Back at SMK Subang Utama

I'm back at SMK Subang Utama after an absence of 2 years. 

It's always great to be back because there is always that sense of joy and fulfilment when we can introduce public speaking to students and give them the valuable tips on becoming good communicators. 

This time around, thirty-two Fourth Formers and Fifth Formers are given that opportunity to participate in the Toastmasters’ Youth Leadership Program on May 04-06, 2018. 

Again, I am fortunate to have the assistance of eight Toastmasters – they are from TMIKL Toastmasters Club, MyPuchong Toastmasters Club, Shine Toastmasters Club, MidValley Toastmasters Club, Sai Masters Toastmasters Club and The Lectern KL Toastmasters Club. 

Here's a selection of photos of the proceedings taken on Friday and Saturday:

GE14 Bets in Penang

Penang bookies are accepting bets on GE14! 

So, it is true! I had blogged about it in my post “Scary GE14 News” on April 30, 2018. 

According to The Sun on May 03, the bet is on whether MCA and Gerakan could break their duck. It’s not about whether Pakatan Harapan will lose control of the state government or not. 

It seems that a bookie contacted by Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau had claimed that no bookies would believe PH's seat tally would be reduced by eight to 12. 

He added that bookies who think so are daring, if not reckless and they are asking for trouble. They, too, know that PH and DAP in particular, are still very 'hot' (popular). 

For the bookies, it is like shooting themselves in the foot and nobody is going to do that. 

This unidentified bookie said actually, the bet is whether the two parties could win more than one seat between them. If they garnered two seats or more, the punters win. If they couldn’t do any better beyond their present status, the bookies win. And it's a draw if only one of them obtained a seat. 

Furthermore, he said that due to the low payout rate (RM80 for every RM100 bet) and the fact that most people believe the two parties could not break their duck – hardly anyone has put a bet on it. 

Even staunch supporters of Barisan Nasional dare not put their money on this bet, he stressed. 

I trust the bookies more than I trust BN. 

Still, state BN chief Teng Chang Yeow is in a fighting mood. 

Pix by Ramdzan Masiam 

“We are going into battle with the mentality to win all the seats”, Gerakan’s Teng said with exaggerated gusto. 

The latter is trying to sell Penangites the incredulously incredible idea that he and his “dream team” have a genuine chance to topple PH and take over Penang. 

And if you read the New Straits Times report dated April 24, 2018, he is putting his faith on new faces – whom he calls “anak dara” (virgins). There are thirty-one of them and together with the old farts, they are supposedly poised to win the 13 parliamentary and 40 state seats for BN.

Suicide squad, methinks.

Black Panther is a Culture Fest

As at May 01, 2018, Black Panther has already been encamped in movie theaters for 75 days. 

Global sales stood at $1,334.6 billion and this makes the megahit the ninth-biggest global grosser in the world – beating Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($1.332.7 billion). 

I expect the Chadwick Boseman flick is mostly done breaking records and this is probably the end of the line for movie updates in my blog. 

One of the things I enjoyed about the movie was the prominence given to African cultural artefacts that made the comic-book adaptation a very rich experience. 

In this video, Racked caught up with Black Panther costume designer Ruth E Carter to learn about the African tribal influences inspiring the myriad costumes featured in the blockbuster:

On Thursday, I attended the Shine Toastmasters meeting – the club was just chartered on April 01 this year and members are mostly from the Sunway Group of Companies. 

The venue is in Menara Sunway located in Bandar Sunway, Subang Jaya, Selangor. 

I was tasked to evaluate an Advanced speech. And just a couple of hours before the start of the meeting, I had also volunteered to be Toastmaster-of-the--Evening. 

Liverpool Win 7-6 on Aggregate in Semi-final Second Leg

Liverpool reached the Champions League final for the first time since 2007, after seeing off combative Roma with an incredible 7-6 aggregate win – despite losing a dramatic second leg to the Italian side. 

It was surely, a crazy night – but it got off to a perfect start for the Reds when Sadio Mane finished a counter-attack with a superb goal in the ninth minute. An unlucky own goal from James Milner six minutes later levelled the score, but Gini Wijnaldum headed his first away goal for Liverpool in the twenty-fifth minute.  

Roma’s Edin Dzeko made it 2-2 in the fifty-second minute before his fellow teammate Radja Nainggolan ensured a nervy finish with a quick-fire brace in the final five minutes. 

Anyway, Jurgen Klopp's men held on until the final whistle. They can be mighty proud of themselves because they will take on 12-time winners Real Madrid in Kiev, Ukraine on Saturday, May 26. 

This 4-2 defeat was the first time Liverpool lost in the competition this season – but what’s important was they escaped a Barcelona-style collapse. 

Furthermore, this match was the highest-scoring semi-final in Champions League history. 

Kopites can now dream of a sensational sixth European Cup success. Bring on Real Madrid!

American Roaches to the Rescue

AFP photo

In China’s Zhangqiu district in Jinan, Henan province, Li Yanrong’s farm houses 300 million American cockroaches that together munch through about 15 tonnes of food waste a day, or about a quarter of the district’s kitchen scraps. 

“These cockroaches are not afraid of anything soft, hard, sour, sweet, bitter, or spicy”, Li was quoted as saying. 

China generates at least 60 million tonnes of kitchen waste annually and most of it is processed through fermentation, an expensive, inefficient system that pollutes the environment, according to the report. 

Li said cockroaches offered an alternative, non-polluting way of disposing of food waste. He said he already had about 300 tonnes of cockroaches and planned to expand that total to about 4,000 tonnes to be able to process 200 tonnes of food waste from Zhangqiu and neighboring cities per day. 

The American cockroach (Scientific name: Periplaneta Americana) is one of the world’s bigger varieties, with a body around 4 centimetres long and a life cycle of around 700 days. 

It is often used as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine to heal wounds and repair tissue. 

In fact, cockroach farms are expanding across China, in large part to cater to medicinal demand. Check out this video:


It is said the world’s biggest is in Xichang, southwestern Sichuan province, where six billion adult cockroaches are bred a year for the pharmaceutical industry. Nearly 28,000 full-sized cockroaches for every square foot are produced there annually, the Sichuan government said in a report submitted to Beijing early this year. 

Roaches shouldn’t be seen as being just household pests. 

Last Thursday, I was back in Setia Alam, Selangor to attend the Top Glove Toastmasters Club meeting where I evaluated an Advanced speech. Check out the photos below:

Time to Move On, Time to Change

It’s never too late to say sorry. And never too late to start over. 

Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad appears in a short film, in which he explains to two children his decision to return to politics:

Even Mahathir is admitting that he is not infallible. 

C'mon people, time to move on. And time to “ubah” (change). 

In Mahathir and Wan Azizah, Lim Kit Siang, Mat Sabu and Muhyiddin Yassin, Pakatan Harapan offer hope for a new Malaysia. 

On May 09, please cast your vote for Malaysia!

Every vote counts!

Last Thursday, I was invited to speak at MAPSA’s AdminPro Summit 2018 in Kuala Lumpur. My topic was titled “The Serious Business of Enriching Your Life”. 

I thought I was rather engaging. Good lah!