Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Australia's Latest Financial Stimulus Package Explained

Keep The Money In Australia! Official Plea From Me Mate Kevin!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Chicken Wings - What's Your Minimum Altitude?

This caption sets me thinking.....

Friday, March 20, 2009

Flying Under Cover

I made a new friend on FB - Melati Abdul Hamid. Melati is a lawyer and in my view a darn good writer. See synopsis of her life.

Her "Flying Under Cover" article was printed in The IHT yesterday and The Malaysian Insider today. I think she made a lot of sense. Enjoy reading.

MARCH 19 — I travel abroad quite a bit, both for work and for pleasure. Most of the time, I travel alone. Needless to say, whether one would want to admit it or not, travelling on airplanes nowadays is testing to many, especially if you're recognisable as Muslim.

One can take it in different ways, either a) with resentment, which does not help the situation much and is bad for your blood pressure if you are a frequent flyer; or b) with a little bit of humor and amusement.

Most of the time, I choose to be amused, accepting the idiosyncrasies as part of the adventure, acting as if I am a character in a P.G. Wodehouse story, only without Jeeves.

Below are some points that I hope can be of help to you in your travels.

? Look normal in your passport picture. This is harder than it sounds, I know. It is also an uphill battle, since cameras that take passport photos seem to have a special feature that works like a distorting mirror to make anyone look like a brewing psychopath.

One way to overcome this is by smiling in your passport photo. This may be hard, as the photo is sometimes taken at the passport office, where you have waited for three hours in a badly ventilated and crowded room.

The problem is that sometimes they do not allow you to smile in your photo. The United States, for example, expressly states that one should not be smiling in the visa photo.

I was told that this is for face verification purposes. Apparently smiling distorts the face and may render it unrecognizable by the machine. I guess this makes sense . In the event that you are not allowed to smile, try to make a humble, honorable and decent expression, like you are meeting your mother-in-law for the first time.

? Use headphones to listen to your MP3 player at the airport. If you are like me and live your life with constant background music, you would definitely prefer to spend the time waiting at an airport with your i Pod on. However, I have realized that a woman in a headscarf travelling alone and listening to her i Pod through earphones is a cause for concern to many.

Why? Because the onlooker can only see a) the headscarf and b) a white wire that suspiciously stretches from her scarf to an unknown device in her pocket.

On one occasion (I swear this is true!) the man who sat across me at the boarding gate at Newark Airport was eyeing my wire so nervously while trying to avoid eye contact that I looked straight at him, slowly took out my i Pod and held it out to him. He had to smile.

? If you are taken aside at the airport immigration section, be calm and answer questions with the simple truth. I have had my share of being escorted to a special office at the airport immigration section. Maybe they were on a lookout for a 20-something, 5-foot-tall Oriental-looking Muslim girl in a headscarf travelling alone. They were especially suspicious when I was returning alone to the United States after a five-day trip to the Caribbean.

Flipping through my passport, the officer asked, "Why did you go to St Maarten?" My answer: "Because travelocity.com was having a great promotion and I wanted to celebrate having sat for the New York Bar exam."

I also know of a friend who was asked by the airport immigration officer to explain each stamp in his passport.

Officer: ''Why did you go to Egypt?''

Friend: ''To see the pyramids.''

I also learned that it helps to slip in that you are a law student/lawyer who specializes in constitutional law. But only use this if it's true. And no, watching “Law & Order” is not exactly the same thing.

? Talking points. When one is stuck for hours on a plane sitting elbow-to-elbow with a stranger, there is bound to be interaction. After the polite smile and the ''hellos,'' a few things may occur.

One, the conversation may die. In this case, one only has to put on the headphones and enjoy the in-flight movies or sleep.

Two, the conversation continues. This can be tricky if the other person does not speak your language . I once had a 45-minute conversation with an Italian lady. She spoke Italian, I spoke English, and we understood each other through hand gestures. Actually, it was fun.

At other times, one is faced with thinly veiled prejudice, with or without malice. There are those who are just a little too surprised when they hear that I am a lawyer and a Harvard graduate, apparently shocked to find out that I was not forced into marriage at 16 and do not have seven kids yet.

There are also those who feel the need to talk to me about "Muslim issues," perhaps feeling that they should talk to me about something I can relate to. Oppression of women tends to crop up (perhaps because the topic terrorism is a no-no on a plane). I do not mind talking about it, unless I find myself being made personally liable for something that happened in a village in Africa.

