Facebook - Be My Friend

The past week has seen me getting friendship invites from friends and colleagues on Facebook. Former colleagues whom I have not met for years and a few from overseas too, have suddenly appeared out of the blue which goes to show the viral effect of social media.

These requests raised the very same questions when Twitter came on the scene. Should I join? Do I need to be on it? What purpose would it serve? I am still mulling over the decision.

If or when I join Facebook, I would be among the 150 million people around the world actively using Facebook and almost half of them are using Facebook every day.

Facebook is now in more than 35 different languages and 170 countries and territories. If Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria.

Tell me, are you on Facebook? If so, how do you use it mostly and what feature(s) of Facebook do you find useful or compelling? I am still looking for a good enough reason as to why I would need to join Facebook.

Should Malaysia Boycott US-made products?

The Star reported that the Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association will spearhead the nationwide boycott of US-made products after Friday’s prayers at the National Mosque.

The products targeted include cola soft drinks, gourmet coffee and cosmetics. The operators of Muslim restaurants would also stop selling cola drinks at their premises.

They are referring to US-made products but do they realise that the raw materials could have come from other countries and the boycott may affect the source countries, probably including Malaysia?

Who knows if things don't improve at Gaza, the list of products could even extend to some others that have factories here in Malaysia supplying the parts. Won't the decrease in demand affect our own workforce and their take-home pay? This is a vicious cycle whose initial step should be studied in depth before anything as drastic as a boycott is to be undertaken.

What are your views? Is this boycott a wise move?

The Female Anatomy and The Rooster

Have you ever experienced like, you intend to get a new car, that particular make, and suddenly you see lots of these cars on the road - which you hardly saw any previously? I'm feeling the same thing now. No, not the car but articles on that three-letter word, sex. Now, don't think dirty.

I recently posted about sex parties over New Year's in Kuala Lumpur and now I am seeing more articles in the papers about this topic. Way back when, the subject on sex is taboo but these days, you see so much talk about it. The dailies carry stories about it in relation to events and such, so I am posting one more relating to it. No, stick around, this is scientific stuff.

Kuala Lumpur or rather people in Malaysia are now more open about sexuality so much so that young girls are vocal about the subject and not afraid to admit getting into the action (ahem!) and we even had a famous scientist, Dr Beverly Whipple, here for the launch of Instead Softcup, the latest product in menstrual care and protection. (Read The Star article)

Dr Beverly Whipple demonstrates how to use the Instead Softcup with a plastic model of the female anatomy.
Whipple’s résumé is impressive. She has appeared on countless radio and TV programmes, magazines, delivered talks and keynote speeches, and published over 160 research articles and book chapters.

A professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, Whipple has a masters in nursing and counselling, and a PhD in psychobiology.

Have you heard of the G spot or Grafenberg spot? Well, Dr Whipple was responsible for co-naming it together with former collaborator, psychologist John D. Perry. This was in tribute to Dr Ernst Grafenberg who reported in 1950 that women have an erotic zone that causes orgasm.

What I am saying is that like attracts like. Which reminds me one time I posted a succession of posts relating to the rooster - just for laughs - someone jokingly pointed out my interest in the animal/fowl. LOL!

Talk about rooster, I found an old post dated Apr 2007. Not sure if I've posted it. Maybe not. Back then, perhaps I couldn't find the opportunity or maybe I didn't have the guts to?

This piece is a great exercise on the importance of good communication. You probably would have read this but, have another laugh, anyway..

Subject: A Rooster

A Priest lost his pet rooster and could not find it no matter how many times he checked around his parish. He loved his rooster so much that he wanted it back very hastily. Frustrated at not finding it, he decided to bring it up during his Sunday Mass. From the pulpit, he asked loudly:

I have something to ask all of you. I want you to tell me only the truth and nothing but the truth. Anyone here got a cock?

All the men inside the church stood up!

No, I mean, has anyone seen a cock?

