Pulau Redang (May 2004)

1st day in Redang

Cloudy skies

Sun rise

Lone human on the beach

Lonely beach

Chicken

Half cooked ginger wine chicken.

Sony Bravia Paint advertisment

Paints.. Tons of paints


The making of Sony Bravia Paint advert
Source: Sony BRAVIA - The Advert

Sony Bravia Bouncy Balls advertisment

Balls.. Tons of bouncy balls


The making of Sony Bravia Bouncy Balls advert
Source: Sony BRAVIA - The Advert

Dihydrogen Monoxide

BAN DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE!

Dihydrogen monoxide is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and kills uncounted thousands of people every year. Most of these deaths are caused by accidental inhalation of DHMO, but the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide do not end there. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage. Symptoms of DHMO ingestion can include excessive sweating and urination, and possibly a bloated feeling, nausea, vomiting and body electrolyte imbalance. For those who have become dependent, DHMO withdrawal means certain death.

Dihydrogen monoxide:

• is also known as hydroxl acid, and is the major component of acid rain.
• contributes to the "greenhouse effect."
• may cause severe burns.
• contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.
• accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.
• may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes.
• has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.

Contamination is reaching epidemic proportions!

Quantities of dihydrogen monoxide have been found in almost every stream, lake, and reservoir in America today. But the pollution is global, and the contaminant has even been found in Antarctic ice. DHMO has caused millions of dollars of property damage in the midwest, and recently California.

Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used:

• as an industrial solvent and coolant.
• in nuclear power plants.
• in the production of styrofoam.
• as a fire retardant.
• in many forms of cruel animal research.
• in the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical.
• as an additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products.

Companies dump waste DHMO into rivers and the ocean, and nothing can be done to stop them because this practice is still legal. The impact on wildlife is extreme, and we cannot afford to ignore it any longer!

The American government has refused to ban the production, distribution, or use of this damaging chemical due to its "importance to the economic health of this nation." In fact, the navy and other military organizations are conducting experiments with DHMO, and designing multi-billion dollar devices to control and utilize it during warfare situations. Hundreds of military research facilities receive tons of it through a highly sophisticated underground distribution network. Many store large quantities for later use.

Source: Snopes

Coral Stone

Dead coral from my dad's salt water aquarium.

Cheese Cake

Step 1: Prepare some butter

Step 2: Prepare some cream cheese

Step 3: Prepare some caster sugar

Step 4: Mix all three together

Step 5: Prepare some eggs

Step 6: Separate egg yolk from egg white. Mix the egg yolk with the rest

Step 7: Prepare some flour and sieve it

Step 8: Add in some sugar and beat the egg white

Step 9: Fold in the flour and egg white

Step 10: Steam bake for 60 minutes

Step 11: Enjoy while hot or after being refrigerated

Lampe Berger

Just got to know yesterday that my cousin joined Digital Crown Holdings (DCHL). She tried to get me to borrow her RM2k. She didn't mention what she was going to use the money for, just saying that it's an emergency.

I remember hearing my dad said that she tried to borrow money from my dad last time for some MLM stuff, so I persisted in asking her why she need the money. She just kept delaying until I just asked her, which company. When I got to know that it's DCHL, I just exploded. I mean, of all the money sucking MLM companies around, why did she have to choose the MOST money sucking one?

Who have not heard of the SCAM involving Lampe Berger? It has been hot topics in forums for a very long time. Newspaper came out with stories of students asking money from their parents to invest in this so called company (without publishing the company's name). Most people know that it's a scam. Why can't my cousin see it also? She's not that young, just one year younger than me.

There's no easy money in this world. I do believe that joining this DCHL company you can make money. A very unethical way of making money at the expense of your downline. You join, you pay the money, get more people to join, you get a part of their "joining fees". Isn't that a sign of pyramid scheme?

I'm just hoping that she lied to me about earning 5 digit income and has over 50 downline under her. Cause she tried again today with my dad, asking him to borrow her RM33k. Saying that she will pay him back next month. Her loan (from where?) had been approved. If she needs RM33k, then I sure hope that she's not in yet, cause RM33k is the amount needed for you to get "Count" level (or so I heard). But she did say that she's trying for "Marquis" level. Darn. Just hope that she will wake up soon.