Sometimes, I get compliments that are meant well but do not necessarily translate that way. For example, an American next to me once said, "You speak English well." I smiled and replied, "Thanks. You do too."

Then there are the people who, for some reason, are overly enthusiastic about being seated next to you. In such situations, I can't help but feel like an exotic animal under observation. These people are nice, but they sometimes go too far in trying to identify with your Muslim identity. I often feel bad for having to disappoint them, as in this encounter:

Enthusiastic stranger: ''I see that you are wearing a purple scarf. What is the reason you wear purple instead of other colours?''

Me: ''Um, it matches my top.''

Once in a while, one does get to meet the perfect stranger, one who does not have any problem wrapping his/her mind around the fact that you are really just another person.

That's when you find that the journey is too short, even if it is between the farthest points on earth (I believe the Kuala Lumpur-New York route may qualify). — IHT

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Melbourne Hit By Second Tremor

This time around we did not feel any tremor at our suburb. But my brother who was working in the city felt his office desk moved. My dad who lives 6km from the city felt his bed moved.

Melbourne hit by tremor

Mex Cooper, Paul Millar
March 18, 2009 - 7:18PM

A second 4.6 earthquake has hit Korumburra, shaking buildings and homes across Melbourne and leaving scientists at a loss to explain why the town has been struck twice in two weeks.

Today's quake struck at 4.28pm, five kilometres north-west of Korumburra, 90 kilometres south-east of Melbourne and at the same spot where a 4.6 magnitude quake occurred on March 6.

More quakes could follow: expert

Seismologist Gary Gibson speaks to 3AW radio's Derryn Hinch.

Geoscience Australia seismologist Spiro Spiliopoulos said science could not predict if another quake would jolt the town nestled in the hills of the Strzelecki Ranges.

Dr Spiliopoulos said the epicentre was estimated to be about 10 kilometres underground and the quake was caused by stresses in the Australian tectonic plate.

"The stresses are due to the Australian plate moving northward ... but being able to say why earthquakes occur on this particular spot, our science is not good enough yet to say why,'' he said.

"All we know is we have an active fault there and quakes are occurring.''

Dr Spiliopoulos said it was unusual but not unheard of for a quake to hit the same place twice within such a short time.

The quake was felt up to 200 kilometres away from Korumburra but there were no immediate of reports of damage.

People reported feeling today's quake in the CBD, Box Hill, Footscray, Heathmont, Warrandyte, Glen Waverley, Emerald, Port Melbourne, St Kilda, Warragul and Phillip Island.

Rachel Waycott was working in the Austral Hotel in Korumburra when the town was rocked again.

She said about 15 patrons in the pub looked at each other and expected the worst as the two-storey building began to move.

"It was as bad as the last one,'' she said. ``I was sitting in the bar and serving and the whole pub shook. I was ready to run out as you hear things about whether the next one could be a big one.''

Ms Waycott said the earthquake on March 6 had been the talk of Korumburra and locals feared it was leading to a second larger quake.

"I have felt aftershocks over the last couple of weeks ... some people haven't felt them but one was in the middle of the night and was strong enough to shake my whole house and wake me up.''

Four aftershocks of magnitude 3 or above have been recorded in Korumburra since March 6 and Dr Spiliopoulos said there would have been hundreds more not strong enough to have been felt.

Ms Waycott said this afternoon's quake lasted up to 10 seconds and was followed by a 10-minute blackout in the town.

"It was like a rumble as if a truck or something had hit the pub and you could see the building shaking,'' she said.

Grahame Brown, owner manager of the Korumburra Tourist Park, was in the shower when the quake rolled through his property on the outskirts of town.

"It felt like an explosion in the quarry, the whole house shook back and forwards a few times,'' Mr Brown said.

"You could feel the whole house moving and then the power went off for five to 10 minutes, but we've had four or five of these since January, so I suppose we're getting used to it by now.''

He said there was no damage other than photographs on the walls moving to a tilt.

Teacher Ross Besley had been at a meeting at the local primary school in the town's centre.

"The whole room started to shake, and it gave us a shake, the whole street was talking about it,'' he said.

Dr Craig Gedye was at the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg when he felt the room shaking.

"I felt five seconds of light shaking and then one long thump about 4.30pm,'' he said.

He said he heard wood creaking but did not believe the tremor was strong enough to have caused damage.

