No joke: Free money at KL Sentral!
Oct 31, 2008 News Breaks
If only I had taken the train yesterday. I went down to lunch today and dad, looking amused, showed me the copy of The Malay Mail. The article was headlined:
Raining money at KL Sentral
Yes, some mysterious dude was walking around KL Sentral giving money away - for real! The article read:
The unidentified man casually walked through the hustle and bustle of KL Sentral, throwing handfuls of RM50, RM10 and RM1 bills up in the air before calmly walking towards the exit - never looking back. Behind him people scrambled for the money.
The writer spoke to a newspaper seller who managed to grab RM600! And there was a photo of people posing with the money they grabbed - some looked like RM200-RM300. No a bad haul I’d say.
I just wish I’d been there.
This act was caught on CCTV camera so I’m sure more details will be out soon. Dad and I were talking and wouldn’t be surprised if it was this lucky man who won the RM20mil jackpot recently.
The Star reported today that the man and his wife had to slap each other when they realised they won, to make sure they weren’t dreaming. What a sweet and funny story. It described the man as being in his 40s though, and the Malay Mail article described the mysterious generous money-giveaway man as being in his 30s.
I suppose these days, with SK II and the likes, someone in his 40s could pass off as 30s?
Wonder if he will make a return to KL Sentral? Maybe I should pop over there now. :P
1.15pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: jackpot, kl sentral, money
All Hallow’s Eve: Happy Halloween
Oct 31, 2008 Announcements
I’m not feeling it too much this year (then again, I don’t feel it much anytime - considering I’m a party pooper and, er, don’t like dressing up).
But who am I to be a downer? So to all of you folks ready to scare the living daylights out of people tonight (everyone’s been talking about costumes, constumes, costumes!), then Happy Halloween!
10.53am Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: all hallow's even, halloween, happy halloween, witches
Too scared to smoke
Oct 30, 2008 News Breaks
Every time I head over to Singapore, or when a friend who lives there come back here, I cringe a little. No, no, it’s nothing personal. It’s just that many of them smoke and they always carry with them these hideous boxes with images of cancerous mouth and throats, and deformed foetuses.
I’m not sure if it is an effective campaign (after all, my friends are still smokers) but hey, if so many countries are implementing this policy, it has got to work at least a little. Which is perhaps why Malaysians will be faced with this grotesque images from January 1 next year.
Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai was reported in today’s The Star saying that the images must cover 40% of the front, and 60% of the back. That’s shit-loads of gross images on one tiny box, methinks.
“By Jan 1, each cigarette brand must have at least two of its products with these warnings. By next June, all cigarette packs must carry the warnings,” he told a press conference at his office here yesterday.
Woah! Well, my advice to my smoking friends is - quit now! I don’t want to have to see gross images like that lah. Already in my office lift areas, there’s a huge poster of a severely deformed person with arrows pointing to different parts of the body saying what smoking does to it.
That said, there are some images that catches my attention. I took this a couple of years ago in Singapore, along Orchard Road which I thought was a brilliant, brilliant idea!
5.37pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: cancer, cigarettes, liow tiong lai, lungs, smoking
Vote NO on Prop 8
Oct 29, 2008 Announcements
I had planned to talk about Proposition 8 yesterday, as it would have been exactly a week to the US Presidential Election. But better late than never, I suppose.
Well, I am joining (not that I am as important, but every voice matters, I believe) a number of public personalities - and individuals - to speak out against Proposition 8 (or Prop 8). On Nov 4, when the people of United States vote for their new President (*fingers crossed* Obama, Obama, Obama), California will also be voting on Proposition 8, among others.
Prop 8 is a 2008 California General Election Ballot initiative measure titled:
Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry
If passed, this measure would allow for the California constitution to be changed, with this phrase “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California” added.
Among the people (and organisations) who have spoken out against Prop 8 (yes, those of you voting in California need to vote NO to oppose discrimination - weird how the world works, huh?) include Ellen Degeneres (who got married recently to wife Portia De Rossi), US comic Margaret Cho, Ugly Betty America Fererra, Apple Inc (the company just donated US100,000 to the campaign), Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama and his running mate Joe Biden among others. TV personalities are also speaking out against Prop 8, like in the video below.
Some others - organisations and individiduals - who are saying NO on Prop 8 are listed here. College students too are out in force.
In August, the Los Angeles Times explained why people should vote NO on Prop 8.
“Proposition 8… would eliminate the fundamental right to same-sex marriage. The very act of denying gay and lesbian couples the right to marry – traditionally the highest legal and societal recognition of a loving commitment – by definition relegates them and their relationship to second class status.”
But Prop 8 is not just a sexuality issue - it is about fundemental human rights, and treating citizens fairly. Let this video explain.
No on 8 dispels some myths about Prop 8.
And why should it matter to someone like me, who doesn’t even live there in the US, let alone California? Because change needs to start somewhere, and because a yes win on Prop 8 will have detrimental effects on LGBT rights specifically, and human rights in general.
I join those personalities, organisations, my friends who live in California, and others like me who don’t live in the US also because this is an issue of fairness. The same way I fought, alongside with my friends, peers and contemporaries in Western Australia, for many things back when I was studying there even though - as a foreign student - I was not really affected by most things, and would eventually leave.
A dear friend to me back while I was in Australia recently created this video in support of NO on 8.
Nelson is Australian but now lives in South Africa, yet he feels strongly enough about the issue to take a stand. I am taking a stand too. I am a NO on 8 person. And if you’re voting on Nov 4 in California, I hope you are too.
9.33pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: america ferrera, apple inc, Barack Obama, Elections, ellen degeneres, human rights, Joe Biden, nelson clemente, no on prop 8, portia de rossi, prop 8, proposition 8, yes on prop 8
Deepavali Greetings
Oct 27, 2008 Announcements
Just a quick not to wish all my Hindu and Sikh friends (and not friends who drop by here) a Happy Deepavali!
I am at work today - bleh - but hope that you guys are enjoying your day off!
12.16pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
