Merry Christmas And Happy New Year !

Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year to all !!

Best wishes from all in Indiana
(but no snow here .....don't really know where all the snow been blown to.....)

Send this eCard !

Penn goes need blind !

Look what i found in my inbox this afternoon :

From: Amy Gutmann

Subject: Penn announces new no-loan financial aid program

Today we are announcing a far reaching new financial aid initiative that will eliminate loans for financially eligible undergraduate students regardless of family income, making it possible for students from a broad range of economic backgrounds to graduate debt-free.

Penn's new program is the latest step in our efforts to widen access for students from all economic backgrounds, by expanding our no-loan program from low and lower-middle income families to include middle and upper-middle income families.

This new program will begin in September 2008, and include all eligible undergraduates, not just entering freshmen. Effective that year, students with calculated family incomes under $100,000 will receive loan-free aid packages, while families above that level will receive a 10 percent reduction in need-based loans.

By fall 2009, all undergraduate students eligible for financial aid will receive loan-free aid packages, regardless of family income level.

This is a transformative moment for higher education and for Penn. Making a Penn education accessible to students from the broadest array of economic backgrounds possible is fundamental to our mission. Our nation's young scholars should not be deterred from pursuing their dreams for fear of being a financial burden to their families.

We began our commitment to increasing access by addressing the needs of low income and lower middle-income families. We are now responding to the needs of middle and upper middle-income families, who have carried the greatest debt burden. We are sending a clear message to them that Penn is committed to supporting them as they seek to provide the best educational opportunities for their children.

We proudly join with a handful of other selective colleges and universities in eliminating loans from financial aid packages and, of those, we have the largest undergraduate enrollment.

We are fortunate to be launching our new initiative just months after announcing the Campaign for Penn, which has set a $350 million goal for undergraduate financial aid endowment that will be used to finance this new program.

This new initiative expands our long-standing commitment to need-blind admissions, which means students are accepted based on academic achievement, regardless of their ability to pay. Fewer than 50 private institutions across the nation have need-blind admissions policies and even fewer have financial aid based exclusively on need.

I also want to take this moment to thank each and every member of our extended Penn family for everything you do to help make Penn the place where revolutionary ideas, passionate people, and practical pursuits come together to make the most positive difference in our world. Happy Holidays!

You can find more information about this new program at: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/

On my 100th day in the states....

the snow started falling in philly......

What i did for Thanksgiving ....

Wednesday :

Went to classes as usual. Found out that my morning physics class had 7 students and 3 lecturers (the rest have 'flown out of the coup' as explained by my physics lecturer, Dr. Bassani). Went to math lecture in the afternoon where i realized there's just 2 students waiting outside the lecture hall. Damnit. I was like WTH.....and decided to skip the class. At night, we had Jia zheng from dartmouth as company =).. spent the night at philly's diner ...a.g.a.i.n....talking crap and creepily sat at the similar table when wun min and chris came over from MIT.

Thursday :

overslept...... Woke up in the mid afternoon when ek kia rang me up to inform me that his thanksgiving dinner is cancelled due to poor 'enrollment'. Pulled myself out of bed to go with some friends to fresh grocers to stock some food. Had a marvelous thanksgiving dinner at stouffer with roasted turkey, mash potatoes, gravy, cookies, apple and pumpkin pie (eww). We couldn't stuff the turkey so the stuffing was baked separately.. Jen, the GA on duty reminded us that she'll be leaving by 4.45am on friday for the black friday's shopping....OMGGGGGGG........i wondered whether i could actually wake up..... later, went to Gregory and met felix, hanzhe and owen in the lounge. Played Wii Golf until my back hurts..

Friday :

I somehow managed to get myself out of bed at 4. Grabbed some frosties and cinnamon flakes for breakfast. I noticed that my penn's inbox was empty for once! Groggily chatted with Jun ai....I can't really remember what the conversation was all about and probably was crapping all the way due to my brain's stubbornness to function fully.. until....felix rang me up. He was already at the guard house..at 4.30 in the morning..WTH... Hmmm...i went over and gosh...we only found 4 others. At 5, We walked down 3 blocks and waited for the bus. Met yiyan and her gang from don't-know-where at the bus stop.

