Love the Mother Earth!

I am sure all young Malaysians love the mother earth. Nothing new in this post. Just want to know whether you are still using plastic bags for shopping. There are quite a number of hypermarkets which have stopped giving out plastic bags for free and started encouraging the use of recycled bags. More and more hypermarkets should follow suit too! (I still receive weird stares when shopping in Tesco recently by some aunties and uncles - sometimes the cashiers too...)

I am definitely looking forward to create better understanding among young Malaysians on the importance to consume and use only Bio-Degradable products to really protect the environment and have fun and look cool at the same time.

Do not use plastic bags when shopping for groceries! Use (very) colourful and nice biodegradable bags like mine. If you don't have enough I can give you some! Good things are meant to be shared, right?

However, I would really love to break some good news to Malaysians. I went to Singapore recently to see how green they were (which initially I thought they were greener). Seems like (agreed by Singaporeans) there have been much awareness and talking but actions don't seem to match them. Pretty significant contrary if you look at the new buildings coming up in Singapore. Where's the green element? See for yourself. I'm always proud to be Malaysians (though not sufficient initiatives but hell, we create plenty! Probably for Singaporeans too.) :)

Keep the Mother Earth green. Happy New Year, everyone.

Cheers and God bless!

One Bribe At A Time

Shaffi Mather explains why he left his first career to become a social entrepreneur, providing life-saving transportation with his company 1298 for Ambulance. Now, he has a new idea and plans to begin a company to fight the booming business of corruption in public service, eliminating it one bribe at a time.

Courtesy of TED.com (http://www.ted.com/talks/shaffi_mather_a_new_way_to_fight_corruption.html)

Why Potong?

After doing the Speedtest as below, you can't stop to wonder why to potong when Streamyx is the only ISP which offers the fastest broadband (sadly the case) among all the other players in the market.

Alternatively, I am using Digi wireless broadband for outdoor as I am always traveling around. It is convenient that now, choosing a working venue with Wifi may not be a must anymore. Saves me from the premium which I have to pay to experience Wifi with food and drinks.

During one of visit to the PC fair, someone told me that despite all the potong and tukar pitches, people still go back to Streamyx which I can't deny any further. Our dearly beloved country simply lack of the infrastructure for better broadband.

However, despite of that, it makes Streamyx less of a bully due to many options to be chosen by consumers on their competitors. Afterall, for me, I don't mind going to an ISP which gives excellent customer service if it also means I have to settle for slower broadband. I don't do frequent downloads.

So, there you go. Your choice still. :)

Cheers.

Amateur Playing with Photo Effects

Just came across a photo-effect editing website called BeFunky (http://www.befunky.com/). Decided to try it as the functions are quite simple to use and really user-friendly. Suitable for graphic-idiots like myself.

You can basically select the source of graphic files from various options listed below:

Subsequently, you can choose what kind of effects which you would like to do onto your original graphic file.

Example of what I have done onto my photo. I have chosen the option for "Sunburst" and under the effect category, there are 6 more options to choose from. Interesting!

The outcome: The photo can be quite freaky to look at!

Try it out and have fun! :)

Cheers.

Immigration Outing

It's the time of the year to travel to Singapore again in December and for Christmas, nevertheless (Orchard Rd, here I come again!). This year, yours truly's passport has expired and must be renewed. How was I to know, I had chosen the wrong time to do that. Seems like everyone is traveling out of the country this year. How do I know that? Look at the queue in the immigration office in Wangsa Maju which took 2 hours to collect the queue number.

Reached the immigration office at 8.45am and I had to go all the way to the back lane of the office building to start queuing. Only got to reach the counter at approximately 11am which I thought was madness. Another few more hours to wait for my turn to submit my passport renewal form. Indeed, as my number was 1369 and the last called number was 1160. 209 people to go before it would reach me.

The hours just passed by reading a book and walking in and out the office. Then, at 1.50pm, I decided to leave the place for lunch, opposite the office in a restaurant which serves spaghetti and other Italian variety. That's where I got connected to the internet via Wifi provided and by then, the last number called before I left was 1260+. Presumed my number will be called in at least an hour time as the speed was almost as slow as a person per minute. However, there were couple of times when I left the notebook at the restaurant and walked over to the office just to check on how far the called number was to the number I was holding. (Again, it was 1369. 4D anyone? :P)

Picture above was taken at approximately 2.45pm after lunch. There were still many people around and some of them (who were not in the picture) had been standing for hours!

I was back to the immigration office by 2.45pm and it was still 1350+. Reckoned it was about my time. Subsequently, by the time I submitted my form the clock was touching 3.10pm. Then, the officer told me that I have to wait for my number to be called again for payment. Another 30 minutes to go?! Nevertheless, yours truly was really in patience mode throughout the day, so wait it was!

By the time I was done with the payment, it was really about 3.45pm.

Returned the next day to collect the passport and in less than 5 minutes, I got hold of yours truly renewed passport already! Most importantly, it was collected with smiling face from the officer. It made my day indeed.

So my advice is.... do not renew your passport at the end of the year!

P.s.: After the renewal, I found out that it's better to choose the option of renewing the passport for 5 years at RM300.00! Share with you more, only per request.

Cheers.

When Mobbing Becomes Green

When Catherine mentioned one fine day that she wanted to organise a rally ala FlashMob to McDonald's, I thought that was a mad, mad idea and I immediately fell for it. It is probably the best thing we can ever do to raise Malaysians' awareness towards the importance of using eco-friendly products and materials to reduce carbon emission.

Full details of the rally is as follows, courtesy of Catherine's Rebeliciousz:

Purpose

1 Creating awareness of the use of less eco-friendly materials used in McDonald during serving.

Goal

1 Capturing the reactions of everyone (especially the waiter and waitress) in the McDonald outlet during the act.

Methodology


Event Flow


1 Partcipants gathered at entrance of KL sentral for briefing at 8.00pm. 2 At 9.00pm, all proceeds to McDonald. 3 at 9.30pm, 10 orders are made at one time along with "special" demand.



Details

1 Video is taken all the way from the briefing session to the end with reactions of the waiter and waitress and those of the customers in the shop.2 Eg, "Can I have my Cheese burger on my plate?"

Resources needed


1 2 Video cams (1 to capture the waiter and waitress, 1 of the customers and crowd) 2 Editing of video

I hope you will be there to support us and join us in this rally. E-mail to myGreenomy@gmail.com with your name, contact number and e-mail address. Subsequently, we will contact you to

Should you agree to be part of GreenMob, you will be responsible for your own safety and well-being. The organiser will not be held liable for any loss, injuries, or damages caused as a result of negligence act by any party or act of God throughout the trip/rally.