Sunday, December 31, 2006

Links

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Links
A

About

Air Asia

B

backStreetGluttons

Blinkx

C

D

Digg

Dilbert

Dosh Dosh

Drool.Net - List of Malaysian Blogs

E

ESPNsoccernet

F

Free Translation

Fried Chillies


G

Gobala Krishnan

GQ Magazine UK

Gutter Uncensored

H

Human Clock

I

J

Jeff Ooi

JobsDB

Jobstreet

John Chow

K

Kampung Boy and City Girl

ky speaks

L

Liew CF

Living To 100

Lonely Planet

M

Making Sense


Malaysia Airlines

masak-masak

Mid-Valley

N

New Straits Times

New York Times

O

OhMyNews

P

Problogger

Q

R

Running With Passion

S

Sabahan

The Star

Simple Destinations

Spooky Corner

Squidoo

Shohjo-Tai / Shohjyo-Tai 少女隊

T

Thousand Words: Snapshots Of Life

U

V

Vanity Fair

Virtual Malaysia

W

Wikipedia

Why Must Visit Malaysia

X

Y

Z

Zefrank

Quit Smoking Today

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If you're a smoker and have not quit smoking yet. This is an excellent site that can help you get started. Plenty of features. Don't quit alone join the community of quiting smokers and ex smokers.

Quit Net

Saturday, December 30, 2006

The Last Emperor

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My Ratings: Very Good

Release Date: 1987

Lessons: Fate governs everyone's life. Even if one is born emperor, it doesn't mean one will die an emperor. Fortune is fickle. It makes you remember that nothing lasts forever.
Who you are to one culture may not be respected by someone from another culture - "Might is right".

Although it is 160 minutes long and shot with breathtaking scope and sumptuousness, Bertolucci's film is a story about claustrophobia. Pu Yi, the Manchurian emperor of China who ascended the throne in 1908 at the age of three, is a prisoner in the palace he rules over. Outside, real power changes hands with each coup d'etat. Pu Yi grows to manhood, is tutored by a Westerner (Peter O'Toole), and marries a gorgeous princess (Joan Chen). However, the adult Pu Yi (John Lone) is destined for a communist reeducation camp when the war is over. From start to finish, Pu Yi is a passive antihero who can never come to grips with the idea that the absolute power conferred on him as a child was only a mirage. The mistakes Pu Yi made trying to realize that power, especially collaborating with the Japanese during the war, provide Bertolucci with the chance to explore his familiar theme of collaboration and its moral consequences (as he did in THE CONFORMIST and 1900). In the end, Pu Yi seems to have reached a kind of peace, and the terrible waste of a special man's life disappears into a drab, grey-clad Beijing.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Bomoh In KL

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Healer or charlatan ?

Cult rituals at cemetery

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FOLLOWERS of a cult group, who came in luxury cars to a burial ground in Sungai Manik, near Teluk Intan in Perak, bathed young virgins over a grave.

The congregation also carried out rituals that involved the use of pulut kuning (saffron glutinous rice), betel leaves and betel nuts as well as an assortment of brass utensils.

Villagers are worried that their presence can have negative implications but have been told by cult followers to stay out of their affairs, Harian Metro reported.

The cult members, who come to the cemetery only about five or six times a year, carry out their rituals over the grave of a well-known village pawang (traditional medicine man).

Bakri Salleh, head of the mosque committee of Masjid Tajul Rahman Pekan Rabu, which maintains the cemetery, said the deviant worship first surfaced 10 years ago.

The cultists, believed to be from outstation, normally drive expensive cars like Mercedes-Benz or Mitsubishi Pajero and usually favour the months of April, September and December, he added.

Bakri, 65, said every time they came, about 20 people, including women, would be involved in the worship at the grave.

Relating an incident in September, he said he and mosque committee secretary Amir Sharifuddin Ashari, 50, advised the followers against carrying out their practice.

“They ignored us and warned us not to interfere,” Bakri said, adding that some of the followers had gone earlier to the mosque to ask for a large quantity of water.

Bakri and the mosque committee had since reported the matter to the Teluk Intan district and Perak state religious affairs departments.

> Utusan Malaysia front-paged a report on the inclination among single professional women to adopt children and consume pills that allow them to lactate.