The bus came and OMG...it was packed even though we were only at the second stop ! The good thing was the bus went on straight to the King of Prussia Shopping Mall (one of the biggest shopping malls in the states) without stopping =). I and Felix made a crazy sprint in the cold to best buy for no apparent reason ..but we managed to get a portable vacuum cleaner for 8 bucks ! =) The queue at the payment counter was humongous that we only managed to get out by 7.30.

Went over to JC Penney and bought a pair of jeans and sweatshirt for 20 bucks ! Was really tempted to get the queen size pillow for 3 bucks ! But nah...i've 2 here already... We went window shopping for a couple of hours just to explore the mall and was back by around 12?

Caught up with some sleep till late afternoon. And it was back to Work once again.....

Follow up of 10/11 (East 101)

Speakers comprised of Human Rights Lawyer, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Deputy UMNO Youth Leader, Son-In-Law of the Prime Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Nazri Aziz. It was chaired by award winning journalist, Teymoor Nabili .


Part 1





Part 2





Part 3




Part 4




---

Bugs invasion !!

Look what i found in my inbox today :

STUDENTS and STAFF

The couches in Room 364 Towne, Humphrey Lounge, have bed bugs in them.
The room has been closed and an exterminator has begun to clear the
room. It will be necessary to wrap and remove the couches and any
upholstered furniture. The carpeting and any hard furniture will be
thoroughly cleaned and treated. The entire process will take a few weeks.

Any precautionary recommendations from the exterminator for other areas
in the school will be followed. However, at present the problem seems
to be only in 364 Towne. Student Housing and Facilities have been informed.

If you have napped on the couches in 364 Towne you are encouraged to
inspect your residence. Here is a web site that will give more
information on what bed bugs look like and where they hide.
http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef636.asp

I will join you all in one loud icckkk!!!!! with some shivers and then
meet with the exterminator again & again until the room is clear.

10 Nov 07 - It's a black day for Malaysia




(this was on Al-Jazeera at around 2am while i was doing my calc homework in the lounge. LOL)





......................................................................................................................

An Interrupted Date

Film Director : Hanzhe, Math student from California
Video taken by : Felix Lim, Pre-Med candidate from North Dakota
Production Team : Owen and Cudjo
Settings : Stouffer College House



Disclaimer : I have nothing to do with these people. I just happened to go out with them to Chinatown earlier in the day......

Halloween Friday @ Woodlands

I went for a tour.... on a cold-rainy Friday night.......... at Woodlands Cemetery....... to celebrate Halloween...........

The start of the tour at the Andrew Hamilton's (a prominent Philly's lawyer in the 18th century) mansion.

Our tour guide explained the history and contributions of various revered individual (including Commander of Pennsylvania volunteers for the entire Civil War, Major General David Bell Birney (1825-1864), prominent banker Francis Martin Drexel (1792-1863), the founder of Japan's democratic Liberal Party, Tatsui Baba (1850-1888) who died in exile here) who were buried here. It was very unfortunate for people like me who doesn't read US history and has zero knowledge of the Civil War. This picture was taken while she was explaining the history behind the construction of the Hamilton's mansion


On our way back.. in the rain.....

HaPpy Halloween !!

HomeComing 1

UPenn's Symphony and Orchestra ! The pianist was really good and received a standing ovation from the floor...AND ironically, it started to rain ...a.g.a.i.n....the night before homecoming !! I'm expecting the temperature to fall to 8 - 10 C tomorrow. Btw, we'll be having Yale here for our homecoming match. Expect the Quackers to kick the bulldogs tomorrow !

New York Trip 1

Yup, i was in New York for a day !

Chrysler Building is just right behind me....

The Manhattan skyline i saw in the bus


It cost me 30 bucks to go up to the 86th Floor of the Empire state building (where king kong was in the movie)....

But nope..didn't see any king kongs around......Behind is where the World Trade Center once stood. If you look closely, you'll see the statue of liberty just right behind me.

The view from the 86th Floor of the Empire State Building.

In the Chrysler Building....

