Blog Hiatus

"Finals" have finally arrived. Good luck to everyone who'll be enduring the finale examino syndrome.

Yes We Will ! Hillary '08

Today, Pennsylvania decides !

Yes We Will!

The Clintons at Penn's Palestra

FLINOLA 5 - That's it

Message written on a piece of wood =)

The owner of the home..

Vandalism by the students..

The 100 or so student from Penn who were in NOLA

Ammesty International Report - the AI report

The AI report on Death Sentences and Executions was released yesterday. I found it extremely "exciting" that for some reason, the name "malaysia" (which appears twice in the report) always pairs with "Mongolia" even though we hardly have anything in common.

For instance,

Introduction :

Many countries carry out executions in secret and refuse to divulge any information on the use of the death penalty. Such countries include China, Singapore, Malaysia and Mongolia.

Reports on execution :

Amnesty International remains concerned that executions may have taken place in Mongolia and Malaysia.

Anyway, I don't think anyone should look into the report seriously. The method used to compute those numbers is dubious. AI has not quoted any official figures from the respective governments and the compilation of such a report should at least attempt to obtain the official figures from reputable sources. What happen to Congo, Algeria, or Iraq? AI left these countries out (whether accidental or on purpose) from the report even though their numbers per capita are way more pressing that Malaysia's. What a broo-ha-ha on nothing!

Beijing 08

I found it disturbing that many are calling out that politics should be kept out of the coming Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

For starters, China is hosting the Games for POLITICAL reasons. I was attending a talk by a former Wharton MBA dean, Professor David Reibstein a few weeks ago when a Chinese MBA student bravely stood up and refuted that the Chinese officers are well aware that they will lose a few billion this summer. Huge global brand names have been turned down for more coverage even though millions have been offered. In place, China will be putting forth local-named-products that have no international value but would definitely paint a rosy picture of the nation's progress. Heck, these brand names may not even be in business at all. So be prepared to see various banners, advertisements or fliers that promotes a product you may not even find in the market.

Beijing '08 is simply a political statement. The Games is about self pride, dignity and prestige. China wants the world to see that all is well in China (but in fact, amnesty international should really whack them hard for all their humanity oppression). The spirit of sportsmanship has been tainted by the numerous dubious moves that Beijing took to sidestep the world into believing that the People's Republic of China is A-OK behind their bamboo curtains. Now is the time for the people to stand up and make things count. It's no accident that the crackdown on the rebellion in Tibet is done just 3 months before the Games. I'm sure there'll be many more similar crackdowns in the run-up to the Games but will be left unreported. There's simply more than meets the eye here.

The Search is On

As reported by the Straits Times,

It seems that LHL is already searching for the next PM for Singapore. This must be the first for a nation to actually search for a future PM, never mind that he/she will only take the reins in 15 years time.

April 2, 2008
PM still looking for his successor
It takes about three elections to groom a leader, so there's no time to lose, he says
By Lydia Lim, Senior Political Correspondent
Urgently seeking talent: 'I have found some people, but we want the best possible team.' -- PM Lee (above, at the Istana yesterday) on his priority, developing a team from whom to draw the next PM and DPMs. THE Prime Minister faces an urgent task: Find and field those who can take over from him before he turns 70. Already 56, Mr Lee Hsien Loong is seeking political talent in their 30s and early 40s, one of whom he hopes will emerge as his successor. He has no time to lose as past experience indicates that it takes about three general elections to groom a leader. This means those who contest the next polls, due by 2011, might be ready to lead only two elections after that. By then, Mr Lee will be 69 years old. 'That is very late. So there's no time to be lost,' he said in an interview with The Straits Times and Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao at the Istana yesterday. He made the point in response to questions on the Cabinet reshuffle announced over the weekend. However, he stressed, it is not for him to decide who the next prime minister will be. It is for the younger ministers and others of their generation to pick someone they have confidence in and support. That person must be someone Singaporeans will accept as their leader. 'My job is to make sure that there's as strong a team as possible. A whole Cabinet which is capable, and then among them, some star players,' Mr Lee said. Of concern to him is the outflow of top talent abroad. He looked at recent data on the 600-odd students who score four As in their A levels each year. About two-thirds pursue university degrees here, and one-third go overseas. Of those who go overseas, at least 100 are not on scholarships. About half of these non-scholarship holders do not return but work abroad after they graduate. In addition, another 100 of those who get their degrees here go overseas to work. They may come back one day but there is no guarantee. 'This flow is going to continue,' Mr Lee said. 'So it's a big challenge to find successors, particularly for politics.' However, the appointment of MP K. Shanmugam as Law Minister in the new Cabinet is a 'major step forward', he said, as he has been looking for a successor to Professor S. Jayakumar for a very long time. The promotion of five ministers of state to the senior grade is another step forward. The Prime Minister wants to give them greater exposure to government work and political life, but has 'no doubt that in time, some of them will make it as ministers'. He confirmed that there will be further Cabinet changes before the next polls.