It quoted Prime Minister’s Department parliamentary secretary Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim as saying that the trend was worrying because it could discourage single women from getting married.

“The negative trend is getting more widespread in major towns and cities including Kuala Lumpur. It should be stopped to ensure the growth of family institutions,” she said.

She expressed concern that such a trend could influence Muslim women who placed career as their top priority and regarded marriage as troublesome.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Dont make that trip without checking Wikitravel

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Wikitravel is a project to create a free, complete, up-to-date, and reliable world-wide travel guide. So far they have 15,809 destination guides and other articles written and edited by Wikitravellers from around the globe.

Wikitravel

Monday, December 25, 2006

Titanic

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My Ratings: Very Good

Release Date: 1997

Lessons: Make the most out of life. A very good film, I underestimated it at first because of all the hype - "if the majority of people like it, it cant be that good".

Featuring spectacular special effects set amidst the backdrop of one of the most tragic events of the 20th Century, James Cameron's award-winning TITANIC stands as one of the greatest Hollywood spectaculars of all time. Beginning with an undersea expedition in the 1990s, in which scuba divers are searching the sunken ship for lost relics, a painting of young Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) is found. This triggers a flashback to the young woman's story as it happened on the doomed Titanic. Rose is a daughter of privilege on her way to be married to an arrogant but wealthy young man (Billy Zane). Despairing, Rose finds herself falling in love with Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a carefree and poor young artist who is also aboard. When the great ship strikes an iceberg and begins to sink, Rose and Jack have only each other as their world falls apart around them.

Director James Cameron spared no expense in bringing his simple yet powerful love story to life, building a 90% scale model of the ship, fussing over the tiniest details, and ultimately spending some $200 million dollars. A worldwide smash, TITANIC received fourteen Academy Award nominations and 11 wins, including Best Picture. Despite all the lavish sets and special effects, the film would be nothing without the emotional core provided by stars Winslet and DiCaprio, who give star making performances as the tragic young lovers.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Mermaid Found In Teluk Bahang

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This mermaid was apparently found in Teluk Bahang, Penang.

Photos like this were circulating the internet since August this year.

When a reader forwarded the email to a local Chinese newspaper, the Department of Fisheries was contacted to find out more about the creature. An official from the department said that they had not received any reports about the odd catch, nor had they ever heard anything about such a creature. He requested that the photos of the creature's body be forwarded to his department so they could verify the incident.

More photos here

What do you think ? true of false ?





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Saturday, December 16, 2006

E-mail scams ala Da Vinci

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By EDDIE CHUA

PETALING JAYA: Internet scam artistes have upped the ante to the ultimate level – they are now “phishing” for money in the name of God.

The latest trick appears to be a combination of the good ol’ Nigerian, or the 4-1-9 scam (named after the section in the Nigerian penal code which covers such frauds), and the charity scam. With the recent blaze of publicity concerning the book and movie, The Da Vinci Code which involves secretive sects, the new scam claims to be linked to a Catholic sect.

The e-mail is supposedly from a Rev Father Vincent Mark who claims to represent the Vatican City Priesthood of the Roman Catholic church.

The scam artiste claims that he is looking for a “godly fellow” to assist him in helping the “poor and needy, especially the motherless babies”.

He adds: “It pains me to discover that many people are suffering and dying of hunger and starvation.”

He says he has decided to help these poor folk with US$8mil (RM29.4mil) from the sect (the scam artiste happens to be the financial controller, too) and he needs a “God servant and God-fearing figure” to help him siphon the money out for “humanitarian” purposes. The e-mail is signed off with a Chicago, United States, address.

He also wants the recipient’s full name, address, telephone and fax numbers, occupation and religion to enable him to forward more information on how to obtain the money.

Once you reply, the scamming process will begin and like all Internet frauds, you will end up losing money because there will be a need to pay special “processing fees” or “commissions” before you get the “cash”.

You may think that by now, Internet surfers would be smart enough not to be fooled by such scams, but according to MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong, a woman recently called up and told him she lost RM10,000 to a similar in-the-name-of-God Net scam .

Chong said they received calls from several people concerning this latest scam.

“Some called the department to verify the authenticity of the e-mail while others, who had been the victims of the scam, sought help to recover the money purportedly paid to obtain the fund.

“The wife of a businessman lost some RM10,000 last month.

