdings being Boustead,Affin,CSCSteel,Aeon,GBH

KHAZANAH, to my surprise, with 66B, it held only around18shares,the biggest being Axiata,CIMB,Tenaga,Plus,Telekom

LTH held around 91shares,the biggest being BIMB,TH plantation,KFC,Pelikan,HapSeng Plantation.

EPF held around 99shares,the biggest being SIME,RHBCAP,TENAGA,CIMB,PBBANK

PNB held around 47shares,the biggest being SIME,MAYBANK,UMW,SP SETIA,MMC CORP

Original post: http://mystockfolio.blogspot.com/2010/03/47-of-our-malaysia-stock-market-is.html

Fowarded email: Con guy at E-gate Penang

Good day, friends,
During I sent out this e-mail, I purposely do not erase the below history of e-mail is for your cautious and refernce.
This case happened few times at these 2 weeks in E-Gate, Penang ( near to Tesco sea side ).
The car no is PDJ 2584 New Black Toyota Vios. Driver : Young Chinese guy.

----- Original Message -----
From: lion steven quah eng siang
To: CT Soon
Cc: Soon CH
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 6:05 PM
Subject: Re: Con guy at Egate, Penang

oh dear...my daugther's friend got into this and pay him RM800.00 where he claimed that the side mirror comes in pair and this poor young boy just being cheated.
Rgds,
Steven Quah
________________________________________
From: CT Soon
To: CT Soon
Sent: Thu, February 25, 2010 3:15:03 PM
Subject: FW: Con guy at Egate, Penang
Dear Guys…this also happened to my friend yesterday…please be aware!
Please read & take precaution.
From: Bernard
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 12:22 PM
To: Khoo
Subject: Re: FW: Con guy at Egate, Penang

Dear Khoo,

It happend exactly to me on 24th Feb. 2010 I was driving back and a Black Toyota Vios follow me. After I went out from the car , he came to me saying that I hit his side mirror and asking compensation. I did not realize I hit his car at all. I did not pay the damage on the side mirror I "accidentally " hit. Rather , I suggest we report to police. He is getting angry and saying dirty word and drive away. I managed to get the car no and reported this to police already. The car no is PDJ 2584 New Black Toyota Vios. Spread this to your friends...

Regards

Bernard.

On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 10:47 AM, Barry Khoo wrote:
Please be pre-alerted that there is a young guy in a black Toyota Vios lurking around Egate and Tesco carpark, claiming that you have accidentally damaged his car while parking yours. After you have parked and walked away, he would approach you and made the claim that you have unknowingly bumped into the side of his car, or hit his light or his side mirror. When you inspect his car, there indeed is the damage.
This guy speaks in Chinese and he would demand for on-the-spot compensation which is a few hundred ringgit-he is known to have asked for RM550!
It has happened to 2 cases, one of which is my family member who had parked in the Egate basement carpark last night.
This guy targets single drivers. Please be careful. He may not be working alone.
Regards
Vivienne