India's National Language Issue

In India, language is the new hot topic in town; and politicians, celebrities and twitterati are getting hot under the collar, broaching the subject of Hindi becoming the national language. It’s a debate that erupts with unfailing regularity. 

When the Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah this month stated that people from different states should speak Hindi with each other and that Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English, it quickly became a hot potato. 

Tamil Nadu, which has been campaigning against the idea of a national language even before independence, took up the cause with renewed vigour. From Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and music composer AR Rahman to actors Prakash Raj and Siddharth, the whole state echoed in unison 'Stop Hindi Imposition’. 

Rahman, who hails from Tamil Nadu even tweeted the poster of a woman holding a staff with the Tamil letter 'zha' on it. 

The poster, titled “Tamizhanangu”, also had lines from a poem by revolutionary poet Bharathidasan. The line in Tamil stated, “Delightful Tamil is the root of the staple crop of our rights”. 

Demanding a single language for communication in a country of 100 plus languages is a tough ask.

Still, it is noteworthy to mention that the 2011 Census data showed that Hindi is spoken by 43.6% of the population and it was the fastest growing language in India with 6% growth in the preceding decade. 

And yet there is no national language for India; Constitution of India does not give any language the status of national language. 

There’s no denying the fact that language can be a sensitive issue.

Robot 'Child' Helps Train Dentists

A life-like robot 'child' given the name of Pedia_Roid simulates the jittery movements that children often make in the dentist chair, helping to train paediatric dentists. It stands at just 5ft 1in and automatically reacts to anything that might cause a real human pain.

Co-developed by a Japanese robotics startup, Tmsuk, and Showa University Dental Hospital's Department of Orthodontics, the robot is designed to address the lack of clinical training for paediatric dentists and doctors. 

From mild tantrums to critical medical symptoms, it is said to be capable of mimicking anything. And that includes secreting saliva and vomiting at random. Even signs of a medical emergency, including convulsions and heart failure, can also be displayed. 

Yusuke Ishii, the engineering division director of Tmsuk, said: "Medical workers really need to experience medical emergencies. It is important they experience a situation where something goes wrong and that's what it can simulate”. 

Instructors to use a separate touch panel to control bodily functions, such as sneezing, coughing and throwing up. The user can send signals to air cylinders in the robot's joists to cause movement across its entire body, including the mouth and tongue.

 

It’s really cool tech! But I think the humanoid robot needs more kicking power and loud screams to simulate a real child! 

Heaven and Earth

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin vowed Tuesday to move "heaven and earth" to help Ukraine win its “war” against Russia! 

Today is Day 64 of the Ukraine conflict and in spite of the West’s rhetoric, Russian forces are continuing to make advances in east of the country. 

Contrary to mainstream media reports, Russia has a clear upper hand. 

Needless to say, Ukrainian losses mount – here’s an update as at yesterday: 

The collusion of the US and NATO to arm Ukraine – a seemingly bottomless show of generosity to supply more and more weapons – risks prolonging a conflict that will inevitably destroy the country. Not that these provocateurs give a rat’s ass about Ukrainians. 

As NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday, they’re ready to back Kyiv for years in the war against Russia. What this means is that we will witness the pointless and hollow efforts by the West “to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian”! 

The day will come when what remains of Ukraine is just a non-viable rump.

Disney Tell Florida to F*** Off

Disney's self-governing special district, the Reedy Creek Improvement District are maintaining that Florida's move to dissolve the district next year is not legal unless the state pays off Reedy Creek's extensive debts. [Read my post “Florida Strips Disney of Special District Status” dated April 24, 2022]. 

Reedy Creek is a special purpose district created by state law in May 1967 that gives The Walt Disney Company extensive governmental control over the land in and around their Florida theme parks. With that power, Reedy Creek currently have about $1 billion in outstanding bond debt, according to the credit rating agency Fitch Ratings. 

Last Thursday, Reedy Creek issued a statement pointing out that the 1967 law includes a pledge from Florida to their bondholders. The law states that Florida "will not in any way impair the rights or remedies of the holders… until all such bonds together with interest thereon, and all costs and expenses in connection with any act or proceeding by or on behalf of such holders, are fully met and discharged". 

Due to that pledge, Reedy Creek said they expect to continue business as usual. 

Liverpool have one foot in the Champions League final with a dominant 2-0 win over Villarreal in the first leg of their semi-final tie at Anfield on Wednesday. 