“She told us she had paid the money as part of the administrative payment to retrieve the fund worth several million dollars stashed in an overseas bank. However, after paying the money, she found out that there was no such fund.”

Chong warned the public not to be duped. “Many people fall for it because they are greedy and gullible.”

Meanwhile, a National ICT Security and Emergency Response Centre official said the Nigerian e-mail scam had evolved over the years.

“Every now and then the storyline changes but the bottom line is to entice by offering a lucrative percentage to those who help them transfer the 'funds' from foreign banks.”

The official said many gullible Malaysians had been duped into believing that they would get rich quick.

He said despite repeated warnings, many were still being cheated.

“This is all because of greed. There is no such thing as free money,” he added.


The Star

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Friendly teenagers do their part in scam

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IT was another normal day for Lee (not her real name) who had just settled her car instalment at a local bank and was about to head home after work.

Two teenagers stopped her as she entered her car. They said their company sold electrical appliances and was celebrating its anniversary and was giving away prices worth over RM1mil, including a Perdana V6, Proton Gen 2, 10 Kancil, motorcycles, plasma TVs and a massage chair.

The companies recruit such youngsters, who are unaware of their unethical job functions.

"They looked friendly and innocent,'' said Lee. "I even chatted with them. They told me that they were still studying in college, and doing the job on a part-time basis," said the IT personnel in her mid 20s.

They asked her to take part in a game by opening a coupon, claiming that if the coupon read "Thank You", she would not win anything but buy the company's products at promotional price, adding that the company would give them RM1 as commission for each "Thank You'' coupon.

However, they said if the coupon read "Congratulations", she could win any one of the prices, perhaps even a car.

To support their promises, they showed her newspaper cutting of a middle-aged woman winning the grand prize of a Perdana V6, and two other "lucky ones" who drove home a Kancil.

"One of them, an 18-year-old girl, told me that she was the one servicing the V6 winner and the company paid her RM2,000 in commission for that," said Lee, who proceeded to open the coupon and found the word "Congratulations" inside.

"They said there were only 50 'Congratulations' coupons, 36 of which had been won, and so I was the lucky few.

"They added that the coupon would definitely come with a gift, but before that, I had to buy three products from their company at a promotional price of RM3,888," she said.

The products were a water purifier, air purifier and foot massager.

The two encouraged Lee to go to their company's office in Jalan Kuchai Lama since she had been so lucky to come to this stage of the game.

"The prices attracted me. I thought if I won any of the vehicles, I could trade it in and cover the RM3,888 spent on buying the products. So I followed them to the office.

"I knew I would have to absorb the sum if I got the plasma TV or the massage chair cause I can't sell them off easily, but I was still tempted to try my luck," she added.

To her dismay, the coupon showed "Massage Chair" and Lee was immediately asked to pay for the three products to get the chair.

"I can't be forking out RM4,000, so I refused to take the prize. They said since I had opened the coupon, I had to buy at least two of the products, air purifier and foot massager, at RM1,000," she said.

Without winning anything, Lee ended up losing RM1,000 and brought home two overpriced products.

Lee filed her case with the Consumer Claims Tribunal and managed to get her money refunded.

The Star

Monday, December 11, 2006

Police Stations - Kuala Lumpur

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Ibu Pejabat PDRM
Ibu Pejabat Polis Diraja Malaysia
Bukit Aman
50560 Kuala Lumpur.
Telefon : 603 - 2262 6222
Faks : 03 - 2070 7500


Ibu Pejabat Kontinjen
IPK Kuala Lumpur
Ibu Pejabat Polis Kontinjen Kuala Lumpur
Polis Diraja Malaysia
Jalan Hang Tuah
51100 Kuala Lumpur
Telefon : 03-21460522, 03-2485522
Faks : 03-20726786


Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah (IPD)
IPD Brickfields
Ibupejabat Polis Daerah
Brickfields
Polis Diraja Malaysia
Jalan Tun Sambanthan,
50470 Kuala Lumpur
Telefon : 03-22740222
Faks : 03-22730885


Balai Polis
Balai Polis Petaling
Polis Diraja Malaysia
Bt.5 Jalan Klang Lama,
58000 Kuala Lumpur
Telefon : 03-77826222 / 77826351
Faks : Tiada


