Brazil Struggle Against Mexico

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brazil produced an unconvincing display at Estadio Castelao in Fortaleza, Brazil yesterday as Mexico held them to a goalless draw to leave the hosts needing to win their final group game to be sure of their place in the last 16. Luiz Felipe Scolari's side were again lackluster – I don’t know about you but in their opening WC match, I didn’t think they played that well either.

 

When we are dealing with consumables, many companies are likely to embark on marketing research to try to identify the new flavors they may be interested to introduce in the marketplace.

 

For others, they try to be creative. Frito-Lay is one of those companies.

 

In the US of A, last year, it ran a Facebook contest called “Lay’s Do Us A Flavor”. It is all about crowdsourcing brand new flavors for their Lay’s Potato Chips brand. Ultimately, Cheesy Garlic Bread beat out fellow finalists Sriracha and Chicken & Waffles.

 

Just north of the border, Lay’s Canada did something similar – an online contest to choose the next potato chip flavor (sorry: it’s flavour in Canada). The four finalists are: Creamy Garlic Caesar, Grilled Cheese & Ketchup, Maple Moose, and Perogy Platter. Actor and comedian Martin Short is serving as the contest’s spokesperson.

Image credit: http://laughingsquid.com/potential-lays-canada-chips-creamy-garlic-caesar-grilled-cheese-ketchup-maple-moose-perogy-platter/?relatedposts_hit=1&relatedposts_origin=248534&relatedposts_position=01

I am sharing the above only because this semester, my DMK1013 students at Sunway University are involved in a course project that is examining a Malaysian company’s products – and some of these students are also looking at new flavors too.

 

I was at the Malaysia Airlines Academy last Thursday. It was a joint Toastmasters meeting for Kelana Bilingual and the three MAS clubs. It was well-attended by MAS members and which I had not seen in a long, long time. Both speeches and evaluations were good. I was even voted Best Evaluator.

 

A good meeting and I would give it a score of an 8 over 10.

 

The Door to Hell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Image credit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2179622/The-Door-Hell-Giant-hole-Karakum-Desert-40-YEARS.html

Locals call it “The Door to Hell”. It offers a spectacular view of flames burning inside a crater located in Derweze (a village with a population of about 350) in the the heart of the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan. The site is about 260 kilometres north of Ashgabat, the capital.

Soviet-era geologists were drilling at the site in 1971 and tapped into a cavern filled with natural gas.But the ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a hole with a diameter of 70 metres.Fearing that the hole would lead to the release of poisonous gases, the team decided to burn it off. It was hoped that the fire would use all the fuel within days, but it was not to be.

The raging fire inside the crater is still burning after more than 40 years! Hmmm, the idea of visiting Hell seduces me!

[In April 2010 the country's president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, visited the site and ordered that the hole should be closed but this is yet to happen].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vanessa Raj, Delia Arnold, Low Wee Wern and Nicol David celebrate Malaysia’s victory in the women’s Asian Team Championships in Hong Kong. Photo: SportAsia

Yesterday, Malaysia won the women’s Asian Squash Team Championships for the first time since 2008 by beating hosts Hong Kong 2-0 in the final.

My two fave gals easily won their matches. World No. 7 Low Wee Wern beat Liu Tsz-ling 3-0 (11-5, 11-2, 11-7) in the first match and World No. 1 Nicol David sealed the victory with a 3-1 (11-3, 11-2, 7-11, 11-6) win over stand-in Hong Kong No. 1 Joey Chan.

MH370: 100 Days Since The Plane Has Gone Missing

Today is the one hundredth day when MH370 went missing. Twenty-six countries have participated in the hunt for the missing plane. And there’s still no sign of it.

 

We have read about plots, hidden hands, spy theories and many more fascinating stories about MH370 but one thing is self-evident – Malaysia showed itself as doing a first class botched job when it failed to track a Boeing 777 as it flew across its airspace.

 

There is no closure. No ending. No nothing. There is only grief and anger and emptiness.

 

In another World Cup Group C match today in Arena Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil, Japan lost 1-2 to Ivory Coast. The former is to meet Greece on June 19th.

Italy Inflict Defeat on England

On Saturday (Sunday in Malaysia), England's World Cup campaign opened with defeat against Italy. In this Group D match in the steamy heat of the Arena Amazonia in Manaus, Brazil. The former lost 1-2 to the Azzurris. Still, England manager Roy Hodgson has "great confidence" his side will qualify! I am not going to say anything since after all, England is well-represented by Liverpool players. Anyway, the English will meet Uruguay on Thursday.

Tuanku Raja Zarith Sofia Sultan Idris Shah, consort to the Sultan of Johor (left) told a seminar on “Extremism among the Muslims in Contemporary Times” at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia that diversity is God-given so that people from different backgrounds could interact with one another and achieve mutual respect. 

Raja Zarith, who is UTM’s chancellor quoted two verses from the Quran – Al Maidah, verse 48 and Al Hujurat, verse 13 – which described how Allah had deliberately created diversity among mankind so that they may be tested as well as learn from one another. 

She noted that even the Prophet Muhammad had declared the differences in his community as being God’s will, and that he strived to achieve peace among the non-Muslim groups as well. 

Hmmm, what have ISMA got to say to this? I think they will just play dumb. And cowardly to respond.

Bala's Family Files Suit Against PM and 8 Others

Prime Minister Najib Razak and eight others (i.e. wife Rosmah Mansor, brothers Ahmad Johari Abdul Razak and Mohd Nazim Abdul Razak, senior lawyer Cecil Abraham, his son Sunil Abraham, commissioner of oaths Zainal Abidin Muhayat, carpet dealer Deepak Jaikishan and lawyer M Arunapalam) cannot shake off the specter of the Altantuya murder as the next explosive chapter is a civil suit filed by the widow and family of the late P Balasubramaniam over their forced exile in India which they say is worth RM840,000. 

