Cede

I went to close an account - But a vision awaited me

2006-08-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

I threatened to close an account this morning after a few words with a manager — BUT on getting to the business there was a beautiful blonde young woman with a really low cut dress which left nothing to the imagination waiting–

I was stunned, So I opened a new one — (Note: It was not a red light business account ha ha)

This must be an initiative from their head office.

Try it —-

Somalia Free of War Lords ?

2006-06-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

Islamists claim control of Mogadishu

Sunday 18th June 2006

The secular warlords say al-Qaeda backs Islamic fighters

An Islamist militia that wants to establish a religious state in Somalia has said it has taken the capital after weeks of fighting warlords said to have US backing.
Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, chairman of the Islamic Courts Union, said in a radio broadcast on Monday: "We want to restore peace and stability to Mogadishu. We are ready to meet and talk to anybody and any group for the interest of the people."

If the claim is confirmed it would be the first time control of the entire city had been wrested from Somalia's powerful warlords since they ousted the former president, Mohammed Siad Barre, in 1991.

Ali Nur, a warlord coalition militiaman, said members of the alliance were now fleeing. "We have no immediate plans. Most of our leaders have fled Mogadishu to Jowhar," he said.

About 350 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in street battles since February between the Islamist militia and a self-styled anti-terrorism coalition of warlords, the so-called Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT).

US failure

Many analysts view the violence as a proxy war between the United States and Islamic militants.

The Islamic courts have also gained popularity by restoring a semblance of order to parts of the capital.

"We know that some of the warlords are receiving support from Washington"
Suleiman Baldo, International Crisis Group "We know that some of the warlords are receiving support from Washington in the form of payments that allow them to buy weapons," an analyst with the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank told Aljazeera.net.

Suleiman Baldo, who heads ICG's Africa Programme, said Washington has neither confirmed nor denied that it supports the secular fighters.

"US officials say they are in partnership with people that help them in their war on terrorism," he said.

The US administration believes that some people linked to al-Qaeda are hiding in Somalia, including those who bombed the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998.

It says the same al-Qaeda cell is responsible for the suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya in 2002 that killed 15 people and a simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner.

Sean McCormack, the US state department spokesman, said on Monday: "We do have real concerns about the presence of foreign terrorists in Somalia, and that informs an important aspect of our policy with regard to Somalia."

But Baldo said that the US alliance with the warlords had backfired. "The courts are getting stronger, some residents actually support them because they've restored a semblance of order and now they've captured Mogadishu," he said.

"The US is interested in immediate results and has failed."

He also said that Washington had not hesitated to shift alliances by supporting some of the very warlords that killed 18 US troops in 1993 in Mogadishu.

The battle was made famous by the film Black Hawk Down.

Relief

"The city is calm and we hope it will stay that way"
Samira Jama, resident Residents said the Islamist fighters took the last warlord stronghold in the capital on Monday without a fight. Many expressed relief.

Mogadishu's Dayniile area was a stronghold of Mohamed Qanyare, a warlord who left two days ago after local elders ordered him out to stop battles that have caused heavy civilian casualties.

Samira Jama, a 19-year-old resident, said: "The city is calm and we hope it will stay that way."

Ali Abdikadir, another resident, said: "The Islamic courts announced they are in control of Mogadishu. They said they would work with residents to improve security in the capital.

"This is good news for us because the warlords were always engaged in battles, we are looking forward to a life without fighting."

Resuming talks

Abdirahman Dinari, spokesman for Somalia's interim government, said he hoped for talks soon with the Islamist side.

"I hope the Islamic courts will realise the importance of the government and talk to us," he said. "We are ready to talk to them in order to prevent further suffering of the innocent Somali people."

"We are ready to talk to [the Islamic courts] to prevent further suffering of the innocent Somali people"
Interim government spokesman The government, based in the southern city of Baidoa, 240km west of Mogadishu, has been too weak to stop the fighting or enter the capital.

Fearing more fighting, the UN pulled staff out of Jowhar, which could be the next target for the Islamists.

Before seizing the capital, the Islamist militia took control of the strategic town of Balad in a battle on Sunday that left 18 people killed.

The town controls the supply route from the warlord stronghold of Jowhar further north.

The interim government late on Sunday sacked four warlord ministers, including Qanyare, who was in charge of internal security, for their role in the fighting.

Izam takes disability in her stride

2006-06-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

Izam takes disability in her stride

11 Jun 2006

KUALA LUMPUR: She gritted her teeth as the starter announced "On your marks". There was determination on her face. Although it was the 200-metre sprint, she did not go down on one knee, because she would have been unable to place her hands in front of the white line to balance herself.

Khairunnizam Kipli has only one hand. Her right arm has been amputated below the elbow. As she leaned forward in her standing start stance, the blast of the starter’s gun had her sprinting ahead of the girl in the next lane.While her arms moved in rhythmic motion, her feet pumped the track at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium. Soon she had breasted the tape ahead of all the other girls.She ran another 10 metres, put her left hand on her hips and huffed and puffed before coming to a stop. A smile crossed her face, she clenched her fist and raised it. She had won.

Khairunnizam, 25, works out four hours daily, running tens of kilometres as well as training with weights. It paid off with the gold medal in the 200m at the 13th Malaysian Paralympic Games.She also competed in the long jump but did not take home a medal."I started competing in the paralympic games in 2002. I enjoy my workouts and do not consider myself handicapped. I am proud that I can not only do what others do but excel in the sprint event," she said.Hailing from Sarawak, she said she was a little disappointed that she did not break the meet record. However, she plans to continue her training to improve her performance.

The silver medal was won by Hildda Sharkawi, also from Sarawak. The men’s 100m final was won by Mohd Nasrol Zakaria from Kedah, while Mohd Khairuddin Abdullah from Pahang and Mohd Norreizam Mamat from Selangor won the silver and bronze respectively. The games, which started on Friday and ends on Tuesday, has attracted 2,000 athletes and officials. The athletes compete in four categories — wheelchair bound, amputees, visually impaired and intellectually handicapped.

Great site 'Accessify.com'

2006-06-03T01:07:00.000-07:00

A short time ago I was asked by a friend how to get a site on the internet ?, there are many web designers on the net and the first place I would look at would be Killersite.com run by the Major Nerd Stefan Mischook -- the 2nd place would be the Accessify Forum, run by Nigel Peck -- I have spoken about Killersites many times and nothing but respect for the brilliant way stefan presents tutorials and the wonderful site he has made.

But here is Accessify.com Excellent designers and web Accessibility.

Welcome to the Accessify Forums

Nigel peck

Hi and welcome to the Site Building & Testing forum, this is the place for discussing the sharp end of Web Accessibility, tips and tricks, tags, screen readers, testing tools..... you get the idea. For posts relating to Accessibility theory please visit Legal Issues & Standards. If you can't decide where a topic should go don't worry, we can always move it later on. Saying what you have to say is more important to us than you getting it in the right place.

Offensive posts will be removed as quickly as possible. Feel free to let me know by email if this happens. You can do this using the "email the administrator" link at the bottom of every page.
Registering

If you haven't registered yet you will need to do so before you can post to any of the forums (this is to avoid anonymous offensive posting), there's only 4 fields on the form that you have to fill in (the rest are optional) so it doesn't take long. Your email address will not be sold or passed on by us but it will be visible in your profile. You will have to verify that your email address is correct before you will be allowed to post.

The Accessibility of the Forums
If you're new to Accessibility don't worry if you don't understand this section, head over to the beginners forum and ask about what you don't know .
Our forums are based on phpBB. This is an Open Source (freely available) software package that powers the forum created by a bunch of friendly developers (thanks guys). Obviously we want this forum to be as accessible as possible. This takes time.
So far I have:
- branded (changed the look and feel) of the forum to fit in with my ideas for it,
- changed the text sizing to use relative sizes instead of fixed sizes (this allows you to make the text bigger or smaller through your web browser),
- begun the (big) job of making the forms acessible and getting rid of any tables used purely for layout. The main sections of each page (the bit you're reading now) will always use tables as they are the right tool for the job, but the rest is (or will be) positioned using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Feel free to let me know about any issues you find while using the forums and I'll be sure to get back to you (with thanks) and get them sorted out. These are your forums so please get involved.

If you want to discuss any of this please, please do, that's why we're here. As I will be posting this message to every forum please start a new thread in the relevant forum to discuss the issue that concerns you (that way we won't be having the same discussion on multiple threads).
Say something

There's no time like the present, hit the reply button and let us know you're here!
Enjoy the foums, and thanks for coming._________________

Nigel Peck Administrator, Accessify Forum Managing Director, MIS Web Design

Hot scripts interview

2006-06-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

HotScripts Meets Jeremy Geelan of SYS-CON Media

Web services are expected to revolutionize our life in much the same way as the Internet has during the past decade or so. But what exactly are web services? Is there a standard? How is Web 2.0 related to Web Services? Jeremy Geelan, Group Publisher & Editorial Director of SYS-CON Media reveals all in this detailed interview...

HotScripts: Jeremy – considering everything you are juggling at the moment it is extremely kind of you to take time out for this interview. Perhaps you could start by telling us a little about yourself, your role at SYS-CON Media, and, of course, an introduction to SOA Web Services Edge / Enterprise Open Source Conference & Expo 2006.

Jeremy: As group publisher and editorial director, it's my privilege to be responsible for SYS-CON Media and SYS-CON Events from a content perspective. Basically, I help to keep our watch fifteen minutes ahead of everyone else's. The eyes of the technology world, particularly the sector centered on Internet technologies, are firmly on AJAX right now.
While we offer blanket coverage of SOA and Web services – we already started the first magazine in the world devoted exclusively to the topic way back in 2001 while "Web Services" was in its infancy – we also have a great deal of material in the magazine and event pipeline on next-generation WOA, "Web-Oriented Architecture." Forward-looking topics like WOA, Web 2.0, and Microsoft's Atlas all form part of the program (comprising over 100 sessions) of our upcoming October AJAXWorld Conference & Expo being held 3-4 October 2006 in Santa Clara, California.

HotScripts: For many, the term “Web Services” sends chills down the spine. How would you answer the question: “What is this Web Services thing?”
It is frankly way too late for chills. ;-) A Web Services orientation has simply become the industry norm by now, with the attention moving up the stack as it were to the overall architecture, to SOA. In the words of one of our speakers, Eric Newcomer, "SOA is all about an approach to IT, a design encompassing all IT assets." Web Services and SOA are the keys to unlocking the potential of heterogeneous systems and different programming languages.
HotScripts: I understand Web Services work with many different languages. Which is the best to learn?

Jeremy: The whole point of Web Services is to be language- and platform-neutral, as a way of standardizing the interface between systems. There's no such beast as a 'best' programming language - it's always a case of using the best possible tool for the particular application or job in hand. That may be Java or it may be PHP, it may be C#, or it may be VisualBasic. Increasingly, especially of late, it may also be Ruby or Python or Laszlo's LZX. Whatever best rises to meet the business goals of the particular project. Web Services and SOA make religious decisions about programming languages especially unnecessary and irrelevant.

HotScripts: Web Services has been around for some time now. Have we achieved a global interoperability yet?

Jeremy: One of our top editors-in-chief at SYS-CON, Dion Hinchcliffe of AJAXWorld Magazine, has a vision of Web 2.0 as the "Global SOA." He would argue that once the world thinks about software in a fully service-oriented manner – including building composite applications, remixing data, building ad hoc supply chains, harnessing user involvement, aggregating knowledge, and more – then best practice sets such as SOA will become the universal rule and global interlope will indeed be a reality. Would Dion say we're there yet? You'd better ask him......

HotScripts: Who is driving the adoption of Web Services?

Jeremy: The standards side is driven by bodies like OASIS and W3C -- whose definition of a Web Service, as 'a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network' cannot be bettered for accuracy or concision. There's also an organization called WS-I, the Web Services Interoperability Organization. But the momentum behind the implementation side derives from within the industry itself, from software and systems architects, from those in real-world enterprise-level computing whose bread and butter depends of systems "talking" to each other in ways that are robust, secure, stable and reliable.

HotScripts: How is Web Services related to 'Web 2.0'?

Jeremy: As mentioned earlier, the (much-discussed) term "Web 2.0" is really best seen as just a shorthand for the natural evolution of the Web towards being an application platform intermediating most of a user's software experience: think Wikipedia – open, participatory, interactive, always changing – versus more traditional Web 1.0 applications like, say, Britannica Online – closed, "one-way," and static.
The way that Web Services fits in is that the transition from 1.0 to 2.0 is precisely a function of the move toward a service-oriented view of the WWW. When you connect a program like Gmail or Writely to the Internet you no longer have a piece of software – you have a service. Gmail is my favorite example of a new-style app simply because it so clearly harnesses the two-way Web and allows access from anywhere in the world and fantastic "searchability" that no desktop email app (that I am aware of anyway) can rival. Why depend, for search, on the processing capacity of your laptop or desktop when instead you can tap into to massive multiple processing power of Google's 45,000 - 80,000 servers? (No one even knows the exact figure!)

HotScripts: Given your insight and connections, you are probably one of the best people to ask this question – where do you see the Web in 10 years from now?

Jeremy: There was an article recently in Newsweek (cover date April 3) titled "Putting the 'We' in Web" which got me thinking that in 2006 we have reached one of Malcolm Gladwell's now-famous Tipping Points. Newsweek's senior editor Steven Levy and its Silicon Valley correspondent Brad Stone reported how, "less than a decade ago, when we were first getting used to the idea of an Internet, people described the act of going online as venturing into some foreign realm called cyberspace." But that metaphor, the authors suggested, no longer applies: "MySpace, Flickr and all the other newcomers aren't places to go, but things to do, ways to express ourselves, means to connect with others and extend our own horizons."
"Cyberspace was somewhere else," they wrote, whereas "The Web is where we live" [my emphasis]. With these five sentences, given their appearance in one of the world's most widely read news magazines, "Web 2.0" has truly arrived in Main Street. And my strong sense is that Levy and Stone have hit the nail on the head: the Web 10 years from now will be a Web where "social computing" coexists with enterprise computing, and perhaps even eclipses it.
I think that one weakness of the Newsweek article was its title. In fact MSNBC did a better job when it came to repurposing the article on its website - it published it as "The New Wisdom of the Web." This is a much more powerful rallying cry and reflects better how Newsweek's two authors triangulated on the notion that James Surowiecki calls the "wisdom of crowds." In ten years' time, what Newsweek describes as "Web 2.0" will be considered old hat. But even so, the general future landscape of the Internet has in my view been anticipated by the current surge of programming activity around AJAX – with its passion for putting the user back at the center of things, and its yen for simplicity.
For truly, and this is a personal opinion obviously and not a SYS-CON Media company opinion, business and e-commerce have been one of the least imaginative uses of the Web to date. It has way more potential than 'just' to digitize the previously analog activity known as trade. It can still, and in my view will with increasing certainty, transform the way that human beings interact with their world, with each other, and even with themselves.
But that, as they say, is another story...perhaps for a future issue of the HotScripts.com newsletter!? ;-)
HotScripts: Certainly!

Thanks for your time, Jeremy.

THE 3 STEPS TO SCROLLING DIV GOODNESS

2006-06-02T00:55:00.000-07:00

2nd June 2006

Read this masterful tutorial by stefan mischjook on creating an Iframe, or as he says 3 steps to scrolling DIV goodness.

Dont miss it

King's Birthday

2006-06-02T00:47:00.000-07:00

M,ycycle Tour-D'Islands In Conjunction With King's Birthday

2nd June 2006

KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 2006

It might not be as big or popular as the Tour De Langkawi but the MyCycle Tour D' Island is expected to bear as much significance in terms of prestige.

The Tour which is a cycling expedition that will tour three islands - Pangkor, Penang and Langkawi - covering four states, over a period of nine days is being organised by the Zonice Rovers club in conjunction with the King's birthday celebrations starting tomorrow.