Balai Polis Pantai
Polis Diraja Malaysia
Jalan Pantai Baru,
59200 Kuala Lumpur.
Telefon : 03-22822222 / 22824786
Faks : Tiada


Balai Polis Travers
Polis Diraja Malaysia
Jalan Travers,
50480 Kuala Lumpur.
Telefon : 03-22824222/22822207
Faks : Tiada


Balai Polis Tmn. Tun Dr. Ismail
Polis Diraja Malaysia
Jalan Burhanuddin Helmi
60000 Kuala Lumpur
Telefon : 03-77286222 / 77284352
Faks : Tiada

The Light Rail Transit (LRT)

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Double click on the image to make it larger

Rapid KL - STAR

Rapid KL - Putra

Monorail

Taxis In Kuala Lumpur

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Phone Numbers

Sunlight Radio Taxi 03-90571111

Pudu Teksi 03-92864515

Comfort Cabs 03-62531313

Public Cab 03-62592020

Destination Transport 03-62531313

Tele Taxi 03-91318080

Saujana Teksi Bhd 03-21628888

Radio Teksi 03-26936211

Oriental Radio Teksi 03-26944718

Maxi Cab Sdn. Bhd. 03-62591913

Outstation Taxi 03-20783525

City Line 03 92222828

Eco Transit 03 55122266

Hotline Radio Taxi 03 2553399

Mesra Cab 03 40430659

Supercab 03 20953399

Airport Limo & Taxi Service
Tel: 03 9223 8080, 03 9223 8949 (Booking Centre)
Tel: 03 8787 3675 (KLIA Counter)


If anyone of you know of any other taxi phone numbers or complaints about taxis, please post it in the comments section.

Saturday, December 9, 2006

Fund-raising scam exposed

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KUALA LUMPUR: Armed with documents, photographs and newspaper clippings of prominent people giving donations to charity, Chong Pit Lye, 27, set out to raise funds for a children’s welfare home.

By persuading the public to donate RM30 to RM50 each “for a tin of milk for the handicapped children,” she collected RM16,000 from August until last month.

She then met a disabled person at Batu Caves who alleged that what she was doing was wrong and wanted to report her to the police.

It dawned on her then that the money was not going to charity.

She cried and told the disabled person not to report her.

Yesterday, Pit Lye decided to expose the scam at the office of MCA Complaints and Public Services Department head Datuk Michael Chong.

She said it started when she responded to an advertisement in a Chinese newspaper that offered the post of a sales personnel with a monthly salary of RM1,600.

Following an interview, the company gave her an official tag and the file with documents and photographs to help her canvass for funds.

There was also an enclosed letter, purportedly from the Handicap Children’s Welfare Home in Ipoh that allowed dealers like her to collect public funds.

The home later denied that they had appointed any third party to solicit donations on its behalf.

After her meeting with the disabled person in Batu Caves, Pit Lye filed a police report at the Serdang police station against the company.

When her employers found out, they made a counter-report that she had stolen some documents from the company because of a commission dispute.

Chong thanked Pit Lye for coming forward and urged those who work with such companies to also come forward to tell their stories.

He called on the relevant authorities to enforce clear guidelines on public fund-raising and to act against errant companies.

He said it was a serious matter and must be stopped. “It is first-class professional begging,” he added.

Chong advised the public to directly send a cheque to the charity organisations concerned if they wanted to make donations, and not through third parties.

“Do not respond,” he advised, adding that the best thing to do when approached for such contributions was to refuse to give any money.

The Star

Free Breasts Implants - Is this site for real ?

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Is this site for real ?

What will they think of next.

Check out My Free Implants

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

The Matrix

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My Ratings: Very Good

Release Date: 1999

Lessons: This movie teaches us to question our reality. Philosophers over the ages have debated over what is reality. This movie addresses serious philosophical questions - how can we know what is real ? can we trust what we are told ?

One is a dream. The other is The Matrix.

"Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream, Neo? How would you know the difterence between the dream world and the real world?" Neo (KEANU REEVES) is desperately seeking the truth about The Matrix - something he's heard of only in whispers - something mysterious and unknown - something, Neo is certain, that has unimaginable and sinister control over his life.

What is The Matrix?

Neo believes that Morpheus (LAURENCE FISHBURNE), a person he knows only through legend, an elusive figure considered to be the most dangerous man alive, can give him the answer.

