Reactions.. Remember The Sermon On The Mount...

Recent events around KL really saddens me. The cynic in me was convinced that the 1Malaysia idea has become a big joke after reading news on what has happened.

I'm getting all sorts of messages from friends to be careful and not provoke these people, to remove religious artifacts from my car and house.

That got me thinking about how we should react... Then, I recall one particular sermon of Jesus on the mount...

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set down, his disciples came unto him. And opening his mouth he taught them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart: they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake:
Be glad and rejoice for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you.
~ Matt 5:2-12

Truly, we must pray for calm and sensibility to return to such people. Let us not be afraid this weekend as we go to church to worship God, but instead pray for them. Let us pray for peace to return.

Amen.

Dogs of Pulau Ketam

I first read about this when I visit 5xmom's site. After I jumped the link, I read about the plight of the dogs at Pulau Ketam, I was moved. When I saw the puppy in the tree, it really reminded me of Oofy, my 1st dog whom my sis rescued too.

As a responsible pet owner, it is YOUR duty as the pet owner to provide the following basic stuff for your pet:

1. Proper shelter for your pet
2. Clean Food and Water
3. Medical care when your pet is sick
4. Spay/Neuter should you not want to breed your pet

These animals have no voice to speak out when humans treat them badly. It is up to us to give them a voice.

Please head to Pulau Ketam Dog Rescue for more information and updates. If you wish to donate, you can also find out more info there.

We Saw This Coming... Didn't We?

Rusty sure looks worried - I would be too if I see the cost of my kibbles and treats are going up...

CNN seems to be using this word very often these days - the dreaded "R" word which folks in the financial world have been trying to avoid for some months now.

Well, the world's 2nd largest economy has shrunk again in results for another quarter, and that means, it's technically in RECESSION.

We all knew that the big "boom" period would not last forever. What goes up, must eventually come down.

However, judging from the BIG crowd at the shopping malls, I don't think the Recession reality has hit our local Malaysian consumers. Sure, they noticed that price of goods are going up despite price of petrol going down. But, do they understand why?

I've explained to a colleague last night that the price of food is not just dependent on petrol alone. Many other factors are also included such as the price of animal feed which uses grains such as corn, has been scarce due to an increase of production for bio-fuel usage as well as environmental factors such as drought or global warming effects which has affected crops. Indirectly, these factors has attributed to the price of food.

Of late, I've also noticed that a lot of companies in whichever sector has been pushing hard to close deals/sales, initiated committed projects with clients and tried to forecast the future; in anticipation of getting enough monies to "ride this storm out".

It's the same with my company as well where the boss has been EXTRA PUSHY to get us to close deals with clients who are already quite hesitant to commit to anything. I'm very afraid that with TOO MUCH "CLIENT BULLYING", we just might lose the client. It's good to be persistent but not to the point of irritating the client.

Anyway, have you started to cut back spending or are you still oblivious to the economic turmoil around us?

What a JOKE!!!

I know I'm a little outdated with my news...

Frankly, with all the sh*te going on, I've decided to stay away from the newspapers and concentrate on other things.

Yeap, work has really gotten to me as I juggle around a few projects while trying to figure out who best to assist me in certain tasks. Needless to say, it is time to start delegating some responsibilities out to free myself to do other things.

LOL!! Gosh... I sound so much like a manager now. Hahaha.. In truth, I'm not even there yet!!! Heheehe.. Classic case of "you have the job, but not the title". Now, that is a topic for another day.

So, I checked out the news paper heading for April 10th, since it's the birth of my good friend's 1st child, he is really "lucky" to get such a high profile headline... SHOOTOUT AT KLIA.

Wow.

First thing which came to my mine... Errrr.. "What happened?"

Second was "Did they get the gunmen?"

The answer to both questions.... 1) Robbery, 2) No.

Now, the shocking thing is.... KLIA is equipped with CCTV but IT WAS NOT TURNED ON!!!!

Much like the traffic light cameras which were put up for show, our CCTV cameras at the KLIA were just for show only. Like in Chinese, it's just 摆样子 (for show only). Please do correct me if my Mandarin is wrong... (^ ^)

This is a complete f*ck up - Pardon my language...

I had hope that in a post 9/11 world, security around airports would have been tightened. However, as usual, Malaysians easily become complacent and our "tidak-apa" attitude really got us caught with our pants down. Literally. One of the police's pistol was snatched by the gunmen and he was shot. I hate to say this but have you seen some of our policemen lately? Some of them look like they need a session at Fat Camp to get rid of the excess tyres around their waist.

Oh well, if this thing can happen at our airport, I dread to fear what I would encounter at the building where I work everyday.

Every time I have to get in and out of the building, I have to pass through the security checkpoint. Each time I place my bags and other personal belongings to be scanned by the X-ray machine, I often observe what the security does. They barely observe what is being shown on the screen. Some of them are SMSing. Another is chatting away with another colleague. The third colleague helps someone with their bag once it passes through the X-ray machine.

If the metal detector does beep, often, they try to stop the person to check but if it's the lunch time crowd, often, the offender can rush off before the security can stop him.