The Zonice Rovers is a club essentially made up of very passionate `Scouts' who have undertaken such expeditions to Kuantan, Pekan, Rompin, Morib, Seremban, Port Dickson, Melaka, Johor and Singapore since 1979.

"Since the King is the Patron of the `Scouts' movement in the country, it will be a fitting tribute to organise such expeditions in conjunction with His Majesty's birthday," said Richard Lai, Zonice Rovers' Chief Executive Officer whose company sponsors the entire expedition under their coperate governance and community project.

Richard Lai added that the expedition is also to inculcate a healthy lifestyle, multi-racial integration and help generate tourism through cycling as the event becomes more and more popular among the scouts from all over the world.

"I myself was a scout in school and through such events, we are able to gather ex-scouts to promote social activities to the youths, especially youths who are underpriviledged," he said.
About 30 participants made up of a multi-racial composition will start their expedition at the Kuala Selangor Nature Park tomorrow and will end at Langkawi on June 10.

Meanwhile, Paya Jaras State Assemblyman Muhammad Bushro Mat Johor who launched the expedition today said since cycling tourism is a very vast untapped market, the annual event should become a global event that can promote the country and generate income to the tourism industry.

"All the relevant authorities should support and work hand in hand to make the event a bigger success in the future," said Muhammad who himself is a keen cyclist.

Malaysian police

2006-06-01T02:45:00.000-07:00

Malaysian police in line of fire again

01-06-2006

Malaysia's police force, already suffering from an image of being graft-riddled, has come under public fire again.

This time, it is over the leak of an internal newsletter which threatened revolt against the government if a proposal for an independent oversight body was carried out.
At the heart of the controversy is the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), a body proposed by the Royal Commission on the Police Force to hear public complaints.

The IPCMC was among the proposals made by the commission last year after it concluded the police was corrupt from 'top to toe'. The government has yet to decide whether to set it up.
Last weekend, an internal newsletter prepared by the Senior Officers Association and leaked onto the Internet showed the extent of unhappiness among the police over the IPCMC.
If the IPCMC is set up, the officers said, they would vote for the opposition at the next general election.

They also threatened to work-to-rule and allow the crime rate to go up.
The association also called for a mass resignation of investigating officers if the body was set up.
Representatives of the police and its various associations had met Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi in March to express their dissatisfaction with some of the Royal Commission's proposals, but did not issue any such threat.

'Threatening to allow crime to rise is utterly irresponsible and a complete surrender of the moral authority of the police,' opposition Democratic Action Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said.

Human Rights Commission vice-chairman Simon Sipaun also echoed the view, calling the officers' action blackmail and unprofessional.

Asked about the matter, Abdullah attempted to downplay the controversy.
'I do not want to go into that. I do not want to say whether it represents the feelings of anyone,' he said.

The Prime Minister said Malaysia's Attorney-General had been given the job of studying the IPCMC and other proposals to improve the police force.
He added that whatever decision the government makes would have to benefit both the police and the public.

Since the disclosure of the newsletter, Inspector-General of Police Bakri Omar has been on damage-control overdrive.
In an interview published here May 31, he said the police 'was solidly behind the government, and the government knows it'.

'We have a track record that shows we are very loyal to the government. Whatever that has transpired should not be interpreted as disloyalty by any member of the police force,' he said.
He accepted that a mistake was made in posting the contents of the newsletter on the Internet.
The country's top cop also apologised for the incident, adding that a corporal had accidentally uploaded the newsletter.

'The points raised and picked up by the media were the views of the associations representing the officers and men in the force. It must not be construed to mean they were disloyal,' he said.
Despite Bakri's attempts to repair the image of the police, public anger is still palpable.
'The public expects better accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance principles. Our policemen have questioned why they should be singled out when there are worse government bodies,' Wong Chun Wai, a senior editor at leading English-language daily, The Star, wrote in an editorial in the newspaper May 31.
'Unfortunately, the practice of corruption, which some would say is rampant in the police force, has not helped its cause.'

Ethnic Harmony is needed

2006-05-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

This reminds me of a time inproblems Malaysia where Ethnic problems caused many deaths.

Ethnic harmony needs reflection, understanding

28-05-2006

It is a difficult time for Chinese-Indonesians in the month of May. Still devastated by the ethnic riots eight years ago that remain unresolved, the ethnic Chinese in Makassar are living in fear after a domestic helper was murdered by her Chinese-Indonesian boss. Protesters rallied to demand that the employer be brought to justice, and this has resulted in anti-Chinese sentiments.

People may then question: What is the problem with relations with Chinese-Indonesians? Why is there still social unrest amid increased freedom of cultural expression? Is it mainly due to economic disparity as purported in the Makassar case?
The above question and argument clearly show that this nation is having difficulties in understanding ethnic relations or in other words the issue is oversimplified. This may in turn make it difficult to find effective solutions.

Despite the ethnic tension in Makassar, no doubt there have been positive winds of change for the integration of ethnic Chinese into the rest of Indonesian society. There have been various attempts to rectify the stereotyping of Chinese-Indonesians.

For example, the media has exposed cases of poor Chinese communities in various places in the country. The media has also reported cases of nationalistic Chinese-Indonesians who have a commitment to live and die in Indonesia as experienced by victims of the Aceh tsunami. There were also reports on ethnic Chinese who fought corruption. Psychologically, these positive indicators exposed by the media are expected to support the understanding that the Chinese community is part of Indonesian society.

Apart from those indicators, a more visible change is indeed the freedom of cultural expression. Since the start of the reform era, Chinese-Indonesians have been able to freely express their cultural identity through the celebration of Imlek, Cap Gomeh, and Ceng Beng. In addition, the barongsai (lion) dance is performed in public places. Schools are also allowed to freely teach Mandarin.

One may argue that freedom of cultural expression is a sign of better ethnic relations. This may be true but at the same time it could be misleading. Freedom of cultural expression per se without the effort of to educate the public on what Chinese culture means would indeed create new problems. So far, there is an oversimplification or narrow understanding of Chinese culture, in the form of barongsai, moon cake, angpau (cash reward) which are all commercialized and seen as only having entertainment value.

In line with anthropological analysis, there is more to a culture. Culture involves values, norms, behavior, tradition, symbolic goods, knowledge, life experience and way of life. Maximum effort to understand a culture, conducted effectively through the media and schools would seek to understand behavior from a social reality of a certain ethnic group. For example, why are the Chinese regarded as hard-working ?

Why do some succeed economically while others don't?

Through this cultural understanding which normally follow the stages of conflict or negative judgment, negotiation, consensus, and finally reaching shared meaning systems, a cultural understanding will result in positive "cultural knowledge" for ethnic relations. Tolerance, understanding and respect among ethnic groups will be cultivated. Cultural understanding is a two-way process.

The Chinese must also understand the culture of other ethnic groups.
Based on those arguments, it is still too early to be satisfied with any achievements in ethnic relations. The country still has to struggle to find the right formula and arrive at the ideal stage in ethnic relations. This is due to two reasons: First, whether we like it or not ethnicity is a political as well as cultural issue. People can assume power or be overthrown due to ethnic issues.

Thus, ethnic conflict is a time bomb. Second, the nation is still having difficulties complying with the law despite the presence of the Antidiscrimination Law. There are still many cases of Chinese-Indonesians being exploited despite certain laws that protect them and the government seems too weak to take actions.

When Chinese-Indonesian culture is understood in such a narrow way, cultural differences among ethnic groups will indeed be a threat to national integrity. Thus, cultural expression needs to be complemented with cultural understanding. It is no secret that the ethnicity is a complex issue. All efforts to combat ethnic friction will need serious participation and introspection on both sides.

Nightmare of destruction, Earthquake

2006-05-28T00:42:00.000-07:00

Nightmare of destruction

28-05-2006

Gadjah Mada University lecturer Supra Wimbarti had just gone to bed after an all-night session with her staff during a retreat at a Yogyakarta hotel yesterday (May 27) when a rude, frightening jolt startled her.

'I felt the whole building was shaking, with glass from windowpanes shattering all over,' she told The Sunday Times.

'We thought it must be the volcano that had erupted.'
Yogyakarta is just 25km south of Mount Merapi, which has been simmering for weeks.
Dr Supra, 45, ran out of the hotel to find other guests and residents camping out by the roadside.

She walked to her house nearby to find that the roof had caved in. Tiles and pillars lay strewn on her bed.'I could have been killed if I was at home,' Dr Supra said in Yogyakarta when contacted on her mobile phone.

Her husband and their only daughter were away when the quake hit.
They were luckier than many people in the Bantul district, 25km to the south and home to about 58,000 people.

Some 2,000, or about two-thirds of the more than 3,000 victims, were killed there.
The fertile district along the Indonesian coast is a lush green paradise where quaint village houses dotted sprawling padi fields.

But it was the closest to the quake's epicentre about 25km south of Yogyakarta, and it has become a nightmare region of rubble and destruction.

Tourist limousine driver Sujono, 51, from a village near Parangtritis beach, told The Sunday Times that he was trapped for several minutes in the rubble of his home. 'Some neighbours came and pulled me out of my bed,' he said.

'I had gone to bed after saying my early morning prayers. My wife and daughter were also rescued.'

But two of his neighbours died on the spot, buried when their own homes collapsed on them.
Many houses in his village of 500 people were damaged, some reduced to rubble, said Sujono, who was staying in a makeshift tent with neighbours outside their homes.
An old woman, already bent double with age, cried out for help from anyone who passed, Agence
She wanted to look for her sister, who was buried in the rubble of their house. 'Elder sister, elder sister,' she mumbled as she wept in the shade of a tree near her ruined home.
The woman, who gave her name as Purkasih, said her sister Duljiah was trapped in the kitchen.
About a dozen young men, some with swollen faces and gaping cuts in their legs, tried desperately to clear the rubble.

They finally found Madam Duljiah, dead.

Yogyakarta's ancient royal palace, the Keraton, was not spared. One pavilion collapsed and the hall housing a museum in the 18th-century palace was damaged, with cracks on its walls.

The main tourist area of the city, Malioboro, was deserted last night, with electricity cut off in many areas.

Many hospitals in Yogyakarta were unable to cope with the mounting casualties. Hundreds lay injured outside awaiting medical attention, according to Mr Sutrisno, a technician, whose office is next to the Bethesda Hospital.

He said many of the patients refused to be treated in the hospital, choosing to camp out in the parking lots.

Hospital spokesman Bowo Widiasmoko said: 'Patients with minor injuries refused to go home because they were afraid of more aftershocks.' He said that of the 1,000 people treated at the hospital for injuries from the quake, 89 had died.

'Our hospital had been prepared for any disaster,' said Dr Widiasmoko.
'We were actually expecting casualties from the Merapi eruption. We didn't expect an earthquake.'

The $650 Million Singapore sale

2006-05-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

Sweeteners for tourists during Great Singapore Sale

25th May 2006

Tourists spent a whopping $650 million during last year's Great Singapore Sale, and the Singapore Tourism Board hopes to top that this season.
Joycelyn Ng, STB's Deputy Director of Leisure Marketing and Events, said: "Last June and July we had 1.6 million visitors during the Sale. For this year, we hope to do better. Right now hotels are operating at close to capacity so we will not expect a quantum leap in terms of visitor arrivals. But obviously we do hope to see an increase in numbers, and more importantly, visitor spending."

The Great Singapore Sale will last for eight weeks, from 26 May to 23 July.

The tourism board has been marketing it worldwide, through print, television, Internet and direct mail.

Special events like the Great Singapore Sale Challenge have generated interest, attracting 17 foreign teams from countries like Dubai and Vietnam.
The Challenge will see groups of shoppers pitted against one another to get the best bargains out of an allotted $1,000.

Tourists can also look forward to 50 per cent price discounts for products like Apple's iPod Nano and the Creative Zen Neeon.
There will also be free drinks, body and foot massages, and even a complimentary chauffeur-driven limousine to ferry tourists back to their hotels from Orchard Road when they can't take one step further.
Shopping has taken up about half of annual tourist expenditure in Singapore over the past years.
That's about $3 billion. And 20 per cent of that came from the Great Singapore Sale last year.
STB's Joycelyn Ng said: "(There are) various shopping options, not just high-end. We have various ethnic shopping areas, suburban retail malls. These are things that we have going for us to make us a compelling shopping destination."

"Singapore has a lot to offer. Apart from just shopping, there's eating, great entertainment, 24-hour precincts, entertainment, nightspots," she added.

Climate change and the Killer

2006-05-23T01:20:00.000-07:00

This is an article on climate change and the spread of disease by the humble mosquito and other disease spreading killers

Climate Change Drives Disease To New TerritoryViruses Moving North to Areas Unprepared for Them

Friday, May 5, 2006

TORONTO -- Valere Rommelaere, 82, survived the D-Day invasion in Normandy, but not a mosquito bite. Six decades after the war, the hardy Saskatchewan farmer was bitten by a bug carrying a disease that has spread from the equator to Canada as temperatures have risen. Within weeks, he died from West Nile virus.

Global warming -- with an accompanying rise in floods and droughts -- is fueling the spread of epidemics in areas unprepared for the diseases, say many health experts worldwide. Mosquitoes, ticks, mice and other carriers are surviving warmer winters and expanding their range, bringing health threats with them.

Malaria is climbing the mountains to reach populations in higher elevations in Africa and Latin America. Cholera is growing in warmer seas. Dengue fever and Lyme disease are moving north. West Nile virus, never seen on this continent until seven years ago, has infected more than 21,000 people in the United States and Canada and killed more than 800.

The World Health Organization has identified more than 30 new or resurgent diseases in the last three decades, the sort of explosion some experts say has not happened since the Industrial Revolution brought masses of people together in cities.

"We didn't even know West Nile virus existed here," said Maria Bujak, 63, of Toronto. Her husband, Andrew, contracted the disease in their garden in 2002. He never fully recovered, she said, and died two years later.

"Tropical diseases are here to stay in Canada. We needed our government to wake up and tell us that," said Douglas Elliott, a Toronto lawyer who has brought suit against the Ontario government on behalf of about 40 victims, contending that the government did not do enough to inform the public about the dangers of West Nile.

Scientists have warned for more than a decade that climate change would broaden the range of many diseases. But the warnings were couched in the future, and qualified. The spread of disease is affected by many uncertainties, including unforeseen resistance to antibiotics, failures of public health systems, population movement and yearly climate swings. For that reason, some scientists have been cautious about the link between disease and global warming.

But Paul Epstein, a physician who worked in Africa and is now on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, said that, if anything, scientists weren't worried enough about the problem.
"Things we projected to occur in 2080 are happening in 2006. What we didn't get is how fast and how big it is, and the degree to which the biological systems would respond," Epstein said in an interview in Boston. "Our mistake was in underestimation."

The incremental boost already detected in the Earth's temperature, for example, has expanded the range and activities of disease carriers.
"Insects are exquisitely sensitive to temperature changes," a report prepared by Epstein and others at Harvard's Center for Health and the Global Environment noted in November.
The clearest case for that, according to the report's authors, is in cold areas. The higher elevations of Africa, the Andes mountains in South America and the Alps in Europe are warming at a faster pace than lowlands. As ice caps and glaciers melt, forests inch higher on the mountains, and insects carry diseases from warmer lowlands farther up the slopes.

A WHO report in 2000 found that warming had caused malaria to spread from three districts in western Kenya to 13 and led to epidemics of the disease in Rwanda and Tanzania. In Sweden, cases of tick-borne encephalitis have risen in direct correlation to warmer winters. Asian tiger mosquitoes, the type that carry dengue fever, have been reported recently as far north as the Netherlands.

As the seas warm, other breeders thrive. Cholera, a waterborne disease, emerged in South America in 1991 for the first time in the 20th century. Abetted by poverty and poor public health, it swept from Peru across the continent and into Mexico, killing more than 10,000 people. Diseases are also expanding in a surprisingly complex dance with their environment, taking advantage of the swings from deluge to drought made more frequent by global warming, Epstein said.