All I am offering is the Truth.

One night, Neo is contacted by Trinity (CARRIE-ANNE MOSS), a beautiful stranger who leads him into another world, an underworld where at last he meets Morpheus and learns for himself the truth about The Matrix.

No one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.

There, Neo faces another question, as startling as the first:

Is he The One?

Before he even understands what that means, Neo is certain the answer is "no." Some, like Morpheus' colleague Cypher (JOE PANTOLIANO), agree. Others are not so sure.

There are also those who protect The Matrix. Led by the relentless and literally indomitable Agent Smith (HUGO WEAVING), they have methods of gathering information that astound and terrify.

What good is a phone call if you are unable to speak?

Neo, Morpheus and Trinity must battle brutally for their lives against this viciously powerful cadre to find the answers they seek, to understand their own roles in the epic drama unfolding around them, to learn their true power and to recognize their destinies.

Guns. Lots of guns.

Every move, every second, every thought is crucial if they are to free themselves from The Matrix and the existence it represents.

Free your mind.

Every move, every second, every thought is crucial once Neo learns the truth about The Matrix.
It is a truth that could cost Neo something more precious than his life.
There are two realities: one that consists of the life we live every day - and one that lies behind it.

Monday, December 4, 2006

Bank customers warned not to reveal PIN or password

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PETALING JAYA: Bank customers, do not reveal your PIN or password and computer logon details to anyone seeking to obtain them by phone or e-mail.

And those who receive calls or e-mails on the pretext of urging customer to update their details should advise their banks immediately.

This is one of the security tips outlined by the Association of Banks in Malaysia to ensure customers PIN or password are not compromised when using Internet banking in view of the recent “phishing” scam.

The associations’ executive director Wong Suan Lye said banks that offer Internet Banking services would not request customers to reveal or verify their PIN or passwords for whatever reasons via e-mail, a hyperlink through the e-mail or by phone.

“Without PIN or password, the fraudster would not be able to access the customers’ Internet Banking accounts. If in doubt, contact your respective banks for verification,” she said in a press statement.

She was responding to a report on a group of 13 computer-savvy youths nabbed recently for alleged Internet scam called phishing.

The group is believed to have conned at least 26 people by using e-mail and fake websites to lure Internet users into providing their personal banking details which were then used to steal more than RM36,000 from their accounts in two weeks.

Other tips include:

# Before doing online transactions, customers must ensure that they were using a legitimate website.
# They should not put any sensitive information that might help provide access to their account, even if the website appears legitimate
# Always enter the URL of the website directly into the web browser to ensure that it begins with “http”. They should also look for a display of a closed padlock symbol on the status bar of their browser. erification of the website Digital Certificate is also recommended.
# They should also always remember to log-off when they have completed their banking transactions.

The Star

How the World Eats

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By BRYAN WALSH

Ecuador
The Ayme family of Tingo
Food Expenditure for one week: $31.55
Cooking Method: Wood fire


Originally the food of emperors, the cuisine known as kaiseki is the pinnacle of Japanese eating—and few restaurants serve a more refined menu than Kikunoi, in the former imperial capital of Kyoto. The experience begins before a single plate is served, with the setting: a tatami-mat room, bare save for the tokonoma, the alcove in the corner that displays a single scroll of calligraphy and a seasonally appropriate flower, today a lily. Then the food begins to flow, course after course of carefully trimmed portions, delivered by a kimono-clad server: a single piece of sea-bream sushi wrapped in bamboo leaf, a tiny grilled ayu fish with water-pepper vinegar, fried prawns and bamboo shoots with an egg-yolk-and-cream sauce. Kaiseki dining is the product of centuries of cultural evolution, but though Kikunoi is high-end—as the bill will indicate—its cuisine is meant to be a grand elaboration of the basic Japanese home meal: rice, fish, pickles, vegetables and miso soup, artfully presented in small, healthy portions.

"I believe that Japanese cuisine is something embedded in Japanese people's DNA," says Kikunoi's owner, Yoshihiro Murata. That may be true, but it's a legacy under assault, increasingly crowded out by fast, convenient, Westernized food. These days, Murata says sadly, his college-age daughter doesn't see much difference between cheap restaurant food and the haute cuisine he makes. "I think that in Japan, people should eat good Japanese food," he says. "But they are far away from it."