Unai Emery's men followed the same tactic that saw them past Juventus and Bayern Munich by retreating behind the ball. However, the Yellow Submarine could barely lay a glove on Jürgen Klopp's men as Liverpool just had to bide their time to make their dominance count.

And then came two goals in two minutes and which undid the Villarreal boss's defensive game plan. An own goal from a deflection off Jordan Henderson's cross in the fifty-third minute and a strike from Sadio Mane two minutes later put Liverpool in control of the tie heading into next week's return match. 

The only criticism I have is that the Reds should have won by more in a completely convincing performance. 

Anyway, barring a huge upset when the sides meet again in southern Spain in six days' time, Liverpool's season will finish with a third Champions League final in five seasons in Paris, France on May 28.

You Can't Find the Diamond in Bookshops

I should tell you that "The Diamond in Your Speech" is not available in bookshops! It's not that we don't want to but we have our reasons why we opted not to go with this distribution route.

This Joe Gregory article “Why We Don’t Sell Books in ‘Real’ Bookshops” published November 15, 2015 on Linkedin explains why. 

[Gregory (right) describes himself as an author, publisher and builder of books that build businesses]. 

I am sharing it here because I agree with Myriad Publishers that we focus on online sales with regard to “The Diamond in Your Speech” – as mentioned in my earlier post today. 

"The reasons we don’t actively distribute to physical bookstores: 

You, the author, would need to pay upfront for a sizeable (at least 500 copies) print run of your book to allow the wholesalers to keep it 'in stock'. 

Depending on the wholesaler you will also have to pay a storage fee each year and keep a minimum stock with them. 

You would then need to persuade a large number of bookstores to order your book in. You could pay a distributor to do this for you (for a fee/percentage of sales); you could try to contact chain stores like Waterstones direct, but purchasing decisions for all but the biggest funded books are made on a store by store basis, so you would need to contact each outlet individually; and/or you could approach independent bookstores directly. This is a big sales outlay just to get a bookstore to stock (not buy) your book. 

If a bookstore did stock your book, you would not be not paid until after they had sold them (usually 90+ days terms). 

But getting a retailer to 'stock' lots of books isn’t the same as selling lots of books. If they failed to sell the books (which happens more and more) the publisher/author is left out of pocket and with no income to pay off the cost of printing. 

This is because almost all bookshops take books on a 'sale or return/destroy' basis. This means if they failed to sell your book they would be able to return them to you, or destroy them, at your expense. In essence, you take all the risk, for a small stake in the reward. The way to avoid this risk is to ask for on 'firm sale' terms, but most bookstores won’t take books on this basis (which we insist on). 

You would also have to pay (a lot) to get any decent in-store positioning for your book. 

When you consider more and more bookstores now resemble libraries (people go in to browse, and then order their books online), paying for positioning is a waste of money. 

Bricks and mortar bookstores (with the exception of second-hand and niche bookshops) are on the same path as record stores and video shops… 

Your likelihood of making money or getting visibility from book sales in a physical bookstore gets slimmer and slimmer all the time. And, the work involved in getting your book stocked, let alone sold, just isn’t worth your time when you do a simple risk/reward equation". 

If you're interested to know, “The Diamond in Your Speech” is having a decent run. Todate, Myriad Publishers have managed to push out 347 copies of the said book.

TikTok Craze Fuels Book Purchases

I read that in the UK, publishers are saying the popularity of readers discussing their favorite books on TikTok helped lift sales to record levels in 2021. 

Total book sales rose 5% to £6.7 billion last year, with fiction, children's and young adult all performing well, the Publishers Association said. 

And four of the top five young adult bestsellers in 2021 had been driven by the BookTok trend. They included hit titles like Adam Silvera’s “They Both Die at the End” and E Lockhart's “We Were Liars”. 

[Note: The former which was the top-selling young adult book of 2021, according to Nielsen, was first published in 2017 before enjoying a resurgence. And the latter which was third on the list, originally came out in 2014]. 

Publishers Association chief executive Stephen Lotinga claimed viral videos on platforms like TikTok had been "really significant" in encouraging readers to discover books. 

He said: "Anecdotally, we've had lots of individual booksellers talking about the fact that they're having lots of young people coming into their book stores, talking about books that they have heard about on TikTok and asking for them. 

