Altantuya murder case

For those of you who would still like to follow up on the Altantuya murder case, you might be glad to know that The Star today reported that Razak is to be charged.

KUALA LUMPUR: Political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda is to be charged today with abetting in the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

It is learnt Abdul Razak whose remand order expires today is to be produced before a magistrate’s court here to answer to abetment charges under Section 109 of the Penal Code to be read together with Section 302 of the same code.

Bernama reported that DNA tests have confirmed that the pieces of human body found near Subang Dam about a week ago belonged to Altantuya.
More...The Star

While in yesterday's report, Two policemen charged with Mongolian model's murder

Lunar New Year Divorce

Not sure if this is a true story but it sure is an interesting one.

An elderly man in Penang called his son in Hong Kong and said,

"I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough."

"Pop, what are you talking about?" the son screamed.

"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the old man said. We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Canberra and tell her," and he hung up.

Frantic, the son called his sister, who exploded on the phone.

"Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouted, I'll take care of this."

She called her dad immediately, and screamed at the old man,

"You are NOT getting divorced! Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" and hung up.

The old man hung up his phone and turned to his wife.

"Okay," he said, "they're coming for Lunar New Year and paying their own airfares."

Confusion over which Altantuya

Today's papers carry this article:

Confusion over which Altantuya was murdered

ULAN BATOR: Many Mongolians were confused as to the real identity of the victim in the brutal murder of one of their models in Malaysia.

When they heard that the victim was a model named Altantuya, they were quick to assume that she was Altantuya Honggul, better known as Toya, now based in Paris.










Davaadorj Bolormaa, 36, who runs a top fashion agency and modelling school here, said people assumed it was Toya because she was well-known, had the same first name as Altantuya Shaaribuu and is about the same age.

More...The Star

Best Photos of Year 2005

The photos below were voted by readers as the best images of the past year. Unfortunately, the email does not state the sponsor of this compilation or the source of these wonderful photos. If you do know, please let me know so that due credit can be given.

I hope you will enjoy the photos as much as I did. My favourite is #6, Light of the World. Imagine seeing it first-hand from space.

1. Swallowed whole
A rainbow trout fingerling peers out from the gullet of a northern pike at the Alaska Department of Fish & Game aquarium in Anchorage.

2. A Romp in Russia
A polar bear cub plays near his mother at the Moscow Zoo.

3. Moonshot
Flying at nearly 35,000 feet, a jet passes over the disk of a winter half moon above Boston on Jan. 3. The jet leaves contrails in its wake due to the temperature difference between the hot engine exhaust and the cold air.



4. Red Square reflection
The Kremlin's Spassky Tower and passers-by are reflected in the wet cobblestones of Moscow's Red Square on Feb. 13.

5. A galaxy's sharp edge
An image produced by the Hubble Space Telescope, released March 1, shows a perfect "edge-on" perspective of the galaxy NGC 4013, with huge clouds of dust and gas extending above the galaxy's main disk.

6. Light of the world
This composite image shows what Earth looks like at night. City lights highlight developed areas of the planet.



7. Mother and child
An ethnic Albanian refugee from Selce, Macedonia, and her child look through the window of a bus as they arrive in Prizren in Kosovo on March 27, after fleeing the fighting in Macedonia two days earlier.

8. A useful lesson
A German Shepherd named Pepper sits with two endangered Bengal tiger cubs and a cougar cub, far right, at the home of veterinarian Rob Zammit outside Sydney, Australia.

9. Great white whale
A beluga whale swims in a tank at the Vancouver Aquarium.



10.Puppy love
Crystal, a year-old black Labrador-Dalmatian mix, peers through a heart-shaped hole in a fence.

11.The gathering storm
Dark clouds roll over Blair, Neb., on May 9, bringing thunder and flashes of lightning



12. The little duckling who could
Mallard ducklings wait their turn May 14 as a sibling struggles to make it up a curb in South Bend, Ind. The mother, who had already cleared the obstacle, flirted with traffic for 20 minutes before leading her offspring safely across the busy road.

13. Mideast flare-up
A Palestinian youth uses a slingshot to fire stones at Israeli soldiers from behind a barricade of burning tires May 23

14. Rainbow times two
An afternoon storm brought a double rainbow over downtown Chillicothe, Ohio, on May 27



15. Fury from above
Lightning ripples over the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 14.

16. Grand old night
Tanner Mann, 8, of Hortonville, Wis., gets a good seat on top of his mother's car July 4 for the fireworks show at Riverside Park in New London.



17.Un-bear-able heat
Koluk the polar bear goes headfirst into the pool at the Albuquerque Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque, N.M., on July 15.

18. Stellar light show
From ground-based telescopes, the "ant nebula" resembles the head and thorax of a garden ant.

Attitude of Gratitude

Life may not be easy but at least we are alive. I say a silent prayer of thanks each time I see pictures like these. Do you feel the same?

Altantuya's Dad is Still Hopeful

Dad refuses to accept remains - Dad still hopeful
The family of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu believes that she is still alive and is fervently praying for her safe return. Her father Dr Shaariibuu Setev, 56, who arrived in Petaling Jaya on Thursday with a blood sample of his wife, refused to accept or believe that the skeletal fragments recovered at Puncak Alam in Shah Alam could be that of his missing daughter.

He also said that the woman in the photographs from the Internet, showing a striking resemblance to his daughter and which were published in newspapers yesterday, was not Altantuya. Read article...The Star

Is this Altantuya?

PETALING JAYA: An email containing pictures of a model who looks strikingly like the murdered Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu has been making the rounds, including to the media.

The email has a subject entitled Altantuya@Mongolia.

No one seems to be able to confirm if the pictures are that of Altantuya or otherwise.

It will all be confirmed or denied today when her father, who is in town, meets the Press for the first time.

For more, read related stories below:
PM asks death of Mongolian model to be throughly investigated
Suspects taken to hospital
Model’s dad submits DNA samples for analysis

Source: The Star

The Brassiere

Received some cute illustrations about bra codes so I thought I'd add on more meat (forgive the pun) to the post.

First, a little history is in order.



The first modern brassiere to receive a patent was one invented by a New York socialite named Mary Phelps Jacob in 1913. Mary had just purchased a sheer evening gown for one of her social events. At that time, the only acceptable undergarment was a corset stiffened with whaleback bones. Mary found that the whalebones poked out visible around the plunging neckline and under the sheer fabric. Two silk handkerchiefs and some pink ribbon later, Mary had designed an alternative to the corset. More info here...The History of the Brassiere

For more information, you can also visit the Wiki.

By the way, remember the song "The Girl from Ipanema"? Ipanema is the touristy part of Rio de Janiero, Brazil, and Brazil is well-known for her beaches and more so for the perfectly-tanned, body-beautiful ladies in their skimpiest of skimpy beachwear. The bikini was actually invented by a Brazilian lady who used strings to hold the pieces of teeny-weeny bits of cloth together and voila! the bikini was born.

And, if you have often wondered about the bra-codes (yes, you got it right - bra-codes not bar-codes), well, wonder no more. Here is the lesson which would be difficult to forget, I am pretty sure.















Now you know.

Of course, there is always the other side of the coin to balance things up. There is a school of thought that encourages not using this uplifting(?) contraption due to them being hazardous to health. Read article.

Illustration source unknown