Enough with the rants, what exactly is Lampe Berger?

The Lampe Berger story begins at the close of the nineteenth century. Sometimes considered as a disinfecting home appliance, sometimes as a decorative item, the Lampe Berger comes across the century, resisting both fashion and an increasing competition, while earning the patronage of such distinguished artists as Coco Chanel and Jean Cocteau.

Source : Lampe Berger

Lampe Berger is actually a type of fragrance lamp which is used to disinfect rooms and is also a decorative item. It is being sold retail in United States. I have nothing against this product. Okay, it maybe good for you or whatever. What I'm against is the marketing plan of DCHL. I have been reading blogs and notice that people are saying the distributers don't care about the product. They are only selling membership.

Doesn't that make it a pyramid scheme?

A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, usually without any product or service being delivered.

Most pyramid schemes take advantage of confusion between genuine businesses and complicated but convincing moneymaking scams. The essential idea behind each scam is that the individual makes only one payment, but are promised to somehow receive exponential benefits from other people as a reward. A common example might be an offer that, for a fee, allows the victim to sell the same offer to other people. Each sale includes a fee to the original seller.

Clearly, the fundamental flaw is that there is no end benefit; the money simply travels up the chain, and only the originator (or at best a very few) wins in swindling his followers. Of course, the people in the worst situation are the ones at the bottom of the pyramid: those who subscribed to the plan, but were not able to recruit any followers themselves. To embellish the act, most such scams will have fake referrals, testimonials, and information.

Although pyramid schemes have been declared illegal in many countries, they still persist in various forms, nowadays usually by having a cover business, a product or service.

Source: Wikipedia

Now let's see the details in the RZ Corporation Sdn. Bhd. (aka DCHL) plan.

Source: The__earthinc

Franchisee
Has personally used the product and achieved an initial personal sales of 18,750PV or RM2,345.

Source: DCHL

To join at the most basic level would be at "Franchisee". You need 18,750PV to get to this level. With the rate of RM0.125 to 1PV, to get to the lowest level where you can start your "business", you would need RM2343.75. Now, this is just to start the "business". Now you wonder, then why is all those people trying to borrow RM30k when RM2,343.75 would get you started? Let us look at the next two level above "Franchisee".

Baron
1. Has developed and direct sponsored 5 Franchisee within his/her downline group.
2. Has accumulated a personal sales of 90,000PV (RM11,250), but excluding the initial personal sales of 18,750PV or RM2,345

Count
1. Has developed 3 direct-sponsored Barons within his/her group.

Source: DCHL

So let's count. To get to "Count" level, you need to have 3 "Baron" directly under you. To get a "Baron", you would need to get 5 "Franchisee" under you and personal sales of 90,000PV which is RM11250. Multiply that by 3, you would get RM33,750.

Hmm, so maybe my cousin joined and paid the RM2,343.75 and now she need RM33,750 to get to "Count" level. So that's where the figure RM33K came from. Now I wonder, you need to pull 5 people to join under "Franchisee", then you need to sponsor them to "Baron". Now, where do you get the 5 people from? Now remember, to get "Franchisee" you would need to pay RM2,343.75.

How many suckers people would join? Do they actually register real people when they "buy Count" or do they just fake some names? If they do fake some names, then there would be an extra of RM11,718.75 (RM2,343.75 * 5) to pay. Confusing. Nevermind about that, let's look at the next level, the "Marquis" (which my cousin said she's challenging).

Marquis
1. Has developed 5 direct-sponsored Counts, and has lodged a Challenge for Marquis with the Company. The challenge takes effect the following month.
2. Has accumulated a total group sales of 3,750,000PV or RM468,750 in 3 months

Source: DCHL

Looking at the levels, doesn't this look like a Pyramid Scheme? Click on the link to read the explaination.

