Reportedly, there’s an increasing demand for their services – I’d take that to mean there are more incidences of the cheating spouse in Malaysia nowadays.

People are willing to cough up to RM1,500 per day for “proof of unfaithfulness”, which will be used to start divorce proceedings. Perhaps a photo of 2 couples kissing, deftly captured with a flick of camera switches is enough for that.

A spokesperson for a top local detective agency, Kay Spy Solutions was quoted to have said that they get 100 enquiries every month for such services, mostly from the women.

This state of affairs seem to corroborate what the Durex Sexual Well-Being Global Survey 2011 reported, which was that Malaysians are ranked third among 36 countries when it comes to being involved in extra-marital dalliances: a third of Malaysian men and perhaps surprisingly, close to 40% of Malaysian women admitted to being unfaithful.

The salary cuts will reportedly be backdated to 21 May 2011.

But so well paid is Lee that even if his salary is cut by a third, he is still the world’s highest paid leader by a mile.

Lee currently earns SGD3 million a year – that’s around RM7.2 million a year or RM600,000 a month.

That will be reduced to SGD2.2 million – that’s around RM5.3 million a year or RM440,000 a month.

That is still about 4 times bigger than the world’s second best paid leader, the Hong Kong Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, who is paid USD550,000 a year (RM1.65 million a year or RM137,000 a month).

In comparison, the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is paid about USD500,000 a year while the world’s most powerful man, U.S. President Barack Obama is paid around USD400,000 a year (RM1.2 million a year or RM100,000 a month).

Even more amazingly, even mere ministers in Singapore earns double that of the US president. Their starting salaries, even after the mentioned cut, is SGD1.1 million a year (RM2.66 million a year or RM221,000 a month), meaning they can afford to buy gold even more than the so-called Defender of the Free World.

It’s the 4th largest corporate quarterly earnings of all time, and the only non oil and gas related corporation in the all-time top 19 list. The record holder is Gazprom, the Russian O&G giant which posted a net profit of USD16.24 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2011.

Apple’s feat is the equivalent to about USD1 billion PER WEEK.

The total is equivalent to about RM39 billion – 118% higher than during the same period the previous year.

During this period, Apple sold a staggering 37 million iPhones, double the number they sold exactly a year before.

Even iPads and Macs sold more than previously.

And with the iPad 3 slated for release in March 2012, the future looks bright for the company.

I guess Apple employees will get huge bonuses – now they can treat themselves to the finer things in life, like one of those metal address plaques for the house.

The only downside is the iPod which slumped 21%.

More specifically, she said she has:

- 35 stores
- 17 product lines
- racing team
- 14 fragrances
- latest project: the Paris Hilton Beach Club chain, the first of which is opening soon in the Philippines, touting nightclubs, restaurants, bars & gyms.

So who said Paris is a dumb blonde again?

Never mind that she has storage cabinets of cosmetics…

Outline of the steps:

Step 1: produce a brilliant idea, which can take many attempts. An example is the now-iconic Angry Birds game which was Rovio’s 52nd game

Step 2: write the app, which can take a few hours to a few months. Developing Android apps is free of charge, while the developer license for Apple apps is not.

Step 3: submit app, which can take 1-2 weeks. You have to comply with the requirements. For example, for Apple apps, you have to specify on what devices the app will run and the lowest firmware it’ll accept. As for Android apps, it’s not so strict, as long as the apps don’t abuse devices it’ll run on.

Step 4: marketing, which entails things like promotions, Twitter/Facebook campaigns etc. It can be free, and it can be expensive.

Step 5: hopefully the money will then start rolling in. There are several models to choose from, example:
- offer a free version (lite), and offer option to upgrade to a full version for payment
- offer option to skip levels in exchange for payment
- advertising in-game, which can be lucrative; eg, Facebook apps.

So finally you can celebrate with cigars.

Step 6: refine app, including updates. A simple update can take a very short time, but a total overhaul can take several months.

Full article

The biggest contract is of Alex Rodriguez, baseball player with the New York Yankees has a 10 year contract (2008-2017) worth USD275 million. That means he’d be paid around USD170K per game.

Lionel Messi, footballer with Barcelona FC has an 8 year contract (2008-2016) worth USD148.8 million, but he reportedy gets paid even more per game than Rodriguez: USD500K. For the record, his rival Cristiano Ronaldo, footballer with Real Madrid has a 10 year contract (2008-2017) worth USD170 million, and gets paid USD400K per game.

