Archive for the ‘news’ Category
Sunday, August 29th, 2010 |
It seems not just local beggars could do that. The Star reported on 23 August 2010 that a relatively new trend is for foreign beggars (eg, from China) to enter Malaysia as tourists, aided by… you guessed it, syndicates.
They then beg at night markets, go from one coffee shop to another or even knock on motorists’ windows at traffic lights!
The public should not give any money because the syndicates will be the biggest winners in this charade. Not giving any money to the foreigners would force them to return to their country of origin and get a proper job, like a water filter supplier.
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Sunday, August 29th, 2010 |
In Malaysia, when it comes to betting on lucky numbers, there are several legal options eg, via SportsToto, Lotto88, Magnum or Sabah Turf Club (STC).
The current winnings record is apparently RM20 million, by a “40-year-old food vendor in Petaling Jaya”, who struck it big at Sports Toto’s Mega TOTO 6/52 in October 2008.
Before that it was RM19 + million, won by a Johor family of eight regular punters; they had jointly bet on SportsToto’s Mega Toto 6/52, and turned out winners at draw 2948/08 on 5th January 2008.
But that is surely going to be broken very soon: the prize is ripe for the taking. As at the time of writing (28th August 2010), the amount on offer is RM38+ million; this would surely be prove to be too much of a temptation even for non gamblers to at least purchase a lucky pick.
Whoever wins that kind of money would be forgiven even if s/he kept a stash of snow sleds in his/her home in the tropics; after all, s/he could go skiing every weekend for all one cares.
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Friday, August 13th, 2010 |
Launched in June 2009, FarmVille is undisputedly Facebook’s most popular game application, with more than 61 million active users and more than 24 million Facebook fans as of June 2010. That means 10% of the total number of Facebook users are Farmville users.
But how did such a wildly successful project get done in just a little over a month? Yes, that includes all design and development.
Lead developer Amitt Mahjan was quoted to have said in March 2010:
- Designers and developers need to start working side by side as early as possible. As quickly as designers come up with a feature, developers get started discussing how to code it. Advantage: those inevitable small design changes to the design that need to be agreed upon in order to make it easier to code are dealt with earliest. Example: Camera-sharp
- Don’t be afraid to use free, off the shelf compos, while acknowledging the possible risk of losing total control over the design. Always keep in mind that development needs to “glue” components together and presents an interface to the user.
- Sleep! Take a break! Hmm… I picture many Farmvillers crashing in their office after pulling an allnighter, with those in the next shift busy toting around cameras…
Certainly the Farmville team is kept on their toes by their army of permnent beta testers i.e. users, with it being released on more platforms. Who knows, it might even be embedded in game-centric digital cameras of the future, so if you’re reading digital camera reviews, a nascent feature could be integration with Farmville.
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Thursday, August 12th, 2010 |
In December 2008, the then Prime Minister of Malaysia revealed in a written parliamentary statement that:
- RM6 million a year is spent for rental and maintenance of the PM’s official residence, Seri Perdana in Putrajaya, which works out to RM16,000 a day. So in 3 days it would become RM48,000, which is enough to buy/build a low-cost house. Breakdown: RM4.1 million paid in rental to Putrajaya Holdings, the master developer of Putrajaya, and RM1.9 million for maintenance. Contract: 25 years, signed in 1999.
- RM3.4 million a year is spent for rental and maintenance of the Deputy Prime Minister’s official residence, Seri Satria. Breakdown: RM2.27 million in rental, RM1.13 million for maintenance.
- Total for the 2 residences: RM26,000 a day.
- Cost of building Seri Perdana: RM24 million, which was earlier alleged to be RM200 million.
- The following is interesting: 10 Downing Street, the British PM’s official residence is a much humbler building. Even the White House, the US presidents’s official residence AND office is smaller than Seri Perdana.
Now for some wishful thinking: if somehow the PM wanted to install C7 led christmas lights all around the house, how much would the bill come up to?
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Monday, August 9th, 2010 |
According to CNN Money, despite the the global financial crisis, the following companies, as of January 2009, has never laid off any employee, ever:
Nugget Market (grocery chain)
Devon Energy (energy, duh)
Aflac (insurance)
Quik Trip (24-hour convenience store chain)
The Container Store
NuStar Energy (pipeline operator)
Stew Leonard’s (grocery chain)
Scottrade (discount stock brokerage)
Publix Super Markets (grocery chain)
So, those looking for secure, long term employment in the private sector could do well to check these companies out. That would be one less worry, so that one can enjoy one’s weekend of atv racing in peace.
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Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 |
Gisele Bündchen (b. 20th July 1980), the Brazilian stunner is, according to Forbes, worth USD150 million. She’s also the 16th wealthiest woman in the entertainment industry.
Gisele in 2009
She is of German descent but is 100% Brazilian, speaking Portuguese as her native language and apparently can’t speak a word of German.
She was discovered by a modeling agency in 1994 while eating McDonald’s in São Paulo.
By January 2000 she had appeared on 3 consecutive Vogue covers, a rare honour.
In 2000, prominent music magazine Rolling Stone called her “the most beautiful girl in the world.”
Needless to say, since then she has made the covers of all the world’s top magazines.