Duke
1. Has developed five 1st generation sponsored Marquis, and has lodged a Challenge for Duke with the company. The Challenge takes effect the following month.
2. Has accumulated a total group sales of 40,000,000PV or RM5,000,000 in 3 consecutive months

Arch Duke
1. Has developed five 1st generation sponsored Dukes, and has lodged a Challenge for Arch Duke with the company. The Challenge takes effect the following month
2. Has accumulated a total group sales of 400,000,000PV or RM50,000,000 in 3 consecutive months

Source: DCHL

Let's do some calculation. One "Arch Duke" needs 5 "Duke", 1 "Duke" needs 5 "Marquis", 1 "Marquis" needs 5 "Count", 1 "Count" needs 3 "Baron", 1 "Baron" needs 5 "Franchisee". So to get to "Arch Duke" level, you would need 5(D)*5(M)*5(C)*3(B)*5(F) = 1875 people.

From the website, you can find 20 "Duke" in Malaysia. To be a "Duke", you need 5(M)*5(C)*3(B)*5(F) = 375 people. 20 "Duke" means 7500 people joined this company. Keep in mind that this is the minimum amount of people needed. So now, this company has been famous for being a scam, how many new people can you recruit? When they can't recruit people anymore, most people would lose their money (expecially people at the bottom of the chain). I mean, what's the use of having RM30K worth of fragrance lamp?

More info about Pyramid Scheme

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LEGITIMATE DIRECT SELLING COMPANIES COMPANIES AND PYRAMID SCHEMES

	Legitimate Direct Selling Companies		Pyramid Schemes
1.	The start-up fee for all ethical multi-level selling companies is generally low, primarily to cover training materials, sales aids or demonstration kits.		Pyramid schemes often disguise high entry fees as part of the price charged for required purchases of training, product inventory etc. Pyramid schemes make virtually all their profits from recruiting.
2.	Such companies sell a wide range of quality products to the general public. The bulk of the sales are on repeat sales form satisfied customers. This is only possible because these companies spend millions on research and development to develop quality products.		Pyramid schemes are frequently disguised to appear as legitimate direct selling companies. Such schemes are not interested in marketing these products which are of dubious value. Instead, money is made in typical pyramid fashion, from recruiting, with new distributors being pushed to purchase high cost/large inventory when they sign up.
3.	Many companies have a 100 percent money-back guarantee. Dissatisfied users (and there are relatively few) could exchange the products back for money or for an equivalent amount in other products.		Pyramid schemes will not buy back unsold inventory. Such schemes will collapse very quickly if there is this condition for re-purchase of goods.
4.	These companies are interested in long-term business. In every country that they operate, this criterion is important because the companies have an obligation to their distributors who are small businessmen in their own rights.		Pyramid schemes are get-rich quick schemes. The nature of the pyramids, in which large numbers of people at the bottom of the pyramid pay money to a few people at the top, clearly explains why the scheme cannot sustain itself for long.
5.	Recognition of achievement is based on efforts. This means that a distributor's income is commensurate with the efforts he/she puts into the business.		Position could be purchased.
6.	Established companies depend on selling to customers quality products which offer value for money in order to establish a market.		Pyramid schemes are not concerned with repeat sales to users of the products. Profits are made on volume sales to new recruits who buy the products not because they are useful or attractively priced, but because they must buy them to participate in the scheme. As a result, new participants are stuck with products that are way below the market value in relation to the high entry fees paid by them. Should the pyramid scheme collapse, there is no way for the participants to recover their "investments".
7.	These companies build up networks of independent distributors to sell products.		Promoters of a pyramid scheme are engaging in fraud, knowingly deceiving participants in the schemes.
8.	They have strict Rules of Conduct which, among other things, forbids its distributors to load up on inventory.		Participants in a pyramid scheme have no choice but indulge in inventory loading/high fees to participate.
9.	Distributors sell products and or services.		Participation is essentially based on recruiting, not necessarily on the sale of products or services.
10.	Direct selling is a popular method of retailing which is recognised as a lawful and legitimate business in many countries including the U.S.		Pyramid schemes have been outlawed throughout the United States and many countries many countries around the world.

Source: Direct Selling Association of Malaysia

So the conclusion is, my cousin is stupid and I hope that she would see her mistake. Curse those people who brought it to Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). Below are some news article about students asking money from their parents.

Troubled by greedy daughter

A GET-RICH-QUICK scheme that lured a 20-year-old girl to invest an initial RM2,000 has got her mother worried, China Press reported.

