GREAT ESCAPE

PIC: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

Everyone's been eager to sign up Facebook even in hand phones except me. Why didn't I sign up? To me it is just another Friendster type. From the article below where I read from the net, pops up in Facebook linking to worm. How bad is that? Read the definition for worms below:

Definition for Worms:
A computer worm is a self-contained (can run by itself) program (or set of programs) that is able to spread functional copies of itself or its segments to other computer systems (usually via network connections). Worms are different from virus because they do not need to attach themselves to a host program in order to work. Examples of famous worms are the Internet worm, Christmas Tree worm and nowadays, Brontok.

Is it a threat to you? It is to me. And also beware when surfing billboard.com. There is also a threat.

Source: www.lowyat.net/v2/latest/dodgy-facebook-messages-link-to-worms.html

Dodgy Facebook Messages Link To Worms

If a dodgy message from a friend pops up in Facebook, chances are that it's a link to a nasty worm. Discovered by the FortiGuard Global Security Research Team, the worm itself doesn't reside in Facebook or any of it's applications. Using the old "click here" hoax, users who click through the links in the said dodgy message will be directed to a Google Reader page. Once there, Google Reader will ask you to download a "codec" in order to view the contents of the page - but surprise, surprise - the "codec" that you're downloading is in actual fact, a worm!

MALAYSIA, 30 October 2008 – Fortinet - the pioneer and leading provider of unified threat management (UTM) solutions - today announced that its FortiGuard Global Security Research Team discovered a Facebook worm that is trying to leverage Google Reader to gain trust in visitors with an intention to download a malicious codec onto their machines.

Since end of July 2008, worms targeting Facebook users have been spotted here and there. The strategy has been simple, yet effective: A malicious message is sent to friends of the infected user, prompting them to visit a page carrying an online video - something utterly common in today's Web 2.0 era. However, should the targeted users follow the link, they would soon find out the video does not start.... unless they install a special codec, as prompted for by the page! As a matter of course, the said codec is nothing else than a Trojan, loading various malware pieces, possibly including a copy of the worm.

Fortinet customers who subscribe to Fortinet’s antivirus and Web content filtering services should be protected against this threat. Fortinet’s IPS service is one component of FortiGuard Subscription Services, which also offer comprehensive solutions such as antivirus, Web content filtering and antispam capabilities. These services enable protection against threats on both application and network layers. FortiGuard Services are continuously updated by the FortiGuard Global Security Research Team, which enables Fortinet to deliver a combination of multi-layered security intelligence and true zero-day protection from new and emerging threats. These updates are delivered to all FortiGate, FortiMail and FortiClient products. Fortinet strictly follows responsible disclosure guidelines to ensure optimum protection during a threat's lifecycle.

GET YOUR OWN GRAZING SITE

PIC: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle

Imagine every herders in the nation been asking for a grazing site, how many hectors of lands needed to accommodate all of the stray live stocks? If grazing sites are provided, will some of the profit shared? Will herders pick all the dunks left on the road? If not, the herders should clean up all the vehicles which accidently run over the pile of dunks. Let's say a ripped fruit dropped on your neighbour’s grass, is the fruit belongs to you? The answer is no. So, if your cattle went over to other people land it should be confiscated. If to be claimed back for the trouble and the plants destroyed, the owner of the cattle should give a decent sum. Why all the trouble? Better get your own grazing site and do not trouble motorist on the road.

Refer to TheStar.com.my

Grazing site for strays needed

WHERE to find a grazing ground for stray livestock comprising over 700 buffaloes, cattle and goats in Taiping?
This is the poser which an elected representative and the Taiping Municipal Council are grappling with in light of the danger posed by such strays especially to innocent motorcyclists and motorists who were known to have been seriously injured after knocking into such strays.
Aulong assemblyman Yew Tian Hoe said he had discussed the matter with council secretary Shahrom Datuk Abd Malek and the council enforcement officers.
“We need a grazing ground for the animals and I will see the district veterinary officer with the hope of locating a suitable site,” said Yew while accompanying Shahrom and council officers on their weekly site inspections around Taiping on Wednesday.
Although the council could round up such strays, it is learnt that it had decided not to go down hard on the owners of such strays.
Recently a group of cow herders in Kamunting lodged a report with the Anti-Corruption Agency alleging that they were fined by staff members from the Kamunting detention centre in return for the release of their animals which strayed into its compound.
The herders’ spokesman Ranjeet Singh said prison warders had no right to fine the herders or confine the animals as the council was the right enforcement authority to reprimand them.

