The Knothole and some who end up Notsowhole

A little old lady was walking down the street dragging two large plastic garbage bags behind her. One of the bags was ripped and every once in a while a $20 fell out onto the sidewalk.

Noticing this, a policeman stopped her, and said, "Ma'am, there are $20 bills falling out of that bag."

"Oh, really? Darn it!" said the little old lady. "I'd better go back and see if I can find them. Thanks for telling me officer."

"Well, now, not so fast," said the cop. "Where did you get all that money? You didn't steal it, did you?"

"Oh, no, no," said the old lady. "You see, my back yard is right next to a Golf course. A lot of Golfers come and pee through a knot hole in my fence, right into my flower Garden. It used to really tick me off. Kills the flowers, you know. Then I thought, 'why not make the best of it?'  So, now, I stand behind the fence by the knot hole, real quiet, with my hedge clippers. Every time some guy sticks his thing through my fence, I surprise him, grab hold of it and say, 'O.K., buddy! Give me $20, or off it comes.'"

"Well, that seems only fair," said the cop, laughing. "OK. Good luck! Oh, by the way, what's in the other bag?"

"Not everybody pays." 

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NST Not Straight Telling and Berita Hairan trying to surprise us again

This reminds me of the fairy tale about the little boy who cried out 'Wolf' once too many and nobody believed him anymore.

"We refer to the false allegations published in the NST and Berita Harian on 21st June 2012 that opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had ordered former ACA director of investigations Abdul Razak Idris to make a statutory declaration relating to the RM 3 billion allegation.

En Abdul Razak Idris has now denied the allegation that he was ordered by Anwar to make the SD clearing him of wrongdoing. Abdul Razak Idris has communicated this fact to NST and Berita Harian.

We have been given a copy of his message in which he says, " Saya pula bukan diarah oleh DSAI tetapi saya diminta oleh KP SPRM untuk elakkan beliau atau pegawainya disapina oleh DSAI sebagai saksi plaintif dlm civil suit terhadap NST yg didengar pd akhir Nov 2009."

Lies aimed to inflict political damage

From the preceding, it is clear now that the UMNO- owned NST and Berita Harian published a blatant lie against Anwar in order to inflict political damage upon him..."

More:

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=35434:caught-red-handed-lying-ex-aca-director-denies-anward-ordered-sd&Itemid=2

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Does 'Da-Bo-Luo' sounds like Diablo to you?

Seems a diabolical way to get past Chinese censorship because popular video game, Diablo III is known as Big Pineapple 3 in China!


"In the Spring of 2012, Blizzard launched their much awaited installment in the Diablo series,Diablo III, to global audiences. Unfortunately, heavy censorship policies left Chinese fans out in the cold–games entering China need approval from the Ministry of Culture. Approval from the Ministry can take anywhere from months to years and, for fans who had been waiting for the next Diablo installment since 2000, the wait was unbearable.

As a result, licenses for Diablo III started popping up on Chinese gaming sites listed as “Big Pineapple 3″. While to non-native speakers, that seems like some sort of absurd code word, those familiar with Mandarin Chinese will immediately see the mechanism at work–the words “Big Pineapple” when spoken aloud in Mandarin sound like “Da-Bo-Luo”, the English pronunciation of the game’s title.

There’s no word on whether or not the Ministry of Culture is investigating the gaming community’s sudden obession with fruit-based games."

Source:
http://www.howtogeek.com/trivia/what-popular-video-game-is-called-big-pineapple-in-order-to-dodge-chinese-censorship/
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Priscilla Chan and Mr. Facebook: an inspiring story?

Her story was indeed inspiring, but not as some of my friends would suggest, because she married a billionaire.

In private gossips, stories of ordinary people marrying a prince or princess, or someone who is fabulously rich, the feeling of being envious that she or he is so lucky is commonly shared. We are so caught up with material wealth that any chance to have a share of someone's billions is like striking mega lottery!

