Earth Hour: Save the Earth ! Save your electricity bills !

You can tell when the recession has hit Kuala Lumpur HARD in 2009. The city's attempt at saving electricity costs has been improved compared to last year's.
EARTH HOUR 2008 (Kuala Lumpur)



















Energy savings = 0

EARTH HOUR 2009 (Recession)
What the city normally looks like (images courtesy of Google)
















After 8:30 p.m....



















There, beat that New York City ! Ka-ching $$$$

You've been scammed !!: Apple not so green

This is the last time I'm owning an Apple iPod Shuffler. Not going to own an Apple iPod either.

For S$ 125 and duty tax free, it's small, light, and holds up to 100 mp3s. Takes 30 mins to recharge. Guarantee for 2 years.

...and after 2 years my batteries ran out. You can order them online or go to your nearest Apple Store to order.

Only your replacement batteries will cost more than a new iPod shuffler.

So in fact, the guy at the iPod Center was asking me with a straight face to buy a new iPod shuffler and recycle the old one (for the love of the environment of course).
So here are my cost-benefit calculations below, how this would benefit me and the environment

Costs to buy new iPod < Costs of new batteries Costs of producing new iPod > Costs of recycling
New iPod = More environmental pollution
New iPod > Environmental benefit

Thanks, but no thanks Steve Jobs.

How many hours can you go without sleep

It's 00:20 a.m. and I am still at work.......

Let's see how long I'm going to last.

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5:30 a.m. Ha. Record breaker 20 hrs work.
Just in time for a nice morning jog back home and a hot shower and some zzzzzz..........zz

When recession bites: Incarceration in exchange for three free meals a day

When you're lost your job and you can't afford to pay your rent nor your food bills, an exchange for a place in jail doesn't seem like a bad idea: At least you get a roof over your head, top security, three meals a day and you don't have to lift a finger ! Courtesy of your local tax payer of course ! This was exactly what one Taiwanese unemployed man wanted.

Send me back to jail [Extract from the Straits Times]

TAIPEI - A JOBLESS Taiwan man released from prison two years ago asked police to send him back so he could have free meals, police and local media said on Tuesday, a grim sign of hard economic times on the island.
When police found the 45-year-old convicted arsonist lying on a street in a popular Taipei shopping district, he requested a return to life behind bars, nostalgic for the 10 years he had already served, the China Post newspaper reported.
Wang had also contacted police separately with his request, a spokesman said. Officers who found him bought him a boxed lunch but declined to send him back to prison, the police spokesman said.
'We advised him to keep looking for work,' he said. 'I don't know why he can't find a job. Maybe employers think he's not suitable or that he's too old.'

Now here's the irony. Should multi-billionaire wrong doers also get three free meals a day and free rent ?

Madoff's new home


The federal jail in lower Manhattan stands between a courthouse and a church and holds inmates awaiting trial or serving short sentences. Currently, about 750 men and women are behind bars there. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS









NEW YORK - BERNARD Madoff's new Manhattan home is the size of a walk-in closet, with cinderblock walls, linoleum floors and a bunk bed.
Breakfast will be served before sunrise, and the disgraced financier can stretch his legs outside. There's a strict schedule: Lights on at 6am, breakfast at 6.30am, lunch at 11am, dinner at 5 pm, lights out at 11 pm
During the day, inmates can watch television, play ping pong, work on their cases in a legal library or volunteer for janitorial duty.
On alternate days, they are allowed up on the caged roof, where from courthouse windows they can be seen playing basketball.

Not a bad exchange after all....Live a life of luxury for 30 years, and retire in jail.

Allah Issue staged by James Cameron ?

Rumours abound in Malaysia, aka "Boleh"-land aka "YES WE CAN Do Anything the Americans Do"-land, over the alleged "ruse" used by the ruling coalition to distract attention away from the real socio-economic problems by fanning the religious flames. This has been of course, flatly denied by the relevant parties.


But if it were true......I bet that James Cameron had been hired to stage the whole set. Just like a movie out of a movie similar to the 1997 blockbuster "Wag the Dog" (for non-movie enthusiasts pls refer to Wikipedia for background of the film thank you very much). Theoretically, no one was hurt from the church and muslim prayer room attacks, so the bombs were probably studio material to create sensational sound and light effects. And the wrapped wild boar heads thrown into the mosque compound ? Probably hogs imported from Kentucky (not the Fried Chicken) Tennessee or even nearby Papua New Guinea. Far fetched theory ?

I don't think so (and I think that former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir would agree with me). After all, "if they can produce a movie like Avatar....they ("James Cameron and his team") could just about achieve anything !".

What the British and the Chinese have in common

Ever wondered what the British and the Chinese have in common ?

1) Love for Dim Sum....and dislike for organized queueing

2) What's everbody looking at ?

....looks like everyone's waiting for the bargain hunt to begin !

Cheap, cheap, cheap......one-dollah for 2 !!

3) Any decent Chinese knows a teapot is used to make tea......

......not soup !!!

But if there's one common interest that draw the people of the world together....
.....it's the drinking, man !! Pour the booze !!








































.......dunk it, dunk it



















































.......but you can never ever ever get a Chinese bloke drunk :)

Ps. Thanks everybody, especially Bob and Manz, for not sueing the pants off me for publishing your pics.....Next time, the booze's on me.

