Relief for Borders Bookstore's Nik Raina

Borders Bookstore manager Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz (left) can finally heave a sigh of relief because yesterday, the Syariah High Court granted her a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.

 

Since the raid on her bookshop on May 23, 2013 and her subsequent legal battle with the religious authorities over a charge of selling and distributing a book (Irshad Manji’s "Allah, Liberty and Love") deemed to be “un-Islamic” – it had made her realize that it is not only about her.

There is a bigger agenda, i.e. to ensure other Muslims are not harassed for merely doing their jobs and that they will not crumble under pressure and intimidation. Her unbending steadfastness should inspire other Muslims to stand their ground.

 

Yesterday, I was on Level 22 in Menara Milenium, Jalan Damanlela in KL’s Pusat Bandar Damansara – for the Ernst & Young Toastmasters meeting. I had accepted the Vice President Education’s invitation to speak at the club. And I delivered CC speech #6 on Vocal Variety titled “The Hulk Meets Green Goblin”.

 

Originally, I had wanted to share a story – something along the lines of Tuesday’s speech at Taman Indrahana – but it turned out to be a speech that used “explicit characterization” as a technique to illuminate and enlighten us. The speech informed us that if we look deep within ourselves, we can also recognize the Hulk as being a part of us.

 

C JoyBell C, author of "All Things Dance Like Dragonflies" expressed it well when she said: “Anger is like flowing water; there's nothing wrong with it as long as you let it flow. Hate is like stagnant water; anger that you denied yourself the freedom to feel, the freedom to flow; water that you gathered in one place and left to forget. Stagnant water becomes dirty, stinky, disease-ridden, poisonous, deadly; that is your hate. On flowing water travels little paper boats; paper boats of forgiveness. Allow yourself to feel anger, allow your waters to flow, along with all the paper boats of forgiveness. Be human".

The meeting saw just eight Toastmasters present and yet, we still managed the full monty, i.e. Table Topics, assignment speeches and evaluations. 

We started three minutes late but thankfully, excellent time management meant that we finished on time. I am giving this meeting a 6.5 score over 10. 

BTW, I was voted Best Table Topics speaker and Best Assignment speaker. 

 

Tough Times for Samsung in China

2014 was certainly not a good year for Samsung, and the Chinese market which is the world's largest market for smartphones, proved to be both daunting and difficult for the South Korean company. 

According to research firm IDC, overall 420.7 million smartphones were shipped  to China in 2014. In terms of shipments by vendors, Samsung was reported to have slumped 22.4% for 2014 versus 2013. 

CCID Consulting, China's biggest research and consulting company, however, pointed out that Samsung lost 31.5% of their market share in China in 2014. 

It doesn't matter which numbers we trust – the fact is that Xiaomi had overtaken Samsung in China. And if this decline persists into 2015, the latter will probably plummet further down the ladder.

The Xiaomi success can be attributed to their low prices and online flash sales, says IDC. Last month, the company’s vice president of international Hugo Barra told TechCrunch’s Jon Russell that Xiaomi keeps their prices down through a combination of a smaller smartphone portfolio coupled with longer average selling time per device.

The other brands such as Lenovo, Huawei, Coolpad, Xiaomi, Meizu, and their fiercest rival, Apple, are steadily tightening the noose on Samsung.

China's Smartphone Shipments by Vendors, 2014 versus 2013











For sure, it is tough times for Samsung in China.

To further compound their misery, there have been reports that emerged last month that said that Apple have pulled ahead of Samsung as the top smartphone vendor in the world, thanks to the success of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

On Wednesday, my SUBS students at Sunway University who are from the January 2015 cohort presented their works.

This time around, only twelve commercials were produced and I am only going to feature the Top 5 in this post. The selected video clips have been examined and scrutinised by a panel of three judges from SUBS (i.e. Sri Bala, Derek Ong and I):

Mary Poppins Sings Death Metal

Julie Andrews starred in another movie – a musical which combined live-action and animation and where she was a nanny with magical powers.