All the women inside the church stood up. Disappointed at not having been able to express his question properly, he asked,

No no .....What I mean is, has anyone seen in the neighbourhood a cock which does not belong to them?

Half the women inside the church stood up.

Frustrated, the Priest asked them loudly again. All that I am asking is - has anyone seen MY cock?

All the nuns stood up! The Priest decided not to look for his rooster anymore.


Source unknown

The New Bobbitt

The mind is indeed an interesting thing. It thinks what it wants to think. And woman is an interesting creature. She does what she wants to do from what the mind thinks - whether rational or otherwise. Tip: Never put this to the test: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned..

Woman Charged in Setting Husband's Genitals on Fire
An Australia woman has been charged with murder after she set her sleeping husband's genitals on fire because she though he was having an affair.

Rajini Narayan, 44, confessed to committing the crime after she saw her husband, Satish, hug another woman.

Narayan was initially charged with endangering life and arson, but is now charged with murder after the man died from his injuries last week.

Prosecutor Lucy Boord said that Narayan was a "jealous wife" but never meant to kill her husband.

Story from MomLogic

Third-hand Cigarette Smoke

New things are being discovered everyday. Smoking which used to be hip and groovy some decades ago is no longer encouraged when found that it is bad for health. We even found that second-hand smoke is hazardous to people who do not smoke but who are exposed to the cigarette fumes. Now, scientists have discovered something called third-hand smoke.

What is third-hand smoke? According to the New York Times, it is the invisible yet toxic brew of gases and particles clinging to smokers’ hair and clothing, not to mention cushions and carpeting, that lingers long after second-hand smoke has cleared from a room. The residue includes heavy metals, carcinogens and even radioactive materials that young children can get on their hands and ingest, especially if they’re crawling or playing on the floor.

Third-hand smoke is what one smells when a smoker gets in an elevator after going outside for a cigarette, or in a hotel room where people were smoking. -- Now, this is close to home as the elevators in my office buildings are sometimes wreaked with cigarette smell from clothes of people who have just come in from the smoking area.

Why is third-hand smoke bad for health? Among the substances found in third-hand smoke are hydrogen cyanide, used in chemical weapons; butane, which is used in lighter fluid; toluene, found in paint thinners; arsenic; lead; carbon monoxide; and even polonium-210, the highly radioactive carcinogen that was used to murder former Russian spy Alexander V. Litvinenko in 2006. Eleven of the compounds are highly carcinogenic.

Source: New York Times

Related articles:
Chicago Tribune: Experts warn of the dangers of "thirdhand" smoke
Science Daily: Third-hand Smoke: Another Reason To Quit Smoking
MSNBC: Third-Hand Smoke Lingers on Hair and Clothing

It's All About Sex

Malaysia is so 'happening' and times, they certainly are a-changing. People here are more vocal about what they want, even young Muslim girls. The article below is on today's The Star papers.


A GROUP of Muslim tudung-clad girls were not ashamed to say they were no longer virgins, with some admitting they became pregnant at 15, Metro Ahad reported.

Some even said they lost their virginity at the age of 10, while others claimed they had multiple sex partners.

They also told Metro Ahad they would ostracise schoolmates who were still virgins.

A 15-year-old from Johor told the paper she first had sex with her boyfriend when in Year Five and was now “addicted to sex.”

“When I was in Form Three I started changing partners, and have done it with two guys at once,” she told the tabloid.

Another 15-year-old girl from Selangor told the paper the term “pure” or virgin did not exist between her friends and her.

“What is wrong if my friends and I want some fun and have sex while we are still young? ,” she told the tabloid.


With these lean times, schemes come in many forms. There was this planned New Year's eve Party without undies in Johor Baru where one has to deposit RM250 into the organizer's bank account and pay the balance later. Party-goers of this mega-sex party had to abide by two conditions:

For guys:
- Underwear off;

For ladies:
- Must wear only G-string panties and be prepared to take them off after midnight to usher in the new year.