FLINOLA 4 - Musician Village

Musician Village but there weren't any music playing

Portable 'restrooms'

Lt. Governor for New Orleans who payed us a visit. He's a Democrat.

On the Roof playing with nails and shingles =)

Joe Tierney, the director for Fox and Prof. DiLilio

View from the rooftop. Notice all the houses have distinct colors of their own.

Because the whole place is a swamp, the construction site needs to stick in 9-feet poles to support the structure.

The house interior

The temperature

It's only 70F (around 21C) and I feel as though its 30C. GOSH.....i miss the coolness...

USA for Students

The year has come to a full cycle =)

As brought up by ChenChow


After back-to back successes of Experiences 2006 Kuala Lumpur and Discover US Education - KL '07 , the organizers are embarking on another venture, the U.S.A. For Students, which is an American Universities Education Fair.

This year's education fair will be held on June 14th, Saturday, from 10am to 4pm at Wisma MCA.

For those who are interested in attending as facilitators (representatives of their respective universities) or attendees (parents, siblings, students etc), please register at the official website here. And also, kindly help spread the word around !

Although I won't be in Malaysia during that time period, I strongly encourage students (attendees) seeking for a US education to attend the event. It will be an experience to remember.

For your convenience, I will stick a widget on my sidebar until June 14th =)

Just for amusement =)

How to Get a Free meal at McD

Find more how to and instructional Tricks videos on 5min.com

i do not condone nor support actions such as that displayed in the video. It only serves the sole purpose of personal entertainment

Asian Inflation Begins to Sting U.S. Shoppers

Justin Mott for The New York Times
Bricks are stacked in a kiln in Bat Trang, Vietnam. Prices have tripled in the past year. More Photos >

From the NYTimes , April 8 2008

By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: April 8, 2008

BAT TRANG, Vietnam — The free ride for American consumers is ending. For two generations, Americans have imported goods produced ever more cheaply from a succession of low-wage countries — first Japan and Korea, then China, and now increasingly places like Vietnam and India.

But mounting inflation in the developing world, especially Asia, is threatening that arrangement, and not just in China, where rising energy and labor costs have already made exports to the United States more expensive, but in the lower-cost alternatives to China, too.
“Inflation is the major threat to Asian countries,” said Jong-Wha Lee, the head of the Asian Development Bank’s office of regional economic integration.

It is also a threat to Western consumers because Asian exporters, even in very poor countries, are passing their rising costs on to customers.

Developing countries have had bouts of inflation before. Indeed, some are famous for them, like Brazil, which experienced triple-digit inflation in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But two things make this time different, and together promise to send prices higher at Wal-Mart and supermarkets alike in the United States, just as the possibility of recession looms.

First, developing countries now produce nearly half of all American imports. Second, inflation in these countries is coming at the same time that many of their currencies are rising against the dollar.

That puts American consumers in a double bind, paying at least some of producers’ higher costs for making their goods, and higher prices on top of that because the dollar buys less in those countries.

Asian businessmen say they do not have a choice about charging more. “This is a tough time to do business,” said Le Hoai Vu, the sales manager for the Quang Vinh Ceramic Company here in northern Vietnam.

The company just increased by up to 10 percent the prices it charges Pier 1 Imports in the United States for hand-painted vases because labor costs are rising 30 percent a year.
Over all, in Vietnam, one of the fastest-growing destinations for manufacturing investments and one of the fastest-growing sources of American imports, prices rose 19.4 percent from March 2007 to March 2008.