Known only as Tan, the woman told the daily that her daughter, a college student in Kuala Lumpur, paid the money to join a direct sales company as a member.

She said her daughter was then told by company agents that if she invested another RM30,000, she could easily get RM60,000 in six months.

“My daughter asked me for RM15,000 and said her boyfriend would help raise the other RM15,000,” she told the daily.

She refused to give the money and her nightmare began when her daughter vowed to borrow it from friends.

Her daughter, added Tan, had slackened in her studies after listening to “success stories” of direct sales agents earning large sums.

Source: The Star

'Cash scam' worry for dad
Yesterday was Father's Day but there was no joy for Ho Ka Choon.

In fact, the 45-year-old kereta sapu (unlicensed taxi) driver from Johor Baru has been loosing sleep ever since his undergraduate son started dabbling in get-rich-quick direct selling some time ago.

What worries Ho most is the dubious nature of the direct-selling scheme and that his son has been lying to him and borrowing money from friends and relatives to raise RM30,000 needed to purchase certain products that enable him to recruit more members and get commission from the scheme.

Ho told China Press his 21-year-old son, a second-year student, of Universiti Malaysia Sabah, was an honest and filial son until he was coerced into paying RM2,000 to join the scheme.

Now he is a sweet-talking salesman only dreaming of making it big, he said.

"My son told me that if he recruits five members, he can get 10% of the new recruits' joining fee as commission, and if he then pays up RM30,000 (for products), he will become a senior executive and enjoy up to 50& in commission," said Ho.

"My son wanted to borrow RM10,000 from me to advance his 'career' but I have a feeling that (the direct-selling) is a trap."

He said the scheme sounded too good to be true and believed it could be a scam.

Ho said after he rejected his son's request for RM10,000 and the title of family land to borrow money from a bank, his son turned to relatives and friends for help.

Apart from warning relatives and friends against lending his son money, Ho urged the government to enact a law to bar university students from taking up direct-selling.

Source: Newspaper clipping

For more details about Lampe Berger Scam, visit:
Lampe Berger Truths
Anti Lampe Berger
Lampe Berger Help
One Man’s Perceptions
the__earthinc
Scorkes
The Trevesco Blog
Direct Selling Association of Malaysia

Droplet

Water droplet. Had been raining for the past few days.

Some plant

Nice ain't it?

From the same plant, but not chili. Don't know what is it.

Indignation 2006 - Hossan Leong

Lyrics:
Sang Nia, Utama
Saw a lion, alamak
Name the village Singapura
then run very far

Years later, ang mor came
Stamford Raffles was his name
Posed for statues very nice
we kena colonize

Singapura very strong
Big guns all, pointing wrong
Japanese, came on bikes
invade us from our backside

War is over, ang more back
Singaporeans no respect
Commies come, make a fuss
Singapore independance!

Chorus:
I live in Singapura
It's not perfect living
But at least it's interesting
I life in Singapura
Though it's kind of crazy
We win other country

David Marshall, Lim Yew Hock
National Anthem starts to rock
Yusof Ishak the big man
guess who's PM?

Malaysia say, come join me
Two of us be same country
Then not happy
Then make PM cry

PM Lee lead country
Build jurong and HDB
Made the country clean and green
opposition cannot win

JB Jeya no more funds
Chee Soon Juan won't eat his buns
Lim How Doong, what a goon
'Don't talk cock' in parliament

Repeat Chorus

Kick out from Malaysian Cup
Michael Faya pain in the butt
S-League, Tea Dancing
Ah Bengs love Modern Talking

McDonalds Hello Kitty
Everyone drink Bubble tea
Crushing cockroach Margaret Chan
James Lye is VR Man

Reclaimation, Tuas Causeway
Malaysian water buay ho sei
Mahathir's friend Datuk Anwar
Mahathir says he's chow Ah Qua

NDP, aunties rush
Everyone it's fun to flush
Bubble gums are all banned
ask you friends buy from thailand

Repeat Chorus

Driving car, not funny
Bid on cars with COE
ERP, Road Tax
PARF wuntil I want to barf