A common house mosquito, called the Culex pipiens , for example, unexpectedly thrives in drought. It lives in drainpipes and sewer puddles. During long dry spells, the stagnant pools teem with protein and attract thirsty birds on which mosquitoes feed. Meanwhile, droughts reduce the populations of dragonflies, lacewings and frogs that eat the mosquitoes.

The Culex pipiens is a favored carrier of a disease first identified in a feverish woman in the West Nile district of Uganda in 1937. The disease was found again in Israel in the 1950s, and in Romania in 1996. Each outbreak followed an unusual dry, hot spell, typical of adverse weather becoming more frequent as a result of climate change, concluded researchers at the University of Haifa in Israel.

In 1999, the virus landed in New York, probably at LaGuardia Airport. Disease sleuths speculate that it was lurking in a mosquito stowaway on a plane, or in the bloodstream of someone already infected. That summer also brought unusually hot, arid weather to New York, perfect for the Culex pipiens.

Before the year was over, 62 people had been infected and seven had died, the first of them elderly. The next two years were more temperate, but when another hot, dry summer hit in 2002, the disease exploded across the United States and into Canada.
Susan Harrison, then 45, prepared a Labor Day barbecue that year with her husband and two daughters on the deck of their small house in Toronto. She was bitten by a mosquito, but shrugged it off.

In a few days, she felt a shooting pain in her legs. Within two weeks, she could not get out of bed. Her husband, Phil, rushed her to the hospital, where she was put on a respirator and spent three months in intensive care. She now maneuvers around her narrow house in a wheelchair, her legs and right arm paralyzed by West Nile virus.
Tears welled in her eyes as he spoke of her daughters, Allison, 10, and Tara, 13. "I used to do things with them, take them places," she said. Her husband, a waiter, struggles to fill the role of two parents.

West Nile virus killed 304 people in North America in 2002 and 276 the next year. The toll dropped to about 100 in 2004, probably because of cooler weather and mosquito-control measures.

West Nile fever has killed 22 people in Maryland, Virginia and the District since 2001.
Despite the recent drop in the death toll, birds and horses in hot western regions are still being devastated, and the disease has likely not finished with humans.

"West Nile virus hasn't gone away. People still need to be aware that it's there," said Edward B. Hayes, a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Fort Collins, Colo. "Whether we have large-scale epidemics is anyone's guess."
Climate change already is claiming more than 150,000 lives each year, with causes ranging from heat waves to respiratory illness, WHO concluded last year.

Some scientists see global warming as a natural cycle that will soon reverse itself, but for many governments, the handwriting is increasingly clear. Britain's environment minister warned last year that malaria might reach that country. South Africa's environmental affairs minister said last year that the country could face a fourfold increase in malaria by 2020. The Canadian government now attributes the boost in West Nile virus to climate change, and last year warned that the country might eventually experience dengue fever, yellow fever and malaria.

"One of the problems we have in North America is coming to grips with the fact that epidemics are still a problem," said Elliott, the lawyer. "Canadians, prior to West Nile virus, just considered mosquitoes to be annoying. We had never thought of mosquitoes as being disease carriers."

Killersite Podcast articles

2006-05-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

Here is another great article from the killersites/ forum boss STEF--- this is about podcasts

Brilliant articles/the forum has some great resident forum members who help in Everything CSS / Accessibility/ members/LSW/Tim/Billyboy/John/and the lovely girls/IM/ and the girl who loves her hammock in the sun Thelma.

Cameron Highlands before the tourists arrived

2006-05-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

A view of the Cameron Highlands.

Cameron Highlands of Malayaduring the EmergencyOctober 1948 ---- September 1951

On this page I shall try and give you some information about the Cameron Highlands and the work we carried out in that area.

The C.H. was an area 4,700ft above mean sea level with the main village being Tanah Rata, (level ground) while all around you was complete jungle and the other highlands around you (Mt.Brinchang went up to over 6,000ft).

Up to the start of the emergency, it was a developing hill resort for planters, tin miners, and government officials (white), who wanted a few weeks away from the heat.
From Tanah Rata to the next village, Brinchang (only a few shacks then and out of bounds),was about four miles away. From there the main road ended and there were only tracks down into the valley.

Between the two villages, it was like a plateau with a 9 hole golf course in the middle and a road running round in an oval shape. Spread around the outer edge were houses and bungalows, built on small hills, with winding roads up to them. Also, a couple of small hotels, an English pub, (Not allowed in, if you were in uniform), called The Smoke House, and a large boarding school for the planters', and government officials' children. However, the emergency soon put a stop to that. Later it was reopened and we used to transport the children in our buses.

The weather in the C.H. was equivalent to an English average summer, but after the sun had gone down at 18:00 hrs, it started to get cold. During the night, temperatures could fall to -4 deg C. Battledress and jumpers were worn and in the NAAFI there was a good old log fire burning. You knew all about the cold in the morning when you had to wash& shave with cold water, while showering was normally done before the sun went down.

During the monsoon season, we had terrific downpours, which sometimes lasted days and washed roads away or the banks would wash down on to the roads. Several times we were isolated from Tapah until the Public Works Department, (P.W.D.), a large squad of male and female Tamils with shovels, cleared the area (no mechanical means in those days). I might add that there were no helicopters then and it was impossible to do an airdrop, as the Highlands were normally completely covered in clouds. To get to the C.H. you travelled from Tapah, a main town on the North to South Route, which was the only road and was 38 miles long. The first 19 miles were reasonable but after that you would twist and climb all the way until you got to our camp and the British Military Hospital (B.M.H), at Tanah Rata. The road was completely enclosed by jungle, which was banked on one side and on the other side was one almighty drop. Nearer the top you passed through one other small village called Ringlet.

This was a "RED ROAD". A notice just outside our camp at Tanah Rata and at Tapah said that no vehicles should proceed beyond these points without an armed military escort. This notice, was also to be seen at the far end of the golf course before you reached the village of Brinchang. Quite a number of civilian trucks and buses ignored the warning in the early days, and they were ambushed. Passengers were robbed and killed, and the transport burnt out. By the time we got to them, the C.Ts, had long gone and we had the task, with the police, of clearing the road and recovering the bodies.

Each morning around 10:00 hours, a convoy would be formed in our M.T park, to go down the hill, and in the afternoon at Tapah, (at aprox. 15:00 hrs), another would be formed to come up the hill. As you can quite imagine, it went down a lot quicker than it came up. When you reached the top, there was a sign post telling you were now at 4,700ft MSL, and beyond that our RASC sign. You then turned left down a slope past the guardroom into the MT park, Workshop, Ambulance and Fire Station, and Nissen huts. The road to the right was a steep incline up to the BMH. This had once been a convent and it was a very well built building of stone. Over on the other hill was our living quarters and the Father's house. Our accommodation consisted of about 8 Nissen huts, cookhouse, dining area, and small NAAFI. The three other units in the C.H. were a company of Coldstream Guards, ( Hopetoun Camp,) and a troop of the 4th Queens Own Hussars. They had HQs. in bungalows and tented areas high up on each side of the golf course. The other unit, was the Royal Army Medical Corps who looked after the B.M.H.

Our job as an RASC company was to keep all of these units supplied with services (food and transport). Workshops did the repairs and recovery service for the C.H., down to the 19th mile stone and into the valleys. The REME did it from there up from Tapah. (Ours was the most difficult task).

A section of trucks from the C.H. were always on permanent duty with the 2nd Batt Coldstream Guards Headquarters, at Tapah. We also had 6 jeeps and drivers that were continually stationed with the Guards company in the C.H. Along with their own 6 jeeps, this was quite a sight to see them speeding through the Highlands fully loaded with Guardsmen, all in jungle green, and fully armed. When they dropped off a patrol that went into the jungle and deep down into the valleys, the drivers had to return on their own without any escort and the same again, when a radio message was sent to pick the Guardsmen up. They became very good drivers and there was no limit on speed.

Five lorries were converted into buses by our workshop section. This was done by giving them permanent roofs, removing the tail boards, fitting steps down, and installing wooden platform seats along both sides.

The buses were mainly used to transport service personnel that had been sent to the BMH for convalescence, or if they had bad tropical skin problems. (We called them the walking wounded). Stretcher cases were transported by ambulance. They came from all branches of the armed services in Malaya, & Singapore, and were picked up from Tapah Road Railway Station, which was approx. six miles, from the town of Tapah. With the exception of troops in ambulances, they all had to carry weapons, so that a bus load with rifles and sten guns pointing out the sides, looked pretty formidable.

Convoys were formed, in the MT park each morning. Normally the 4th Hussars would be the escort as they had armoured personnel carriers, scout cars, and later, armoured cars with 2 pounders and heavy machine guns. They also had wireless contact with the rear of the convoy and the camps at both ends of the road.

Convoys varied in size depending on how many personnel the BMH wanted to move and how many civilian vehicles wanted to join it. One lorry that did the trip regularly was the Ration truck, totally enclosed and clearly marked for some reason or another. (Will tell you more about that later).

The convoy down rarely presented problems. Slower vehicles were at the front to set the speed however, the many "U" bends controlled it best.

One incident that I remember quite well on the down trip, was the transporting of two large baking ovens with a steel outer case and brick lined, that were rounded, and did not have a flat base, which had become redundant and were to be sent down to Tapah. One morning, we got them on two lorries, with the help of the Ford recovery jibs. They took up the full length of the lorries, and almost the full width, and I would say they were nearly over weight for the 3 tonner’s. We chucked them as best as possible and told the driver to secure them down, but this was ignored. (Probably we should have got hold of an officer and expressed our fears but we did not). The workshop team were certain that there would be a problem, so we rehearsed in our minds how we would tackle the situation should it occur.It wasn’t long before we received the call that one of the lorries, carrying the ovens, had overturned and partially blocked the road. The convoy managed to get past and after picking up the badly shaken driver they carried on to Tapah.

We quickly got together all available personnel and armed them with Brens, Stens, and rifles. We got them spread out aboard the Dodge 15cwt, a Ford recovery, and a Dodge 3 tonner. Captain Harris, i/c A Platoon, decided he would come with us and though he had disciplinary powers over us, he did not control any workshop matters.

It only took about 5 minutes to get to the incident so it was into action first, dragging the oven away from the lorry using the Dodge 15 cwt in four wheel drive. Next we got the Ford recovery in and got the lorry back on its four wheels and whilst it was being checked out, the recovery was lifting the oven back onto another truck, then we all proceeded back to Tanah Rata.
Captain Harris was amazed at the speed we did the job and kept asking me a lot of questions about how we knew how to tackle the job. I said, "Sir,it was a lot of common sense". I do not think he believed me and I suspect he smelt a rat, as it seemed to be a put up job. Not so much in Malaya, but in Woolwich where we covered all of London District, breakdowns were arranged so that we would miss the C.O.'s parade and inspection on Saturday morning (Unfortunately, this could not happen every week).

In the C.H, after the morning parade and inspection in the M.T.Park (what a target we were) at 8:00 hrs daily, work continued in the workshops and other duties, while weapons not far from hand. There was the usual morning pause to see the convoy off. At times we would have to visit the Guard's camps at Hopetoun and Tapah, to carry out inspections and repairs at these locations. We would normally finish around 16:00 hrs, so that we could get cleaned up and have an early meal, in case there were any problems in the convoy coming up, or you may have been detailed for guard duty that night.

The night guard was located each night at the M.T. park guardroom, commencing at 18:00 hrs till 06:00 next morning. This consisted of one NCO and six men. One man would patrol the M.T park and the other the living quarters. Time would be two hours on and four hours off, repeated again for a second time. When you were off patrol you had to stay in the guardroom and try to get some sleep because you did not get any time off next day. The relief patrol for the living quarters had to be driven approx. half a mile and returning to pick him up. It was a long night on guard duties with all the noises from the jungle and you could never tell what was likely to come out, whether it was man or beast. All men sleeping at the living accommodation, would keep guns fully loaded and normally sleep with them under the mattress.

If we were to get a call from the convoy coming up, it would be after they had left the 19th mile stone, (approx 16:00hrs onwards). From our living quarters we could hear the noise of the engines labouring up the hill in low gear, a long time before they reached the top.

When we got a breakdown call we would get together as many men as possible, and fully armed, board the Dodge 15cwt, Ford recovery, and one other truck. We then awaited the arrival of an armoured car from the 4th Hussars. Until this arrived, we would not proceed down the hill, as this would be our only contact with the convoy, broken down vehicle, or the Hussars' base. When a vehicle in the convoy broke down, it was usually by-passed and left behind with a scout car .

Depending where the breakdown was and the position of the convoy, we might decide to wait till it arrived before we proceeded down. This was because the road was so narrow and there were not many places where vehicles could pass one another.

By the time we got to the breakdown and found a suitable place to turn round, it was already pitch black. Towing was a slow job, almost walking pace, and the recovery would be in first or second gear most of the time. To our advantage, it was getting cool so that did help engine temperatures.

Workshops had acquired some good heavy spotlights, that were mounted to swivel at any angle. They were fitted to the recovery, and Dodge 15 cwt, so they gave us a good sight of the road in front.

The number of breakdowns varied. Not many of our own lorries had problems, as they were highly maintained and thoroughly checked each day. Our drivers also got to know the road well but for others joining the convoy for the first time it was a very stressful journey.

You can now probably quess that the C.Ts knew our every movement, with the road winding and "U" turning backward and forward all the way up and with the noise of the engines in low gear, you could not hide that a convoy or patrol was on it's way.

The Royal Marine Commandos devised a good plan. One afternoon they filled the RASC (totally enclosed) Ration Truck, with Commandos. It was arranged that it would breakdown at a point beyond the 19th mile stone. We would do our normal recovery procedure ensuring, that we didn’t get there before it got dark. After hitching up, we towed it to a specified location on the road, where it was thought a C.T camp was in the jungle. We stopped there for a few minutes to check the tow line and all of the Commando’s jumped out into the jungle (we never did see them).Late next day, we received the news that they had found the camp and had killed several C.Ts. We received a thank you from the Marine's C.O. for our help and assistance.

Sometimes on the way down, you would see the Sakias ( little brown men) coming out of the jungle with their blow pipes, which contained poisonous darts. The women of the tribe didn’t wear any clothing from the waist upwards, which was eye boggling to the troops.
Apart from being completely isolated in the C.H, and with the continual threat of terrorism, life was fairly relaxed when you could get off duty. We could wear civilian clothes and go outside the camp providing that we were in a party of no less than five and carried our guns.

The village of Tanah Rata was small with all of the shops, hotel, post office, and police station being on one side of the road. At the bottom right hand was the Padang, equivalent to the English village green. We would stroll up around the golf course and would be made welcome if we went to the married quarters of the senior NCOs and officers and would look after their children, if they wanted to go to the officers' or sergeants', messes.

We sometimes called into the Smoke House, (English pub), but beer was a lot cheaper in the NAAFI. From there it would be back to Tanah Rata via the jungle path and the
Parritt Waterfalls, where you could have a swim in the cool mountain water that came from the surrounding hills (Not all of us at one time, for some had to remain on guard). Unfortunately, I understand those conditions were withdrawn in late 1951. Food was good, as the C.H, was a market garden area with fruit and salads plentiful, and you could have the choice of all the local dishes. Steak and chips and a couple of bottles of stout in the NAAFI was a good way to settle down for the night.

Occasionally, the AKC, (Army Kinema Corps), would come up to the CH to entertain us with a film show in the large hall of the BMH.