A huge amount of what is being driven by TikTok is in print sales, and we are finding a lot of young adults are discovering books they love, sharing them with friends and driving sales and new interest, and that can only be a good thing”. 

He added that “BookTokkers” were often eschewing the latest releases and instead rediscovering books that are sometimes decades old. An extreme example was how, just before Christmas, an unexpected hit was Cain’s Jawbone, written as a murder mystery puzzle by Edward Powys Mathers under the pen-name Torquemada in 1934. It became popular when TikTok user Sarah Scannell posted a series of videos charting her quest to solve the puzzle. 

On a related note, I think Myriad Publishers are right to focus on online sales with regard to their book “The Diamond in Your Speech”. It’s really not worth to actively distribute to physical bookstores! 

After all, according to UK’s The Guardian in a David Barnett piece “UK publishers take £6.7bn in sales as TikTok crazes fuel purchases” published April 21, 2022, “two thirds of books bought in physical bookshops are “unplanned purchases” – picked up because they caught the buyer’s eye. Conversely, the same proportion of book sales online are planned – shoppers go to buy precisely what they are looking for, and don’t browse for other things while there”.

“The Diamond in Your Speech” is a book that is a practical guide to public speaking and methinks, people are less likely to buy it on a whim.

Malaysia to Return to Near Normalcy on Sunday

Malaysians no longer need to scan using the MySejahtera contact tracing application to enter premises starting May 01, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced today. 

Entry is permitted regardless of vaccination status. However, Covid-19 positive cases and those under HSO are still not allowed to enter premises. 

Wearing a face mask is still mandatory indoors and in public transport, including e-hailing services. The wearing of face masks is not required outdoors. 

Physical distancing is encouraged but no longer mandatory. 

Finally, 99% normalcy!

How Not to Get Killed By Your Sex Partner

Sometimes there are pretty valid reasons for leaving right after sex. In the spider world, in many species, the male spider ends up being eaten alive by the much larger, hungry female. 

A team of Chinese scientists has discovered that male orb-weaving spiders (Scientific name: Philoponella prominens) fling themselves away from their partners – pulling 20 Gs of acceleration in order to avoid being killed and eaten by females. 

The mechanism, described for the first time in the journal Current Biology on Monday, involves the spiders’ first pair of legs to immediately undertake a split-second catapult action. 

Lead author Shichang Zhang of Hubei University in Wuhan told AFP he was “excited” to make the discovery, which required high-speed, high-resolution cameras to detect. 

Zhang and colleagues were studying sexual selection in this spider, “Philoponella prominens”, which live in communal groups of up to 300 individuals. 

Of 155 successful matings, they found 152 ended with the male catapulting and thus surviving the encounter. Males can mate up to six times with the same female – bouncing off, climbing back up using a silk safety line, mating, and bouncing off again. The three males that didn’t catapult were promptly captured, killed and consumed by their partners. 

Another 30 males that were prevented from catapulting by placing a fine brush behind their dorsum all met the same fate – leading the researchers to conclude catapulting is essential to avoiding sexual cannabalism. 

Note that sexual predation by females is seen across many spider species. 

The escaping orb-weaving spiders clocked some impressive statistics: their average peak speed was 65 centimeters per second, with an acceleration of 200 meters per second squared. That’s equivalent to 20 Gs, or 20 times the acceleration felt during freefall. While soaring through the air, the males spin around at some 175 revolutions per second. 

The males catapult by folding the tibia-metatarsus joint of their first leg pair against females. When released, it exerts hydraulic pressure and causes the legs to expand. 

Zhang believed the females were judging males’ sexual suitability by their ability to escape. 

“Through the catapulting, a male can escape female sexual cannibalism, and a female can choose males with high quality, because the kinetic performance may directly correlate with male’s physical condition”, he elaborated. 

Even though they have already mated, females may go on to only accept the sperm of males that passed the test, explained Zhang. 

Spiders differ from mammals in that females have a structure known as spermatheca where deposited sperm is stored. They can decide whether to use it to fertilise eggs, or reject it by squeezing it out or changing the pH value to kill the sperm. 

Future work will confirm whether there is a correlation between male catapulting and reproductive success, said Zhang.

M&M Stack Breaks World Record With 7 M&M's®

My post “A World Record Stack of 6 M&M's®” published just 6 days ago has been invalidated! 

That’s because an Iraqi with a talent for balance broke the Guinness World Record on April 07, 2022 by assembling seven M&M's into a tower! 

