SUN-U Info Day

I did say I was working hard last weekend, didn’t I? Well, I was not the only one – there were many others from Sunway University Business School who contributed time and energy – amongst them were Dr Foo Yin Fah and Dr Nagiah Ramasamy – at the Sunway Education Info Day. 

Kilmarnock won the Scottish Communities League Cup for the first time in their history and ended Celtic's hopes of winning the domestic treble.

Celtic's Gary Hooper, Anthony Stokes and Scott Brown all had efforts saved in a frenetic first half. And after the break, the Killie keeper again denied Stokes and Victor Wanyama. 

And then, a Kilmarnock header six minutes from the end sealed the game for them. Celtic could not find a leveller. It’s a real shame though. 

The results were much more comforting for the Reds in this important FA Cup match against Stoke City when they prevailed with a 2-1 win.

Luis Suarez gave Liverpool the lead with a curling 20-yard strike (23) after a one-two with Maxi Rodriguez. But a header from a corner from the other team in the twenty-sixth minute earned Stoke a deserved equalizer. 

The Reds fortunately were able to pick up the pace and were rewarded when Stewart Downing drilled a shot past Thomas Sorensen (57) to book a Wembley date with either Everton or Sunderland.

Paddy's Day

Yesterday was Paddy's Day but it slipped my mind. 

Maybe because I am working the whole of this weekend. Still, a posse of us – colleagues/friends from Sunway University – did end up after work at Chili's at MidValley Megamall for dinner and drinks. I, of course, downed a Guinness Draught to commemorate St Patrick's Day but it was generally a restrained affair. Hopefully, next year, it will be different.

Pictures of parade-goers at the 251st St Patrick’s Day parade in New York, USA:

Image credit: UPI/Monika Graff

Image credit: Timothy A. Clary, AFP/Getty Images

Image credit: Reuters/Carlo Allegri

Image credit: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/314901/20120315/st-patricks-day-2012-photos-pattys-parade.htm#page1

 

Image credit: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/314901/20120315/st-patricks-day-2012-photos-pattys-parade.htm#page10/a>

 

Image credit: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/314901/20120315/st-patricks-day-2012-photos-pattys-parade.htm#page3

Isn't it wonderful to know that you don’t even have to be in Ireland to indulge in St Patrick’s Day celebrations?!

GPS Fools Japanese Students

Image credit: Fairfax Media/Getty Images 

I saw this on the front page of today’s The Star and read about the story of three Japanese tourists who were fooled by a low tide and their GPS into believing they could drive their rented Hyundai Getz to nearby North Stradbroke Island but ended up in the ocean at Oyster Point, about 25 km east of Brisbane, Australia. 

The three, who are students from Tokyo, had mapped out their path on their GPS system. The road looked clear, at low tide – but the map forgot to show the 15 km of water and mud between the island and the mainland. 

That’s what happens when we blindly rely on technology but we forget to use common sense.

I was in Petaling Jaya on Friday evening to attend the MIHRM Toastmasters Club meeting. And almost immediately, I was roped in to be both a Project Speech Evaluator as well as a Grammarian. 

It was worth my Friday time because the speeches were good and so were the evaluations! BTW, I was voted the Best Evaluator. 

The meeting even started on time and that alone made me happy. My score is a 6 out of a 10 and this is only because the meeting turned out to be a serious (although I would describe it as 'tame') affair where participants behaved as if they were confined in a library and no one dared to become lively.

And this morning, I went to HELP University to attend their Toastmasters meeting. I knew it would be a great meeting when the students actually started the meeting on time – they finally broke the godawful penchant of starting late! 

And then the speeches and evaluations followed and I was awe-struck by their first-rate quality. Every one did well. That includes me because I was one of the Evaluators. 

I was again voted the Best Evaluator and which didn't surprise me too much because I am good wad! 

This meeting was really awesome because there were thirty-one of us there to guarantee that the meeting stayed lively plus the fact that Grace Tan was the General Evaluator – her presence alone made me starry-eyed! It has been a long time since I attended a Toastmasters meeting that was rapturously gushing with high-spirited energy – not counting Taman Indrahana meetings of course. 

A nine of a 10 – yup, I am giving a thumbs-up to one of the best meetings I have ever attended!

UK Tesco Boss Walks

Failed strategies have ensured that UK Tesco’s sales will continue to disappoint and this means that the boss of its British operation, Richard Brasher is being forced to step down after only a year on the job.