In China, Foshan Shunde Augustus Bathroom Equipment Ltd. in Foshan City is about to raise prices by 10 percent for a range of bathroom fixtures exported to North America.
“Rising inflation is a way of life in China these days, you see it everywhere,” said Faye Kong, the company’s international business supervisor.

The cost of American imports from less industrialized countries as a group is rising. A Bureau of Labor Statistics index of average prices for imports of manufactured goods from such countries fell gradually through early 2004, but is now rising briskly and was up 5.6 percent in February from the same month last year.

That contributes to rising inflation in the United States; in the 12 months through February 2008, the prices of goods for sale in the United States increased by 4 percent, according to the government’s Consumer Price Index.

But so far, Asian exporters have passed along only a portion of their costs. In China, for instance, prices are now rising almost 9 percent a year, triple the pace of a year ago.

Workers in the developing world facing higher prices have been increasingly vocal in demanding higher wages, with protests erupting in recent days in Vietnam, Cambodia and Egypt.

At the same time, inflation keeps rising: the Philippines announced that its inflation at the consumer level had doubled in the last five months, showing a 6.4 percent increase in March over the same month a year ago. And weekly inflation at the wholesale level has accelerated in India, reaching an annual rate of 7 percent in the week ended March 22, up from 3.1 percent as recently as last October.

Not long ago, it would have been unlikely for a poor country with high inflation to see its money strengthen in value against the mighty dollar. But the dollar is not quite as mighty as it once was. Large American trade deficits and other problems have weakened its appeal.
And there are signs that the dollar could fall further if developing countries’ central banks stopped supporting it, particularly in Asia.

Vietnam’s central bank even had to order the country’s commercial banks late last month to resume buying dollars within the tight range of exchange rates set by the government. Many banks had started betting on dollar depreciation and refusing to accept large sums in dollars, to the point that multinationals and exporters had trouble wiring money into the country to pay their employees’ salaries.

Additionally, the dollar’s weakness is itself a cause of inflation in developing countries, particularly those that have barely let their currencies rise against the dollar in an effort to hold on to export markets.

In a street market around the corner from the 270-year-old Lungshan Temple in Taipei, Taiwan, Teresa Gau, a fishmonger, is charging up to a third more for fish and crabs than she did a year ago. That is because fishing boat owners are charging her more as they struggle to cover higher costs for diesel fuel, which is priced in dollars.

“They have to raise the price to compensate,” Ms. Gau said.

Inflation in Taiwan has started to creep up partly because the government waited until this year to allow the currency, the New Taiwan dollar, to appreciate. Taiwan imports all its oil, and only now is the slightly strengthening New Taiwan dollar starting to hold down the cost for consumers in filling up their gas tanks.

Here in Bat Trang, an ancient ceramics center near Hanoi, Quang Vinh Ceramic’s fastest-rising expense is for vivid blue ink for painting vases and other pottery. Imported from Belgium, the ink is priced in euros and has soared 80 percent over the last year in Vietnamese dong.

Keeping the dong inexpensive in dollar terms helped Vietnam increase its exports by 24.1 percent last year, but also lured a flood of investment. Bank loans rose more than 50 percent last year, feeding a real estate frenzy that has not yet abated.

Brick kiln owners like Le Thi Hop here in Bat Trang have responded by tripling prices in the last year.

“Most of the people who buy my bricks say the price is crazy, but I say, ‘This is the market,’ ” Ms. Hop said cheerily.

High costs for construction materials are making it more expensive for the many multinationals like Samsung of South Korea and Hanes and Emerson Electric of the United States that are now building factories in Vietnam, partly in response to rising costs in China.

In addition to the weak dollar, economists say that countries like Vietnam, Egypt, China and Brazil are inherently more vulnerable to inflation when, as now, rising prices are led by increasingly expensive commodities.

Soaring food and energy costs have a far greater effect on developing countries like Vietnam, because of their large agricultural and energy-hungry manufacturing sectors, than on industrialized countries, which tend to have larger service sectors than manufacturing sectors.
Quang Vinh, which was founded by a 15th-generation pottery maker, has raised wages by 30 percent over the past year to keep up with food prices, which have also risen. Food is the biggest expense for the company’s workers, who earn $75 a month working eight hours a day, six days a week.

“Before, I used to go out with friends regularly,” said Nguyen Xuan Tu, a 29-year-old Quang Vinh worker who rides a motor scooter, like many Vietnamese. “But now, with the high cost of gasoline, I don’t go out too much.”