When recession bites: No more Starbucks

Although I never thought I would ever experience it in my lifetime, I would have to come to terms with the reality of it......the Recession is HERE....globally, and there's no escaping.

Now ppl, don't believe it if CNBC's Squawk Box tells you to buy, buy, buy...spend spend spend...your way out of the recession....

Remember, YOU ARE NOT PARIS HILTON.

So here are a few survival tips, about how to survive this neverending spiralling recession.

As I said, this is the first time in my lifetime I have personally encountered a..a...resession (damn my spelling's bad), so it's not fool proof....

OUT: No more Frappucino Mocalicious Starbucks for $ 7 bucks a cup....

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IN: @**&%%!!!

[to be cont'd]

Doggy Love

This is the 5th anniversary of AC's disappearance.....most probably presumed dead.

AC was my pet dog, weighs about 30 kgs and barks like crazy.

His mom was a lab and his dad a German shep....we usually celebrate his birthday on Christmas, cause it was easier to remember....

AC was my 10th dog....the most memorable of all my dogs....because I lost the 9th dog 3 years before AC, and I was too young to remember the good times.

All of my dogs have been males, although I have given some of them female names....just for the kick of it.

Dog no 9: Bundle Lou Huntington

Dog no 8: George

Dog no. 7: Annie 2

Dog no. 6: Annie 1

Dog no. 5: Fuc**er

Dog no. 4: Bundle

....can't remember the rest. As you can see, not very imaginative when it comes to dog names. Don't know what would happen if I had to name my future kids....
Last time we saw AC, was when he was kidnapped by dog nappers....(who would ever wanna dognap AC...I just don't know. )

Apart from chewing my old tennis balls and my new shoes, AC's very good at camwhoring....

Particularly, when it comes to showing his private parts....

Unlike other dogs, he can also tell time....every day at 6 p.m. sharp when it's time for our next door neighbour to take his sexy female Dalmatian for a walk, AC would be out waiting by the gate, without fail.

We all thought he was a very efficient guard dog, who kept a lookout for potential burglars.

He would wait....

and wait....

until 6 p.m.....then he would bark like crazy raising an alarm in the house.

And when we thought we should call the police, all we saw was our nextdoor neighbour and his Dalmatian female. Argg !!!!!!!!

On some days, AC feels love sick, when he doesn't see his Dalmatian wannabe girlfriend.

Wherever you are, AC, may God be with you.....and I know He will, for all dogs go to Heaven.

Rat-Town

A couple of years back, I made a business trip to the historical (ehem more like "legendary") town of Hamelin, north of Germany. Hamelin is pronounced Hameln by the Germans, so I didn't realize at first that it was the same town, where the legendary Pied Piper lived.........

Not that it matters to me, I hate rats. I think the Bangsar folks should symphatize with the good people of Hamelin. (For you ppl who are unfamiliar: Bangsar is an urban housing estate in Kuala Lumpur, well known for its rat problem. The area is noted to be one of the most expensive and posh neighbourhoods in the district and well frequented by the expatriate community....as well as the rats)

Anyway, the town's pretty scary......looks like the folks there ought to demand reimbursement from the so-called rat catcher aka Pied Piper. Cause the rats didn't seem to have left at all !!!
There were rats everywhere !!

There were rats playing football.....

...Andy Warhol rats
















Can you spot the gay rat amongst the straight rats (hint: what's a gay rat's favourite color ?)
















....glittering rat waiting at the entrance to the breakfast buffet















......never knew that Mickey Mouse had a cousin....."Ricky the big fat Rat"















Hell, they even have a house for rats ! (Just kidding, it's the local city hall)















Long after the rats have taken over the town by storm, the Rat catcher aka Pied Piper has since retired and works as a bouncer by night.
















.....the river, where the rats drowned















....for those of you who can't resist the temptation to gamble,

here's what the local Lotto outlet would have looked like a 100 years ago....
















....local hangout for rats....the rat bar















The modern Pied Piper has discovered a new way to kill rats.........come
my little sweet ratsies, come follow me to....















.....McDonalds !!! The fastest way to kill rats....stuff their arteries with Trans fat



















What McDonalds would have looked like 100 years ago....















Unlike its other rat infested sister city, Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur, Hamelin is NOT very happening in comparison.
To give you a broad idea, here's what the Bangsar crowd would look like after 7 p.m.
















....in comparison a deserted night life in Hamelin after 7 p.m.
Can you spot any signs of life in the pictures below?
Even the restaurants are closed after 8 p.m. The rats come out only after 10 p.m.
















And here's what the town looks like at 9a.m. in the morning....
Looks like the rats have eaten all the tourists....
















...magnificent architecture though....
















I'm just glad to have survived Rat Town, as I like to call Hamelin.
In three words: quaint, cute and lonely. It leaves a ratty taste in my mouth.

So, if you ever happen to be in Northern Germany, and you encounter this sign at the highway exit.......















........just drive off as fast as you can.....and call the exterminator because the Pied Piper's out of business.

On some days, I am so hungry that I can eat a whole cow....
















...but being a health conscious vegetarian, I would settle for a banana......















...and after eating all that bananas I can't help but fall asleep on the job.

National Geographic in my backyard

When Sally, the canary......














met Harry, the tabby cat....















.....you knew, it wasn't a match made in heaven.

R.I.P. Sally.