Japan is not alone. Food and diet are the cornerstones of any culture, one of the most reliable symbols of national identity. Think of the long Spanish lunch followed by the afternoon siesta, a rhythm of food and rest perfectly suited to the blistering heat of the Iberian peninsula in summer. Think of the Chinese meal of rice, vegetables and (only recently) meat, usually served in big collective dishes, the better for extended clans to dine together. National diets come to incorporate all aspects of who we are: our religious taboos, class structure, geography, economy, even government. When we eat together, "we are ordering the world around us and defining the community most important to us," says Martin Jones, a bioarchaeologist at Cambridge University and author of the new book Feast: Why Humans Share Food.

Even the traditions we learn from others we adopt and adapt in ways that make them our own. Japan received chopsticks from China and tempura from Portugal. Tomatoes, that staple of pasta and pizza, arrived in Southern Europe only as part of the Columbian Exchange (so-called because of Christopher Columbus' journeys to the New World, where tomatoes originated). "A lot of what we think of as deeply rooted cultural traditions are really traceable back to global exchange," says Miriam Chaiken, a nutritional anthropologist at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

In an era of instant communication and accelerated trade, those cultural exchanges have exploded, leading to something closer to cultural homogenization. That's bad for not only the preservation of national identities but the preservation of health too. Saturated fats and meats are displacing grains and fresh vegetables. Mealtimes are shrinking. McDonald's is everywhere. From Chile to China, the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease is on the rise as the idiosyncratic fare that used to make mealtime in New Delhi, Buenos Aires and Sydney such distinctive experiences is vanishing. This, in turn, is leading to a minimovement in some countries to hold fast to traditional food culture, even as their menu grows ever more international. Says Jones: "With every change there's nostalgia for what's gone before."

Such longing for what was may be only natural, but before we get too misty over the way we used to eat, it's important to remember that the first purpose of food is to keep us alive—something that used to be a lot harder than it is today. For thousands of years, humans were chiefly agrarian, which meant that you ate only what you could grow or slaughter yourself or trade for locally. Geography was culinary destiny.

Africa, which strains under so much political and economic hardship, is the place where this ancient reality is in greatest evidence today. Throughout much of the continent, people remain tied to the land and therefore dependent on it. Most meals are keyed around a single calorie-rich starch—in East Africa, it's often cornmeal or flour made into a stiff porridge—with extra food added if available. Meat remains a rare indulgence, something reserved for holidays and feasts. Even relatively well-fed populations like the Iraqw of Tanzania, who typically eat three full meals a day, must brace for periods when that is impossible. "In times of food insecurity—right before a harvest—or in a bad year, they will reduce this to two or one meals," says Crystal Patil, an anthropologist at the University of Illinois in Chicago. "If there are several bad years in a row, it can be devastating." Often, the only sure foods are largely useless ones, those sloshing over from the well-fed world outside. "I've never seen a village where you couldn't find a Coke," says Chaiken.

All human cultures may have started out with this kind of day-to-day, harvest-to-harvest existence, but the better environmental hand that people of other regions drew—richer soil, fewer droughts, milder temperatures—allowed them to tame their land, meaning that the food they ate and the lives they lived could evolve together. In agrarian, preindustrial Europe, for example, "you'd want to wake up early, start working with the sunrise, have a break to have the largest meal, and then you'd go back to work," says Ken Albala, a professor of history at the University of the Pacific. "Later, at 5 or 6, you'd have a smaller supper."

This comfortable cycle, in which the rhythms of the day helped shape the rhythms of the meals, gave rise to the custom of the large midday meal, eaten with the extended family, that is still observed in pockets of Southern and Western Europe. "Meals are the foundation of the family," says Carole Counihan, an anthropologist at Millersville University in Pennsylvania and author of Around the Tuscan Table, "so there was a very important interconnection between eating together" and cementing family ties.

Since industrialization, maintaining such a slow cultural metabolism has been much harder, with the long midday meal shriveling to whatever could be stuffed into a lunch bucket or bought at a food stand. Certainly, there were benefits. Modern techniques for producing and shipping food led to greater variety and quantity, including a tremendous increase in the amount of animal protein and dairy products available, making us more robust than our ancestors. In contemporary China, where tens of millions were starving less than 50 years ago, meat has become far more common, and Chinese youth are on average 2.4 in. taller than they were just three decades ago. "China has gone from a sparse diet to a point where it's got almost too much," says James Watson, professor of Chinese society and anthropology at Harvard University. "As a nutritionist, you have to be outraged. As a historian, you have to consider it one of the biggest success stories on the planet."