Double image of the Chrysler Building



Since we didn't really know where to walk or rather we were just too lazy to plan, I decided to go to UN which was right down the road

Found the Malaysian Flag at the United Nation HQ after numerous attempts !

The secret service and diplomats entering the building in black vehicles. There's some meeting going on that day in the De-colonization Conference Hall.

This is the Security Council Conference Room of the United Nations.

ps : will post other photos later if i have the time.

Blog Action Day !

Do check this and this out.

Raya@Penn

Raya at Irvine Auditorium...

Salam Aidilfitri !

here's one of the last few yasmin ahmad's PETRONAS adds. (I think its the last before she went full time into producing movies..enjoy !)

Kepada semua muslimin dan musliman di perantauan,

Sungguh jauh di hujung buana,
Serasa sayu mengenang desa,
Manakan sama Berhari raya
Di musim sejuk terkenang bonda

Kampung dan desa dalam ingatan,
Bagi perantau kini berjauhan,
Mengharap rezeki tahun hadapan,
Syawal bersama keluarga dan tualan.

SaLam AidilFitri, Maaf Zahir & Batin.

....

there was a mouse running about in my LGST class today.... WTH...On the bright side, the prof decided to end the class early because of the chaos that ensued. =)

Malaysian@space

Steinberg Conference Center has been strike !!

'Monsoon' night for the first time ever in Penn (well, that is since Sept 07). For some reason, the rain decided to pour down in buckets (urm maybe GM truck loads). The temperature was 30C/24C (max/min) yesterday and it's expected to drop to 18C/8C this friday !!! aha....talking about global warming......

Facebook 240 : The Business of Facebook

Since somebody wanted to stake claim with Facebook 101, I have to put up with 240. oh well.....

My case study for LGST : Corp and Eth last week touched on the issue of Facebook and the business of social networking. Here's a few things which u may find interesting :

History :
Facebook was established by a few students from harvard primarily for social interacting and networking. It was first limited to college students, with the requirement of registering their school's official email addresses (some still do today) to protect the school's privacy. But in the early 2000s, when MySpace was sold for a few Billion dollars, Facebook turned into a business equity as well and was opened up to the public.

The Business :
Facebook is now worth a few billion dollars compared to probably a penny 7 years ago. The business of social networking boomed in the early 2000s as corporate companies realized the enormous resources for information in these webpages. This resulted in the sale of MySpace, which marked the beginning of the business of 'trading' private information for cash.

How Does it work :
The users ( you and I) are very inclined (for whatever reasons) to include personal information in those webpages. Corporate companies (or individuals) are sold to the idea of obtaining this information (and all the other details that is written on your wall, your superwall yada yada yada and whatever you wrote on your friends' page) by 'buying' various applications that are programmed by the employees of facebook. Notice that every time you add an application, there's a clause which requires you to agree upon. This 'statement of consent' gives full access to companies, who 'bought' this application, to extract whatever information on your page regardless of your privacy setting. The price of the 'application' is determined by the potential of the application in penetrating the vast users.

The culprit ?
Basically, nobody will ever know (besides facebook and the private firms that are involved). But according to hearsay, prominent employers such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, yada yada yada and firms dealing with national and private security (eg CIA , FBI, Fed yada yada yada) are scouring facebook constantly for background checks on their employees, potential employees etc.

Cases in the past :
In early this year, there's a case where a student was denied a scholarship after the scholarship awarder discovered pictures of the student 'drinking' on facebook. There are many others instances especially on potential employees failing to attain employment.

Bring them to court !!!
Before you start pointing fingers at everybody, I'll let you know that nobody can be blamed/sued/prosecuted for this state of affairs.

If you think that facebook should be the ones facing the charges, then Marlboro should be sued for causing all the lung diseases suffered by its loyal customers (ie the smokers)

If you believe that those corporate firms should be hold to their statutes and be accountable for discretely spying on you, then i suggest you to sue the police for keeping and collecting information on criminals (of course, this is done stealthily as well). After all, facebook IS a business of trading information with money in mind. If thats the case, you can summoned all the businesses in the world to court.