In 2007, modeling legend Claudia Schiffer was quoted to have said:
Supermodels, like we once were, don’t exist any more. Gisele Bündchen is the only one close to earning the supermodel title.
Even notorious supermodel Naomi Campbell was quoted to have said in 2008:
Models need to earn their stripes – I just think the term is used a little too loosely. Kate Moss is obviously a supermodel but, after Gisele, I don’t think there’s been one.
In other words, Ms Campbell said Bundchen is the last true supermodel.
What? What about Amber Chia?
Now, if you had a choice between meeting Giselle in person and being given Taylor Swift tickets, which one would you choose?
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Friday, July 30th, 2010 |
Part 1
The 28-year old Malaysian who has been called Malaysia’s most famous socialite, The International Man of Mystery & reputedly The Most Wild-spending Twentysomething Malaysian Ever has finally talked to the Malaysian mainstream media, in an exclusive interview with The Star recently.
The gist of it:
- from Penang, 3rd and youngest in family
- Height: 170cm (5′ 7″)
- Weight: 88kg
- Languages: English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Hokkien, Teo Chew and Basic Arabic
- father: Datuk Larry Low, founder of engineering company MWE
- he is not the big spender, but his Arab friends and investors are
- he IS a millionaire, having made his first million when he had not yet graduated (aged 20), when he “took a semester off from The Wharton School of Business to set up an investment fund that 8 years later is worth more than USD1 billion.” The fund, called The Wyndon Group, got off the ground with USD25 million, from his family and 9 others: schoolmates & families.
- he and 11 friends are staying at the Park Imperial apartment (5,000 sq ft) in New York, rented for reputedly a monthly amount more than what most people in Malaysia will earn in a lifetime, but he denied that it was him who pays the rent. For that kind of money definitely it has to be “a very nice apartment,” with probably faux wood blinds thrown in.
- on the board of UBG Bhd as group adviser and non-independent & non-executive director since 2008.
- group adviser to several international corporations involved in global private equity, M&A and buyouts
Still, I doubt there are many Malaysian 28-year old who can casually, yet truthfully say:
I am not going out with Paris Hilton but we have been to several parties together because I am a friend of her parents, Rick and Kathy Hilton. You can ask her yourself if you have any doubt. She just happens to be part of the group.
His advice, basically:
- luck plays a part in life: he was in the right place at the right time
- need to choose the right schools: in his case, it was the UK’s Harrow School (A-Levels) & The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, USA (BSc in Economics majoring in Finance)
And last but not least:
I am not an excessive person but I do have my breaks for relaxation with friends.
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Sunday, July 25th, 2010 |
Apparently, in 2007 the Malaysian Department of Statistics reported that, out of 5.8 million households in Malaysia:
- 57.8% earn less than RM3,000 a month, which is 3.4 million households.
- 20.7% earn at least RM5,000 a month
- 4.9% earn at least RM10,000 a month, which is 284,200 households.
Now for the top earners, some people might be very interested in a further breakdown, i.e.
- percentage of households earning at least RM50,000 a month
- percentage of households earning at least RM100,000 a month
- percentage of households earning at least RM500,000 a month
- percentage of households earning at least RM1 million a month
Now, if you do a graph, does the monthly income rise in direct proportion to the number of people who’ve even heard of the moniker Peg perego?
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Friday, July 16th, 2010 |
Some people say better tackle “government leakages and corruption” first before resorting to price hikes.
Probably the most expensive of all things purchased with taxpayers’ money can be found in the military.
The general perception could be that the people with connections are made so rich that they’re feeling side effects of diet pills they’re consuming.
On 19th June 2010, Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was reported to have said during the book launch of “The Shafee Yahaya Story – Estate Boy to ACA Chief” that even during his time helming the Finance Ministry “military toys were very expensive,” and cited the costs of a patrol craft (RM280 million), and Exocet AM-39 missiles (RM2 million each).
What he said next was quite an eye opener:
When the UK went to war against Argentina [Falklands War, 1982], the UK government tried to borrow them from us because outside of the UK, we had the most of them in the world. We must have been under some extraordinary military threat which I did not understand.
Hence, if we lessen military spending, are we jeopardising the sovereignity of the nation?
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Friday, July 9th, 2010 |
No wonder his sister said he was murdered, since he’ll worth more dead than alive.
It was estimated that The Man With A Glove / The Man Who Never Has To Look For best weight loss pills, has made more than USD1 billion since his death on 25th June 2009.
USD383 million of that was from his album sales, while the film This Is It has generated almost USD400 million. Then there are the publishing rights, licensing, touring and a new recording contract. Not that Sony Music is going to make him sing beyond the grave, but that it will release 10 albums of his music released over the next 7 years, including of course unreleased material. This deal has so far generated USD31 million, and guaranteed to earn his estate between USD200 and USD250 million.
Even tickets from the doomed This Is It tour generated profits – many fans opted to keep the tickets and hence no refund – USD6.5 million, and the tour merchandise pulled in another USD5 million.
MJ’s music publishing company, Mijac is estimated to have generated up to USD50 million in the past year.
Add into all that his share of Sony/ATV’s revenue, valued at USD80m a year.
Not enough? Add DVD sales, rentals, downloads, royalties and ringtones.
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