ACTION PREVENTING TEENAGERS FROM SMOKING

PIC: tobacco.health.usyd.edu.au/site/supersite/resources/docs/gallery_packwarnings.htm

Mostly, cigarettes smokers come from teenagers. First action must be taken is to stop teenagers from buying cigarettes easily. Some shops are still selling in a smaller pack so to be easily available for teenagers where they cannot afford to buy big packs.

Refer to TheStar.com.my

Pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs by Jan 1

PUTRAJAYA: Cigarette packs must carry pictorial health warnings by Jan 1 in the Government’s latest blitz against smokers.
Besides these warnings, the Health Ministry has also embarked on a series of moves targeting smokers including setting a minimum RM6 for a 20-cigarette pack by year-end, extending the list of non-smoking premises, and banning manufacturers from using words such as “low tar”, “light”, “ultra-light” and “mild” in their brand packaging with immediate effect.
Its minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said 21 cigarette manufacturers and importers in the country had agreed to this latest ruling.
“By Jan 1, each cigarette brand must have at least two of its products carry these warnings. However, there may still be old stock in the country with the old packaging.
“By next June, all cigarette packs must carry the warnings. Besides these warnings, the packs must print on the side an advisory against selling cigarettes to those aged 18 years and below, and the warning that cigarette smoke contains 4,000 types of chemicals,” he told reporters Wednesday at his office here.
There are six sets of pictorial warnings, advising people against smoking by featuring graphic images of mouth cancer, throat cancer and deformed foetuses. There is also an infoline number for smokers who wish to give up smoking.
The pictures on the front of the cigarette packs must cover 40% of the surface, while the ones shown on the back must be 60% in size.
In a survey by the ministry, 21.5% of the adult population or three million adults smoke and among teenagers, some 15% have indicated they have tried smoking and another 8% confessed to being regular smokers.
Liow said with this latest ruling, Malaysia joins another 15 countries which have complied with the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
“In Canada, these warnings have caused half of the smokers to want to quit and in Thailand, 80% of the smokers think these pictures are effective.
“Over the past 10 years, we have managed to reduce the number of smokers in Malaysia by 2% through our various campaigns. We are definitely not happy with that,” he said.
Liow said national service camps would be made non-smoking premises immediately while smokers would no longer be allowed to indulge their habit along the corridors surrounding shopping malls and complexes.
On setting the minimum price for a 20-cigarette pack, the minister said the price would be adjusted each time the Government announced additional taxes and charges in the Budget. “The Attorney-General’s office is now in the process of gazetting the minimum price,” he said, adding that anyone who failed to comply with the latest rulings could be fined up to RM10,000 or jailed two years or both.
Liow also said for this year alone, the ministry had compounded 2,622 smokers with fines totalling RM564,000 and charged another 1,946 smokers in court for various offences.

SAME OPINION

PIC: www.kennysia.com

Advertorial: 5% Tax, 10% Service Charge, 100% Stupidity

http://www.kennysia.com/archives/2008/10/advertorial_5_t.php#comments

Refer to my previous post, malaysiarealitybites.blogspot.com/2008/08/service-and-government-tax-imposed-on.html

SOMETIMES U EARN, SOMETIMES WE EARN TOO!

PIC: www.yahoo.com

"Petrol kiosk dealer in Johor, said dealers could lose between RM13,000 and RM25,000 each time petrol is reduced by 15 sen per litre." Did they complain when the petrol prices gone up overnight? Did they question the minister for the announcement for raising the petrol prices the next day where all the motorist queueing up as long as Perlis to Johor Bahru from petrol stations? The word 'RISK' plays a part in this situation. It does not meant by investing in Petrol Kiosk = earn big $$. There must be a profit and deficit. When times are good = profit. When times are bad = deficit. Always think of consumers. Without consumers = no profit.