The private detective, who was a witness in the murder trial of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu, hurriedly left Malaysia after he signed a second statutory declaration in 2008 which purportedly cleared Najib's involvement in the case. 

The Malaysian Insider reported it has sighted the suit filed by Balasubramaniam's widow, A Santamil Selvi, and her children. The plaintiffs filed the suit in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur this past week against the nine. 

In the suit, the family said the defendants caused Balasubramaniam's second SD "to be drafted without the instructions of the deceased and further causing the deceased to sign the same under threat and inducement". 

Case management has been fixed for June 23.

On Friday, in the Brazilian city of Cuiaba, the lowest-ranked team in the World Cup, i.e. Australia lost to Chile 1-3 in a Group B match. The Socceroos have a tough road ahead because they will meet the Dutch next.

Holland Humiliate Spain in WC

The World Cup sizzles. 

On Friday, in a Group B match, Holland humiliated Spain 5-1. Four goals is the biggest losing margin by a defending champion at a World Cup. And this was the first time Spain conceded five or more goals since losing 6-2 to Scotland in June 1963. 

Anyway, I would like to share this rousing music video simply titled “Gole Iran:



I am keeping my fingers crossed. I am wishing and hoping one of the four Asian teams (I am including Australia) can make it at least to the last 16. Nothing is impossible.

Brazil Put on WC Show

  

  

Brazil's military police sporting their new “exoskeleton” gear for the World Cup. Photo by Eva Hershaw

 
The 2014 Fifa World Cup officially got under way on Thursday. Locals took to the streets to sing and chant their support for Brazil as excitement built up. 

But there was also another side of the country that non-Brazilians witnessed. There were protests. Police in Sao Paulo fired tear gas to break up one small demonstration hours before the opening match. In Rio de Janeiro, police charged with batons and riot shields, and even fired rubber bullets over the heads of scores of people near a metro station on the route to the Arena Corinthians. There were also striking airport workers and striking teachers in separate demonstrations. 

In 2013, there were nearly 700 protests that took place in Brazil. A new generation of demonstrators was coming of age and taking its politics to the street.

Still, the disturbances will not be allowed to disrupt the World Cup. Some 170,000 police and military personnel have been deployed in the 12 host cities. The Brazilian government had announced earlier this year that it was buying nearly 2,700 additional guns to fire rubber bullets. It means business. In total, the budget for World Cup security is topping $900 million.

The total bill for staging the World Cup is a record $11 billion (RM35 billion) – which critics say should have been used for education, health, housing and transport. All because of a football tournament. But then again, it is not just any football tournament.

BTW, Brazil beat Croatia 3-1 in the World Cup's opening game – a Group A match. But the former didn't really impress.

 

Malaysia No 12 in World Hockey Standings

The Hockey World Cup (May 31-June 15, 2014) at The Hague, Netherlands has been a sad, sad story for Malaysia. 

We had a lousy start. We were thrashed 0-4 by defending champions Australia and we followed this up by losing to Belgium (2-5), England (0-2), India (1-3) and Spain (2-5). We lost all five Group A matches! No easy feat!

And to determine the eleventh and twelfth places, Malaysia took on South Africa today and again, the former was trounced 2-6 by the latter. In other words, we finished last. 

Malaysia’s best ever performance in international hockey was in the 1975 World Cup when we came in fourth. And in the Olympic Games, we managed eighth place twice – in 1972 and 1976 – the results rank as our best in the Olympics. 

Malaysian hockey has indeed fallen from grace. 

On Wednesday afternoon, I was at Quill 9 in PJ’s Jalan Semangat to attend the GSK Malaysia Toastmasters meeting. I was privileged to listen to two great CC speeches #10 and they inspired me. I was the General Evaluator but I wasn’t that happy because members were not managing their time well. I would give this meeting a score of a 3.5 over 10. 

In the evening, I was in KL’s Jalan Tun Sambanthan 3 in Brickfields for the MIA Toastmasters meeting, I was an evaluator for a speech delivered by a Bangsar Toastmaster who did CC speech #8. Good speeches and evaluations make a good meeting! I would give this meeting a score of a 7 over 10.

 

Argentine and Brazilian Flags Burgeon in Bangladesh

These flags are a common sight in Bangladesh. Image credit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10283510

Authorities in western Bangladesh pleaded with football fans Tuesday to remove tens of thousands of Argentine and Brazilian flags from their rooftops as World Cup fever grips the normally cricket-mad nation. 

Ahead of Thursday's big kick-off in Brazil, Bangladeshi towns and cities have been turned into seas of either blue and white or yellow and green. Yup, many Bangladeshis support Argentina and Brazil. 

But Mustafizur Rahman, government administrator of Jessore district, which is home to 2.7 million people, said the mass display of support for the tournament's two favorites was disrespectful to Bangladesh's own flag! 

What rubbish! Oh no, he got the UMNO diesease! Stupidity! Hello, this is the World Cup season. There is no need to overreact. 

On Tuesday, I was at Lorong Utara (B), off PJ’s Jalan Utara to attend the Taman Indrahana Toastmasters meeting. I was an evaluator for an HPL presentation – a last-minute replacement. Generally-speaking, I had no complaints about the speeches and evaluations. In fact, I was voted Best Evaluator. Better still, Indrahanians faithfully kept to time and I would give this meeting a 7 over 10.