Yet plenty has been lost too, even in cultures that still live to eat. Take Italy. It's no secret that the Mediterranean diet—with its emphasis on olive oil, seafood and fresh produce—is healthy, but it was also a joy to prepare and eat. Italians, says Counihan, traditionally began the day with a small meal called colazione, consisting of light baked goods and coffee. The big meal came at around 1 p.m. and included a first course of pasta, rice or soup; a second of meat and vegetables; a third, fruit course and, of course, wine. In between the midday meal and a late, smaller dinner came a small snack, the merenda. Today, when time zones have less and less meaning, there is little tolerance for offices' closing for lunch, and worsening traffic in cities means workers can't make it home and back fast enough anyway. So the formerly small supper after sundown becomes the big meal of the day, the only one at which the family has a chance to get together. "The evening meal carries the full burden that used to be spread over two meals," says Counihan.

South Americans are struggling with similar changes. John Brett, a nutritional anthropologist at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, says that many Latin Americans too prefer a large family meal at midday, heavy on starchy grains like quinoa or plants like yucca. But migration from the country to the cities has made that impossible. "They don't have the luxury of two hours of lunch," says Brett. "The economy moves on." Not only do these changes add stress for families, but nutritional quality declines as well. "They tend to eat whatever is cheap and quick, " says Chaiken.

Paradoxically, the thing that has contributed the most to the deterioration of food culture may be one of the very things that has helped turbocharge countries in so many other ways: the presence of women in the workforce. "If women are working, they can't shop and cook and prepare a meal," says Counihan. "In the old days, you might have had the grandmother doing it, but family size is shrinking." And the less exposure younger generations have to the food their grandparents ate, the less they develop the sensitive palates that allow them to appreciate it. In Latin America, says Jeffery Sobal, a professor of nutritional science at Cornell University, "parents complain that they make [traditional] dishes, but the kids won't eat them. They want the things they see on television."

It shouldn't be surprising that the societies that have been most successful at retaining food cultures are the ones that have also resisted the pull of Westernization—for better and worse. In many Middle Eastern countries, extended families still live together, and women stay in the home preparing the kinds of traditional meals that women elsewhere no longer can. Diets in the Middle East also show the influence of religion; besides widely observed taboos on pork and alcohol, the fasting month of Ramadan alters Middle Eastern eating habits. While Muslims fast from sunup to sundown, Ramadan nights are marked by calorie-heavy indulgence. "The level of food consumption during Ramadan is much higher than during ordinary months," says Sami Zubaida, co-author of the book Culinary Cultures of the Middle East. Ramadan is "the fasting month that is really a feasting month," Zubaida says, hence the tendency for Ramadan weight gain.

Outside the most conservative nations in the Muslim world, it has proved difficult to hold on to the pleasures of traditional eating. But that's not to say that people don't long for the old ways all the same—inspiring movements in some nations to rediscover how Mom used to prepare a meal. In Europe, Asia and the U.S., the Slow Food movement—a kind of alimentary Greenpeace—campaigns against fast food while championing traditionally prepared meals. Bolivians regularly hold food fairs that celebrate South American staples even as they develop ways to speed up the time-intensive preparation of native meals so that Bolivians can enjoy the dishes of the past at the pace of today. Yet while we might—indeed must—clean up the worst of the fast-food excesses, trying to preserve the diets that keep us both culturally and physically healthier, no one pretends we're ever going to turn back the clock entirely. "Nobody has time anymore," laments Harvard's Watson. "Not even the French."

Nor do the harried Japanese, although there are exceptions. At a trim home in northwest Tokyo, where commuter trains rumble just outside the window, homemaker Estsuko Shinobu, 60, prepares a proper Japanese lunch, using fresh ingredients she bought that morning at the nearby supermarket. The mother of two grown children pads around the kitchen in slippers and a violet kimono, chopping Japanese radishes and carrots, carefully packing a sushi cake with tuna and vinegared rice. She serves dishes arranged on an individual tray just so, down to the direction of each set of chopsticks. She looks happy, even serene as she works, but when asked whether she has passed these skills on to her daughter, she sighs. "Of course not," Shinobu says. "She's far too busy for this."