 

The movie 'Mary Poppins' (1964) was directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney, with songs written and composed by the Sherman Brothers. The screenplay was by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, and loosely based on PL Travers' book series of the same name.

 

But this time, I am sharing an awesome mashup featuring English super nanny Mary Poppins singing a death metal version of  her trademark song “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious“.

 

Singers Sera Hatchett of Mercy Brown and Thomas Hinds performed the vocals, Andy Rehfeldt played all the instruments, and music producer Grant Cornish did all the arrangements.

Here’s the original version of the song:

 

I was in KL’s Brickfields yesterday to attend the MIA Toastmasters meeting. I had received an SOS from club president Johnny Yong to help evaluate an Advanced speech – the speaker is a MAICSA Toastmaster, Alice Liu. Although there were only eight of us there, we still had a good meeting. And I would give it a 5 over 10 score.

Fresh Air in Japan

Chinese tourists flock to Japan for the sushi and for the shopping. But, increasingly, they’re also coming for one thing that money can’t buy: fresh air.  

After all, many of China’s cities are blighted by pollution.

 

“The first thing Chinese people do after they land is to breathe deeply,” said He Wenfan, of the Japan Tourism Board’s Chinese-language website. “People say, ‘I can finally breathe!’ ”

 

Of course, it helps that the value of the Japanese yen has declined against the Chinese yuan, which once made the country prohibitively expensive.

 

And the Japanese are equally happy. Of all the visitors, the Japan Tourism Agency estimates that Chinese tourists are the biggest spenders. They shelled out about a quarter of the £11 billion that foreign tourists spent in Japan last year – or about £1,300 each.

 

On Tuesday evening – after the Taylor’s College Toastmasters meeting – I rushed to Petaling Jaya for the Taman Indrahana Toastmasters meeting where I had a speaking slot. I delivered an Advanced speech from The Entertaining Speaker manual titled “The Hulk Meets Shrek”. 

An original speech that marries two of my favorite green characters. Sometimes I can really surprise myself!

 

The meeting was poorly attended and this didn’t speak well about members’ support for the club. I would score this meeting a 6 over 10.

 

The Black Hole that is 1MDB

Increasingly, it looks like a 1MDB bailout is imminent.

On Monday, in very subtle language, 1MDB said that the refinancing of its mountain-high debt will involve the Ministry of Finance – which owns 1MDB anyway – “as relevant and as required” after Malaysian media reported that the government may inject up to 3 billion ringgit ($823 million) to patch up the black hole that is the 1MDB.

Already, 1MDB last week said it would explore asset sales and the sale of development rights in prime property projects as it seeks to cut its debt – a $11.6 billion burden that has weighed on the ringgit and the country’s sovereign credit rating. But according to the Edge Financial Daily, that may not be timely enough besides the fact that the income generated in the short-to-medium term may be insufficient.

Earlier this month, 1MDB settled a 2 billion ringgit ($550 million) loan it owed to two banks but sources have said it needed a loan from Malaysia’s second-richest man and UMNO crony Ananda Krishnan to do so.

The troubles plaguing 1MDB are certainly expected to exacerbate and I anticipate they will bring avalanches of economic and fiscal shocks to the country.

As it is, the Malaysian ringgit was under tremendous pressure yesterday and it tumbled 0.6% to 3.6435 a dollar as of 9.32 AM in Kuala Lumpur and earlier had already fallen to 3.6460, the lowest level since April 2009, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg.

A RM42 billion debt is a real cause for worry – but do you think the Prime Minister cares? I really wonder. I don’t believe I am alone in thinking he has wrapped himself in self-denial.

On Sunday, the hills were alive once again, and this time, Lady Gaga (left) was there.

Listen to this phenomenal performer – she has a voice that is luscious, rhapsodic and beckoning. Beautifully brilliant. Expressively enticing. Marvellously magical.