One incident, after the usual torrential rain which had continued for a few days, was that we received a report one evening that the Cameron Highlands bus and driver, (This was one of the converted 3 ton Dodges), had been buried under a landslide that was blocking the main road between Tana Rata and the Smoke House. This slide had also brought down the main power lines, so that the whole area was in total darkness. Having received the report, we quickly formed a rescue party and using the Dodge 15 cwt we got as many armed men on board as it would hold and proceeded to the Tanah Rata side of the landslide. We started digging (Using the 15cwt's headlights to see) for the vehicle we understood was buried, as we did not know if the driver was still in it. However, after an hour during which time we had to keep making a run for it, more mud and water kept coming down the hill.We decided to go around the back track and tackle the landslide from the other side. This track was very seldom used and came out at the Smoke House end of the golf course. It was very narrow ,twisting, and dangerous, and just the width of the 15cwt.

We got about halfway there and heard one almighty rumble. It was an avalanche of mud, stones, and trees, and it was coming down on us, pushing the truck off the road. It trapped two men, (One being, Roy South, who injured his leg), and we had to work quickly, with our bare hands, to get them out. We then pulled the Dodge back on to the track with the use of the winch. We proceeded to the Smoke House where we found the driver and vehicle safe and well.

Fortunately, the telephone lines had not been knocked out from the Smoke House, so Roy telephoned Cpt Harris, explaining the situation, but the first words from him was, "Is the vehicle alright?" at which point Roy said something unprintable and hung up. It now meant that two vehicles could not get back to camp so we set off on foot carrying Roy, totally soaked, covered in mud, and very weary, back up to the landslide on the main road where we were picked up by a truck on the other side. We took Roy to BMH, which also had no electricity or water, where he was stripped, dried off with towels, and put to bed. Next morning there was dried mud all round his bed with multi-coloured sheets. Fortunately his leg was only bruised so he was returned to duty next day.

One fatal day for 3 Company RASC "A" Platoon and Workshops section in the Cameron Highlands, was the 2nd March 1950. They had been asked to recover a Malaya Electricity Board truck that had gone off of the track and it had slid down deep into the jungle. This had happened deep down into the Blue Valley during the morning.In the afternoon, a recovery and escort group of RASC personnel was formed and in three vehicles, Jeep, 3ton Ford Recovery, and a 3ton truck, they proceeded to the Blue Valley. Sorry to say that they never got there for just beyond the village of Brinchang they were ambushed. The C.Ts had picked an ideal place. After a sharp bend, the road was straight but had a large incline, which slowed down the vehicles.
The road was banked to the right with jungle overgrowth hanging over, and to the left it dropped away. Towards the top left was a large mound, where the road had originally been cut through. From there you had a good view of the road downwards. Just after the 3 ton truck got round the bottom sharp bend and it was a long way back, all hell was let loose. In the front Jeep Lt.Richards, and Sgt. Ritter, were instantly killed. In the front of the Ford Recovery, L/Cpl Hoggatt, and Mr. Gates, official of the MEB. were also instantly killed. In the front of the 3ton truck, Driver Jones was instantly killed and Cpl Hand died 5 days later from wounds. Most of the group were wounded, some seriously. Two managed to get away to raise the alarm but by the time help came it was too late. All that was left to do was to clear up one bloody great mess. First priority being to get the wounded to the BMH

The following day the dead were taken down the hill and buried in the Christian cemetery at Batu Gajah, Nr. Ipoh. In all, 9 RASC, along with many other servicemen, are interned there and it is affectionately known as, "Gods Little Acre". As usual, the investigation after the event revealed many follies.

Complacency was one of the biggest factors. You must be on your guard at all times, and expect trouble where-ever you went. Though it was known that CTs lay in ambush positions for days waiting for an appropriate target, they were certainly well prepared for this one. This road was generally quiet with only vegetable lorries, some planters, and patrols of the Guards, using it. The Cts had been given too much time to prepare and must have been tipped off. We had a large number of civilians that lived, and worked in our camp area. Telephone communications were very open and general security was poor. The call for the recovery vehicle came in during the morning but they did not go out until the afternoon. Assistance from the Coldstream Guards or the 4th Hussars, who had camps in the area, had not been requested.

In the RASC guardroom/armoury, there were no less than 12 Bren light machine guns, and not one had been taken out. Also RASC, had no radio Communications.

About six months later we completed the recovery, of the MEB truck under totally different conditions. We were well armed with Brens and had an escort of Coldstream Guards and armoured cars of the 4th Hussars, with radio.One visit we made to the Guards' camp at Hopetoun, we saw the Dyak head hunters that were brought from Borneo as trackers. They would show us the human heads that they had shrunk to a very small size. We did take photos but they were confiscated, as it was thought they might get back to the British press. There were many other incidents that at the time were all part of the job, and the memory is fading, and some I would not like to repeat.

That’s all for the moment but I shall be telling you more about our involvement in the Briggs Plan, convoy work, moving the Regiments around the country, and our trips out to the various units to carry out inspection and repairs.

Microsoft reveals Vista checklist

2006-05-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

Microsoft reveals Vista checklist

Microsoft boss Bill Gates has given regular previews of Vista Microsoft has revealed how powerful computers must be to run Vista - the new version of its Windows operating system. It has given advice on the basic specifications to run the software as well as the higher capabilities needed to get the most out of it.

Also available is a downloadable tool that lets people know if the PC they own now will run the system.

Microsoft has said that Vista will go on widespread release in January 2007.
Spec check

Vista, formerly known as Longhorn, is Microsoft's long awaited update to the Windows family of operating systems and makes some big changes to the way that the software works.
Typically every release of Windows kicks off a round of PC buying as companies and consumers buy machines that can make the most of the novel features included in the new version.

Microsoft has released "minimum" and "recommended" specifications for Vista.
The minimum means that the operating system will run but some new features will be disabled. Recommended means that this is what is needed to get the most basic configuration of the whole package working.

For instance one of the big changes in Vista is the graphical look of the interface itself - dubbed Aero. In Vista the familiar boxes, windows and icons on the desktop are modelled as 3D objects - just like in many computer games.

VISTA VERSIONS Vista BusinessVista EnterpriseVista Home BasicVista Home PremiumVista UltimateVista Starter Only those machines with a graphics card that has a significant amount of memory will be able to use this 3D display.

Other big changes in Vista include the way it handles sound and networking with other machines.

Microsoft has also prepared a Vista "Get Ready" website that can help people work out if their PC can run Vista unaltered, if they need to upgrade their main memory or graphics card, or if they need a whole new computer.

Also available is a software download called the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor that can check a PC and advise about the action needed to run the new version of Windows.
The situation is also complicated by the fact that Microsoft is set to release Vista in six separate versions. Three will be aimed at home users, two at companies and one for emerging markets.

Many PC makers are already selling machines that they label as "Vista ready".
There is no information yet about the abilities of Intel-based Apple Mac computers and whether they will be able to run Vista.

VISTA HARDWARE CHECKLIST Minimum Recommended Processor 800MHz 1GHz 32 or 64 bit System Memory 512MB 1GB Graphics card DirectX 9 capable Runs Windows Aero Graphics Memory - - 128MB Free space on Hard Drive 15GB 15GB

Photo Width test size 400 pixels

2006-05-19T03:22:00.000-07:00

Just test photo width size that I can use on here --- I know a photo of 300 pixels is ok but now trying the 400 pixels --- hoping the sidebar stays inact ??

here goes:

This is a Beautiful Tulip which i think will break up today --very windy where i live.

Police to be cut by 25,000 in Merger

2006-05-19T02:16:00.000-07:00

Warning over 'police cuts plan'

Jan Berry warned police officers could be replaced by civilian patrols Some 25,000 police officers could be axed amid plans to merge the 42 police forces in England and Wales, the leader of the Police Federation has warned.

Jan Berry told the federation's annual conference the aim could be to pay for 25,000 community support officers promised by the government by 2008.

Replacing police with civilian patrols would be a "tragedy", she said. But Home Secretary John Reid said CSOs should not be used in place of police and there were no plans to do so.
Addressing the conference, Ms Berry said Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) was planning to announce the proposals at its annual conference next week. 'Paramilitary force'
She said police numbers had already fallen from 142,000 last year to 141,000. She said: "Acpo say they can lose 25,000 police officers over the next five years. That would bring us down to 116,000.

"If we continue down-sizing them, you will probably end up with a paramilitary force who only deal with confrontational situations.

If there is a disaster and we don't have the resources to deal with it, we are going to get the blame and that's totally unfair

Jan Berry "That would be a terrible tragedy for British policing." She said it was difficult to say whether the plan to cut 25,000 officers was designed to pay for the 25,000 promised CSOs. But she pointed out the Home Office had not guaranteed to pay for the new civilian patrols beyond 2008, leaving forces with the prospect of coming up with extra millions to pay for them.
She added: "If there is a disaster and we don't have the resources to deal with it, we are going to get the blame and that's totally unfair."

Cuts 'not true'

Acpo chief Ken Jones said it had no plans to reduce police numbers by 25,000, saying: "Moreover, Acpo would not stand by and oversee such a cut in numbers. "However, it would be irresponsible of us not to look at future scenarios, even those we do not like.

"The fact is that if all signalled reforms were to take place, including restructuring, this would inevitably impact on the money we have to pay for police officers and police staff.
It is not my view that we ought to be using CSOs to substitute for police John Reid

"We are actively working with government to avoid this situation and they have agreed that the police reform programme must be reprioritised so as to make it sensible and affordable."
Mr Reid confirmed Acpo had been looking at a range of possible options including "a worst case scenario".

But he said it was not planning to substitute CSOs for police officers. He said: "It is not my view that we ought to be using CSOs to substitute for police," he added. Shadow home secretary David Davis said that if the 25,000 cut in officers went ahead it would be "a direct result of successive Labour home secretaries playing fast and loose with the funding of our police service".

Earlier, the home secretary gave a speech to the conference in which he indicated he would look again at how the force mergers were being handled. Mr Reid said the present way forces were organised did not meet today's demands and he agreed with the "destination" outlined in existing policy.

But he was not sure about the rate of change or whether people were "in the right buses".
He also promised adjustments to controversial human rights legislation to make sure the rights of the few did not come before public safety. And he said there was a need to address the public perception that the justice system was unfair and gave more consideration to the rights of criminals than to those of the "hard-working citizen".

Ron:
I won't go into all detail on report ...which I find worrying ...I do feel all law and order is desintegrating slowly but sure....I did have visions on paramilitary type groups running the ground ..also had visions of it being like bloody Iraq/Baghdad..is now...only our patrols going out to tender...gang run ...armed open backed landrovers etc...'??can you see what I'm thinking ????.........total meltdown of law & order.....All because they have no idea how to balance the books// £££££££££££...But they'll top up their pensions/salaries though...........'oh' it goes on ...don't it????

Les:
I think and know that the quality of specials at that time was pretty low, but what can you expect when they did a few days training, and wander around the streets showing off their uniforms, and they were awful witnesses in court, frightened the defence barristers could easily get them trapped and the special agreeing with the defence that it was not as the lead witness said, the Police officer, and the villain getting off. no one wanted them anywhere near any action -- let them direct traffic. BUT now there is a better support officer, they get at least £16,000 per year for working a 37 hrs shift --- but NOT the power of arrest as a police Constable.

The numbers of these support officers are increasing to increase Police Uniforms on the ground, but that is a sham bcause they are not fully trained and Police Constables still have to be called to a scene of trouble as the support officers dont have full powers of arrest/its dangerous to give too much power to people/ The Government is keeping the cost down by putting these support officer on the ground and not increasing officers with the Office of Constable.

Womens Mid life Crisis

2006-05-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

This is funny. You have to read the whole thing!

I've seen two shows lately that went on and on about how mid-life is a great time for women. Just last week Oprah had a whole show on how great menopause will be... Puhleeeeeeeze! I've had a few thoughts of my own and would like to share them with you.

Whether you are pushing 40, 50, 60 (or maybe even just pushing your luck) you'll probably relate. Mid-life is when the growth of hair on our legs slows down.

This gives us plenty of time to care for our newly acquired mustache.

In mid-life women no longer have upper arms, we have wing spans. We are no longer women in sleeveless shirts, we are flying squirrels in drag.

Mid-life is when you can stand naked in front of a mirror and you can see your rear without turning around.Mid-life is when you go for a mammogram and you realize that this is the only time someone will ask you to appear topless.

Mid-life is when you want to grab every firm young lovely in a tube top and scream, "Listen honey, even the Roman empire fell and those will too.

"Mid-life brings wisdom to know that life throws us curves and we're sitting on our biggest ones. Mid-life is when you look at your-know-it-all, beeper-wearing teenager and think: "For this I have stretch marks?"

In mid-life your memory starts to go. In fact the only thing we can retain is water. Mid-life means that your Body By Jake now includes Legs By Rand McNally -- more red and blue lines than an accurately scaled map of Wisconsin.

Mid-life means that you become more reflective...You start pondering the "big" questions. What is life? Why am I here? How much Healthy Choice ice cream can I eat before it's no longer a healthy choice?

But mid-life also brings with it an appreciation for what is important.We realize that breasts sag, hips expand and chins double, but our loved ones make the journey worthwhile. Would any of you trade the knowledge that you have now, for the body you had way back when?

Maybe our bodies simply have to expand to hold all the wisdom and love we've acquired. That's my philosophy and I'm sticking to it!

Ultimate in technorateri

2006-05-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

This has to be the Ultimate in technorateri

Yep, AOL isn't a good browser mix with MSN.

You may have a half dozen firewalls, pop-up stoppers and security tools blocking that one active x control at this point.

Sometimes sticking groups.msn.com into your trusted sites will work - but only if all those security tools
check that one location first before applying other measures.

Often it's the order of operations. We hear, "tried everything" with the photo upload tool problems but often it's a case of tried everything but 12 different times.

If something is missed in the compound problem repeating it 11 times won't work even if you substitue other parts of the "everything" in. It's an all or nothing shot where one (any) error will kill it.

Start by closing all browser sessions. Go to your Control Panel-> Internet Options.

On the General Tab, under the Temporary Internet Files, find the Settings button, click that.

Find the View Objects button, click that. This should open your C:\WINDOWS\Downloaded Program Files folder.

Find the MSN Photo Upload Tool. Delete it.

Trying to delete this while a browser is in operation can garble the registry settings and other factors.

Close that folder.

Back on the Settings area of the Internet Properties, check that the top section is set to Automatically check for newer versions of stored pages.

This should insure it will attempt a fresh download. It should work with other settings but it may be a problem, so keep it on automatic until you've gotten your download.

Click the OK button on the Settings screen to exit.

On the General tab, while we're at it, click on the Delete Cookies button.

Push OK to clear the cookies. This avoids "stale" or corrupted log-in cookies from verifying you are you when attempting the download.

In the same section of the General Tab, click on the Delete Files button.

This will clear all old internet pages and (temporary) files. In the History section, click the Clear History.

This just turfs the old URLs and things that pile up.

Every so often they too can get glitchy or corrupt and affect other surfing functions.

Click the Security tab at the top.

Make sure the Internet (Globe Icon) is selected. Click the Custom Level button.

In the settings area:ActiveX controls and plug-ins:Automatic prompting for ActiveX controls, set to disable or prompt.

Download signed ActiveX controls, set to prompt.

Download unsigned ActiveX controls, set to disable or prompt.Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe: disable or prompt.

Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins, enable.

Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting, Enable.

Do not touch the Reset custom settings box at the bottom.

Do not push the Reset button. Push the OK button at the bottom.

I don't know how many people I've watched go through all that and then hit the wrong button, reset it all and then push OK merrily thinking they're still "fixed".

Back to the Security Tab screen (tired yet? Try typing this 10,000 times ).

Click on the Trusted Sites (Green Checkmark Icon). Hit the Custom Level button again.

In the settings area:ActiveX controls and plug-ins:Automatic prompting for ActiveX controls, set to disable or prompt.

Download signed ActiveX controls, set to prompt.Download unsigned ActiveX controls, set to disable or prompt.

Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe: disable or prompt.

Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins, enable.Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting, Enable.

Again, just hit the OK, do not touch any of the Reset area.

Back on the Security Tab again: click on the Sites... button (with the Trusted sites icon still selected).