Reference from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/29/nation/2385591&sec=nation

Shahrir wants petrol priced not lower than RM1.92

PETALING JAYA: The minimum price of petrol should be RM1.92 per litre even if the global oil price continues to fall, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said.
He said this would bring some stability to the retail price of petrol and minimise losses by petrol station owners.
Setting a minimum price would also enable the Government to reduce its subsidy on petrol if the global price fell further.
“The upper limit will be RM2.70 and it is my feeling that this is the optimal range,” Shahrir said when commenting on the losses petrol station dealers face whenever the price of petrol is reduced.
Ahmad Sarpur, a dealer in Johor, said dealers could lose between RM13,000 and RM25,000 each time petrol is reduced by 15 sen per litre.
“This is because there is a minimum order quantity of 21,000 litres that we must pay for immediately. There is no credit,” he said.
“If the petrol is delivered in the morning and the price is reduced at night, we have to sell petrol 15 sen cheaper than what we had paid for it.”
However, Shahrir said the Govern­ment had been fair to the dealers saying: “We have not reduced their margin of 12 sen per litre after it was increased in June and we will try as much as we can to keep upcoming price reductions to 15 sen at a time.”
Shahrir said this meant a minimal loss of three sen per litre.
Ahmad pointed out that it was difficult for dealers to hedge on prices as they were not given prior notice of price changes. He said the dealers should be given three days’ warning before a price change to carry their optimal amount of stock.

DOUBLE PARKING NOT ONLY IN KLANG VALLEY

PIC: thestar.com.my

Inconsiderate behaviour also happens in Taiping especially in Prima Restaurant and Jalan Panggung Wayang. Take a look from day to dawn. The condition from bad becoming worse during peak hours. The parking lots exist are enough to accommodate the customers. The problem lies on the 'tidak apa' attitude where the common lines 'Sekejap saja, 'Everyone park like that' and 'Who cares? Police does not care. Why you care?'

Reference from thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/10/29/central/2360382&sec=central

Disorderly parking causing daily traffic chaos in the Klang Valley

THE most critical problem concerning parking in the Klang Valley seems to be the lack of parking space in busy commercial areas. This has snowballed into issues like illegal parking and double or triple parking, which causes massive traffic congestion.
Illegal parking is perhaps the biggest headache contributing to chaotic traffic congestion motorists endure every day.
The problem persists because of inconsiderate motorists wanting to save some money on parking and poor enforcement by the police and local authorities.
It is compounded by a lack of parking bays especially in commercial areas.
Even if there are parking facilities available at such areas, the charges are quite exorbitant which explains why many motorists to resort to double-park, even at the risk of getting parking summonses.
A nightmare: Cars double-parked in Desa Sri Hartamas and being a nuisance to road users.
A survey of the various busy areas by StarMetro uncovered some interesting facts.
There are several multi-storey parking complexes for the public in congested areas such as PJ New Town, Damansara Uptown and Tai Pan in USJ Subang.
StarMetro checked out some of these parking facilities in Petaling Jaya and found that motorists are not using the indoor parking facilities available as they are not willing to pay the high parking charges.
At about 10.30am on the day of the StarMetro survey, the ground floor and first floor of the MBPJ parking complex A in PJ State were full with cars parked there, but there were still some empty parking lots on the second and third floors while the top floor was almost empty.
At the same time, many cars were spotted double parking along the road in front of the shop lots, causing a bottleneck on the road. Motorists had to squeeze through.
Shop owner Jeff Wong admitted that there were times where he had to resort to double parking.
No takers: Vacant bays available in a multi-storey car park in Damansara Uptown while motorists park illegally on the streets (below).
“There’s just not enough parking space in PJ. The fee at the parking complexes is too expensive at RM1.50 per hour. For those who work during the 9-to-5 office hours it would mean a fee of RM12 per day,” he said.
“We pay road tax so why do we still have to pay for parking? It’s a burden to us,” he said.
Wong said the MBPJ parking complexes should not charge such a high fee as it is owned and operated by the local government.
“The parking fee should be cheaper, if not free. I would not mind parking there if the charge is 60 sen per hour like the metered parking bays,” he said.
“Plus, there’s the security problem at the parking lots. One of my customers who pays for a monthly pass to park at the parking complex was robbed when she went to get her car after working till late at night. Fortunately, she escaped unharmed,” Wong said.
A bookshop owner who wanted to be only known as Din said that the relevant authorities should increase the parking lots to accommodate more cars.
“Even the multi-storey parking complex is sometimes full. Many of those who park illegally are in a hurry and they have no choice but to do so. They park for just a while and hurry off to run errands such as banking or paying bills,” he said.

AUGUST PTK RESULT ON 30 OCTOBER 2008

PIC: www.mpm.edu.my/ptk/loginfrm.aspx

Attention to government officers!. To check your PTK result, click here or sms to PTK IC No.(Example : 020202135000)send to 39003.(RM 0.30 per sms) However the result will be out on 30 August 2008(thursday). The day before for March result.

INTERNATIONAL ARTIST

Pic: http://www.chenelle-world.com/

Heard of Che'Nelle? She's from Malaysia.