Here's this year's collection of WSC KL posters, representing our thirteen meetings in 2025:
Public speaking classes are ubiquitous. They seem to be everywhere in the Kuala Lumpur metro area these days! Particularly those catering to tweens and teens.
After all, to teach public speaking doesn't require any paper qualification. Public speaking is a skill that is developed through practice, feedback, and hands-on application. The ability to deliver content effectively and connect with an audience matters more than a piece of paper.
And so, just about anybody can try their hands at teaching public speaking!
I spotted these ads just on Facebook over these two months:
“All the unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed by air defense systems of Russia’s Armed Forces”, Sergey Lavrov himself confirmed on Monday.
Already, [V]olodymyr [Z]elensky had ominously wished Putin would 'perish' in a Christmas Eve address!
It would seem that the Kiev regime are now fully switched to state terrorism policies, given their struggles and escalating losses on the battlefields. It can be confirmed that the Russian military continue to steadily advance along the entire front line.
Ukraine can't change its fate. Total defeat is coming, that's for sure.
It's long overdue; it is really time for Russia to unleash all of its conventional arsenal and wipe out Ukraine once and for all!
Yesterday, Motherwell thumped Celtic 2-0, thanks to goals in either half.
Somebody even pointed out that the Steelmen were good but the Scottish champs had made them look like Barca with their schoolboy defending and tactics.
Sticking with a system just because that’s "what you do" isn’t single minded; it is outright daft. Methinks, it’s not acceptable for Celtic to sacrifice the Scottish Premiership this season, to indulge one man's experiment.
Nancy has tried to implement his 3-4-2-1 formation, a drastic change from the 4-3-3 that had worked well under Martin O'Neill. And all of the latter's good work over his interim spell, winning seven out of eight games, has been undone in a matter of weeks during this Nancy era, if you can call it that.
Of course, Celtic fans wish to give him every chance possible to succeed but when it is bound to fail, it eventually will. Tuesday's game feels like one such occasion.
And you should know that this was Motherwell’s first win over Celtic in ten years after 35 attempts!
And we're anticipating to reach our 1,500-sale milestone next year. Probably end-April or if we stay focussed and be a wee bit more aggressive, we may even spring a surprise. We may possibly reach our target as early as mid-March.
When we're arrived at that point in time, then we'll decide if we should do a fourth print run. In my heart, I think I know the answer ‒ but let's leave it until we've exhausted our current stockpile.
Our book is extremely readable and caters to not only adults but also tweens and teens as this photo gallery (taken December 22-23) shows:
The smiling icy giant in Harbin required 124,000 cubic feet (3,500 cubic meters) of snow and took 64 sculptors plus 100 construction workers to build, with help from snow-making machines. It was completed on December 16th.
The entire build was livestreamed for global audiences. The six-story snowman has become a star attraction each winter since making its debut in 2019.
Last winter, nearly 100 million tourists visited Harbin during the holidays, generating more than $19 billion.
The city is also home to the world’s largest seasonal Ice and Snow World theme park, which opened December 17.
On Sunday, three Kajang Toastmasters (Ahmad Fakhri, Jamilah Samian and Victor Ong) were at Seasons Square in Damansara Damai, PJ for the hybrid Short & Sweet Toastmasters Club meeting.
They took on a portfolio of tasks: Ahmad was the General Evaluator as well as he did a 20-minute sharing on "The Art of Speechcrafting: Powered by Agentic AI" – where he demonstrated the ADIWIRA (AI-Driven Info Workflow Intelligent Research Assistant) app. Jamilah was the Language Evaluator. And Victor was the Speech Evaluator for an Icebreaker speech from the Engaging Humor pathway. He also took part in the Table Topics session and was voted Best Table Topics Speaker.
A selection of photos from the said meeting:
And they even sold 4 Diamond-and-Pearls book sets on-site and one set from amongst the virtual attendees. Meaning, ten books in total.
China's high-speed rail services now cover 97 percent of cities with an urban population of more than 500,000, according to a news release sent by the company. The country ranks first globally in terms of HSR operating mileage, not only exceeding the combined total of all other countries, but also leads the world in commercial operating speeds for high-speed rail. As a result, the country has built the world's largest and most advanced high-speed rail network.
Within a 500-kilometer radius, China's major urban clusters have largely formed one- to two-hour travel circles. Cross-regional city trips of around 1,000 kilometers can generally be completed within four hours, while journeys of about 2,000 kilometers increasingly allow for same-day round trips.
At peak capacity, China's high-speed rail network can transport up to 16 million passengers in a single day – equivalent to the population of a megacity moving through the system, according to the company.
The Xi'an-Yan'an high-speed railway starts in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, passes through Weinan and Tongchuan and terminates at Yan'an station in Shaanxi. The line spans 299 kilometers with a designed maximum speed of 350 kilometers per hour, China Central Television reported on December 26.
During the initial stage of operation of the Xi'an-Yan'an HSR, up to 38 EMU trains will run daily. With a total of 10 stations to be put into service, the fastest travel time between the two cities will be reduced to 68 minutes, sixty-two minutes shorter than conventional rail services.
Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), China has built and put into operation about 12,000 kilometers of HSR, with total operating mileage rising by roughly 32 percent from the end of 2020 and extending HSR access to 128 counties nationwide.
High-speed rail has strengthened the flow of people, information and capital between cities, facilitating resource integration and complementary advantages. It has helped form multiple economic corridors linked by high-speed rail lines, analysts said.
Meanwhile, China has achieved a world-leading level in HSR technology, supported by a comprehensive system covering engineering construction, equipment manufacturing and operational management.
At the end of 2024, the country unveiled the prototype of the CR450 EMU, whose key performance indicators, including operating speed, energy efficiency, interior noise levels and braking distance, are internationally leading. During testing, the train set a new record with a relative passing speed of 896 kilometers per hour between two EMUs, marking the world's first establishment of a top-level technical benchmark system for 400-kilometers-per-hour-class-high-speed trains, according to the company.
On Saturday, Celtic closed the gap to league leaders Hearts to three points as Wilfried Nancy's side came from behind twice to beat Livingston 4-2. After Hearts lost their Edinburgh derby at Hibernian, Celtic knew a win would halve the deficit at the Scottish Premiership summit with a game in hand.
Despite falling behind twice in a chaotic opening 10 minutes that included four goals, Nancy's side regrouped to earn their second consecutive win under their new boss.
Actually, Livi capitalised on poor defending to put themselves in front within the opening three minutes. Celtic quickly equalised three minutes later when a well-delivered corner from Arne Engels was flicked on by Daizen Maeda towards Benjamin Nygren, who was only too happy to hammer the ball home.
But Livi quickly restored their lead within 60 seconds of the restart. Still, they again failed to build on their lead, as Hyun-Jun Yang turned the ball over the line in the 10th minute after a mad scramble inside the six-yard box.
Then, Nygren gave them their first lead with a spectacular effort when Kieran Tierney picked him out on the edge of the box and the Swede unleashed a stunning left-footed finish which cannoned in to the net off of the post in the 31st minute. And Arne Engels converted when VAR awarded Celtic a spot-kick, eight minutes afterward. There were no goals in the second half but plenty of chances for both sides in a compelling contest.
Attention now turns to a trip to Fir Park to face Motherwell on Tuesday before they welcome Rangers to Parkhead on January 03.