Uncheck the box for "requires server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone - or this doesn't work for regular sites like MSN.

Add every variation of MSN sites you use.Many people are fine just adding http://groups.msn.comIf you end up following links for http://communities.msn.com it's a good time to stick them in here and avoid annoying cookie/settings problems later.I stuck http://communities.ninemsn.com.au in there too since I surf via the Aussie portal.Others may want different country specific codes.

Usually just the main groups.msn.com works fine.

Click OK.

Click on the Privacy Tab.

Pick Medium for a setting.

This works for most of MSN issues.

Click OK.

Reboot the computer.

At this point, it's usually a wise idea to update and run Ad-Aware and Spybot - Search & Destroy to see if anything is nasty that it can catch (they don't catch everything).

I usually turn off my anti-virus programs and go online to Housecall and/or Symantec to run an outside scan of my computer.

This verifies that you don't have nasties on your computer that are interferring with ActiveX controls and dupping your computer's scanner.

For kicks, you can head over to http://pcpitstop.com/testax.asp and make sure your ActiveX is actually working.

Those with SP2 installed for WinXP will probably get that all too familiar yellow warning bar at the top of the browser window with a "click here to install".

That's fine, install it to test settings.

Heck you can even check the results of your anti-spyware/anti-adware scanners by visiting: http://pcpitstop.com/spycheck/scan.asp

Tired yet?

Reboot and go get a coffee...

Visit your My Pictures Folder on your computer.

Clean it up: at least for a little while. I'd recommend hauling everything out of the folder and sticking it someplace safe for a few minutes.

Too many images in that one folder (or its subfolders) can s-l-o-w the interaction with MSN's site down to a standstill. Especially on dial-up.

Having any oddball graphics formats might also case problems... so make it easy to do the first run, then move things back after you have the tool.

Pic one nice .jpg to upload.

Doesn't really matter what, you can delete it later.

Stick that one file in the My Pictures folder, all by its lonesome.

Turn off you security for a while: WinXP has a Firewall, Symantec's NIS (Norton) has a firewall, McAfee's Security Suite has a firewall.

You might even have Zonealarm or another free firewall installed.

For a little while make sure they're ALL off.

Check for pop-up blockers, kill 'em. It's unlikely they're causing the problem but kill 'em just the same.

No conflicts are good sense. Just turn them back on later if you need them.

Most virus scanners should be fine to leave on, I'd probably turn mine off while I visited MSN Groups.

Remember, we're not surfing the net, we're not downloading odd things or clicking on random links, we're just walking into MSN and getting a trusted file... then we can turn everything back on.

I think that's it... the most important things seem to be:No conflicting security programs (two firewalls at once can blotch things).

No spy or adware on the computer - these often garble, disable or ruin other ActiveX programs since they're set up using ActiveX and try to prevent ActiveX controls from downloading - since Online Anti-Virus companies use ActiveX to scan for them.

These two settings:Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins, Enable.Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting, Enable.

Go directly to your MSN Group - do not try this on the weekend or during after school/busy periods.

The severs are slower, more prone to errors and maintenance. The trick is to get a clean copy, fast.

If it get's half a copy or a garbled download, it'll screw you for a long while.

I like to surf into MSN Groups at say, 2 am and try things like this.

Sign into your Group.Visit the Photo Album.Click the Add Photos link.Follow the prompts.

If SP2 gives you a yellow bar, click on it to download and approve any of the items it talks about.Pick your (slimmed down) My Pictures folder. You should see the one image to use.Add it, sign out, close the browser, reboot. Surf as usual... that is, until next week when MSN breaks it again.

I can't think of much else. That's the current tracking up until this point.Some users have had terrible luck until they got a copy of HiJackThis from Major Geeks: here and run a scan.

If you really did everything there that and still can't get it to work while using Internet Explorer, there's a bunch of techies over at TomCoyote Forums who can help you analyse a HiJackThis log file to make sure no broken parts are littering your system and preventing things from working.

Tutorial yet? Hmm... we're getting closer... just need screen caps of all 50 steps *sigh*.

The Nyonya Girl and her Recipe

2006-05-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

The Chef -- and a Nyonya Girl is Mira from kuala Lumpur

NYONYA RECIPES

Nyonya Mixed Vegetables (Char Chap Chye)

Description:traditional dish…Nyonya girl makes Nyonya dish..

Ingredients:
5 dried mushrooms, soaked and halved2 tbsp black fungus (bok nee), soaked

3 strips dried bean curd skin (tau kee), soaked for 1 to 2 minutes

25g dried lily buds (kin chiam), soaked; cut off the hard tips and tie each strand into a knot100g button mushrooms, halved or quartered

150g white cabbage (wong nga pak), cut into large pieces200g prawns, shelled

20g glass noodles, soaked4 tbsp oil1 tsp chopped garlic

1½ tbsp preserved soy bean paste (tau cheong), mashed in 1 litre waterSauce:

1/2 tsp salt or to taste

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp chicken stock granules

How to:

Heat oil in a wok and fry garlic until lightly golden.

Add preserved soy bean paste and fry until aromatic.

Add cabbage and button mushrooms and stir-fry well.

Add prawns, dried mushrooms, black fungus, lily buds and bean curd sticks.

Pour in water and cover wok with a lid. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over a moderately low heat for 15 minutes.

Add glass noodles and cook covered for six to seven minutes. Add seasoning to taste, then dish out.

India's 5 yrs old marathon boy

2006-05-14T00:56:00.000-07:00

India's marathon boy runs into controversy

14-05-2006

Wonder boy Budhia, with coach Biranchi Das, made headlines two weeks ago when he ran 65km in just over seven hours.

As Budhia's fame spreads, some critics allege abuse and question his coach's motives in making him run

When his widowed mother sold Budhia Singh for 800 rupees (US$18) two years ago because she could not afford to feed him, hardly anyone raised an eyebrow.
Parents in the eastern state of Orissa, where they live, often sell their children because of abject poverty. It is either that or let a child die of hunger.

Today, the eyes of the whole country are on the five-year-old, who made international headlines two weeks ago when he ran into record books.
Budhia completed a gruelling 65km marathon in humid, sweltering heat in just over seven hours on May 2, which put him in the Limca Book of Records, a local version of the Guinness publication.

Television cameras followed his little figure, dressed in a white T-shirt and red shorts, from the temple town of Puri to the state capital, Bhubaneswar. His tiny feet pounded the asphalt highway and his head swung from side to side as Indians watched his feat with fascination and awe.

But he also ran right into a maze of controversy.
The Orissa government, India's National Human Rights Commission, sports personalities and medical experts fear that he has been abused. They expressed concern about his health and questioned his coach's motives.

They want Biranchi Das, who took the boy under his care after paying the person who had bought him, barred from making him run long distances "for personal gain".
Many see Budhia, dubbed "marathon boy" and "India's Forrest Gump", as a future Olympic champion. He has even starred in a music video. Others warn that long-distance running at such a tender age could cause him irreparable harm.

"Budhia's innate abilities need to be nurtured and developed in a humane way on a sustainable track under scientific watch," said The Hindu newspaper. "The Puri-Bhubaneswar spectacle helped focus national attention on his prodigious gifts--but to stretch his little limbs beyond what adults cannot endure is neither sporting nor socially and morally acceptable."
As the controversy raged, Das filed a contempt of court case in the Orissa High Court against the state's Women and Child Development Minister Pramila Mallick and four ministry officials.
He said the police dragged him and Budhia, now in an English-medium kindergarten, to a hospital and had the boy tested by a team of doctors.

That "tarnished" his image as a coach, he said.

Meanwhile, Budhia's music video has hit television screens in Orissa. It shows him running and practising judo, the sport taught by his coach, and hails him as the pride of Orissa.
"Budhia is not just an ordinary human being," producer Rajesh Kumar Mohanty told Reuters.
"We have tried to compare him with the mythological Lord Krishna."

Das discovered his ward's talent after ordering him to run non-stop for five hours as punishment for mischief. He put him on a strict diet and exercise regimen, steadily increasing the mileage of his daily marathon. Budhia runs from 5am till noon non-stop and again at 4pm after lunch and a siesta.

His diet includes eggs, milk, soyabean and meat, a luxury compared to what his mother gave him.

His coach has now set his sights on a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for Budhia.

Floyd Patterson aged 71 yrs pases away

2006-05-12T04:23:00.000-07:00

My Mate Ronnie who lives in the beautiful Highlands of Scotland, with his lovely wife Jan, says:

"Just read that Floyd Patterson has passed away..aged 71.

'To me he was the first of the tecnical-skilled heavyweight boxers..no not bruisers..real flare 'n' skill boxer..and a very nice bloke by all accounts...I think Clay/Ali took up his style and mantle afterwards...Floyd was first H/W to reclaim his title...next being Ali !!.. '

A real gem ...as opposed to these slob fighters we have today....Sadly missed".

Plants 10th May 06

2006-05-11T00:55:00.000-07:00

The Star Tulip really nice

Ajuga

Campunala

My garden 9th may 2006

2006-05-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

A lovely Tulip face

What about a “shared” screeen reader ??

2006-05-07T15:38:00.000-07:00

Just read a good discussion starter, in that this chap has suggested getting a screen reader and in some way he is going to adapt this screenreader to read accessible web pages and create a system like browsercam — he is asking for help and support in this idea, ‘go to the killersites forum, and read the Topic What about a “shared” screeen reader - Brainstorm ??

This is what John suggests

There’s a lot of discussion and interest about the behaviour of screen readers.

How do they sound?How do they read?What do they read?

How does a screen reader assist a visually impaired internet user?

What does my website “look” like to a screen reader?

So…Would it be useful to have access to a screen reader?

Similar to online screen emulators used for cross-browser testing? You know like pay for subscribtion browser cam, and the free ones to see screen shots of your site in different browsers.

Except this would have to be Auditory. So, a member would get a screen shot of the screen reader in action and a sound file.

Podcast, mp3, etc.

So, my questions are:

How many would be interested?Which screen reader to purchase?Should it be accessible by paying a fee or free for all (ad supported)?Should it only be accessible to the people that invest in the project (software, hardware, bandwidth, etc)?Would a sound bite of a web page’s content be a better experience than a lynx reader or fangs for example?

Any other thoughts to contribute to this brainstorm?

I’m willing to take the lead in this and help get it up and running, but need help.

The followers

2006-05-06T00:58:00.000-07:00

This is a nice story:

6th May 2006

The followers By MARINA MAHATHIR

A friend was relating how after her daughter had read the Da Vinci Code, she had wanted to read the Bible. Which is not in itself a bad thing except that she was concerned that an impressionable young mind would not be able to differentiate fact from fiction. Also it seemed that perhaps what was needed is a Da Vinci Code-type book for Muslims to spark off the same level of interest in young people in their own religion.

Except that if anyone tried to write a similar thriller based around Islam, he’d be hounded and pilloried and threatened with death, thousands would riot in protest and people who would never have been able to read the book either because they are illiterate or can’t afford it would have died.

Such is the difference between our religions. While there are many Christians who are upset about the book and movie, they are countering it with seminars and other educational events to balance what is being said in the book, even if the book is only fiction. There have not been Da Vinci Code-related riots or deaths thus far. Which speaks volumes for the adherents of the faith.

It would be nice if everyone could brush off similar challenges and say “we are strong enough to withstand any attack”. Even if a book or a movie becomes a runaway hit, compared to the total number of any faith’s followers, the numbers sold can never match it. Books are by nature, in a world where illiteracy is still common, a luxury item. As are American movies, no matter what arguments people make about cultural imperialism.

I remember when there were riots over Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses, President Benazir Bhutto commented wryly that the people who were dying over the book were those who would never have read it, or possibly even heard of it if someone hadn’t whipped them into a frenzy. A similar situation arose with the cartoons. As insensitive as they were, they were still not worth dying over.

The point is that people’s impressions of a religion are often related to the behaviour of its adherents. Some religions are thought of as simply kooky because its followers behave strangely. Some are viewed as benign and peaceful because its followers resolutely will not harm a fly.

But when people, supposedly in the name of religion, riot, burn and kill, it can’t help but give the impression of a religion that advocates this, no matter how much we point out that nowhere in religious texts itself does it say you should do this. And unfortunately we get the whole spectrum, from men who publicly insult women on a daily basis without censure to the real crazies.

Recently in New York I had to suffer the embarrassment of having to listen to a Muslim man say to a non-Muslim woman at a forum, “Don’t mess with Muslims, we have nuclear weapons!” There I was trying to dispel stereotypes about violence-prone Muslims and in one fell swoop, this nutcase confirmed every stereotype there was.

I think the only people who can dispel stereotypes about Muslims are women. While there are certainly some conservative women, even when these speak out they will naturally change perceptions because in a world where Muslim women are perceived to be perpetually hidden behind curtains, their sheer presence and articulateness will be noticed. What more if they are able to argue rationally in a calm manner.

Thus far there have been very few Muslim men in the international media who give a good impression. We might argue that the Western media selects who they interview in order to perpetuate stereotypes, which is true and that is a problem for all of us. A man or woman who looks like the archetypal wild-eyed conservative is far more telegenic than someone who looks like everyone else. Channel surfers are far more likely to stop at the sight of someone they think of as alien to their culture than if they see someone too similar to them. To stop this means having to make a concerted effort to come together as one community and decide on a sophisticated media strategy. But sadly coming together as one united community is a challenge in itself.

If we do manage as a global community to change other people’s perceptions of us, the benefits would be many. Our own people might think more kindly of each other so peace would reign within. And because within ourselves, we respect diversity, we can do the same with others. Then peace would truly have a chance.

Flowers and Tulips taken today

2006-05-05T11:29:00.000-07:00

Its been a lovely hot day today which is not the usual, so been out with the camera and plants are really shooting up.

A Japanese Acer being grown as a Bonsai tree, stays out all year long.

An Aquilegia, namely 'Grannies Bonnet'

A Shot from above Lovely Tulips

Really nice close up of Red Tulips

A beautiful shot of glorious flowers

Plants in flower today

2006-05-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

I love the plants and shrubs, today

This is a Beautiful Japanese Acer -- it has come out early

Beautiful Plants forgot the name

This is my rockery plants

Bluebells

A mates problem

2006-05-04T01:19:00.000-07:00

He has got a smart meta tag that has appeared between his head tags, no spyware found it ? sounds strange ?/

Deputy CPO will miss working with hubby

2006-05-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

Deputy CPO will miss working with hubby
03 May 2006

MALACCA: The country’s first woman police officer to hold the post of Deputy Chief Police Officer, will miss working beside her husband for the first time in her 30-year career.

"It will not be easy. He is in Kuala Lumpur and I am in Malacca," said the deputy CPO Senior Assistant Commissioner II Zaleha Abd Rahman.

"Malacca and Kuala Lumpur are not that far apart. We will work it out."

Zaleha’s husband is also in the force. He holds the rank of Superintendent and is attached to the Logistics Department in Bukit Aman.

"Since one of our children is studying at a local university here, we were thinking of shifting the family here too," said the 50-year-old policewoman.

Zaleha first joined the force in 1976 and for the past 30 years, had been working closely with her husband.

Both of them had served in Kota Baru before being transferred together to Bukit Aman in 1982.

Zaleha reported for duty here yesterday, taking over from outgoing deputy CPO Senior Assistant Commissioner II Benjamin Hasbie.

Benjamin will be assuming the post of Commandant at the Senior Police Officers’ College in Kuala Lumpur with the rank of Senior Assistant Commissioner I.

"Frankly, without my husband and children’s understanding and support, I would not be here today," said the mother of three children aged 27, 21 and 17.

"Being a woman does not mean we have it easy. Like men, we also have to start from the bottom and work our way up."

Present at the handing-over ceremony yesterday was Malacca CPO Senior Assistant Commissioner I Datuk Ayob Mohamed.

Meanwhile in Kuala Lumpur, the new city police chief, Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Yusof, signed in yesterday.