Twenty-nine-year-old Ibrahim Sadeq attempted the feat, which has become an unusually competitive Guinness World Records category, with a Guinness adjudicator on hand in Nasiriyha, which is 360 km (225 miles) southeast of Baghdad. 

He beat the previous record set by Australian Brendan Kelbie, in October 2021 who stacked six of the chocolate candies. 

Sadeq previously earned a Guinness World Record by balancing 18 eggs on the back of his hand.

It's about Time!

Coca-Cola Shows Continued Momentum

The Coca-Cola Company yesterday reported first quarter 2022 results, showing continued momentum in their marketplace performance. More so since crowds have returned to movie theatres, music venues and sports stadiums. 

As their Chairperson and CEO, James Quincey said: “We remain true to our purpose and are staying close to consumers. We are confident in our full-year guidance, and we are well-equipped to win in all types of environments as we fuel strong topline momentum and create value for our stakeholders”.

Net revenues grew 16% to $10.5 billion. Revenue performance included 7% growth in price/mix and 11% growth in concentrate sales. The sparkling soft drinks segment grew 7%, driven by growth across all geographic operating sectors, primarily Europe, Middle East & Africa and Latin America. Even my favorite beverage – referred to as Trademark Coca-Cola – grew 6%! 

Still, it needs to be recognized that as with most consumer products, cost poses a challenge. Coke is getting hit across the board on rising costs for everything from aluminium and sugar to transportation. 

The Champions League begins a blockbuster semi-final stage this week and it is the Premier League against La Liga! 

In England's corner are domestic title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City, who face Spain's Villarreal and Real Madrid respectively. 

The Premier League is represented by the top two, a pair who have largely swept aside all they have faced this campaign as they go toe-to-toe for every trophy on the table. And Liverpool and Manchester City are favorites to win their respective semi-finals and continue England's recent dominance of the Champions League. 

After being absent from the final for five seasons between 2013 and 2017, the Premier League has provided five of the past eight finalists, with two of the past three showdowns being all-English affairs. 

Methinks, this time around, we will see another all-English final!

The Proxy War in Ukraine

Russia's intervention in Ukraine began on February 24, 2022 with the principal objective of seeking the 'demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine'. 

Yesterday was Day 60. And according to China’s Global Times, the Russian military have destroyed 141 aircraft and 110 helicopters, 264 anti-aircraft missile systems, 541 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2,479 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 278 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,081 field artillery and mortars, and 2,321 special military vehicles!

In case you don't know, these were mostly supplied to Ukraine by the United States and NATO countries. 

Actually, it’s incorrect to call this a Ukraine-Russia conflict because it is already turning out to be a proxy war between US/NATO and Russia. 

The flow of armaments continues unabated. How can peace have any chance with increasing US/NATO military aid to Ukraine? 

That’s why we mustn't expect peace anytime soon.

On Sunday, Liverpool hosted Everton in the 240th Merseyside derby, with the Reds looking to maintain their title push at Anfield. And the Reds were triumphant. 

The Toffees did make Liverpool fight for their 2-0 win with a defensive approach that was well-organized and disciplined – but it was not enough to deny Jurgen Klopp's quadruple-chasing side. 

The introductions of Luis Diaz and Divock Origi provided Liverpool with extra attacking momentum as they were finally able to break Everton's resistance. Origi was involved in the build-up to the first goal as he combined with Mohamed Salah, who then crossed for Andy Robertson to head in at the far post in the sixty-second minute. Then 23 minutes later, Origi headed in the second goal after the ball fell to him following Luis Diaz's overhead kick. 

Liverpool’s next match is the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday against Villarreal.

Iftar Buffets Promote Binge Eating

The Vibes yesterday reported one senior Islamic official as declaring that an extravagant spread that is the iftar buffet and accompanied by festive tunes is very unbecoming and against the spirit of Ramadan. 

Perak Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIPk) president Mohd Annuar Zaini stressed that it is not Islamic culture to serve food in abundance, which eventually leads to waste. 

According to a 2016 report published by the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Corporation, 200,000 tonnes of food went straight into the rubbish bin every fasting month. 

Data in June 2018, according to a statement by WWF-Malaysia in 2019, revealed that 16,668 tonnes of food nationwide were wasted on a daily basis, which could be used to feed 12 million individuals. The figure, WWF-Malaysia said, usually jumps 15% to 20% during the festive period. During the fasting month alone, 20,088 tonnes of food was wasted daily – enough to feed one and a half times the Malaysian population. 

