Eye Candy For Your Viewing Pleasure...

Well, not in the perverty sort kind of way. Have you ever looked at clouds at the sky and thought ' Gee, that cloud just looks funny looking!' Well, you're not the only one who ever had that thought. Check out some other weird looking clouds. Have a good day!

More can be looked here

Social Networking 2.0 and the Economy

I'm still here at work, just feeling lazy to get back home. I was browsing through Digg and I found this link to the Telegraph UK website. Apparently according to the survey made, Twitter and Facebooks users have cost UK 1.38 million pounds worth of wasted time. Sounds impossibly true? I don't think so, coz I actually know my colleagues spend quite some time over Facebook. However, I'm not quite sure how these amounts of so-called 'wasted time' are translated into monetary value. You be the judge...


Twitter 'costs British economy £1.38bn'
Social networking websites such as Twitter are costing British businesses £1.38 billion a year in wasted time, a survey claims.

By Nick CollinsPublished: 12:01AM GMT 26 Oct 2009

More than half of office workers use sites like Twitter and Facebook for personal use during the working day, and admit wasting an average of 40 minutes a week each.
One in three of the 1,460 office workers surveyed also said they had seen sensitive company information posted on social networking sites, leading to fears about how workers use the internet.

Philip Wicks, consultant at Morse, the IT services and technology company who commissioned the survey, said the true cost to the economy could be substantially higher than the £1.38bn estimate.

“When someone is asked for their own use they say around 40 minutes a week, but when asked about their colleagues they say they say up to an hour a day. We have used the lower of those figures rather than the high point," he said.

“It is the sort of thing people constantly use which means that its not quite the same as doing a crossword, where you spend half an hour on it and it is finished.

“When it comes to an office environment the use of these sites is clearly becoming a productivity black hole.

“Social networking can be a cause for good when it is used professionally but I think organisations need to wake up – that is not the way it is always being used.”

David Clubb, managing director of Office Angels, the recruitment firm, added: “As younger generations join the workplace, I believe UK businesses will, inevitably, have to embrace social networks, recognising the benefits of providing staff with well deserved downtime, but also their potential for business networking.”

Three quarters of the office workers surveyed said their employer had not given them any specific guidelines on how to use Twitter, but 84 per cent believed it should be up to them what they post online.

Last month staff at PC World and Currys were found to have posted offensive comments about customers on Facebook groups.

Some posters who said they were employed by the shops’ parent company, DSG, said some customers deserved to be punched, and asked if they should be allowed to “cattle prod” them.
British Airways staff used Facebook to complain about customers’ “stupid American accents” last year, while Virgin Atlantic employees referred to some passengers as “chavs”.

You Got Busted!

Have you checked out today's news? A report released by the Auditor General reveals a lot of discrepencies, curious expenditures, and many more questions that need answering. Check this out:

RM42,320 for a laptop
By YENG AI CHUN

KUALA LUMPUR: Who in their right mind would pay RM42,320 for a laptop?

Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi Mara Balik Pulau in Penang not only paid the price but bought two units of the same brand – Acer Aspire-5052ANWXMI, at a whopping price of RM84,640, said the Auditor-General’s Report.

In addition, the college purchased 450 units of computer CAD with network card at RM3.45mil for 12 labs. Each 19-inch monitor costs RM8,500 while a 17-inch monitor costs RM7,500.
“A check with local companies showed that the market price for the latest model is between RM5,350 to RM6,500 each. Worse still the computers, Precision 390 Dell, that were supplied are no longer in the market,” it said.

Also purchased were 15 laser printers, Hewlet Packard P3005X, at the price of RM7,722 each when the market price was about RM5,000 per unit.

In reply, Mara said the equipment were purchased in a lump sump and there was no price breakdown for the laptops.

The price breakdown was only done after the equipment was supplied for the purpose assets record and it could not be used as a basis for reference.

“Nevertheless, Mara has created a task force and is conducting a price adjustment for all the equipment,” it said.

The report also stated that the college had paid between RM1,398 and RM2,945 for 204 teaching manuals.

“Checks found that the teaching manuals supplied were bound using comb binding. The teaching manuals obtained at a cost of RM358,476 is a waste because they were never used,” it said, adding that the supplier has been notified to provide the original version of the teaching manual in hard cover.

Mara also spent RM2.08mil buying computer software it didn’t need.

Audits also found many discrepancies in prices paid for the same equipment, including the same LCD projectors that costs RM3,500 and RM8,000 for two different laboratories.

“Swivel stools were also purchased at three different prices – RM340, RM350 and RM450 per unit and they did not even meet the agreed specifications in the agreement.

“Other swivel chairs were bought for between RM810 to RM1,050 per unit when the college had bought the same chair previously at RM336 per unit,” it said.

The report also stated that the German-Malaysian Institute which was picked as the consultant, had proposed a ceiling price of RM84.5mil for the purchase of equipment for the college while the Economic Planing Unit (EPU) fixed the price at RM127.65mil.

“The reason for the higher price was to speed up the process of obtaining the supplies. In the end the agreed contract was fixed at RM112.42mil. Mara had submitted a letter to the Finance Ministry to say that the figure was reasonable.