The former Commercial Crime Department deputy director 1 succeeds Datuk Mustaffa Abdullah, who has been made director of Internal Security and Public Order.

At Bukit Aman, Federal police director of management Datuk Kamarudin Md Ali called it a day after 36 years in the force.

Kamarudin, who joined the force as a probationary inspector in 1970, led the brass band in singing Frank Sinatra’s My Way as his parting gift.

Nature is wonderful

2006-05-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

Nature is so wonderful, from a minute seed there is created a beautiful plant, from the fertilized seed of a woman a beautiful babie/babies and so on through the animal community.

So here are a few plants immature and some more mature from my garden.

This Fuchia Shrub I cut down earlier in the year will in the summer months be 5' tall and 5' wide, beautiful red flowers

These are some plants GROWING from seed -- will plant out in Late May/June

Assorted flowers in my rear raised bed

Just started the beginning of a Cream Peony

Try Some Color Wheels ?

2006-05-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

A Few Colour Wheels here ---- Have a look ?

Color Combinations

SpinWheel

Color Schemer

Colour calculator

Color Wheel

Colour Code

The New VISTA from IE (BETA)

2006-05-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

Internet Explorer 7:

New Public Beta

May 2nd 2004

We're one step closer to a final Internet Explorer 7 with Microsoft's Monday night twin release of a new, more polished Internet Explorer 7 beta and an accompanying add-ons Web site.

This release feels a fair bit more usable than the previous public beta in January. To be fair, that release was a preview release meant for "developers and IT pros." Whereas this one is ready for "technology enthusiasts" (read: early adopters) using Windows XP Service pack 2, XP 64-bit, or Server 2003 Service Pack 1, according to Redmond.

The new add-ons site at http://www.ieaddons.com was scheduled to go live at the same time as the new beta release. However, the IE 7 "Find More Add-ons" menu option still takes you to a different site.

The interface is much the same as in the previous release: Depending on your tastes and browsing habits, you'll find it either streamlined or squished. Tabs and a customizable search box sit together up top with the Back, Favorites, and other buttons on only two (default) toolbars.

Conspiracy theory types might be disappointed to learn that Slashdot, which was a mess in the last beta, displays properly in this update. The same goes for Yahoo! news pages, and Web site rendering is noticeably better overall.

You'll also find a new Opera-like option to keep track of all your open tabs when you close the browser, and to then open all those same pages when you restart IE 7. It's a small feature that can be a big help if you do a lot of research online; a number of Firefox plug-ins add similar functionality.

The new IE7 beta handles favorites more smoothly as well. You can now pin the left-pane sidebar that displays Favorites, Feeds (RSS) or History so that it remains accessible while you're browsing. In the previous beta, it only came up as an overlay which disappeard once you selected a link or feed.

Speaking of RSS, support for the Web newsfeed technology is still somewhat bare-bones. You can easily subscribe to new feeds, but there's still no good way to get a quick list of headlines, as with Firefox's Live Bookmarks.

Having spoken earlier with Microsoft officials, I wouldn't expect to see any major changes for RSS in the browser before release. It sounds like IE 7 feed support is meant more to provide a conduit for later applications than to be a full-fledged feed reader in its own right.

Other major new upgrades over the now-venerable IE 6 include some welcome security features. For example, an anti-phishing filter will warn you if you happen across a known phishing site. Also, many Active X controls (the source of a number of IE security holes) are disabled by default.

If you're ready to be a beta tester, you can download the latest version and get more information on new features from Microsoft's IE site. The company also says it will provide free, unlimited phone support for testers in North America, Germany and Japan.

Keep in mind that while this beta is more polished than the previous release, it's still beta software. You'll no doubt discover glitches, and it might not play nice with all your currently installed software. The previous beta preview release scrambled the Norton Internet Security 2006 suite display somewhat, for example.

Microsoft says it is on track for a final version in the second half of 2006. (The Windows Vista version has been delayed along with the operating system.)

A few flowers in my garden May 1st

2006-05-01T04:59:00.000-07:00

A Few Flowers in my garden, brightens the area

Boring is a life of --- Going to jet off i think ?

2006-04-29T09:59:00.000-07:00

Well Well what a boring post this ----- Only, if only i had an exciting day like para dropping from some skyscraper in NYC --- or be able to live in a marvellous place like NYC where the
Sartorialist resides and ha such a great blog

But I dont live there but in a small village where the sound of black birds fighting over its territory is the most exciting thing to happen -- BUT Wait:

I did re pot pot some Geraniums, water my Nasturtions and keep filling the hungry stomacks of my koi fish -- which are very cute when they follow my direction around the outside pond, looking up at me and 'Sucking, sucking, 'Please feed me tuan I, am hungry' I keep looking for the big Koi in the pond dark brown with lines of gold, the other day she Jumped up out of the water anout a foot and a great splash of water covered me ---- as I sat on the patio reading - BUT she has not been seen since ?? Big Worries.

Ah Well back to my boring life ---- Will probably book a jet and fly off to my old home in Malaysia, get some Sun and loads of Nyonya food.

A Joke, "The couple were 85 years old"

2006-04-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

A Joke:

The couple were 85 years old, and had been married for sixty years. Though they were far from rich, they managed to get by because they watched their pennies. Though not young, they were both in very good health, largely due to the wife's insistence on healthy foods and exercise for the last decade.

One day, their good health didn't help when they went on a rare vacation and their plane crashed, sending them off to Heaven. They reached the pearly gates, and St. Peter escorted them inside. He took them to a beautiful mansion, furnished in gold and fine silks, with a fully stocked kitchen and a waterfall in the master bath. A maid could be seen hanging their favorite clothes in the closet. They gasped in astonishment when he said, "Welcome to Heaven. This will be your home now."

The old man asked St. Peter how much all this was going to cost. "Why, nothing," St. Peter replied, "remember, this is your reward in Heaven."
The old man looked out the window and right there he saw a championship golf course, finer and more beautiful than any ever built on Earth.

"What are the greens fees?" grumbled the old man.

"This is heaven," St. Peter replied. "You can play free, every day."

Next they went to the clubhouse and saw the lavish buffet lunch, with every imaginable cuisine laid out before them, from seafood to steaks to exotic deserts, free-flowing beverages and a fountain of champagne.

"Don't even ask," said St. Peter to the man. "This is Heaven, it is all free for you to enjoy."
The old man looked around and glanced nervously at his wife. "Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol foods, and the decaffeinated tea?" he asked.

"That's the best part," St. Peter replied. "You can eat and drink as much as you like of whatever you like, and you will never get fat or sick. This is Heaven!"
The old man pushed, "No gym to work out at?"
"Not unless you want to," was the answer.
"No testing my sugar or blood pressure or..."
"Never again. All you do here is enjoy yourself."

The old man glared at his wife and said, "You and your freakin' bran muffins. We could have been here twenty years ago!

Web Editors

2006-04-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

Well, before you can get into Accessibility, you have to be able to write code (and because this is a list I already had finished), so my first official post is a list of Editors you may choose from.
You can write code in something like Notepad, but face it, synatx coloring to spot erros, spellcheckers and the like are all good tools to have. So with no further ranting I offer to you this list of possible editors to choose from. Some I have used, some just heard of.

I have organized it in operating system, Windows, Mac, Linux and then sub devided into Freeware and Shareware. Also a few other editors are metioned specializing for say PHP.
This page may be added or subtracted to as new programs arrive or fall away so you will need to stop by once in a while. You will see at the bottom the last time it was edited.

You may also leave comments, but keep in mind that this is to help people, so no flaming. If you noted specific problems or such than feel free to note these, or that as a beginner you found a program quite difficult....... please add only the information that can help someone make a decision and not "It Sucks!", if you have a solid reason for not liking it, then note it, what is missing or not well done.

HTML Editors
Big Boys

Macromedia Dreamweaver - The development Standard. Odds are if you try to get a job the company will be using this so it is better to know how to work with it. As excellent site management tools. Works as both code and WYSIWYG per Layout view. Windows / Mac
Adobe GoLive - Has never really been able to pressure Dreamweaver, however is said to have greatly improved under the Adobe CS line. Windows / Mac
Microsoft FrontPage - This is Microsoft's editor. It is a fine program for dragging boxes around. You need not need to know HTML to use it. Older versions used a nasty thing called extensions that needed to be added to servers to get them to work. Under release FP2003, these have been done away with and replaced with JavaScript so they can be used on all servers. Also it is said to be much friendlier to those of us who like to code by hand or clean it's code. I never suggest earlier FP to anyone but those who just want to do their own site, but 2003 is said to be far better for real developers. Windows / Mac[NOTE: There is also FrontPage Express, a cutdown free version of FP that was earlier available with Office97 and Win98. It is still available for download, but only at third party web sites, so just do a search engine search. I do not know if it has been further developed or not.]

Windows
Freeware

HTML-Kit - My favorite under freeware. Offers many languages and extensions, supports PHP and up through C++.

1st Page 2000 - a very good program I used for two years. It is now a bit old in the tooth as it was written by a high school student in Australia, he is now a college student working on his degree, it is expected that a new version will be released once he finishes school. NOTE: Also there are rumors that this program has a virus. This is not true. Years ago a computer magazine re-packaged it and offered it together with a extension called "Buttons from Hell", this additional packet included JavaScripts that triggered virus alarms but were not viruses. Most new virus programs no longer fall for the false signal.
Amaya - Suggested by Les below, I must say it looks impressive, supporting such modern technologies as SVG, MathML 2.0, XHTML 1.1. It is a production of the W3C itself.
Vim - I played with this in school, actually meant for Linux it has a steep learning curve as it works more with command line sort of work. But if you take the time to learn it is is very powerful. Vim is charityware
Nvu - originally made for Linux, it is also available for Mac and Windows. It is being re-vamped and is said to be earmarked to replace the editor for Mozilla, it is also being released as a extension for Firefox. It is a WYSIWYG and good for those with little knowledge of HTML. I know many people in forums who swear by it.
NoteTab - I have never built a site with this but often use it just to check source code of sites I visit, it is quick loading. Windows free and shareware depending on version.
Emacs - Loved by a few. It is GNU and is basically a Command line editor like a DOS window. Takes a lot of getting used to, but is considered a classic.
Arachnophilia - This is a program that has been around a while. I have never used it, but have heard often that it is very simple and therefore is a excellent editor for beginners learning

HTML.
selida - Another editor I have come across in forums, so it does have a following but I have no personal experience with it.
Phase 5 / Proton - this is a German editor by Ulli Meybohm. It is very popular, also English language I believe and I have met an odd person in the US and Canada who do use it. I originally used it for a short time in school as Phase5, however it seems to have had a name change to Proton.

Shareware

skEdit - Never used it but was suggested to me in a forum. Shareware (but quite affordable I find).

HotDog - This program has been around for sometime. It was often supplied in computer magazines in Germany. I have not heard of it in years but it is still out there. It is a name in the .

CoffeeCup HTML Editor - I have used CoffeCup software and generally it is very good. I have not however used the editor, but have heard good things about it.

AceHTML - A shareware editor with a decent reputation.

NetObjects Fusion - Ok this is tricky. This software has rated well often. It is especially good for creating e-commerce sites and Database driven web sites. What keeps me from praising it however is the way it works. Even the worst editors allow some access to the HTML behind the web site. Fusion however uses it's own propriety code created as you drag and drop elements on the screen. Only once the web site is finished and is to be published, is the propriety code then translated into HTML. This means at no time can you switch to HTML view to tweak a element.
This program goes out of it's way to keep you away from the code, so it is fine for those with no interest in learning how to really build sites. PC Pro Magazine liked it and claims it creates accessible web sites, that I do not believe so will see if I can get a copy to test one of these days, till then, it rates well but I dislike your inability to modify code during development. You will find a full review in the link to Urban75 listed at the bottom of this page.

Mac (with special thanks to the members and management of Mac Community Feedback who supplied me with info as I am not a Mac user.)
Freeware

Creatext - I think about the most popular pure Mac editor, highly recommended to me.
Nvu - originally made for Linux, it is also available for Mac and Windows. It is being re-vamped and is said to be earmarked to replace the editor for Mozilla, it is also being released as a extension for Firefox. It is a WYSIWYG and good for those with little knowledge of HTML. I know many people in forums who swear by it.

Emacs - Loved by a few. It is GNU and is basically a Command line editor like a DOS window. Takes a lot of getting used to, but is considered a classic.

Taco HTML Edit - Sorry, no info. Taco HTML Edit is a full-featured HTML editor and PHP editor distributed as freeware. As an HTML editor, Taco HTML Edit empowers its users to rapidly create their own web sites. It is designed exclusively for Mac OS X and has many advanced features including spell checking, live browser previewing, PHP previewing, syntax checking, and much more. - the web site

Shareware

BBEdit - I have heard of it but know little. BBEdit is the leading professional HTML and text editor for the Macintosh. Specifically crafted in response to the needs of Web authors and software developers, this award-winning product provides a plethora of features for editing, searching, and manipulation of text. BBEdit transforms text with high performance.

Rage Web Design - Sorry, no info.

PageSpinner - Sorry no info. Page Spinner is the easy-to-use, professional HTML editor for

Mac OS supporting HTML 3.2, HTML 4, XHTML, PHP, SSI plus additional Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer extensions and a built-in JavaScript generator.

Tag - Sorry, no real info or experiance with this one.

Tumult HyperEdit - Sorry, no real info or experiance with this one.

Linux (with special thanks to the members and management of Linux Linux LINUX who supplied me with info as I am not a Linux user.)

Freeware

Vim - I played with this in school, actually meant for Linux it has a steep learning curve as it works more with command line sort of work. But if you take the time to learn it is is very powerful. Vim is charityware

Nvu - originally made for Linux, it is also available for Mac and Windows. It is being re-vamped and is said to be earmarked to replace the editor for Mozilla, it is also being released as a extension for Firefox. It is a WYSIWYG and good for those with little knowledge of HTML. I know many people in forums who swear by it.

Quanta - Sorry, no info on this. Quanta Plus is a web development tool for the K Desktop Environment. Quanta is designed for quick web development and is rapidly becoming a mature editor with a number of great features. - the web site

Kate (KDE Advanced Text Editor) - Sorry, no info on this. Kate is a multi document editor, based on a rewritten version of the kwrite editing widget of KDE, offering all the features of that plus a bunch of its own. Kate has been been moved to the kdebase package, and is a built in part of your favorite desktop since release 2.2.
Emacs - Loved by a few. It is GNU and is basically a Command line editor like a DOS window. Takes a lot of getting used to, but is considered a classic.

Other languages
CSS

TopStyle CSS - My choice for CSS work, also comes in a free light version, at least older versions of it.
EditCSS - A Firefox Extention suggested by tpattison below.
Cascade - Free CSS editor suggested by Les.

PHP

EditPlus2 - My earliest editor for PHP programming, really nice tools and plugins. I still use it sometimes.
PHP Designer - A freeware PHP editor with a decent reputation, from the creators of HTML Gate.
Rapid PHP - PHP editor, never used it but it comes well praised to me. Shareware / Windows

XML

Xopus XML Editor - shareware, browser based XML editor, have no more info on it the what the site says. Xopus is a browser based in-place wysiwyg XML editor. Xopus allows users to edit XML data in an intuitive word processor like way while keeping the document valid. - the web site
XMLSpy - Likely the default XML editor on the market. Shareware.

Editors for CMS

Xstandard - XStandard is said to write the Purest standards based code of any WYSIWYG editor. It is meant for Content Management Systems (CMS), it opens in your default browser (NOTE: It uses Active-X so only works under Windows OS at this time). (NOTE II : XStandard is currently being developed for OS X, it is currently in Alpha testing, I will add it's release here when ready)
GWD Text Editor - I have never used it but it was praised in a couple of forums. Windows Shareware GWD Text Editor is a powerful general purpose editor for plain text files and integrated developer environment for Borland C++, Java and Euphoria compilers. - the official web site
TinyMCE - another WYSIWYG editor meant for use in a CMS. This will work under Mac, Windows and Linux.
WYM-Editor - This is still in the Alpha phase so it is really not ready for use by beginners. Only those with experiance should try this at this time. It does however look interesting and I will be watching it. It pays close attention to standards and accessibility. One of the developers is a member here (see farther down the thread).
widgEditor - from my understanding this will work with both Mac and Windows.
FCKEditor - This too is a CMS editor that works on all operating systems.