Anyway, not sure as to whether that party materialised as there was no report whatsoever. Probably this warning from the Johor Tourism, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Committee Chairman, could have nipped it in the bud.

However, a sex party in Kuala Lumpur did not go unnoticed. The papers read: KUALA LUMPUR Police arrested a female newscaster of a private television station and 25 others who took part in a sex party at a hotel room in Jalan P. Ramlee on Thursday. The tv newscaster and actress were tested positive for drugs but have been released.

So, did you too have a sexy New Year's eve party? Oops!

What does 2009 hold for us?

We are now four days into the new year. Do I feel any different about being in the new year? Other than having to remember dating documents '2009', everything seems to be the same. Is this good or bad? I want to think it's good. I am not going to rock the boat, any boat.

Do people still make resolutions for the new year? If you do and did last year, did you accomplish them, at least some of them? Having resolutions and reviewing them is a good way of quantifying progress and improvements. However, I do not have a list written down but rather I make mental notes of them and check progress periodically. Not the best method, I know.

This year, I am going to work on reading more books and doing some travelling. I never told you, did I? I went to East Malaysia last month. Went to Sibu and Kuching. Got some pictures. Just need to download them.

What to look forward to in 2009? I read that yellow is the new black. The shade in particular is called 'pantone'. People are hopeful of the Ox year being bullish where the share market is concerned. And an astrologer predicts positive entry into 2009 may end in turmoil. So tread with caution. Perhaps, a safer bet to life would be to practise the Law of Attraction and Harness the energy of the universe.

In the area of Feng Shui, Lilian Too says: The coming year is filled with good fortune. To enhance, display a Jade Ox in the Northeast of your house in the living room. Besides that, you need to enhance the good areas and suppress the bad areas to ensure a good year comes to you and all the bad or misfortune luck is under control.

For a layman like you and I, it's not easy to understand the technicalities of what Lilian Too said. Joey Yap, another Feng Shui master, offers something easier to understand and more practical, if you will. Both views have their own merits, of course.

Joey Yap:
I know we’ve all been bombarded with bad news about how much harder things are going to be in the coming year. I want to remind you that no matter how bad it sounds, nothing is completely bad all the time. There is always plenty we can DO to make things different. The cards that we’re dealt are just that – cards. It’s up to us, as individuals, to play it right and make the game of life a game worth winning.

John F. Kennedy once said, “When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters – one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.” I particularly like this quote, because it highlights an essential fact of life: nothing is ever wholly good, or wholly bad. Even in times of crisis and danger, there is opportunity. So yes, there’s a lot of pessimism surrounding the forecast for 2009, but what can you do about it? You can actually use your Feng Shui and BaZi knowledge to stay ahead of the game. (Again, the last bit is not for the layman.)

Whatever the year holds for each one of us, being sensible might save the day or rather the year. Best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year, my friends.

John Travolta's Son Dies

I remember the day I heard news of Princess Diana's death. The first instance I switched on CNN, there it was. I couldn't believe my ears and eyes but there was no denying of her death. The truth that Princess Diana had died was in plain sight.

This morning, it was kind of a deja vu when I heard and saw on CNN's
Larry King Live about John Travolta's 16-year-old son, Jett Travolta. He died suddenly Friday morning at the family's vacation home in The Bahamas while vacationing with the family.

He was found in the bathtub by the housekeeper. Travolta's attorney, Michael Ossi, says Jett suffered a seizure, however, it is not immediately known as to whether he died from the seizure or from the fall. He suffered from Kawasaki Syndrome, a condition that could cause seizures. Results of the autopsy might be able to shed some light as to the cause of his death.

Reporting the news, Larry King, was visibly distressed. So will a lot of showbusiness people, even the paparazzi, as John Travolta is known to be a nice person. He treats everyone nice. He talks to the paparazzi folks like he would anyone. Everyone who knows him, his wife, actress Kelly Preston, and his family will feel his loss. My heart and thoughts go out to you, John Travolta.