He expressed disappointment in Muslims who gorge on lavish food when the holy month was meant to teach Muslims the pain and suffering of those in poverty who lack even the basic three-square meals a day. 

“You [buffet operators] drag people to stay with entertainment and music. They will stay and eat more food when they are encouraged to inject life to mosques. 

When they start bringing children [to buffets], they are teaching the wrong values and culture to the young ones”, he was quoted as saying. 

The criticism was directed towards caterers that offer buffets for breaking fast, usually at a fee of a few hundred ringgit. These fees often include charges for entertainment. 

Mohd Annuar called the buffet charges exorbitant and believed that restaurant owners and hotels take advantage of the cravings that come after a long day of fasting. 

Sharing his perspective, Islamic Development Department (JAKIM) director-general Hakimah Mohd Yusoff (left) has also advised Muslims to eat in moderation in order to stay healthy. 

Speaking to The Vibes, she reminded Muslims that Ramadan is a month to double their worship and avoid doing activities, which includes binge eating, that can reduce “pahala” (rewards). 

“The habit of binge eating is quite contrary to the true philosophy of fasting”, Hakimah said. 

However she disagreed with calls to ban Ramadan buffets. 

“In fact, the existence of the Ramadan buffet has also helped to boost the country’s economy as well as provide opportunities for the Muslim community to break fast at locations (which serve food) that suit their taste”, she added. 

Celtic’s 2-0 triumph against Ross County was enough to restore Celtic's 6-point advantage at the Scottish Premiership summit yesterday.

Kyogo Furuhashi was back in the starting XI for the first time this year and marked the occasion with a fantastic header in the twelfth minute. João Pedro Neves Filipe, popularly known as Jota set him up for this moment and then the creator turned provider in the eighty-seventh minute as the winger stabbed home his side's winner. 

Four games remain, starting with what could be a decisive derby at Celtic Park on Sunday.

TikTok is Hard to Ignore

TikTok is a Chinese App that is owned by ByteDance which is a Video Sharing Social Networking Service. First launched in China in 2016 with the name Douyin, it later went international with the name TikTok.

Whether you love it or hate it, TikTok is increasingly hard to ignore! 

7 things to know about TikTok: 

1. TikTok was the most downloaded app of 2021, with 656 million downloads. 
2. TikTok has been downloaded more than 3 billion times. 
3. TikTok has over one billion monthly active users. 
4. TikTok’s user base skews female. Worldwide, TikTok’s user base is 57% female. 
5. The majority of people use TikTok to find funny/entertaining content, according to the 2022 GlobalWebIndex survey. 
6. The highest performing videos are between 21 and 34 seconds long.
7. Young people aged 18-24 are the apps biggest users – it's not an app for your nan!

Florida Strips Disney of Special District Status

I didn’t know this until I read today that Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida in the US have self-governing status in the state. 

On Thursday, the state House passed a bill that would eliminate the company of their near-total power over the special district where their theme park is based. It had already passed the Senate. 

Known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District, it was created in a 1967 deal between the state and the Walt Disney Company. 

On Friday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (left) signed the measure into law – and Disney’s special district status will be dissolved on June 01, 2023. 

This special privilege accorded to Disney effectively allows the company to operate as their own municipal government, with their own board of supervisors and include the ability to levy tax, build roads, control utilities and operate their own fire department. 

The entertainment and media conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California enjoyed the freedom from almost all bureaucratic intervention for half a century and is thought to have saved them from tens of millions of dollars in taxes and fees. 

And it is part of why Disney chose to build their theme parks in Florida, where they have become the state's largest private employer, with some 80,000 jobs. 

The change in status for Disney is seen as retribution for the company for being on the wrong side of the political divide. They have come out publicly to oppose the state's Parental Rights in Education Law, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law by critics. 

It prohibits any instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity between kindergarten and third grade – when students are roughly between five and nine years old. And it calls on school districts to avoid LGBT topics "when not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students". 

The legislation also extends to student support services, including counselling, and grants parents the power to sue schools directly if they believe an educator has broken the law. 

Opponents say the law will isolate and stigmatise LGBT youth, while supporters say it protects children from age-inappropriate content.

Earlier this month, Republican lawmakers in the US Congress said they would oppose renewing the company's copyright on Mickey Mouse in 2024 because of Disney's "political and sexual agenda". 