Finally, Urban75 has a very good Group Test of WYSIWYG Editors covering many of these.
----------------------------------------Kyle J. Lamson"Everyone has the right to surf!"LSW-Web Design.comDarkShadow-Designs.com

Image Editors for the technorati

2006-04-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

Provided by Tim ---- ,

Here is a list of a few good image editors and converters I've found.Sometimes you don't need to fire up Photoshop to crop or resize an image for uploading to your webpage.I haven't got around to trying all of these yet, the information is mainly what I have gathered from their websites and forums etc

PowerBatch 2.7 - 1.6MB- Batch renaming, resizing, converting, printing, rotating, colour adjustment, cropping.- Crop with aspect ratio confinement.- Built-in FTP client!- All program files are contained in a single folder.- Converts JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, BITMAP and JPEG2000.- Supports animated GIF and multipage TIFF.- Contact sheets.- Image effects.- Add text.

Paint.net 2.1rc1 - 4.9MB- In development.- Clean GUI.- Developed with help from Microsoft.- Requires 24MB .NET Framework 1.1 to run.- Limited layers support (cannot be moved on canvas).

Pixia 3.1 - 3.6MB- Not much known about this one yet.

Photofiltre 6.1.1 - 1.6MB- Multiple images open at once.- Many plugins.- More than 100 filters.- Feature packed.

FastStone Image Viewer 2.0.5 - 2.4MB- Convert major formats (inc. PSD).- Lossless JPEG rotation.- Magnifier viewing.- EXIF support.- Resizing, flipping, rotating, cropping, colour adjusting tools.- Crop with aspect ratio confinement.- Compare images side by side.- Batch image converter/resizer.- Supports animated GIF and multipage TIFF

Xnview 1.74 - 2.1MB- Utility for viewing and converting graphic files.- Imports 400 graphic file formats.- Exports 50 graphic file formats.- EXIF.- Copy, cut and crop.- Brightness and contrast adjust.- Modify number of colours.- Filters and effects.- Windows print (Contact Sheet) and TWAIN support.- Supports animated GIF and multipage TIFF.

GIMP 2.2.6 - 7.3MB (Windows version)- Probably the best open source contender to Photoshop.- Requires GTK+ 2 runtime environment - 3.5MB.- Layers support.- Difficult to get used to GUI layout (or so I've read).

Irfanview With lots of plugins and functionality, including, slideshow, multimedia, emailing, text on images, printing...Available in over 30 languages.
The plugins must be downloaded and extracted into the program's directory for full functionality - very easy to do.
It also has a good Explorer-like Thumbnail viewer for your directories - much better than photoshop's and other app's I've used because it's Fast! screen shot of irfanview thumbnail browser
And as listed on the Features page: Only one EXE-File, no DLLs, no Shareware messages like "I Agree" or "Evaluation expired" No registry changes without user action/permission!
My favorite part is that the image viewer loads quickly, opens my psd files (no edit ) and uses a very small amount of resident memory! I usually have it open along side Photoshop and with no affect on my resources.
I do not have the latest version installed. I'll do that and edit this post if there is anything significant to be noted.

A Technorati with principals

2006-04-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

A Web Designer with Principals:

LSW web Design:

Problem is that we designers work for our customer true enough... but we build web sites for THE CUSTOMER, that is to say the user, the customer of our customer.

I am being paid to build web sites that the user will like and can use, I am the expert, I know what my customer needs and they need to listen to me. To many people think they pay me so they are King, no, their customer is King. The web site is not for the owners ego, it is for the user.

They need to do what is right for the user. Will the paying customer get what they want? Yes to a point. But I have my moral duty as a designer to make we sites people can use, specificaly for me, disabled persons. I will make work what I can for my customer, but of the customer refuses to listen to logic and my preofessional advice, I will and have walked away from projects. I will not make a inaccessible web design.

When I am hired I explain what i do, I am often hred by people who claim to want accessibility. I am an accessible web developer, that is what I do. If my skills do not fit the project, then we seperate. There are many people who do not give a damn about disabled surfers.

Those ones come a dime a dozen, if that is what the customer wants, they are not hard to find. Some designers will not do porn, others will not do Nazi sites, or child porn and others would not do fanatical sites... but there are those who are into those things and will do them. Bill understands accessibility, he also cares about it as I do.

It is his call... I for one will refuse a contract that goes against accessibility. You may pay me, but the site I build is not for you, it is for the other 6 billion people on the planet.

But you do not know that, well over 70% of the planets population suffers some form of handicap. So blind users may be few (but remeber that search engines are blind, so the same things hael search engines that help blind humans), but that does not disclude Dyslexics who may be interested, cognitive difficulties, attention difficulties, reading difficulties, color blindness, Eplieptics, those with limited physical control (don't tell me al gamers use mice either, they do not mayn use keyboards.)

There is more to accessibility then Blind users, they are just one small segment. A healthy gamer can break his most used hand or arm snow boarding and be disabled for a few weeks or months... people think to narrow about accessibility in web design. "And i do wonder if 'Accessablity' is the new PC and is being taken far too over the top with anyone and everyone jumping on the Band Wagon. " Well go ask a wheelchair user if it is to much Hype having ramps, wide toilettes and Handicapped parking?

It is not hype, it is fact, everyone has the right to surf and we make web sites so people can do just that. Building a site that keeps me from using it is not good and in many cases not even legal. If you think that TVs should offer sign language, sidewalks should slope to the street, public transportation should offer wide doors and ranps in busses, elevators to subways, if you think hospitals and such places should offer brail on signs... if social organizations should help old people shop, train seeing eye dogs or purchase screenreaders for the visually impaired... if stores should offer automated shopping carts and handicapped parking... if nurses and doctors should isit the elderly and suick at home... ... if you believe any of the above should be the case, or any other case of the "able bodied" helping the "challenged"... the accessibility in web design is not Hype.

It is not the to blind people who find it is easier to shop online then stumble through stores and purchase items they cannot identify per feel. It is not Hype for them to be able to read/hear subjects that are of interest to them but weigh allot when printed in Brail. The virtual internet needs to be as accessible to everyone as the real physical world is.

From the mouth of the user is a page I am creating as I find links to articles or comments about how those with disabilities view or use the Internet. I m someone that canot imagine intentionally building barriers to keep selected groups from viewing a web site or entering a business in the real world. It is simply a matter of having respect for others that are not perfectly healthy and capabale. They should not have to lead lesser lives when I can make a site that looks good and is accessible

Success with the Singapore $

2006-04-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

Its wonderful that new countries as such in the modern world have created success
Baht and S$ rise on US rate report

The Singapore dollar hit a nearly eight- year high and the Thai baht jumped to its strongest level in six years Monday as Asian currencies joined the yen's rally against the US dollar after a newspaper article suggested US rates may not rise much further.
Thursday April 20, 2006

The Singapore dollar hit a nearly eight- year high and the Thai baht jumped to its strongest level in six years Monday as Asian currencies joined the yen's rally against the US dollar after a newspaper article suggested US rates may not rise much further.Trade was thinned by holidays in Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. The yen rose more than half a percent against the US dollar from Friday's lows, inspiring similar gains in the baht and the South Korean won.
Rising Korean stocks, which briefly hit a record high, also buoyed the won to levels around 954 per dollar.

The Singapore dollar struck 1.6010 per US dollar, its strongest since June 1998, before paring some gains.

The currency had been rising for almost two months on the expectation the Monetary Authority of Singapore would tighten policy at last week's semi-annual review.
It slipped after the MAS stuck to a two-year policy that allows a gradual appreciation in the trade-weighted currency.

The regionals also drew support from expectations the yuan would be bid ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington.

The baht was quoted in a 37.92-37.98 per dollar range for most of the day.
Traders said the baht's gains were also due to bunched foreign currency inflows hitting the market. REUTERS

HTML Editors for the Big Boys and girls

2006-04-19T01:19:00.000-07:00

Kyle Lamson is a friend -- he is also a technorati, this is a great article from him.

Big Boy HTML Editors

Well, before you can get into Accessibility, you have to be able to write code (and because this is a list I already had finished), so my first official post is a list of Editors you may choose from.

You can write code in something like Notepad, but face it, synatx coloring to spot erros, spellcheckers and the like are all good tools to have. So with no further ranting I offer to you this list of possible editors to choose from. Some I have used, some just heard of.

I have organized it in operating system, Windows, Mac, Linux and then sub devided into Freeware and Shareware. Also a few other editors are metioned specializing for say PHP.

This page may be added or subtracted to as new programs arrive or fall away so you will need to stop by once in a while. You will see at the bottom the last time it was edited.

You may also leave comments, but keep in mind that this is to help people, so no flaming. If you noted specific problems or such than feel free to note these, or that as a beginner you found a program quite difficult....... please add only the information that can help someone make a decision and not "It Sucks!", if you have a solid reason for not liking it, then note it, what is missing or not well done.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

HTML Editors
Big Boys

Macromedia Dreamweaver -

The development Standard. Odds are if you try to get a job the company will be using this so it is better to know how to work with it. As excellent site management tools. Works as both code and WYSIWYG per Layout view. Windows / Mac

Adobe GoLive - Has never really been able to pressure Dreamweaver, however is said to have greatly improved under the Adobe CS line. Windows / Mac

Windows Freeware

HTML-Kit - My favorite under freeware. Offers many languages and extensions, supports PHP and up through C++.

1st Page 2000 - a very good program I used for two years. It is now a bit old in the tooth as it was written by a high school student in Australia, he is now a college student working on his degree, it is expected that a new version will be released once he finishes school. NOTE: Also there are rumors that this program has a virus. This is not true. Years ago a computer magazine re-packaged it and offered it together with a extension called "Buttons from Hell", this additional packet included JavaScripts that triggered virus alarms but were not viruses. Most new virus programs no longer fall for the false signal.

Amaya - Suggested by Les below, I must say it looks impressive, supporting such modern technologies as SVG, MathML 2.0, XHTML 1.1. It is a production of the W3C itself.
Vim - I played with this in school, actually meant for Linux it has a steep learning curve as it works more with command line sort of work. But if you take the time to learn it is is very powerful. Vim is charityware

Nvu - originally made for Linux, it is also available for Mac and Windows. It is being re-vamped and is said to be earmarked to replace the editor for Mozilla, it is also being released as a extension for Firefox. It is a WYSIWYG and good for those with little knowledge of HTML. I know many people in forums who swear by it.

NoteTab - I have never built a site with this but often use it just to check source code of sites I visit, it is quick loading. Windows free and shareware depending on version.

Emacs - Loved by a few. It is GNU and is basically a Command line editor like a DOS window. Takes a lot of getting used to, but is considered a classic.
Arachnophilia - This is a program that has been around a while. I have never used it, but have heard often that it is very simple and therefore is a excellent editor for beginners learning HTML.

Selida - Another editor I have come across in forums, so it does have a following but I have no personal experience with it.

Phase 5 Proton - this is a German editor by Ulli Meybohm. It is very popular, also English language I believe and I have met an odd person in the US and Canada who do use it. I originally used it for a short time in school as Phase5, however it seems to have had a name change to Proton.

Shareware

SkEdit - Never used it but was suggested to me in a forum. Shareware (but quite affordable I find).

HotDog - This program has been around for sometime. It was often supplied in computer magazines in Germany. I have not heard of it in years but it is still out there. It is a name in the industry, but I know no one who uses it so cannot say much more about it.

CoffeeCup HTML Editor - I have used CoffeCup software and generally it is very good. I have not however used the editor, but have heard good things about it.
AceHTML - A shareware editor with a decent reputation.

NetObjects Fusion - Ok this is tricky. This software has rated well often. It is especially good for creating e-commerce sites and Database driven web sites. What keeps me from praising it however is the way it works. Even the worst editors allow some access to the HTML behind the web site. Fusion however uses it's own propriety code created as you drag and drop elements on the screen. Only once the web site is finished and is to be published, is the propriety code then translated into HTML. This means at no time can you switch to HTML view to tweak a element. This program goes out of it's way to keep you away from the code, so it is fine for those with no interest in learning how to really build sites. PC Pro Magazine liked it and claims it creates accessible web sites, that I do not believe so will see if I can get a copy to test one of these days, till then, it rates well but I dislike your inability to modify code during development. You will find a full review in the link to Urban75 listed at the bottom of this page.

Mac (with special thanks to the members and management of Mac Community Feedback who supplied me with info as I am not a Mac user.)
Freeware

Creatext - I think about the most popular pure Mac editor, highly recommended to me.
Nvu - originally made for Linux, it is also available for Mac and Windows. It is being re-vamped and is said to be earmarked to replace the editor for Mozilla, it is also being released as a extension for Firefox. It is a WYSIWYG and good for those with little knowledge of HTML. I know many people in forums who swear by it.
Emacs - Loved by a few. It is GNU and is basically a Command line editor like a DOS window. Takes a lot of getting used to, but is considered a classic.

Shareware

BBEdit - I have heard of it but know little. BBEdit is the leading professional HTML and text editor for the Macintosh. Specifically crafted in response to the needs of Web authors and software developers, this award-winning product provides a plethora of features for editing, searching, and manipulation of text. BBEdit transforms text with high performance.

Linux (with special thanks to the members and management of Linux Linux LINUX who supplied me with info as I am not a Linux user.)
Freeware

Vim - I played with this in school, actually meant for Linux it has a steep learning curve as it works more with command line sort of work. But if you take the time to learn it is is very powerful. Vim is charityware

Quanta - Sorry, no info on this. Quanta Plus is a web development tool for the K Desktop Environment. Quanta is designed for quick web development and is rapidly becoming a mature editor with a number of great features. - the web site

Kate (KDE Advanced Text Editor) - Sorry, no info on this. Kate is a multi document editor, based on a rewritten version of the kwrite editing widget of KDE, offering all the features of that plus a bunch of its own. Kate has been been moved to the kdebase package, and is a built in part of your favorite desktop since release 2.2.

Other languages

CSS

TopStyle CSS - My choice for CSS work, also comes in a free light version, at least older versions of it.

EditCSS - A Firefox Extention suggested by tpattison below.
Cascade - Free CSS editor suggested by Les.

PHP

EditPlus2 - My earliest editor for PHP programming, really nice tools and plugins. I still use it sometimes.

PHP Designer - A freeware PHP editor with a decent reputation, from the creators of HTML Gate.

Rapid PHP - PHP editor, never used it but it comes well praised to me. Shareware / Windows

XML

Xopus XML Editor - shareware, browser based XML editor, have no more info on it the what the site says. Xopus is a browser based in-place wysiwyg XML editor. Xopus allows users to edit XML data in an intuitive word processor like way while keeping the document valid. - the web site

XMLSpy - Likely the default XML editor on the market. Shareware.

Editors for CMS

Xstandard - XStandard is said to write the Purest standards based code of any WYSIWYG editor. It is meant for Content Management Systems (CMS), it opens in your default browser (NOTE: It uses Active-X so only works under Windows OS at this time). (NOTE II : XStandard is currently being developed for OS X, it is currently in Alpha testing, I will add it's release here when ready)

GWD Text Editor - I have never used it but it was praised in a couple of forums. Windows Shareware GWD Text Editor is a powerful general purpose editor for plain text files and integrated developer environment for Borland C++, Java and Euphoria compilers. - the official web site

TinyMCE - another WYSIWYG editor meant for use in a CMS. This will work under Mac, Windows and Linux.