The supermarket chain's group chief executive, Philip Clarke had mentioned that £500 million worth of price cuts hadn’t been yielding the desired results and so he is challenged to take on responsibility for the UK business.

This latest act of desperation demonstrates how important the UK market is to Tesco. Granted that Tesco has been aggressively expanding overseas but the UK remains Tesco’s most important market, generating two-thirds of sales.

Asia is the second biggest market at 17%, closely followed by continental Europe at 16%. The United States, where Tesco launched the Fresh and Easy chain in 2007, accounts for less than 1% of sales.

Because of the importance of the UK market, Tesco created the post of UK chief executive in 2010 for Brasher

Even as Clarke takes over, Tesco’s fortunes are not likely to get any better. I am not optimistic. If readers wish to know more about UK Tesco, I had featured the story of Tesco in three previous postings as follows: September 28, 2011; October 25, 2011; and February 29, 2012.

I went to No. 57 at The Boulevard in MidValley to attend the MAICSA Toastmasters meeting yesterday. It was a good meeting because there were four wonderful speeches to listen to although I could not say the same for the evaluations. And horror of horrors, the meeting started almost twenty minutes late! I would score this meeting a 4 out of a 10.

Cool Mask and Spare Mobile

I read this in UK’s Daily Mail on Sunday of an ingenious new invention, dubbed the AIRE mask, that harnesses the wind power created by breathing and converts it into electricity to run anything from your iPod to your mobile.

The electronic mask contains tiny wind turbines and the energy created is transferred through a cable to your electronic device.

Inventor Joco Paulo Lammoglia, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, said the device could be used in all situations from running to sleeping. It can be used indoors or outdoors, while you're sleeping, walking, running or even reading a book. In fact, its energy is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

He said: “I hope to bring the concept into production and reduce the carbon footprint.”

Another cool product is the SpareOne mobile. It's designed simply to work as a phone – and built to last. It has no camera, web browser or other hi-tech extras such as touchscreens.

The phone is designed as a 'backup' phone you can keep in the glove compartment for emergencies. The idea is that you can keep it there without worrying if it’s charged or not.

Many modern mobiles will lose their charge over time, even if switched off.

Its makers say that SpareOne is ideal to leave in the car for emergencies or to pack in travel luggage – especially if you or your loved ones plan to go off the beaten track.

The SpareOne can be pre-programmed for instant access to phone numbers of key contacts, including the relevant emergency services in any location.

This unique phone runs on one AA battery and keeps its charge for up to 15 years. And that single battery offers a talk time of up to 10 hours.

This amazing phone goes on sale on March 15, priced at £60 in the UK and $70 in the US.

No Pay Rise for Lecturers?

Yesterday, The Star featured an interesting story on page 16 that caught my eye. It says that as companies compete for top talent, salaries are set to increase by between 20% and 30% for professionals with in-demand skills this year. A Robert Walters survey revealed that experienced professionals in the banking and finance, oil and gas, pharmaceutical, fast-moving consumer goods, IT and telecommunication sectors can command higher salaries in the job market that continues to be employee-driven.

I frowned. There was no mention of the private tertiary education industry. Yes, we are professionals too. And yes, there is an acute shortage of lecturers, particularly in the marketing, accounting and finance disciplines. I know first-hand because SUBS are on the look-out for qualified corporate lecturers. Still, I fear I am not going to see any pay rise anytime soon. Sigh. Why is it that lecturers are normally consigned to oblivion? Sometimes I think colleges and universities take academicians for granted.
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I was at Level 6 of KPMG Tower in Bandar Utama to attend the Toastmasters meeting this afternoon. I was the General Evaluator and like the previous visit in January, again, I enjoyed myself immensely. I am discovering that KPMG Toastmasters are really a polished fraternity of talents who are armed with admirable English speaking skills. I would give this club a score of 7 out of a 10.

In the evening, I went to 1Sentral to preside over the PricewaterhouseCoopers Toastmasters Club International Speech & Table Topics contests in my capacity as the Chief Judge. There were ten contestants in total, all of them from either Tax or Advisory. Again, I found an abundance of talent – they certainly have what it takes to deliver good speeches.

A Sample of Adele's Music

I was just listening to Adele's music. Her voice fills the room and stops time. 

Everybody's favourite, Adele sings in a powerful, soulful, and texturally rich mezzo-soprano voice defined by raw emotional intensity and a distinct gritty warmth. 