Why our locals have to pay?
Foreign talent are okay
Causing estate upgrade
by contractors who go pok kai

IMF, must follow
Want to protest go indoor
LRT, not so fast
New Water, they laugh at us

Repeat Chorus

Baby bonus, maid levy
Singtel Shares give out for free
Jack Neo, Kit Chan
sexy pastor Ho Yeow Sun

Beckham parties with models
Has affair but no one knows
S-League, go world cup
can come true if they don't suck

Mahathir then Abdullah
Bar top dancing at the bars
Budget airlines start to pa
Stop speaking Singlish lah

Gay is okay say PM
SM Lee go be MM
PM Lee the same name
here we go all over again

Repeat Chorus

Source: Taken from YouTube video

Chocolates

Chocolates! May my cousin's marriage be as sweet as these chocolates.

Leaves

It's a photograph, not a painting. Edited with photoshop.

Typewriter

The insides of a typewriter.

I miss the good old days. When all we use is a typewriter.

Ketupat

Anybody craves for ketupat? My mum's friend made these. Selamat Hari Raya.

Indignation 2006 - Ruby Pan

An interesting talk from Ruby Pan. Very funny, watch it. Talks about the different english accent. She's good. Really.

Phone Scam

Beware of "missed call" mobile phone scam

By Tan Yi Hui - Sept 22, 2006
AsiaOne

The next time you receive a "missed call" alert from a China number starting with +86 on your mobile phone, think twice before rushing to return it - unless you know the caller.

Or you may literally play into the hands of a racket, believed to be operating out of China. And end up having to pay a very high charge, as the call is redirected to a premium rate telephone service.

On returning the number, the caller is then told he has won a prize and stands to win a higher chance by calling a second number. If the caller falls for this, he will be charged a premium rate for the second call too.

The victim ends up facing a hefty phone bill for the calls.

For example, callers from Australia who have been dubed were charged A$2.97 a minute for returned calls.

Some mobile phone users told AsiaOne that they had recently received such "missed call" alerts from a number in China (+86). They did not fall for it because they said they were aware of this scam.

When contacted, SingTel, Starhub and M1 said that they had alerted their customers to such scams and advised them to ignore the "missed call" alert.

But IDA said it had not received any complaints from members of the public falling prey to this scam.

Responding to queries from AsiaOne, an IDA spokesperson said: "Since this involves an overseas number, which is obviously a roaming number, it is difficult for us to track, and is out of our jurisdiction". IDA advises users to be "prudent" when responding to such calls.

Source : Digital @ AsiaOne

I have been receiving overseas call from +86 number as well, they call at weird times (like 3am) and always hang up whenever I picked up the call. I never called back (poor student), now I know that it's a scam, I will never call back. Guess that this doesn't only affect Singaporeans but affects Malaysians as well. So be careful people. I wonder why there has not been any warning from Malaysian telco company like Maxis, Digi or Celcom.

Line Rider

It's a deviant by fsk named Line Rider. Interesting game, but what makes the video amazing is the effort put into drawing all those tracks and sceneries. Try it yourself, it's not as easy as you think. Enjoy!

Assignments - CAD & IA32

Gave up on my CPU for now. So sad. Stare at the coding so long still can't do. Planning to leave it a few days then go back to it again. Hope it's not too late by then. I have another assignment as well, Intel Assembly programming. Just started today.

Using WinAsm Studio as my IDE and MASM as the assembler. Seriously, the assignment is quite simple. I'm still thinking if to make it a little bit more complicated. I mean, what is needed in the assignment is to input your name, display it, input 10 numbers, count the sum and average and display it. That's all!

The best part is, I don't even have to figure out how to call the function to read the input from keyboard. The basic console template in WinAsm Studio already included that function. So the input name and displaying it part, I just need to modify the words displayed on screen.

I'm now at the part that ask you to input 10 numbers. Still thinking if I should ask the user to input the numbers one by one, or I should play around with the string command in MASM (I'm not using Irvine.inc function. masm32.inc is good enough)

MIT Sketch

Cool stuff from MIT. Imagine learning our 1^st year physics using this software. I'm sure none of us would be falling asleep. Read more about it here.