Now, Is it YOU ? Well, are you going to blame yourself if Goldman Sachs rejected you for an I-banking position because they actually found out that some of your friends are obscene and vulgar through the comments posted on your wall in facebook?

Happy Thinking !!

Latent Tuberculosis

Had the jab taken on Tuesday and the Skin test (PPD) on thursday. The funny thing is that it turned out to be positive (measured bruise : 2cm in diameter). The docs diagnosed it with Latent Tuberculosis (for whatever reason) after looking through my med records & x-rays. Did an hour-long of med check-up and was forced to attend a counseling session. WTH. I was almost late for my lab session because of that but luckily, there's no midterm exams on that day..phew... Recommended medication : Isoniazid for 9 months . WTH. There's too many side effects with that medication (nausea, no-alcohol consumption, persistent paresthesia, easy bruising yada yada yada...for 9 MONTHS !!) bleh.... no thanks !

Chain Mails

I've never received so many emails in my life..that is until i got here. The ratio goes at 1 every hour due to the many listserv i'm in. it gets really creepy when u wake up one morning and you find the inbox clogged up with tonnes of mails...well that exactly happened one fine morning....
(all names are replaced with pseudonyms to protect the identity of the culprit)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re : Good Places for Casual Thai Food (1435 hours)

Anyone know a good place to get casual Thai food? Takeout would be fine.

University City would be fantastic, but green/blue line accessible works too. I have an amazing craving for Thai spring rolls.
Thanks Stouffer!

EP

(I promise to remedy any inconvenience this email might have caused by offering zucchini bread in the near future)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RE : baking powder ? (2105 hours)

I'm going to be making zucchini bread... but I don't have baking powder (oops).

Does anyone have a teaspoon of baking powder that I can use? Call me at xxx-xxxx-xxxx or come to Mayer xxx.


Thank you!

EP

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RE : baking powder ? (2123 hours)

A fantastic person here on mayer 3rd floor gave me the baking powder.

Thanks!

EP

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RE : Zucchini bread- just baked (2253 hours)

Fresh out of the oven zucchini bread.
Limited quantities (less than 1/2 a loaf).

Mayer xxx

The door's open.

EP

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RE : ALL GONE- Zucchini bread- just baked (2304 hours)

#blank#

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RE : Need to borrow some things (2313 hours)

My neighbor D is really getting on my nerves, which brings me to my question- Does anyone have some cyanide or strychnine I could borrow? I'll pay you back in some manner, though not necessarily in dollars.

B

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RE : Need to borrow some things (2319 hours)

Dear B,

While unfortunately I do not have any cyanide or strychnine, I do have a large collection of EP emails which should have the same effect you're looking for.

Forever yours,
D

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RE : Need to borrow some things (2330 hours)

hey don't talk about my love like that

cheers,
j

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RE : Need to borrow some things (2337 hours)

I second D's email wholeheartedly.

S

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RE : Need to borrow some things (0057 hours)

Me too...but did he have to send it twice?

p

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RE : Need to borrow some things ( 0113 hours)

D-
I don't think we've met.

Come over, say hello and try some baked goods next time you receive one of my pestering emails.

Humor is funniest when it isn't at someone else's expense.
Remember, you can always unsubscribe from the list serve.

Have a great week!

EP

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RE : Need to borrow some things (0129 hours)

I completely second Erika.

~A

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RE : Need to borrow some things (0137 hours)

ok, enough is enough. i'm all for this email argument, but come on, it's 1:30 in the morning and i have class tomorrow, how am i supposed to sleep with all of this commotion?

B

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RE : Need to borrow some things (0139 hours)

I vote for 12 rounds of bare knuckle boxing.

Unfortunately, I don't know who psi and stn are, but otherwise this seems split down gender lines. And as I know that Dylan, Buddy, and Josh punch like toddlers, I'm taking the girls in 5. Knockout, of course.

AR

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RE : Need to borrow some things (0140 hours)

Woohoo, I hate all those random emails from the stouffer list serve so maybe I should spam the thing myself and start a chain of more spam. People are always complaining about what they see as abuse of the list
serve.

How hard is it to
a) Take yourself as Erika said or
b) If you're like me and find the emails useful once in a while, apply a filter to your email and archive them or set it in a different folder than the rest of your mail.