That’s what happens when business mixes with politics.

Willing Malaysians

I spotted this April 22-dated Malay Mail Online report today. A survey, jointly conducted by market research company Ipsos, Monash University Malaysia, Sunway University, and University Sains Malaysia have claimed that fifty-six percent of Malaysians are willing to continue getting vaccinated against Covid-19 if it is “needed”! 

Only 12 percent said they are unlikely to do so. The remaining 32 percent said they are neutral and which I take it to mean, being ambivalent. 

The survey which studied 1,914 respondents aged 18 years and over, from January 17 to January 27 this year too gauged respondents’ perception of how useful it is to get vaccinated. 

And the researchers interestingly observed that “although a majority of Malaysians believe vaccines protect their health and improve their general wellbeing, more than anything, getting vaccinated is seen as an enabler for people to go about their daily activities”.

Book lovers, today is World Book Day!

Get a book, any book and start reading! Preferably "The Diamond in Your Speech"! 

It's a good habit!

Bats That Survive on a Diet of Blood

Scientists have figured out why vampire bats are the only mammals that can survive on a diet of just blood. 

They compared the genome of common vampire bats to 26 other bat species and identified 13 genes that are missing or no longer work in vampire bats. Over the years, those gene tweaks helped them adapt to a blood diet rich in iron and protein but with minimal fats or carbohydrates, the researchers reported Friday in the journal Science Advances. 

The bats live in Central and South America and are basically “living Draculas”, said co-author Michael Hiller of Germany’s Max Planck Institute. About 3 inches (8cm) long with a wingspan of 7 inches (18cm), the bats bite and than lap up blood from livestock or other animals at night. 

Most mammals couldn’t survive on a low-calorie liquid diet of blood. Only three vampire species – the common vampire bat (Scientific name: Desmodus rotundus), the hairy-legged vampire bat (Scientific name: Diphylla ecaudata), and the white-winged vampire bat (Scientific name: Diaemus youngi) – of the 1,400 kinds of bats can do that; the others eat mostly insects, fruit, nectar, pollen or meat, such as small frogs and fish. 

“Blood is a terrible food source”, said Hannah Kim Frank, a bat researcher at Tulane University, who was not involved in the study. “It’s totally bizarre and amazing that vampire bats can survive on blood – they are really weird, even among bats”. 

Note that with such a low-calorie diet, vampire bats can’t go long without a meal. 

Some other creatures also have a taste for blood, including female mosquitoes, bedbugs, leeches and fleas.

The Diamond: And Another Wave is in Pursuit

Yet, another wave is in pursuit, advancing doggedly as our book sales confidently forge ahead.

“The Diamond in Your Speech” is really moving along nicely and I, for one, am thankful for the support we’ve received!

I don’t think I’m laying it on thick if I say that you’re not into public speaking if you don’t know the two authors. After all, they are pretty well-known among local public speaking circles.

Ahmad Fakhri, of course, is a very familiar figure among Toastmasters in Malaysia and if I may add, elsewhere too – and undeniably, he is an articulate speaker and which makes him an absolute joy to listen to. 

Victor Ong on the other hand, is prominent for his hypersonic pace of speeches he presented during his Toastmasters days of yore. It’s no mean feat to deliver 880 assignment speeches from 109 manuals over a span of 4,292 days! That’s one speech every 4.88 days! 

I really don’t know if it is a mere coincidence – but out of the blue, my post “The Cockroach Speech” [https://helpvictor.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-story-of-cockroach.html] published on April 01, 2014 gets massively noticed (again)! As of now, 783 views!

Maybe, I’m being checked out! You just never know!

For those who know me, I’ve started my journey as a public speaker when I joined Toastmasters in 2008 and stayed on for eleven years and nine months. I’m still very much involved in public speaking – but now, it’s under different guises. World Speech Day, World Speakers’ Coalition and KEPENTAS. 

So, this book “The Diamond in Your Speech” which we’ve both conceived is our joint initiative to put pen to paper the lessons we’ve learned and the experiences we’ve gone through over very many years of public speaking. 

We have no doubt that it will appeal to anybody who has an interest in public speaking. A diamond of a book that is both informative and educational. And an easy read too. So, go on and get a copy if you haven’t! 

You’ll need to go to this web link to make your order @ https://bit.ly/3r9BNd4