Najib Razak Is Finally Going To Jail

Malaysia’s Federal Court have upheld Najib Razak’s conviction in the former prime minister’s SRC International case. 

The final day of the hearing saw Najib trying to recuse Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat (left) from presiding over the case, which was rejected. 

The Court of Appeal had on December 08, 2021 upheld the High Court’s July 2020 verdict and sentence of 12 years in prison and a fine of RM210 million meted against Najib. 

Today’s decision marks a historic moment for Malaysian politics as the country will witness for the first time a former prime minister head to jail. 

Najib (left) had been found guilty of one count of abuse of power, three counts of criminal breach of trust, and three counts of money laundering.

Being Honest About the UK Government

As the UK teeters, totters and trips, the British will need humor – it’s free, after all! – to get through these difficult times. 

So, watch The Juice Media's “Honest Government Ad, UK” that delves into the deepening cost-of-living crisis. You can be sure, it’s informative and insightful and surprisingly honest! 

And it should be compulsory viewing for everyone in the UK.

 

I can’t help but wonder how many of the people in the UK are thinking “this is so damn frighteningly accurate” right now? 

And that gem of a quote: "You're on your own, dickheads". Wow!

Liverpool and Manchester United are two of England's most successful clubs after being crowned league champions 39 times between them. So, when the fierce rivals met at Old Trafford on Monday, both were searching for a first win after underwhelming starts to the season. 

And it is the Reds who were embarrassed by the Red Devils. The latter outclassed the former. Comfortably. And won 2-1. 

(Mohamed Salah scored only in the eighty-first minute).

Losing is one thing – but the big worry is composure that went AWOL, the cohesion that followed suit and a lack of fight. Truth be told, there are an alarming number of Reds out there at present who are so far off the levels they are capable of – it is a massive concern. 

Watching the game was sheer torture. The Reds were rubbish in defence, rubbish in midfield and toothless in attack. This has been really, really, really awful. 

If I may add, their body language was so weird. It was all so passive and docile and listless. They didn’t look as if they wanted to win. And if you had watched them playing, they appeared to merely go through the motions. 

In the meantime, Jürgen Klopp is on a different planet – he said “We should have won this game”. 

Is that it? It’s not even an excuse. It’s sad.

The Crashing Sound of Music

The music video for Janet Jackson's 1989 hit “Rhythm Nation” was a sensation in terms of its choreography and direction. Its foggy noir-like style even won it numerous accolades, including a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video. 

But the dystopian pop video had something else going for it too – the power to crash laptops according to Microsoft. 

In a blog post last week, the company's principal software engineer, Raymond Chen, said a colleague had shared a story with him from the days of providing product support for Windows XP. 

"A major computer manufacturer discovered that playing the music video for Janet Jackson's 'Rhythm Nation' would crash certain models of laptops", wrote Chen. It didn't even have to be the laptop that the music video was playing on. Simply playing the music video on one laptop could cause another close by to crash. 

But the weirdest discovery was yet to come. 

"It turns out that the song contained one of the natural resonant frequencies for the model of 5400 rpm laptop hard drives that they and other manufacturers used", explained Chen. 

The issue was similar to an opera singer being able to shatter a glass by singing a particular tone. 

Because sounds are simply acoustic waves, there is a wavelength or frequency for each material that can create the most vibration, known as the medium's resonant frequency. 

For the affected laptops – which were shipped in approximately 2005, according to a vulnerability report filed by The Mitre Corporation – that frequency was in the said Janet Jackson music video. 

Mitre described the issue as a security vulnerability which could allow an attacker to force the system to crash using the audio signal from the Rhythm Nation music video. 

Thankfully laptops today won't suffer from the same issue – Microsoft declare the manufacturer added "a custom filter in the audio pipeline that detected and removed the offending frequencies during audio playback".

A New Spin On The Classic Pizza

Papa John's launched a new spin on the classic pizza – and pizza lovers aren't having it! 

The latest menu item is best described as “a pizza that is not a pizza” – it is saying goodbye to crust! 

The pizza chain announced a fortnight ago that their latest offering, Papa Bowls, didn’t need the foundation for pizza pies. And it comes in three flavors: the Italian Meats Trio, Chicken Alfredo and Garden Veggie. Or, customers can create their own bowls using Papa John’s ingredients. All minus the round crust to hold them. 

“We are very excited to offer Papa Bowls as a new menu category and as a new way consumers can experience our premium ingredients”, said Scott Rodriguez, Papa John’s senior vice president of menu strategy and product innovation. “Our signature crust continues to be a beloved favorite, but we know that sometimes customers crave something different”. 

Pizza lovers caught on to the news through a CNN tweet describing the said item as a way for the chain to “get people excited about pizza again”. 

The backlash was fast and furious. 

“People never stopped being excited about pizza. They stopped being excited about Papa John’s which is utterly shitty pizza”, wrote @CaffeineAndHate. 

“Nobody ever lost excitement about pizza. And if they did, it wasn’t solved by a deconstructed crustless pizza in a bowl. It was solved by going anywhere other than Papa John’s”, declared @NMercad. 

“Papa John’s said ‘we want you to get excited about pizza again’ and then made a salad”, sneered @AlsikkanTV. 

“Papa John’s is rebranding as Dada John’s by deconstructing the pizza beyond all meaning”, scoffed @ThatJakePC. 

Celtic continued their perfect start to move top of the Scottish Premiership after goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and Georgios Giakoumakis sealed a 2-0 win over nine-man Hearts. 

Ange Postecoglou's side capitalised on Rangers' draw with Hibernian on Saturday by claiming their fourth win of the season. 