“Audit found that the agreed price for the purchase of equipment is not reasonable. This is because the approach taken by Mara did not fufill the criteria set by the Finance Ministry, which is to negotiate for the lowest price possible.

Man That Was Freakin' Close...

I was watching the news when a footage towards the end of the news shocked me. This lady was talking to someone at the train station, when her stroller (presumbaly with a baby in it) just slides down to the platform. To make things more horrifying, a train was approaching the platform. The CCTV recording was unimaginably scary. Thank God, the baby is remarkably unharmed. I'm speechless...
The news can be read here

VIDEO: Miracle escape

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History Lesson With A 'Wow' Factor...

Honest to God, I never really liked history lessons back in school. Although there actually might be some interesting stories which shaped the world today, learning through text books is definitely not the way to make students appreciate what had happened. I just can't stand those long texts and dull pictures, it's just....yuckk, I'll pass. If it wasn't for the secret notes prepared during the exam, I would have miserably flunked. My perception of history have then changed, right this moment.

I have just finished watching a 6-part documentary called Apocalypse: The Second World War. As you've guessed it, it's about the happenings surround WWII, from up rise of the great Nazi under the command of the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, the clash of titans between Germany and USSR (Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, basically all the famous names you've heard but could not care less), how the Allied troops get tangled in the war, as well as the conquest of the Pacific by the Japanese. The documentary was made using actual footage gathered during the war, colourised to add the extra ummph effect (which I think is just brilliant), add up an awesome score and top notch commentary and you got yourselves one hell of a story, way better than any depicted Hollywood flicks. It's just raw, uncensored, original, just the way history should be presented.

A few things left me thinking after watching it. One, how massive the scale of the war is. To think that a typical Hollywood war movie would cost easily 200-300 millions of dollars, which last for like 2 hours tops, compared to the actual war which lasted tenths of years, with ten times the scale, the cost is just unimaginable to the human brain. Two, the human cost of this great war. At least 50 million people have died, many of which are civillians, cities got annihilated just like some toy model construction project, tonnes of firepower used (which I have to admit, is so damn cool, I so like one those they called Stalin's Organ, basically a rocket launcher). Third, the brutality of the Nazis in realising its disposition of the Jews. I mean, you've heard about how brutal the Holocaust is but you can't just really digest on how bad it is? Watch this documentary and you'll truly understand the savage, the mindlessness, the brutality they have caused under the name of ideology. Fourth, to see how great leaders influence their followers until their fanaticism of the ideology is established. Lastly, how basic necessities can turn people into desperation. Just look at Japan's struggle for survival, which led to the bombing of Pearl Harbour and the conquest of the Pacific. Desperation is written all over the face of the Japanese back then.

How I wished my history lessons were taught just like this. You can't help but to appreciate your life better, and how it's important to put peace as the top priority. In the end in this kind of warfare, no party actually wins, and that I think is the most important lesson of all. Brilliant documentary, I even have recommended my colleagues to watch it.

Apocalypse: The Second World War airs on the National Geographic Channel (Astro channel 553), if I'm not mistaken at 2200hrs, Monday.

You Want Your Money? Come and Fight for It!

It's that time of the year again. As the company I'm working in just passed the 2nd quarter of our financial year, we are to prepare our maintenance budget for the next financial year. Basically we'll have our internal sits between supervisors of that particular section, discuss what our requirements are, undergo a series of review, scrutinizing, and challenge by the top management before the budget got sanctioned. All sections have finished consolidating our prepared budget, and we had an away day (2 days technically) at one of the hotels in Malacca, basically to go through everything all of us have prepared, and starts the bashing and questioning session. If you've never been through one of these reviews, trust me; it's brutal. You need to get your facts right, supporting information, and hell lots of moral support. To make things worse, other sections were represented by their managers, planners and supervisors, while I was all alone (my boss was away for a conference). It was ugly. The session was attended by all head of departments and head planners of each discipline, but the main cast of the bashers consist of the GM of Engineering, the principal engineer for Mechanical - Rotating, and last but not least, the Head of the Reliability unit. They'll look at this year's budget, year to date expenditure (to see how well you're doing), your expectations for next year, and hell lots of reasons as to why you're asking for more. We were there from 8am till 9pm for two straight days, and heck, it is not over yet! Another session has to be set. I'm mentally exhausted in the end of the day, and my section's department got slashed by about 40%. I just could not present my case better. It's just like a court battle. Who says being an engineer does not require you to act like a lawyer? Till the next post...

Oh yeah, btw we're also stressed out as we have to prepare our mid year review on our performance appraisal. I need to take a step back, review my KPIs have basically, try to 'sell' myself of my performance.....

What The Opposite Sex Searches in Google...

So check this out, I found out a picture on Digg which I thought was fake, so I've decided to try it on my own. It's funny how sometimes people just Google for almost anything. I mean anything! Check out these pictures. If you happen to have found any other interesting findings, let me know:)
See how men and women expect different things in life? Have a good weekend...

p/s: I just realised, this post is posted at 10/10, at 1111hrs...cool...