But those figures pale in comparison with what some Formula 1 driver get. Kimi Räikkönen, who signed a 3 year contract (2007-2009) as Ferrari’s Formula 1 driver reportedly earned USD2.9 million per race. Even Michael Schumacher in his prime (4 year contract between 1996 & 1999) only got paid USD1.9 million per race.

Of course all these guys are world-famous, all of them should have superhero stamp cufflinks made specially commemorating their achievements.

Source

A copy of the first issue of Action Comics published June 1938, which features the debut of Superman has sold for USD2.16 million (more than RM6 million) in a ComicConnect online auction on 30th November 2011.

Bids started at USD1 and had a reserve price of USD900K.

Back in 1938 it was sold for 10 cents.

The old record for a comic book was USD1.5 million in March 2010. It was also a copy of Action Comics #1: Superman, and not in as good a condition.

About 100 copies of this edition are probably exists, only a few in good condition.

The buyer / seller was not announced, but the seller is probably Hollywood megastar Nicolas Cage, because he bought his own copy of the comic for USD150,000 in 1997. So, good investment for Mr Cage indeed.

Now investors, get this: comics experts said investing in comics or similar stuff is popular during troubled economic times because rare collectibles hold their value more reliably than property or shares.

You can read/download it, has 14 pages.

And of course you can download from YouTube all the Superman-related multimedia you want.

One the penthouses was reportedly sold for a staggering GBP135 million [RM675 million] to “a buyer who made a casual inquiry on the internet.”

With 86 units built, it was designed by Lord Rogers and built by developer brothers Nicholas and Christian Candy.

The cheapest unit costs GBP6.5 million [more than RM30 million], a one bedroom apartment.

Even the service charge is eye-bulging: GBP150 per square metre per year, meaning owners of the heftiest units can expect to cough out more than GBP100K every year.

The majority of the units cost between GBP27 million and GBP33 million.

Features reputedly include:
- iris-recognition systems in the lifts
- panic rooms
- bullet-proof glass
- 15 different types of precious marble used in construction
- private cinema
- golf simulator
- wine cellar
- valet service
- concierge
- room service from the Mandarin Oriental next door

Now perhaps there’ll be good demand for Licensed Nurse Jobs around that area – so those in that field would do well to set up camp nearby.

One Menerung how?

There is a particular place with a view over the Rhine which has somehow always fascinated me, but it didn’t suffice for a picture as it basically constituted only part of a picture. I carried this idea for a picture around with me for a year and a half and thought about whether I ought perhaps to change my viewpoint. … In the end I decided to digitalize the pictures and leave out the elements that bothered me.

Yes, that means this photo was doctored / photoshopped – didn’t prevent it from fetching that crazy price.

Bigger size

Photographer: Cindy Sherman (b. 1954)
Title: Untitled #96
Description: Depicts Sherman as a lovelorn woman clutching a personal ad while lying on a kitchen floor.
Size:
Date taken: 1981
Price: USD3,890,500
Date sold: May 2011
Place sold: Christie’s New York

Photographer: Richard Prince
Title: Untitled (Cowboy)
Description: Prince photographed sections of Marlboro cigarette ads (the iconic Marlboro man), then enlarged them. That means this is not even an original photo, but rather a photo of a photo.
Size: 100″ x 66″
Date taken: 2001-2002
Price: USD3,401,000
Date sold: November 2007
Place sold: Sotheby’s New York

Photographer: Andreas Gursky (b.1955)
Title: 99 Cent II Diptychon
Description: in 2 parts, it depicts an interior of a supermarket with numerous aisles depicting goods resulting in a colorful work. It has been digitally altered to reduce perspective.
Size: 6.79′ × 11.06′ (207 x 337 cm)
Date: taken: 2001
Price: USD3,346,456
Date sold: February 2007
Place sold: Sotheby’s London

So far, those 4 mentioned above are the only photos to have sold for at least USD3 million.

So I suppose it’s all down to the photographer and not the subject – even photos of ironing boards could very well sell for millions of dollars!

Well, I can only say that amount will surely buy top of the line krups coffee makers.

The figure was cited in a press statement by the director of the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais), Marzuki Hussin.

Khatijah Am / Hatijah Aam

Al-Arqam is also known as Jamaah Aurad Muhammadiah.

Ashaari Muhammad (1939-2010)

She is said to be coordinating the activities from overseas.