Isn't the machines put up there for show??? It's just to reassure foreigners who work in this building that we take security seriously and you would be safe here.

However, judging from some recent e-mails circulating around the offices, it isn't so.

My colleague was approached by some Chinese-speaking foreigners, who tried to con her out of money. This happened at the lobby, quite near the security checkpoint. No security was around and they pretty much didn't bother that this was going around.

Do I feel safe?

Frankly, I felt safer at another building where a lot of foreigners frequented because the guards took their job seriously. The guards often questioned people who wished to drop/pick people up at the front entrance and very quickly clamped any car (big or small) which park indiscriminately. These guards were foreigners hired from Nepal and each morning, I would see them assemble in military fashion to be inspected by the head guard.

Such irony. We have to rely on foreigners for our security needs.

Do you feel safe?

Are You Part Of "The Shift"?

My colleague sent a very cool link this morning and so, thought I'd share with you folks.

There is a global revolution going on now and it is gathering pace... It is called The Shift.

'Nuff said. The embedded video will give you folks more info.



The question is... Will You be part Of "The Shift"?

Thanks Sharon for the link! (^ ^)

:-)

Wow! I can't believe that this little ":-)" has turned a quarter of a century old.

Hehehe.. We tend to use it a lot in e-mails and during our chats. Heck, even my little chatbox has the smiley.

Anyway, Happy 25th B'day :-)!!!

It's an icon of the computing age. :-P

(^ ^)

Ethical Entrepeneurship

I just got news that Anita Roddick, the founder of BodyShop has just passed away yesterday.

She struck me as an inspiration as someone who was an ethical entrepreneur who not only started her own business but was able to use her business as a platform for world issues such as environmental concerns, women's issues and children's causes.

When BodyShop first opened in M'sia, I was rather excited since I was interested in the environment to learn that there is a cosmetics establishment which cared for the environment. The shop was different as the staff explained that the products were not tested on animals and that they do not encourage people to take a bag when they bought things unless necessary. My mom used to go back to the shop to get refills on some of the products as they encouraged recycling.

Later on, my sis joined their organization and she told me that the staff were shown videos of how animals were slaughtered for cosmetics products as well as how animal testing was conducted. She said many people had tears in their eyes after watching the video.

Anyway, it is heart-warming to note that there are entrepreneurs out there who feel that their business can give back to the community. Certainly, she is not one of the first business leader who became a philantrophist but she used her business as a platform to spread awareness and fight against world issues.

God Bless Her and her family.
Note: this entry was written in green as it is a green post.

Image source: here

Go Play With Sticks and Stones-la!

Another China-related manufacturing scandal.

This time, this scandal has a world-wide effect. It involves children toys.

The last scandal involving China's manufacturing industry had to do with food, to be precise, certain ingredients in pet foods have been tainted. This caused some pets to die, i.e. mainly dogs or cats. When the pet foods company performed a detailed investigation, they found out that some food manufacturers in China were responsible for having ingredients being tainted.

I kept tabs on this. 'Coz I have a dog and ever since the Pedigree scare several years back which caused renal failure, I've taken her off the big commercial pet foods and went for those foods certified/recommended by the vets.

Meanwhile, due to this issue, several big companies in US decided to sit up and take a closer look at their operations, especially those where they outsourced ingredients or components from China.

Anyway, one of the more tragic news out of this new scandal is about how one manufacturer has committed suicide after learning that the products his factory manufactured contained lead in the paint and that it was being recalled. He paid his workers before hanging himself. The worse part is that the paint was supplied by his friend, who has disappeared once the scandal broke. So much for friendship.

The other issue I have with this is... Who in their right fxxking mind will put tiny magnets in toys???? What more, the tiny magnets can come out! Whoever designed these types of toys are real idiots. Sure, you can put labels to warn parents about small parts or the appropriate age for the kid to play, but who reads labels???

Due to this scandal, I now think I should throw away about 99% of my old toys which I intend to give away to my future kids or nephews/nieces as it is now dangerous. Hehehehehee... I can't imagine how I managed to grow up without much health problems due to such toys.

Oh well, back in the day when toys were a luxury, we had to make due with our imagination. We played with whatever was around us - rice, sticks, stones, earth, grass, old tyres, metal pieces, floor tiles... If you can make a game out of something, it was a toy. I remembered asking my grandma for rice so that I can make my five or seven stones. We had some spare cloth lying around and we thought it was a good idea. Boy, those days, toys were easy to come by. And I was an urban kid!!

These days, I doubt any kid will take up a stick to play with. When I say kid, I refer to the urban kid. Kids these days will settle for nothing less than the best toys - mostly electric generated. During my time, a battery operated toy was the ultimate type of toy to get for Christmas or your b'day.

Times have changed. Tastes have changed. Parents have a bit more spending power than parents of past generations and they can afford to splurge on their kids - buying some gadgets which will apparently increase their brainpower. Kekeekeke... I don't have kids but please do let me know in 17 years time if buying a really expensive toy which is supposed to stimulate brain activity in a gurgling baby to produce 25As in his SPM.

Sekian, Terima Kasihhhhh...