If your too lazy or don't care enough to do either of these things, then please don't complain, especially when your medium of complaint happens to be the very thing that annoys you.

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RE : Need to borrow some things (0156 hours)

This is ridiculous. Just like Mr.D here "can always unsubscribe", so can ~A or EP. If you don't want to receive emails from the list (even from someone as cruel as D), just leave.
By the way, D's joke was not really at your expense, EP. What profit did you lose? What credibility? What anything? D's not the first person to mention your emails; I've heard several people complain and joke about them. Perhaps you'd rather that people joke about you without you knowing; maybe that would be better? Or maybe, you could go and find everyone who has mentioned your emails, make a list, and let everyone on Stouffer Announce know how terrible they are for joking about you.
Hey...or you could make a daily EP Digest. You know; let us know what you've got and what you want in one, daily email. Stouffer can still be awesome (sharing/giving what we have) and you don't have people joking about you.
Now I'm sure some people reading my email think I'm being pretty annoying about this, but really; is anything I've said any more annoying than, "Remember, you can always unsubscribe from the list serve"? Personally, I don't mind any of these emails; Stouffer has stouffer-announce and PennLive provides a "Deleted" folder, both for good reasons.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do. lolol

DR

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RE : Need to borrow some things (0204 hours)

Oh AR, what would we do w/out you?
~A

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RE : Need to borrow some things (0217 hours)

i second that. AR is very hot, and i feel that all of stouffer should know. hey bro, how about we have some soccer practice later.

love,
j

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RE : Need to borrow some things (0218 hours)

Ok everyone needs to calm down and relax a little bit. This isn’t an argument or a fight, this was a joke in response to another joke done in good humor and not as an attack on EP. Yes maybe she is sending out a lot of emails that people might not be interested in, but that is exactly what the Stouffer announce email list serve is all about. If you don’t want to get all of her emails or anyone else’s then yes you can unsubscribe to the list-serve. If you want to use the list-serve as it was intended then use it right. Don’t send out “Got it” emails or a synopsis of what everyone else sent to you to the whole list-serve because that’s just unnecessary spam. Or another option is to create your own list-serve. Many people in Stouffer are familiar with the goonsquad list-serve, which is made up of some Stouffer friends who email each other a lot about events and stuff as not to spam everyone is Stouffer with things they don’t care about and don’t need to read. Just use your head guys, we’re all smart here. And please don’t take things too seriously, we’re all friends here. This all started because B sent out an email jokingly saying he wanted to kill me. I didn’t get upset or angry because I knew it was in good humor, because we are friends. And we are all friends here in Stouffer. No one is at to get, harm or hurt anyone else, so just relax everyone and enjoy living in Stouffer, because you could have just as easily been living in the hellhole that is the Quad.

Thanks,
D

p.s. I admire your relentless effort to get women AR. Good luck with that.

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RE : about the list-serve (0917 hours)

Hello Stouffer-

Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning and saw 20 messages to the Stouffer list-serve! Unfortunately, they were not for the purpose that the list-serve was created. The stouffer-announce list-serve was created at the request of residents who wanted a forum to buy a book or borrow a cup of sugar from their neighbors or share their just baked cookies. It was not created to tease one another, however good intentioned, or to needlessly clog up people's mailboxes with an on-going argument. Let's try and
keep the list-serve traffic to the purposes it was intended. If you have questions about this, please e-mail me directly!

many thanks,
M
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To those who got this far, dang, you ppl really got nothing else better to do !.lol...

Stouffer College House

House office, which is exactly right below my room......


Yup, i'm living in one of those cubicles in a silo.

Weird architecture...

Basketball court and a bbq lounge outside..

View from outside my room..

The D-Section lounge with the only piano in stouffer..the staircase on the right (and the left one, which is pretty freaky) leads to my room.

The mail boxes of stouffer, which is soo happened to be located just right to the D-Section lounge. :-) pretty convenient for me with the laundry room just beside the mailboxes..

btw, i got some cheap stuff from WALMART today...gosh..got winter boots/shoes at USD 25. 3 rims of writing papers(450 sheets) for 84 cents. Can you believe it ???!!