And she delivered a medley of songs that paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of "The Sound of Music" and to Julie Andrews:

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This year’s Oscars – the 87th Academy Awards @ The Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Julie Andrews gave a big hug to Lady Gaga on stage. Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters

['The Sound of Music' (1965) is a Rodgers & Hammerstein's cinematic treasure that is a big winner having grabbed a total of five Oscars including Best Director, Best Music and Best Picture. A gem of a movie that many claim is the most beloved musical of all time!]

A Cereal Cafe in Leeds

Image credit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-2961732/Best-friends-open-Britain-s-SECOND-cereal-cafe-Leeds.html

An international cereal menu

Two friends Zoe Blogg and Jen Gibb opened a breakfast-speciality store – a cereal-only café called Moo'd Cereal House in Oatley Road, Hedingley in Leeds, UK – that serves more than 100 types of cereals. As well as 'cocktails' consisting of mixed varieties of different brands. And the milk for cereals comes from an old ale pump. It has a modest £2-a-bowl price tag and the word is that the locals are impressed!

The pair met when they studied marketing at Leeds Beckett University, before starting work on the project last year. And you can have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner because it is open from 8 AM to 7 PM.

London also has the only other cereal-only café called Cereal Killer Café in Brick Lane and offers a menu of over 100 cereals from around the world. At this outlet, cereals are sourced from America, South Africa, France, Australia, South Korea as well as the UK and will be served alongside 13 varieties of milk as well as 20 types of toppings.

I would love to check them out if I am in the UK. For Malaysians, this is a different kind of breakfast!

Yesterday, Celtic won 4-0 against Hamilton Academical to re-establish a three-point lead over Aberdeen at the top of the Scottish Premiership. It was a barren first-half but after the break, the Bhoys came at the opposition with guns blazing. And the goals came from Kris Commons (57, 82), Stefan Johansen (64) and John Guidetti (78).

On the same day too, Liverpool moved to within two points of a Champions League place by scoring 2-0 against fifth-placed Southampton. Philippe Coutinho gathered Lazar Markovic's pass and hit a third-minute strike that bounced in off the underside of the crossbar. And Raheem Sterling swept the ball in after The Saints' Morgan Schneiderlin had given the ball away and fellow player Matt Targett's scuffed clearance gave him the opportunity in the seventy-third minute.

Liverpool have taken more points from their last nine Premier League games (23) than they took from their opening 17 of the season (22).

Volvo to Have Self-driving Cars by 2017

Swedish carmaker Volvo Cars claim that self-driving cars will react ‘faster than most humans’.

 

The Chinese-owned company announced Thursday that they have completed designs for self-driving cars. Already, they intend to put 100 self-driving cars on roads around the Swedish city of Gothenburg in 2017 in a pilot initiative with Sweden’s transport authority and local government.

 

“Volvo Cars (have) designed a complete production-viable autonomous driving system”, Peter Mertens, head of Volvo’s research and development said in a statement. “The key to making this unprecedented leap is a complex network of sensors, cloud-based positioning systems and intelligent braking and steering technologies”.

 

Volvo are locked in a race with their Japanese competitors Nissan and US Internet giant Google to be the first to put fully automated cars into circulation.  

Nurul Nuha (left), the second of six Anwar siblings is the face of the "March to Freedom” campaign, an initiative launched last week to put pressure the Malaysian government to free her father Anwar Ibrahim from prison.

 

"This struggle has been very much a family thing and as a Malaysian, it is about fighting for what is right, for the freedom of human rights", she said.

 

Like many Malaysians, we consider Anwar a political prisoner.

 

"The aim of 'March to Freedom' is to free papa. But it is also to free the judiciary system and other institutions under the current regime, that has been unfair", she added.