Two opposing trends have made it hard to gauge the true extent of inflation in the developing world.

Very heavy investment in new factories, especially in China but increasingly in emerging countries like India and Vietnam as well, has created a lot of extra industrial capacity. That could drag down prices somewhat if the American economic slowdown causes a global slump in demand.

But many developing countries, led by China and India, have blunted the full impact of inflation so far through a combination of price controls and subsidies, and more countries are joining them — Vietnam has imposed price controls on transportation and gasoline over the past week, for instance.

As businesses figure out ways around price controls, like charging the same while shrinking the quantities in each package, and as the cost of subsidies may become unsustainably high, inflation may worsen.

Mery Galanternick contributed reporting from Rio de Janeiro.

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I wonder how this will affect the Malaysia-US FTA negotiations that has yet to be concluded or the government subsidy scheme that many are seeking for a review.

Paradox of mil.

I found this pretty hilarious ..... (refer to the highlighted part)

How 203 Million was spent?

by DERRICK VENISH

BUTTERWORTH: A large portion of the Seberang Prai Municipal Council’s reserves was spent on putting up buildings, including the State Stadium in Batu Kawan.

Former municipal councillor Datuk Dr Loga Bala Mohan said the council spent RM110mil between 1997 and 1999 to build the stadium for Penang to host the Sukma Games in 2000.

He said the council also spent RM24mil on Seberang Prai’s biggest multipurpose hall, Dewan Milenium in Kepala Batas, between 2001 and 2002.

“The council’s headquarters in Bandar Perda, Bukit Mertajam, was constructed between 2002 and 2006 at a cost of RM83mil.

“Between 2005 and 2006, the council also spent RM12.8mil on a sports and recreation complex in Bukit Mertajam,” he said in an interview yesterday.

Last week, State Local Government Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow expressed shock that the council was going broke with its reserves dwindling from RM229mil in 2000 to only RM25.6mil as at the end of 2007.

Dr Loga, a two-term MPSP councillor since 2006, argued that the buildings should be viewed as long-term investments and assets, noting that the council headquarters was built to last 100 years.

“Instead of making publicity statements, the state government should help the council replenish its reserves,” he said.

Another former councillor Datuk Ma Kok Ben said the council should conduct proper groundwork before embarking on major projects, such as building markets to cater to a few residential areas and not one in every housing scheme.

“The Taman Bagan market was built 10 years ago, but the traders are still complaining that people hardly patronise it,” he said.

Former state exco and Seberang Prai municipal councillor P. K. Subbaiyah said when he left the council in 2004, the council’s reserves then stood at about RM130mil.

“The state-proposed independent auditor’s findings into the council’s financial management should be made public,” he said.

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Lets' do the math.

110 mil +24 mil + 83 mil + 12.8 mil = 229.8 mil and not 203 mil as stated.

The 203 mil is the reserve differences between YR 2000 and YR 2007 (229 mil - 25.6mil = 203.4 mil)

With the shrunk reserve of 203 Mil (2000- 2007), an amount of 145.4 mil is left unaccounted considering that expenses incurred is only 119.8 mil throughout the 7 years period.

Unless, the government is not paying the council workers or stop funding any projects in BM, somebody here is lying between his teeth.... lol....

FLINOLA 3 - Rebuilding

Habitat for Humanity

Construction Site

The broken levees

Demolished Homes..

Musician Village

Businessmen vying for opportunities

Full page on the Daily Pennsylvanian (April 3rd, 3rd page) ....talking about self vanity...aha...

April Fool's Post

While walking along locust walk today, I passed by the most ludicrous campaign in Penn ever (at least since I came here) ....


Those guys (with the loud hailer and the one on top of the broken button) were campaigning to DISCOURAGE PENN TO ACCEPT ANYMORE INCOMING FRESHMAN (aha, it's probably a joke..).

"Penn doesn't need any more incoming freshman! We are happy with the ones we have here now"

On a side note, SPRING is here, but the trees are still botak.....


Oh..and the walkways throughout the campus smells like cow's dung because of the biochemical aka fertilizers aka humus aka organic waste that Penn probably spent some $$$ for the plants to grow ? or force the leaves out ?....I've no idea.....



Happy Spring !