—With reporting by Elisabeth Salemme/New York, Toko Sekiguchi/Tokyo, Ishaan Tharoor/Hong Kong and Christopher Thompson/London

Time.Com

Sunday, December 3, 2006

American Beauty

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My Ratings: Very Good

Release Date: 1999

Lessons: This movies is about a guy who is experiencing mid live crisis after being "downsized". He starts to evaluate his life and attempts to live his life differently. This movie teaches us that we have to consistently be mindful of what we are doing with our life. It also warns us in choosing a "correct" life partner.

AMERICAN BEAUTY tells the story of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a suburban father who snaps when he becomes disgusted with his stale, repetitive existence. Burnham lets us know in voice-over from the film's opening that this is the day he dies (using the SUNSET BOULEVARD flashback approach), a technique that adds an inevitable tension to the proceedings and keeps the story moving forward at all times. On a whim, Lester quits his job and begins a regression into young adulthood, lifting weights, smoking pot, doing nothing, and discovering the overflowing sexuality of his 16-year-old daughter's best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), has her own midlife crisis of sorts. A real estate agent, she experiences a youthful awakening when super-agent Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher) seduces her repeatedly. Meanwhile, Jane (Thora Birch), the Burnhams' daughter, is pursued by Ricky (Wes Bentley), the mysterious boy next door who carries a video camera around with him at all times. When Ricky's militaristic father, Colonel Fitts (Chris Cooper), discovers something potentially horrifying on one of his tapes, and when Carolyn's rage for Lester's actions boils over, the time bomb finally explodes.

Saturday, December 2, 2006

Cheated by bogus monk in 4D scam

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JOHOR BARU: It was too good a chance to miss, thought couple S. Saravanan, 31, and A. Amutha, 30.

The advertisement said they could strike RM300,000 if they put their faith in a certain monk, who could give them the winning number in the 4D stakes.

MONEY’S GONE: Amutha crying yesterday as she relates how she and her husband lost their money to a bogus monk in Johor Baru.
They called a number given in the advertisement and the so-called monk asked them to deposit RM75 at first.

Amutha said she made the first payment by account transfer on July 1 last year.

Since then, she has transferred over RM30,000 in 15 payments to two bank accounts, with the last payment of RM1,500 in July this year.

The housewife and her husband, an IT officer, are now in debt as they had borrowed money each time the monk asked for a deposit.

There is no sign of the monk or a winning 4D number.

The couple had tried calling the monk but couldn't reached him. Instead, someone else who took their calls said they could earn more if they chipped in another RM30,000. Their request for a refund was rejected.

At a press conference at the office of Bandar Baru Tampoi MCA branch chairman Michael Tay yesterday, Amutha said: “I read in a flyer that the monk could give the winning number for the grand prize in the 4D lottery if we paid a certain amount. There was a picture of someone with a winning number and I was convinced it was the real deal. My husband and I are now broke,” she said.

Amutha has since lodged a police report at the central police station here.

Johor Baru (South) OCPD Asst Comm Shafie Ismail said they were investigating the case.

He urged anyone with information to contact the police hotline at 07-221 2999 or the nearest police station.

The Star

Friday, December 1, 2006

Report lodged over free-ads-for-donations scam

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PETALING JAYA: A company, claiming to represent The Star, is offering free advertisements to local firms here if they make donations to a charity fund run by the publication for an orphanage.

The scam surfaced when one of The Star's advertisers received a letter inviting them to donate RM878 towards the fund. In return, they would get free advertising insertions for 26 days.

But on checking with The Star, the advertiser found there was no such fund.

On Friday, The Star lodged a report at the district police headquarters here on the fake offer and fund.

“We believe the company had used the publication to dupe advertisers. There is no such offer or fund,” said Star Publications (M) Berhad advertising and business promotions general manager Calvin Kan.

In the letter issued by the Petaling Jaya-based company, it stated that the funds collected would be channelled towards building a dining hall for the Federal Territory Orphanage Association. The dining hall was supposed to cost RM130,000.

Attempts by The Star to contact the telephone numbers listed on the letter went unanswered.

The Star
 

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