Hallowed Halls

Skirkanich Hall : The Main Engineering Building which houses the auditoriums and Labs.



Which happened to be named after this couple.



J. M. Huntsman Building : This USD 53 million building is where those Wharton classes are.

Red Alert !

Nope, it’s not the game and neither am I addicted into gaming. This is the REAL thing. Temperature has dropped to 10 C for the past few nights and its freaking cold in the morning. I walked to classes at 8 this morning and everybody on Locust Walk was in their sweatshirt or jacket. I wonder what its like here during winter.......

Anyway, I had this class on Legal Studies: Corporate Resp. and Ethics (its a very rigorous but awesome class) this afternoon before the temperature starts dropping (again). The professor brought up this topic on the issue "Corrupt-ion", which is very dear to most Malaysians. The issues that were discussed.....

- US corporate companies take pride in placing themselves in prime position in third world-countries to capture the vast market of these countries. The notion that was brought up was that these countries are ‘corrupted’ which poses the question of corporate responsibility and ethics.

Case Study 1 :

Shell (the petroleum company) didn't want to invest in some Eastern Europe country because the officers there were demanding 'under-the-counter' money to set up an operation base. The Shell officer pulled out of the deal at the 11th hour because 'he can't sleep well' if he were to resort to bribing.

Case Study 2 :

In Kosovo, a local high school teenage boy (there aren’t many there) inherited his family business. After Nike set up an industrial zone there, the boy shut the business and went to sew Nike shoes instead in return for USD 0.50/hour, which happened to be 5 times the amount he could reap from his family’s business.

Case Study 3:

Coca Cola started a plant in Serbia through a local beer company. Talking about oppression and fascism, Coca Cola ditched this beer company after establishing themselves in the market and the irony is that Pepsi hired the same company to start their operations a few years later to give Coca Cola a run for their money.

Well said.

Then the bells started ringing and a session of 'corruption-bashing' promptly ensued...yada..yada ..yada

Now put yourself in a Serbian Officer’s shoes. Isn't corruption stemmed from the low wage rate and the insufficient of money supply in the social market? You are not only answerable to the public, government and the world community in regards to your ethics and responsibilities as officer, managing the corporate companies/government sectors but don't you think that you have the same, if not bigger, responsibility to answer to your spouse, parents, and children?

These same officers have to lay food on the table for their families, provide the basic necessities and fund an education for their offspring. Having laws and legislation to 'punish' the habit of 'corruption' may, to a certain extent, curb the problem but in the long run, the effect is an iota in influencing the social contour.

As unethical as it seems, but these are the same officers who need to 'sleep well at night' without having worries of the harsh realities of life. The world is indeed not round or a bed full of red roses and 'life' there is indeed difficult.

Penetrations into the local market of foreign conglomerate companies (read American companies) are seen by the locals as a threat of foreign invasion and have led to the shutdowns of many local cottage industries, cutting off the supply line local businesses. What an irony....

Well, why not simply grow the economic pie (easier said than done)? These corporate fellas should take up the responsibility to help support budding local businesses and ethically provide substantial numeration for the human resources used besides their pushing their main business of 'reaping' the profits from the local market.

Now, that is a true Responsible and Ethical Corporate Organization.

Well, of course, this is just an ideal situation and is not feasible due to the ‘unwanted’ competitors. AHA !

Oh, what a day of brain drenching………

Selamat Berpuasa !

السلام عليكم as-salāmu `alaykum - (aha loghat orng puteh kat sini....)

Buat semua warga Muslim di semua tempat (tiga sekawan kat UIUC ke..ketua doggers kat Umich, mat driftd ngan Din kat purdue, paez ngan mlek kat Aussie, dan abu, fntgr, mat skodengs, semua bdak2 .....sme ade yang berpenyakit ke tak..kat uniten & semua muslimin dan muslimat di seluruh tempat), diucapkan selamat menjalani ibadah puasa. Untuk warga bukan Muslim (macam I, terry@anime, rulb, andrew dan semua....), selamat meraikan Ramadan ini secara beriman dan bertaqwa, mcam i la.ahaha.. . Di bulan Ramadan al-Mubarak ini sama-samalah kita buat baik2 ...(terutama yang kat uniten...janganla memberontak sangat ..aha. nanti takde pahala !...)