For those who are not familiar with Adele, here’s a sample of her music:

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. 

Last evening, I was at the Taman Indrahana Toastmasters meeting, and as is typical of our meetings, we recorded a good attendance – there were 24 of us, including two guests. 

Anyway, I was the Evaluator for Han Lee Hwee who delivered his Advanced speech from the Humorously Speaking manual and very surprisingly I was voted the Best Evaluator. I say “very surprisingly” because the other Evaluators were just as good, if not better – the likes of Ho Fong Ming, LeAnn Tang and Lim Thian Seng. 

Even the speeches were awesome. And Lee Tong Fong as the General Evaluator kept us in stitches even as he heaped praises on the club. Indeed, a great meeting that deserves an 8 out of a 10.

Relief showed on my face when I knew the Reds never looked in any danger of a fourth successive EPL defeat. In fact, we convincingly beat Everton – thanks to a Steven Gerrard’s hat-trick. 

It was also the first hat-trick in a Merseyside derby since Ian Rush scored four in the Reds' 5-0 win at Goodison Park in 1982, and the first at Anfield since Fred Howe achieved the feat for Liverpool in 1935.

The first of three goals came when Tim Howard saved Martin Kelly's low shot but Gerrard collected the loose ball and had the vision and touch to lift his shot over Everton's keeper and a collection of retreating defenders into the net (34). The second came when Luis Suarez weaved his way into the area and delivered an invitation Gerrard was never going to refuse as he thumped a finish high past Howard (51). And the last goal came when Suarez was, once again the provider as he opened up the Blues defense before setting up Gerrard for a simple finish (90+3).

The One-fingered Salute

On February 21, 2012, Adele was crowned Best British Female Artist at the Brit Awards ceremony in London. [Already, on February 12, she had collected six Grammys in Los Angeles, winning every category in which she was nominated, including album of the year for “21” and best record for “Rolling in the Deep”].

"It's been an amazing year. Thank you," the BBC quoted Adele as saying.

But during her acceptance speech, she was suddenly cut off and in protest, she flipped her middle finger – see photo. [Her speech was ostensibly interrupted so Blur could give the final performance of the evening!]

Anyway, a wildlife photographer on Indonesia’s Batam Island, Shikhei Goh managed to capture a hopping mad tree frog who copied Adele’s Brit Awards act of dissent by giving Goh the one-fingered salute.

Image credit: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4189741/Tree-frog-appears-to-give-rude-gesture-like-Adele.html

Yay-y-y! Adele's got a fan!

Holding the Government to Account

Iceland is witnessing a trial that is unprecedented. A special criminal court has been convened for the first time in the country's history. Its purpose is to try the former Icelandic prime minister Geir Haarde (left) over the sensational economic collapse in October 2008 – simply known here as The Crash – which catastrophically bankrupted the small island nation.

Haarde, 60, is to date the only politician anywhere in the world to face criminal charges over the financial crisis. The charges, which he denies, include "serious neglect of his duties… in the face of major perils looming over Icelandic financial institutions and the state treasury, a danger he knew of, or should have known of". If convicted he could face up to two years in prison.

Once the poorest country in Europe, which before 1990 did not have its own stock market, Iceland in the years after the millennium set out to reinvent itself as a global financial hub, embarking on what has been described as "one of the purest experiments in financial deregulation ever conducted".

Successive politicians privatised Iceland's natural resources and dismantled its regulatory mechanisms, sparking an economic bonanza for its bankers and mixing for its citizens the now-familiar toxic cocktail of bountiful credit, flaccid financial oversight and an unspoken collective agreement not to ask too many questions but just keep on spending. In 2007 Iceland topped the UN Human Development Index as the most developed country in the world.

Its three main banks, controlled by a tiny elite cabal, had a paper value of more than 10 times the country's GDP.

"I had the belief that Iceland could become an international financial centre," Haarde, who became prime minister in 2006, told the court. "None of us realized at the time that there was something fishy within the banking system."

The collapse of the three banks, requiring the country to take an emergency IMF loan, was "the most terrible shock", says Silla Sigursgeirsdottir, assistant professor of public governance at the University of Iceland.

I am following this trial closely. If Najib continues to be reckless with the country’s finances, Malaysians too can, one day, put him in the dock for mismanaging our economy! Now that is something to look forward to!