"It's just another little tremor like we felt the other week,'' he said.

Narre Warren resident Ginnie Giles said her entire house shook about 4.30pm.

"It was the same as the other night when it happened,'' she said.

"It was for maybe three or four seconds but it felt longer than that. Our cat was lying down and he looked around as if to say 'what was that?'.''

Charles Envall, of Korumburra, was having a relaxing afternoon reading when the tremor hit and the power went off temporarily.

"A loud, rumbling noise went for about two or three seconds, it didn't seem to be as much vibration as the last one which shook the armchairs around a bit,'' Mr Envall said.

Anderson's Creek Primary School teacher Leah Canale was in a portable classroom in Warrandyte when the tremor struck.

"I was sitting in my classroom and all of a sudden the filing cabinet and desk started shaking, windows started shaking,'' she said.

"I thought 'Am I going crazy or is that another earthquake?'''

Ms Canale said she was thankful her grade 5 students had already left for the day as they would have "gone crazy''.

"I live in Kew and during the last one I was sitting on the couch and fell off. This time I was standing upright but it felt about equally as strong,'' she said.

The two Korumburra quakes are the largest recorded in Melbourne since 1973.

State Emergency Service spokesman Alan Briggs said while there had been no reports of any damage, anyone facing any problems should turn off all gas, electricity and water and call emergency services.

Dr Spiliopoulos said Geoscience Australia would continue to monitor any aftershocks in Korumburra and if a quake struck people should seek shelter either outdoors or under the most solid part of a building.

"The thing that kills during earthquakes is things falling on top of people or building collapsing. The best thing to do is stay away from eaves, if you are out in the open you are safe, if you are in a building, get under a door jam or under a table,'' he said.

With Larissa Ham

Life Of An Air Asia Airbus Driver

Life As A Pilot Is Tough But Someone Has To Do It!

David is a friend from 2004 when I was learning to fly light airplanes @ Royal Selangor Flying Club, Sungai Besi, KL. We flew Cessna C172s out of the Royal Malaysian Air Force Base there. David was already on the verge of becoming a flight instructor when I was just a rookie in August 2004. By the time I got my licence in November 2004 and left for Australia in July 2005 David was already well on his track to earning more flying hours and his dough in the instructing game @ RSFC.

David subsequently did more instructing @ a flight training school in Langkawi and gained all his qualifications and credentials for an Airline Transport Pilot License. He is now an Airbus Driver (co-pilot). David is enjoying his career and is deriving tremendous satisfaction from his profession. Well done, my friend.

David taught me something about this Navigation Display (ND). There was a Cross Wind from the aircraft's left at 225 deg M/108 Kts due to a jet stream. Consequently he had to make a left drift of 15 deg to account for his course hence his heading was 302 deg M but his track was 320 deg M

Airbus A320 Cockpit

Clear Sky Never Make Good Pilots

Smooth roads never make good drivers
Smooth sea never makes good sailors
Clear Skies never make good Pilots

Myth Busters # 1 And 2

Myth # 1: 五谷米 Fine Multi Grain is good for your health

SM read from some health articles that 五谷米 is good for our health because they are made up of useful ingredients: Australian brown rice, sorghum rice, buckwheat, barley, pearl rice, wheat, oat (cereals containing gluten), Job's Tear, millet, Gordon euryale seeds, and black glutinous rice. All 11 types of ingredients. This rice can be boiled or cooked into porridge.

We shall see if this will improve our cholesterol readings and promote weight loss in time to come. SM intends to cook the fine multi grain for breakfasts.

SM bought this fine multi grain produced by 马玉三 (Greenmax) in Taiwan @ the Springvale market today. It costs $9.20 for a 1.5kg pack

Today March 22 SM boiled this 五谷米 Fine Multi Grain into rice mixed with grilled chicken pieces and whole garlic (left overs) and then topped with fried dried shrimps, fried onion, and freshly cut spring onion. Not bad. I found I had the normal share of the rice but I still feel kind of not completely full.....

Myth # 2: Removing Gallstones Naturally

Some of my cousins and their friends have through this regiment of removing gallstones naturally. The photos are real life photos of their by products. I have yet to try the process but I will and then I can tell you, hopefully, all about it!

Above photos were taken by one of my cousins Kok Leong. Those were his gallstones!

The information below is educational and general in nature and should not be construed as medical advice.