Bulan puasa bulan yang berkat
Bermaaf-maafanla sesama semua
Hai ! Semua muslimin-muslimat, simpanla tekad
Perintah Allah buatla segera.....aha

Selamat Berpuasa !!!

Salam,
lXl

Ni >>>> Masjid kat Philly........


eh, i heard Pn. A said that our batch spent all IKAL's money and they are experiencing a budget deficit? And they have cancelled the AP classes and SAT-Chem for the juniors ??? Kesian betul..........

Sept 4 - Convocation Class of 2011

Expand Your Horizons - Dr. Amy Gutmann

My warmest welcome to the gifted women and men of the great Class of 2011!

You are the most academically talented class in Penn’s history!

And you’ve got exactly a year to enjoy the view from the top – before an even more talented Class of 2012 knocks you into second place. That’s what we call Penn momentum!

Congratulations to those of you who finished The Omnivore’s Dilemma sometime between the middle of July … and noon Sunday. Now you are more knowledgeable eaters – which is a good thing for you but maybe not so good for Penn Dining Services … and definitely bad news for some of the food trucks.

I extend equally warm greetings to our transfers from other colleges and universities. Transfers? Smart move!

Convocation is a cherished tradition. As of this moment you are now officially students of the University of Pennsylvania!

Convocation is also the first time that your class gathers together as one Penn family of many nations and backgrounds.

Seated among you are classmates from all 50 of the United States – from 203 freshmen from California to 406 freshmen from Pennsylvania to two freshmen from Idaho!

Among you are also seated 312 classmates from 67 countries, starting alphabetically with the A’s and B’s …. Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, and Bulgaria … right down to the Zs – of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

I know that all of you must keep so many other numbers in your heads – phone numbers, classroom numbers, and numbers of required courses.

But tonight I’d like each of you to think about the number: 45. Why 45? Because that is the number of months left before you process down Locust Walk for Commencement.

So ask yourself: How will I spend those 45 months?

I offer to you this evening two unwritten (and entirely unenforceable) Penn rules. The best rules are unenforceable.

First Penn Rule: Keep your mind open. Great minds discover deeper truths by probing the toughest questions. Do not let criticism faze you; do not let setbacks discourage you; do not let change frighten you. Convert these jolts into learning experiences … as College Senior Mara Gordon did.

Mara had planned to spend this past summer saving the world by working at a school for orphaned children in Botswana. But she encountered what seemed like an insurmountable barrier: language. The children did not speak English, and she knew all of four words in Botswana’s native tongue.

At first Mara was frustrated, but she was also open-minded and – thanks to her Penn education – resourceful enough to find a meaningful way to bridge the language chasm. She started knitting scarves with a young woman she had befriended, and soon came up with a great idea: Why not help mothers at the school create crafts that they could sell? Local shop owners liked her idea, and Mara successfully launched the program, which the head of the school plans to continue.

By understanding women in poverty not as people to save, but rather as partners in learning, Mara ended up making a lasting difference in the world, and she’s still got a year to go at Penn!

Your partners in learning at Penn are all over the campus as well as in our West Philadelphia neighborhood. So stay open-minded and your education will expand exponentially over the next 45 months. And don’t let a month go by without expanding your horizons.

You can begin tomorrow by learning from our world-class faculty.

Nursing students? Where are you? Congratulations! You won’t find on any other faculty in the world a more accomplished group of nursing leaders who are transforming the theory and practice of care-giving throughout the world.

Engineering? You will be challenged by Penn faculty who are leading innovators and who are collaborating with colleagues in Arts and Sciences and Medicine to drive the 21st century revolution in bioengineering and nanotechnology.

Wharton! You will learn from the most eminent, influential, and international business faculty in the world.

And how about the College! Wherever you turn, you will find eminent scholars and teachers who year after year deliver the finest liberal arts and science education in the world.

Reach out to your professors as mentors who will challenge you to succeed by becoming the best you can be.