But reading Priscilla Chan's background before her fairy tale wedding to Mark Zuckerberg, it was more a case of students in love, and later one happens to strike it rich beyond his wildest dreams. It wasn't planned as some cases would suggest, when they targeted those who have already made it. Priscilla certainly knows what she wanted at an early age ie. to get into Harvard, and she happens to like a nerd like Mark!

"For Priscilla is the child of a Chinese-Vietnamese father who arrived in America with his family in the Seventies after spending time in a refugee camp.

Later Dennis Chan, 47, raised enough money to open a Chinese restaurant, where he worked gruelling 18-hour days as he dreamt of his first-born daughter living the American dream.

Priscilla was raised largely by her grandmother as her mother Yvonne also worked long hours at the Taste of Asia in Boston. At the 1,200-pupil state-run Quincy High School in the working-class town of Quincy, near Boston, it quickly became clear that Priscilla was bright - and determined to get on.

Peter Swanson, 66, her science teacher and tennis coach, said: 'She came up to me during that first year, when she was 13, and said, 'What do I have to do to get into Harvard University?''

'I was stunned. In all my years of teaching I have never had a 13-year-old ask a question like that. She knew what she wanted, even back then. I encouraged her to join the tennis team because I knew that Harvard would require her to have a well-rounded resume.'

He added: 'She was mostly raised by her Chinese grandmother, who spoke no English. She was a very dignified woman who clearly was a huge influence in Priscilla's life. The grandmother was her emotional support. Her parents were working long hours - 18-hour days - at the restaurant.

'Priscilla worked incredibly hard at her studies and graduated top of her class. She gave me a voucher for a free meal at her family's restaurant as a gift..."

More:
http://finance.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/bspdrbretirees/message/2080
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Koon Yew Yin's take on Sands and Sensibility

"...The fact is that during Dr. Mahathir’s time, our economy grew as a consequence of our exploitation of natural resources such as minerals, timber, forest products etc. which we sold to the highest bidder in the market.  In turn Malaysia imported natural resource products from other countries.  This trade and international exchange is not only normal. It is also desirable and in the interests of all nations..."

"Safeguards Needed

Of course, we need to ensure that the exploitation of our sand and other resources is undertaken responsibly and transparently. This means a system of open tender with the federal and state governments opening their books to the public on the licenses given out to quarries, dredging companies, timber companies, etc.; the licence fees collected;  the duration of the licence; winning and unsuccessful  bidders; and other key information.

All of this is missing right now in the current system of sand licences and needs to be corrected.  I recommend that this be done by the Pakatan Rakyat states so that they leave behind a legacy of transparency and accountability in this important sector.

But let us not forget that the corrupt system of negotiated and closed tender and lack of transparency and accountability emerged as standard operating procedures during Dr. Mahathir’s rule.  If anyone is to be blamed for the mismanagement and abuse in the exploitation of our natural resources, the finger of blame must be pointed at our country’s present leaders."...

"Sand Sales As Part of a Win Win Situation

About 30 years ago, Mudajaya Construction, the company I founded, was given the contract to fill up the Kelantan Medical University site with sand from Sungei Kelantan.  It is a well-known fact that Kota Bahru and other towns upstream are flooded because Sungei Kelantan is clogged up with sand. Hence the contract was akin to killing two birds with one stone.

Mudajaya was also given the contract to dredge sand from Sungei Tiram in Johore for export to Singapore.  The sand from the river was used to create the beach at Sentosa Resort in Singapore. In the process we not only cleared our Malaysian river and solved its flooding problem but we also generated jobs and income from the revenue received from Singapore.  This is a win-win situation for our two nations.

I am now no longer associated with Mudajaya nor have I any business interest in the construction industry. However I will support exploitation of our sand resources subject to the caveats I have set out earlier. If our country can sell 50 million cu m. of sand to Singapore at Rm 50 per cu m. Singapore will pay us Rm 2,500 million which can help fill the shortfall in Government coffers. At the same time, if properly planned, the dredging can eliminate the flooding for us.

What is wrong with this business transaction if it is carried out properly and with full transparency and accountability?"...

More:
http://english.cpiasia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2360:sand-sensibility-and-singapore-bashing&catid=211:koon-yew-yin&Itemid=193
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