Information provided is not intended for the purpose of disease diagnosis or treatment.

Individuals desiring help for specific health problems should seek advice from qualified professionals.

Avoid doing gallbladder flush when you are feeling sick, weak, or too old or too young.

For ladies, do not do it when you are having your period, or when you are pregnant.

Gallstone Removal Recipe

Above is the link for the recipe to remove gallstones naturally. Notice that the Epsom Salt dosage is different from Dr Lai's recipe below. So it is up to you which one you like to follow.

In the above website, it will lead you to some slightly different recipes, but I think the recipe by Hulda Clark is still better.

If you find the above too complicated, I have included Dr Lai Chiu Nan's recipe below for you. It is clear and simple to follow.

REMOVING GALLSTONES NATURALLY

by Dr Lai Chiu-Nan

It has worked for many. If it works for you please pass on the good news. Chiu Nan is not charging for it, so we should make it free for everyone.

Your reward is when someone, through your word of mouth, benefits from the regime. Gallstones may not be everyone's concern. But they should be because we all have them. Moreover, gallstones may lead to cancer. "Cancer is never the first illness," Chiu Nan points out. "Usually, there are a lot of other problems leading to cancer.

In my research in China, I came across some materials which say that people with cancer usually have stones. We all have gallstones. It's a matter of big or small, many or few.

One of the symptoms of gallstones is a feeling of bloatedness after a heavy meal. You feel like you can't digest the food. If it gets more serious, you feel pain in the liver area." So if you think you have gallstones, Chiu Nan offers the following method to remove them naturally.

The treatment is also good for those with a weak liver, because the liver and gallbladder are closely linked.
Regiment:

1. For the first five days, take four glasses of apple juice every day. Or eat four or five apples, whichever you prefer. Apple juice softens the gallstones. During the five days, eat normally.

2. On the sixth day, take no food after lunch. But you can drink water.

3. Then, at 6 PM, take a teaspoon of Epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) and mix it with a glass of freshly squeezed lemon or apple juice. Drink it. Some people mix Epsom salt with water and drink... but it will taste horrible and you may vomit.

4. At 8 PM, repeat the same like at 6pm. Magnesium sulphate opens the gallbladder ducts.

5. At 10 PM, take half cup olive oil* with half cup fresh lemon juice Mix it well and drink it. The oil lubricates the stones to ease their passage. * It is better to buy high quality (first cold pressed, extra virgin) olive oil.
The next morning, you will find green stones in your stools. "Usually they float," Chiu Nan notes. "You might want to count them. I have had people who passes 40, 50 or up to 100 stones. Very many."

"Even if you don't have any symptoms of gallstones, you still might have some. It's always good to give your gall bladder a clean-up now and then."

Monday, March 16, 2009

Skype

Recently I have got this craze about Skype. Ever since I got back from my Asian tour I signed up to Skype (skype.com) in collaboration with my good friend Kee Mun. And I have been wondering ever since why I did not use Skype earlier (it sounded so technical, isn't that familiar) or that I will live without it in future. The facts are the picture quality is very good, the voice quality is very good and it's free! A friend of mine Lian Lee Har who lives in Egypt tells me that her husband plays Backgammon every day with his dad who lives in the UK, on Skype! I can imagine me playing 象棋 with my friends on Skype!

The only thing at the moment is that I have not got Skype credit yet and so I cannot use it to call someone's phone or mobile. Once I have the credit the world is my oyster. And I can see myself getting a mobile phone already loaded with Skype software or a Skype WIFI phone that I can buy off the shelf from Dick Smith @ A$200 that I can use like a normal phone without having to be on the computer to call someone anywhere in the world.

I have taken some snapshots of us on the Skype. Hilarious! I can't wait till Kee Mun sees this post and comment on it!

Kee Mun Is Outdated, He Is Using A Headset. Lives in Ipoh.

Kee Mun Pretending To Work!

Can't Kick The Habit

Kee Mun's Darling, Jun

Another Friend, Shao Wen. Lives in Ipoh.

Cousin Yeen Li. Lives in Penang.

Friend Tuck Cheong. Lives in Ipoh.