Calling Someone a Cockroach is an Insult Apparently

In South Africa, the chairwoman of the ruling African National Congress and also Speaker of Parliament, Baleka Mbete (left), had apologized on Wednesday for calling an opposition leader Julius Malema a “cockroach”. I didn’t know it is insulting but I guess there are those who get offended by the description.

She was addressing an ANC provincial congress on Saturday when she referred to “cockroaches like Malema roaming all over the place”.

She must be still fuming over Malema and members of his Economic Freedom Fighters party for what they did last week Thursday. The EFF used President Jacob Zuma's annual State of the Nation speech to question him about a state-funded, multi-million dollar upgrade to his private residence in Nkandla.

And when Malema demanded the president “pay back the money”, Mbete summoned security to forcibly evict Malema and members of his party from Parliament.

As soon as Malema became aware of the insult, he said Mbete was calling for his assassination. “If I am killed tomorrow people must know I was killed by Baleka and the ANC... We know what happened to people who were called cockroaches in Rwanda,” he said.

The term was used in Rwandan radio broadcasts to set Hutus against Tutsis in the 1994 genocide, in which at least 800 000 people were murdered.

Anyway, it was good that Mbete herself accepted that her statement was inappropriate and she subsequently withdrew her remarks "unreservedly".

I wouldn’t feel maligned if I am called a cockroach. I don't consider it offensive. Besides, cockroaches are really cool.

Here are 6 interesting facts about cockroaches that might persuade you to think differently about these wonderful bugs.

Fact 1: Cockroaches are tough. A cockroach can survive a remarkably long time without food. Some species can go as long as 6 weeks without a meal! These traits make cockroaches in our homes tough to control. But in nature, cockroaches provide an important service by consuming organic waste. They're the garbage collectors of their habitat. BTW, they are not fussy eaters. While most roaches prefer sweets given a choice, in a pinch, they will eat just about anything: glue, grease, soap, wallpaper paste, leather, bookbindings, or even hair.

Fact 2: Cockroaches are fast! Anyone who shares their home with cockroaches will tell you how fast they scurry for cover when you flip on the light switch. But when I say they're fast, I mean measurably fast. Cockroaches detect approaching threats by sensing changes in air currents. The fastest start time clocked by a cockroach was just 8.2 milliseconds after it sensed a puff of air on its rear end. Once all six legs are in motion, a cockroach can sprint at speeds of 80 centimeters per second.

Fact 3: Cockroaches like to be touched. Roaches are thigmotropic, meaning they like feeling something solid in contact with their bodies, preferably on all sides. They seek out cracks and crevices, and will squeeze into spaces that offer them the comfort of a tight fit.

Fact 4: Cockroaches get their vitamins from bacteria that live in their bodies. For millions of years, cockroaches have carried on a symbiotic relationship with special bacteroides carried within their own bodies. The bacteroides live within special cells called mycetocytes, and are passed down to new generations of cockroaches by their mothers. In exchange for living a life of relative comfort inside the cockroach's fatty tissue, the bacteroides manufacture all the vitamins and amino acids the cockroach needs to live. This arrangement allows the cockroach to dine on just about anything it finds, without concern for its lack of nutritional value.

Fact 5: Cockroaches can be conditioned. Just like Pavlov's dogs. Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov first documented the concept of classical conditioning, famously demonstrated by his salivating dogs. The dogs would hear a ticking metronome each time they were fed. Soon, the sound of the metronome alone was enough to make the dogs salivate in anticipation of a meal. Makoto Mizunami and his colleague Hidehiro Watanabe, both of Tohoku University, found cockroaches could also be conditioned this way. They introduced the scent of vanilla or peppermint just before giving the roaches a sugary treat. Eventually, the cockroaches would drool – yes, drool – when their antennae detected one of these scents in the air.

Fact 6: The vast majority of cockroaches are not pests. There are some 4,000 species of cockroaches on the planet, but only about 30 of these can be considered pests. Most cockroaches inhabit niche habitats in the wild.

So, the next time, you’re looking for a pet – why not consider a cockroach?