Celtic controlled possession from the first minute with their pressure eventually releasing Daizen Maeda down the right and his inch-perfect cross was converted from inside the six-yard box by Furuhashi in the thirteenth minute. That goal aside, they struggled to take their chances across the 90 minutes. 

Still, Giakoumakis inflicted further pain on Hearts, turning home from close range in the final minute of injury time when he scruffily converted from Josip Juranovic's low cross. 

Celtic are away to Dundee United in their next Scottish Premiership match on August 27.

Hiperson (海朋森)

YouTuber “Emily in China” (left) came out with a video “China’s Underground Music is Cooler Than You Think” yesterday – and she featured this cool 5-piece band from Chengdu, China called Hiperson (海朋森). 

Now, I’m loving their music! 

Here’s a selection of three of their songs:

 

Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

Finland's PM Fights For Her Right To Party

Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin is making headlines after videos of her partying with Finnish celebrities and public figures were leaked on social media on Wednesday. 

In the first video, the 36-year-old leader can be seen drinking with a group of friends, dancing and singing to songs by Finnish rapper Petri Nygård and pop singer Antti Tuisku. 

And someone within the first video is heard shouting “flour gang”, with “flour” a nickname for cocaine in Finland. 

In the second video, the mother-of-one was dancing intimately with singer Olavi Uusivirta – although she insisted 'nothing inappropriate' happened between them. 

Marin on Thursday had acknowledged partying "in a boisterous way" after the release of private videos, but said she was angry that the footage – which has drawn criticism from political opponents – was leaked to the media. 

She clarified that the videos were private and were filmed in a private residence a few weeks ago, reported Finland's news broadcaster Yle. She said that she was aware she was being filmed, but thought that the videos would remain private. 

Speaking about consuming alcohol and drugs, she said, "Personally, I did not take drugs, nor did I consume anything other than alcohol. I danced, sang, and partied – perfectly legal things. And I've never been in a situation where I've seen or known of others [using drugs]". 

Marin has now submitted to a drug test, with the results expected in the coming days. 

In December last year, the Prime Minister went out at a club in Helsinki, leaving her official work phone at home. As a result, she was not informed of her exposure to Covid and continued to enjoy the evening.

"She has previously been criticized for attending too many music festivals & spending too much on partying instead of ruling. The critics say it’s not fitting for a PM", Visegrád 24 reported. 

Some social media users thought Marin's actions were cool, while many others thought they were unfit for a Prime Minister. 

It is clear Marin loves partying! I really don't know what’s the fuss about! 

AI Interprets ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" Lyrics

People are starting to get really creative with Midjourney. Case in point: YouTuber "SolarProphet" fed the lyrics to Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky" to the AI bot and then made this surreal music video with the images it spit out. Creepy-cool!

 

All rights to the song belong to ELO 

Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

Stars Coffee, Anyone?

The first of 130 former Starbucks coffee shops resumed business in Russia under the name Stars Coffee when it opened its doors in Moscow on Thursday – the latest high-profile rebranding of a major western chain after an unprecedented corporate exodus from Russia. 

Starbucks had suspended their businesses in Russia in March, and pulled out of the country in May. Thereafter, popular rap artist Timati and restaurateur Anton Pinskiy partnered to acquire the rights to the chain. 

The name's almost the same. And the logo could be the separated-at-birth twin of the Starbucks mermaid, with flowing hair, a small enigmatic smile and a star atop her head – though instead of a Starbucks crown she wears a Russian headdress called a kokoshnik. 

The menu, judging by the company app introduced a day before the store's formal opening Friday, would look familiar to any Starbucks customer. 

The rebranding and reopening of former Starbucks coffee shops in Russia is similar to the reopening and rebranding of McDonald's restaurants as Vkusno-i tochka (as reported in my blog on June 14, 2022).

Meanwhile, the rebranded McDonald's, which can't use 'Happy Meal', the children's meal that comes with a toy, are trademarking 'Kids Combo' as a replacement, as reported by Russian media group, RBC. 

It’s the same for other products, too. Therefore, applications were made for 'Beef Hit' and 'Big Hit' to replace the ‘Big Mac’; 'TochkaCola' to replace ‘Coke’; and 'Ice de Luxe' to replace ‘McFlurry’.

And according to Russian business daily newspaper Vedomosti, Vkusno-i tochka's CEO, Oleg Paroev, has said all of the closed McDonald’s restaurants will reopen in September.

WSC's Seventh Meeting

Yesterday, World Speakers’ Coalition Kuala Lumpur returned to Jarrod & Rawlins in Jalan Bangkung, Bangsar, KL – this is our seventh meeting. It was hosted by Christal Wong & Muhendaran Suppiah. 

Anyway, only four members turned up – but our attendance was boosted by the presence of four guests. I reckon all of us had a great time!

Our impromptu speaking session centered around the meeting theme “Am I Independent?” – and as was routine, everybody spoke. I could not help but notice that with one exception, the other seven speeches all had stories – personal stories – and it's something I've come to expect. 

After all, telling stories is a compelling way of presenting because humans relate to them. As they are wont to say, stories engage the audience, evoke empathy, increase trust and motivate action. Most important of all, stories allow listeners to learn vicariously and discover lessons seemingly on their own. 

Stories do give us an opportunity to learn from another person's experience and they can shape, strengthen or challenge our opinions and values. When a story catches our attention and engages us, we are more likely to absorb the message and meaning within it than if the same message was presented simply as information wrapped in facts and figures. 

The bottom line is that storytelling is essential to effective communication because it activates a function in the brain called 'neural coupling' which enables the listener to convert the ideas presented in the story into his/her own ideas and experiences. This makes the content in the communication strategy more personal and relatable.

Verily, everyone has a story!

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