Cousin Kok Choong Lives in Penang

My dad who lives in Northcote but is visiting Singapore

My brother who lives in Singapore

Sam Tet old class mate Boon Chee from KL

Old Malaysian flying mate Mitch

Mitch Wong from KL

Sam tet old classmate Kin Fong lives in Glen Waverley

David and kids who live in Glen Waverley

Kevin

Sister and Kevin

Nephew Victor and his Daughter Rhiana ringing in from Kuching

Old classmate Chun Ngan who lives in Penang

Friend Kee Mun showing off his packet of duty free cigarettes to me

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Happy Times .....

Good Tucker!

Tonight we are having a gathering at Pat's place to farewell Mom and Dad who will be going away for a visit to friends and relatives in Singapore and Malaysia on the 21st. Mom and Dad try to be in these 2 countries once every two years to touch base with their roots - more so Dad than Mom. Mom always says she is not keen to travel and it always takes Dad some coaxing before she agrees on a trip like this. I think Mom is worried about her medical condition and traveling takes a toll on her. Nonetheless they are on a trip again. Happy times for Dad because he feels the need to be away once every so often; to refresh, to alleviate the boredom of being in the one place all the time.

Both of them are dependent on each other for company. Dad is the carer. He looks after Mom's medical needs. Both of them are often at loggers heads on issues. Even small issues. And we try to pacify Mom and Dad to keep their peace.....

They are away this trip to coincide with the All Souls Day. They plan to be in Ipoh before All Souls Day to pay respects to our ancestors at their graves; my grand father and grand mother and other relatives. They also will pay their respects at my Mom's ancestors in Penang. All too soon they will return on 24 April. I asked Dad if he was ready for the trip and he told me he was relaxed about it because he had taken the same route quite a few times already. I reminded Mom to make sure she did not fall like she did the last trip when she had her foot entangled with the straps of her carry on luggage. Mom told me she requested the travel agent to organize a wheel chair which would be a good thing.....

The usual gang gathered at Pat and David's between 6 to 6.45pm for our dinner. Early this afternoon we had a huge rain in Melbourne. I mean huge. And the weather was now cool. By the time we left I think the outside temperature would be about 10 C.

Not unusually the "normal" dishes had been prepared by each family for the pot luck gathering. SM and I compared notes when we got home from the party at around 11pm. We both felt that there seemed to have been one too many such dinners when similar dishes were cooked; and so we felt a little de-sensitized with the fare! No more excitement! SM made yummy fruit tards; and I cooked curry vege with fish balls, tofu, spuds, cauliflower, carrots, capsicum, and pumpkin.

SM made these beautiful custard tartlets

Chicken Liver Again 卤鸡干卤蛋

Jack Cooked This Rather Unusual Dish - Eggs & Shitake Mushrooms Cooked in Hor Yan Ho Tea

Lee Prepared One Of His 拿手 dishes: 焖猪脚 Stewed Pig Trotter

　Stir Fried Bean Shoots 豆牙

卤 Chicken Wings

焖腐粥, 东菇 & 排骨

Fried Bee Hoon

My Contribution: Curry vegetables (cabbage, eggplant, capsicum, cauliflower),腐粥, fish balls, and spuds. The curry is Yeo's Singapore curry gravy and SM's own chicken broth/stock

Curry Gravy @ A$2.85 a can. I used 3 cans.

Mousse Cake

Piping Hot 红豆沙

Nonetheless we enjoyed the company. Some hung around after dinner over hot tea and desert to watch a Saturday night movie or chit chat. Many of us could not seem to tear our eyes away from baby Rhianna who was already 5 months old. She was cute and gorgeous, making baby sounds and smiling at everyone around her. Every one loved her! She was definitely the darling.....

At one time after dinner Mom was recounting the times and events when Jack and Victor were growing up in PJ and Australia. That sparked off a few others to recall and make comments on the brothers' early lives as kids staying with Mom and Dad when their parents were away traveling on holidays and other events. Mom was very sure Victor was very protective of his younger brother. On one occasion when Victor felt jilted or something like that he said to younger brother, Jack "Jack, let's go back to 44". And 44 Taman Megah SS24/2 was the home they were living in PJ. It must have been a time when the two kids missed what they had gone through in their early lives in PJ. Now they are grown ups. Victor and Katrina will shortly leave for Kuching to start a new venture with Katrina's dad. I am sure sister Irene will miss Rhianna dearly. And Jack & Mai have just got married and are looking forward to having their family.

Already Lee and Irene are planning to visit Victor and his family in Kuching in the near future and sister Irene does not even like the weather in Malaysia or even like traveling!