Another reward of being open-minded is the learning attached to forming lifelong friendships at Penn. Treasure them, and treasure the diversity of our student body. Experience demonstrates that you will make the most of your Penn education if you cultivate friendships throughout our campus and across ethnic, racial, economic, and ideological boundaries.

If the first unwritten rule governing success at Penn is to open your mind to new ideas and friendships, then the second Penn rule is to aim high. The more unconventional, the better.

Consider Gabe Crane, a rising College senior whose passion for writing and canoeing led him to conceive a daring adventure: He and three of his pals would paddle canoes down the entire 2,000 miles of the Mississippi River. Then he’d write about the experience afterward.

Penn English Professor Al Filreis encouraged Gabe to be even bolder. Why not create a live blog called the “Mississippi Project” and make the adventure come alive in words, pictures, and conversation?

With tech support from Kelly Writers House and financial support from the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, Gabe created a multi-media literary journal that transformed his adventure into – in his words – “a meditation on the state of our generation, coming now finally of age … and a meditation on the state of our country.”

Because Gabe aimed high, he has the beginnings of an original book and the makings of a successful literary career.

Penn can make the biggest difference in your lives when keep your mind open to challenging new ideas and friendships, and aim high.

You now know the unwritten Penn rules. Follow them, by all means! And build on them by your means! Then you will discover why Penn truly “rules.” Forty-five months from now, when we are all gathered together again on Franklin Field, I expect to declare that the great Penn class of 2011 rules.

In the meantime, make the most of all that Penn has to offer. Mix it up tonight with your future lifelong friends as you begin to spend the next 45 months living and learning together in the most open-minded, stimulating, and collegial community in the world. Let’s show the world how your great Class of 2011 and Penn can rule together.

Welcome to Penn!

Dr. Amy Gutmann, President of the University of Pennsylvania.


Some ritual to signify the start of the convocation and the academic year of 2007-2008

Provost Ronald J. Daniels with his speech to welcome the 2, 000 odd freshmen..

Reception after the convo...chocolate fountain !!

Ice sculpture of the school's crest......

Easiest and Hardest Classes at UPenn (excerpts from Punchbowl)

Thank Gawd i'm not taking any of these subjects this sem....

Easiest :

ECON 000 : What GDP Stands For

ENGL 012 : How you're a poet, and You Weren't Even Aware of It !

ENGL 165 : The Letter 'A' in Literature and Grades

HIST 003 : What You did on Summer Vacation

MATH 001 : Addition and SubtractionS

MKTG 050 : Having conscience doesn't equal sales

NURS 001 : If you're scared of needles, give up now

NURS 247 : How being a nurse is nothing like the show Scrubs


Hardest :

RUS 007 : Defeating James Bond

NURS 228 : How nursing is exactly like Scrubs

MATH 720 : Numbers aren't real. It was all a lie.

ENGL 389 : Essay Writing without the Letter 'E'

ENVS 321 : Stopping Global Warming

ENGR 344 : Understanding Women

ENGR 500 : Square Peg/Round Hole

CHEM 355 : One of these three Flasks Will Kill You


There's no black, white, brown or yellow,
Just red and Blue (Penn's official colors)....

There are no Christians, Jews, Muslims or Hindus,
Just Quakers (Out mascot)..

There's no left wing or right wing,
Just Hot Wings !

There is no upper, middle or lower class,
Just those with class....

Simplicity is Beautiful .....

Day Night

Day :


7/11 store on the streets
The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society - I don't really know what they do......


The Bank of America...

Tiffany and Co...


SUBWAY !


The NUTS STREETS ....


Philadelphia is such a busy city that the people here are always rushing somewhere.....

The high-rises
Starbucks !!!


Night : in Penn, they do part-ay HARD !

The toga party.at Penn's Anthropology Museum..


And I was in the Spartan Army.....Katie, the GA for the E section, did the toga for me......

This is a REAL EQYPTIAN STATUE of a pharaoh.....thats those from the B-section

The 'senates' and 'chancellors' - those guys are REAL professors, REAL !

Partying in between statues in the museum, which is only possible here, the state of craziness....