WYM-Editor - This is still in the Alpha phase so it is really not ready for use by beginners. Only those with experiance should try this at this time. It does however look interesting and I will be watching it. It pays close attention to standards and accessibility. One of the developers is a member here (see farther down the thread).
widgEditor - from my understanding this will work with both Mac and Windows.
FCKEditor - This too is a CMS editor that works on all operating systems.

Finally, Urban75 has a very good Group Test of WYSIWYG Editors covering many of these.

Kyle J. Lamson"Everyone has the right to surf!"LSW-Web Design.comDarkShadow-Designs.com

Techneraterism is Jargon-eritism

2006-04-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

Les (Quote)

The Technoraterists are it again --- the Davinci Code is easier to solve than the language used by the Geeks at the World web Consortium --- I mean even the headlines are utter bafflement:

Les (Unquote)

SPARQL Specifications Are W3C Candidate Recommendations2006-04-06: W3C is pleased to announce the advancement of the SPARQL specifications to Candidate Recommendations.

With SPARQL (pronounced "sparkle"), developers and end users can write and consume search results across a wide range of information such as personal data, social networks and metadata about digital artifacts like music and images.

SPARQL Query Language for RDF specifies syntax for authoring, matching and testing. SPARQL Protocol for RDF describes remote data access and transmission of queries from clients to processors.

The SPARQL Query Results XML Format is provided for search results. Visit the Semantic Web home page. (News archive)

Here I (Les) am Again, any idea what they are on about ??

Les Speke "Technorism is a term used by me meaning that 'Bullshiterism baffles brains'

AbstractRDF is a flexible and extensible way to represent information about World Wide Web resources. It is used to represent, among other things, personal information, social networks, metadata about digital artifacts, as well as provide a means of integration over disparate sources of information. A standardized query language for RDF data with multiple implementations offers developers and end users a way to write and to consume the results of queries across this wide range of information. Used with a common protocol, applications can access and combine information from across the Web.

This document describes the query language part of the SPARQL Protocol And RDF Query Language for easy access to RDF stores. It is designed to meet the requirements and design objectives described in RDF Data Access Use Cases and Requirements [UCNR]
Status of This documentThis section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at

This 6 Apr 2006 draft, along with the other working drafts for SPARQL, are a Candidate Recommendation; it been widely reviewed and satisfies the requirements documented in RDF Data Access Use Cases and Requirements. W3C publishes a Candidate Recommendation to gather implementation experience.

The first release of this document was 12 Oct 2004 and the RDF Data Access Working Group has made its best effort to address comments received since then, releasing several drafts and resolving a list of issues meanwhile.

The change log enumerates changes since the 21 July 2005 Working Draft.
The design has stabilized and the Working Group intends to advance this specification to Proposed Recommendation once the exit criteria below are met:
A test suite gives reasonable coverage of the features of the query language and protocol. Note that the working group maintains a collection of query tests and a collection of protocol tests. Only a portion of the tests in these collections are approved at this time.

Each identified SPARQL feature has at least two implementations. At least two conformant SPARQL services are available. Relevant media types are registered: The SPARQL specifications introduce two new Internet Media Types. Review has been requested, but the types are not yet registered: application/sparql-query: review request of 24 Nov 2005 application/sparql-results+xml: review request of 24 Nov 2005 The SPARQL protocol specification uses the ext/rdf+n3 media type, which is unregistered, in an example Normative dependencies, have been advanced to Proposed Recommendation status: XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Functions and Operators Web Services Description Language (WSDL) Version 2.0 Part 1: Core Language Web Services Description Language (WSDL) Version 2.0 Part 2: Adjuncts This specification will remain a Candidate Recommendation until at least 6 June 2006. An implementation report is in progress.

Comments on this document should be sent to public-rdf-dawg-comments@w3.org, a mailing list with a public archive.

Publication as a Candidate Recommendation does not imply endorsement by the W3C Membership. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.

This document was produced by a group operating under the 5 February 2004 W3C Patent Policy. W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy.

Err Err Just thinking of a comment to make, Err

Technorati --ism ??

2006-04-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

Technorati --ism ? can anybody understand this info from Wc3 ??

11.4.3 Algorithm to find heading information

In the absence of header information from either the scope or headers attribute, user agents may construct header information according to the following algorithm. The goal of the algorithm is to find an ordered list of headers. (In the following description of the algorithm the table directionality is assumed to be left-to-right.)

First, search left from the cell's position to find row header cells. Then search upwards to find column header cells. The search in a given direction stops when the edge of the table is reached or when a data cell is found after a header cell. Row headers are inserted into the list in the order they appear in the table. For left-to-right tables, headers are inserted from left to right. Column headers are inserted after row headers, in the order they appear in the table, from top to bottom. If a header cell has the headers attribute set, then the headers referenced by this attribute are inserted into the list and the search stops for the current direction. TD cells that set the axis attribute are also treated as header cells. 11.5 Sample tableThis sample illustrates grouped rows and columns. The example is adapted from "Developing International Software", by Nadine Kano.

In "ascii art", the following table:

CODE-PAGE SUPPORT IN MICROSOFT WINDOWS
Code-Page ID	Name	ACP	OEMCP	Windows NT 3.1	Windows NT 3.51	Windows 95
1200	Unicode (BMP of ISO/IEC-10646)			X	X	*
1250	Windows 3.1 Eastern European	X		X	X	X
1251	Windows 3.1 Cyrillic	X		X	X	X
1252	Windows 3.1 US (ANSI)	X		X	X	X
1253	Windows 3.1 Greek	X		X	X	X
1254	Windows 3.1 Turkish	X		X	X	X
1255	Hebrew	X				X
1256	Arabic	X				X
1257	Baltic	X				X
1361	Korean (Johab)	X			**	X
437	MS-DOS United States		X	X	X	X
708	Arabic (ASMO 708)		X			X
709	Arabic (ASMO 449+, BCON V4)		X			X
710	Arabic (Transparent Arabic)		X			X
720	Arabic (Transparent ASMO)		X			X

The Daily telegraph Cat story

2006-04-10T02:14:00.000-07:00

Saw a story in the Daily Telegraph paper about a policeman being prosecuted over the killing of a cat which was in mortal pain after a road traffic accident.

It appears that the officer used a spade to dispatch the cats life as he thought it
best to put it out of its misery, but the public complained to the RSPCA who
brought a prosecution which after some years failed.

It brought back memories when I came across a very injured cat after a road
traffic accident or abuse not sure at the time, it was in pain !! --- A woman told me it belonged to a drunken couple who lived nearby.

I then remembered the couple, the woman with an eye missing after being gouged out by the boy friend, the boyfriend with a cleft in his skull after being struck by an heavy cider bottle, when I saw him sometime ago after a neighbor had seen trails of blood in the passaeway of the flats where she lived, I followed the blood splatters expecting to see a body but came across the couple from hell, I opened the flat door and there was a chap sat in a chair covered in blood, his scalp was split and blood was streaming down his face, he was licking the blood and as he saw me he said "What the fuck do you want ?"

Anyway going back to the cat,
I saw that this little cat was injured and I wondered how bady it had been treated and saw put it on the floor on the street, I put my foot over its neck and decided death was better than this poor animal going back to those drunken heathens, BUT I felt that someone was watching me, as I had told the other people to go home -- anyway I looked up and felt the claws of
the cat scratching my heavy boot as it looked up at me snarling, "Goodbye", I said
as I put pressure on the neck then I heard a womans screech "Hey you what are you doing?" and I looked up and saw hundreds of eyes looking down at me from an office block,
mostly women with their hands at their mouths in anguish as they feared the
ultimate demise of this Wild animal under my size 10 1/2 size ammo boot.

I bent down and picked up the cat and stroked and loved it --- The cat then mauled
my face, So I smiled upwards and decided to throttle it in an entryway out
of sight but dozen women ran towards me from the block and cuddled me for
showing such affection to a Gods creature.

I put it in my car and took to a vets, who rang later to say it had a broken leg and would live, do I know the owner as the bill needed to be paid ---- ? I saud I didn't and we would pay the bill and could the cat be orphaned out - I didn't want the terrible drunken duo to have it
back Urgh

The following morning I was doing some paper work when I was called to reception
where I saw the Cider drinking raving lunatics the owners of the injured cat --

An horror of horrors happened the one eyed woman pulled me towards her and with
the gaping hole of a socket peering towards me and meths smelling breath she
said "Thank you for saving my cat" she then put a snotty covered face on mine
and snogged me I was gasping with abhorence when her partner in drink
managed to stand up and shook my hands, with hands that hadn been washed
in months.

They then produced the cat which was in a card board box - some neighbor had told them about the cat and me rescuing it Arghhhh, a young bloke on the desk had contacted the VET and the cat was inadvertently given back to them.

Poor Baby Little cat ----

The Playboy Magazine arrives

2006-04-08T01:17:00.000-07:00

On my Word Press Blog I put Malaysian News on that Blog once in awhile and I thought i would do so on here as things are interesting in Malaysia here is the Top story in Jakarta

Feverish reception greets 'Playboy'

All the frenzied speculation about the content of the Indonesian edition of Playboy men's magazine was very good for business on its debut Friday (April 7).

The curious snatched up copies as soon as they arrived, with many vendors reporting they were sold out as early as 3 a.m. Some buyers had placed reserve orders for the magazine days ahead.

"Maybe people were afraid we'd run out of a copy, so they ordered from me from a while back," Yadi, a retailer at WTC Mangga Dua shopping mall in Central Jakarta, was quoted by detik.com as saying.

But what they got their hands on was not up to the salacious advance billing, most it fueled by protesters assuming its content would resemble that of the U.S. magazine.
With demure-looking TV presenter Andhara Early on the cover, the 160-page glossy magazine featured breezy lifestyle features, a few girlie pictorials as well as serious in-depth pieces on the economy, religion and an interview with literary giant Pramoedya Ananta Toer.
In fact, its pictorials, while baring some skin, were tamer than many other men's magazines and titillating tabloids available here.

"This is no different from women's magazines, the cover is so plain and decent, there's nothing pornographic here," magazine buyer Takdir Siregar told The Jakarta Post in Semanggi, South Jakarta.

"I want it to be like the American version, the photographs in this are not even that provocative, not like what people were so worried about," said Rifki, another buyer at Gambir train station in Central Jakarta.

He wished he had used his Rp 39,000 (about US$4.3) to purchase For Him Magazine, which sells for Rp 24,000.

The toned-down content was not enough for some opponents of the magazine's publication.
The Islamic Defender Front (FPI) protested at Playboy's office on Jl. TB Simatupang, South Jakarta, to demand the magazine's withdrawal from the market.

'Playboy' in the Betawi language means bandot, meaning someone who defiles women and virgins, therefore Playboy is not fit for Indonesian people and Muslims," coordinator for FPI's investigative body, Habib Alwi Usman, said during the rally.

He also said the publisher reneged on its promise for limited distribution of the magazine through subscription sales and availability at select outlets.

Chairman of the Indonesian Antipiracy and Pornography Community (MAPPI) Syamsul Huda reported publisher PT Velvet Silver Media's director Ponti Carolus, chief editor Erwin Arnada, photographer Oke Gania and models Andhara and Kartika Oktarini Gunawan to police for violating the criminal code on indecency.

"All the photographs here show pornography. This model here is even wearing see-through clothing without any underwear," Syamsul said, pointing to the centerfold of Miss April Kartika in a blue lace negligee.

City councillors agreed the magazine's distribution should be controlled.
"I've read the magazine, the content is very much like other magazines for men. Even so, the distribution of the magazine needs to be restricted, after all the Playboy label is distinctly provocative," Vike Verry Ponto, a councillor from the Democrat Party, told the Post.
Mohammad Arifin from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) warned the public needed to remain alert because the "staid" first edition could be a move by the publisher to gain acceptance.

City Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said the police would seek expert opinions on whether Playboy's content violated the Criminal Code.

"We will ask experts' opinion about the language, the photos and so on. If from our investigation we find any of the content violated the Criminal Code, then we will take action," Firman said, adding he saw nothing pornographic from his "layman's" point of view.

Free Air Space for Wi Fi ??

2006-04-07T04:37:00.000-07:00

Well I think that the day will come when we shall all have Free broad band and not be restricted to the min-ute amount of 2GB + per upload per month, which if you are a regular user of the net is not a great amount if you upload a lot of photos which have quality weight of text in kbs is vast but photos and especially music files or video clips take up a greater amount MBs of your allowance in which your server will send you a warning -'You are over your allowance to keep your account open contact this office'

I mean how can anyone define how much finite space we are allowed in the cosmos of the Free space that is called --- 'A band' ?

Before freeserve came long in the UK even getting on the internet cost a fortune per month that would have been if I remember £150 -- . Creating your web pages came under the auspices of your server with set templates, as there were not that many tutorial sites at that time to teach the code of the net html.

The amount of space one was allowed per web site. was very low with a very payment being charged, but freeserve came along with the FREE Space --- and the prices tumbled in quick succession from the top players like BT.

At the present time in the UK we can only get Wi Fi from specific areas like airports and major hotels, the connections are great apart from the cost per Minute used -- if of course you are a business person our saviour for the upkeep of our nation the cost is paid in expenses.

But as the world progress's and the information world of the internet becames greater at some time - the Wi Fi in its NEW Name --- 'Space free listening' could be the In word, perhaps I should buy the domain name--- ??? -

The Behemoth of the Wonderful google

2006-04-05T10:03:00.000-07:00

This is an excellent article on the Google Search Engine by a great author

Good Google - Writing For The Most Powerful Robot In The World
Jim Hedger Expert Author Published: 2004-12-06

Google "...is big. Really Big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is." (excerpt from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

Behold: The Almighty GoogleBot!

Google is the most powerful information resource humans have ever constructed. The power of any major search tool boggles the mind but considering the vastness of Google's complex simplicity can truly hurt one's brain. With over 8-billion references in its rapidly growing, organically generated index, Google sets the standards other search engines follow. Benefiting from a three year reign as the undisputed leader of search, Google has had a very good year and looks poised to make 2005 an even better year.

In 2004, Google introduced more new and improved applications for its users than any other tech company, posted one of the most successful IPO's in business history in a most unorthodox Dutch-Auction format, and met or exceeded any challenges its rivals threw at. Google is no longer just a search engine, it is an advertising machine. Drawing about 90% of its revenues from paid advertising and contextual ad-delivery, Google has had two major focuses this quarter.

The first is increasing the number of places paid-advertising might show up. The second is to develop new products and features that will retain current user loyalty and win new users from the other search firms. Both initiatives rely heavily on Google's reputation for delivering fast, free and relevant search results. Google has the world's largest database of indexed websites and it acquires site information through its spider GoogleBot.

GoogleBot is probably the most well-known spider working the web today. It is also likely among the most analyzed applications ever written. On one level, GoogleBot is quite simple and can be depended on to act in a very specific manner. GoogleBot lives to follow links. GoogleBot will often chase down a link-path until it can no longer work its way deeper into a site. It will also work its way through any site linked to from any other site. Google finds the majority of new sites in its index by following links from established sites.

If a link exists, Google will (A) find it, (B) follow it, (C ), record every bit of information it can possibly record, and (D) weigh that information against a fairly rigid algorithm to determine the perceived topic or theme of a site for future reference. If a site in Google's index is modified or changes, Google will re-spider the site as quickly as it possibly can. GoogleBot's mission is to create a snap-shot of the World Wide Web and store it across Google's network of data centers around the world.

When you reference information from Google, the results you see reflect Google's most recent snap-shot of the web. Parts of that snap-shot might be hours or even weeks old but overall the index is updating itself every minute of every day, 24/7. The fastest way to see exactly what Google views as the most recent version of your site is to click on the "Cached" link generally below the main link-reference Google displays for your site. How GoogleBot behaves as it acquires sites is one thing.

What Google does with the information its bot gathers is another thing. Google's method of ranking websites is extremely (and increasingly) complex. To understand how Google works today, a brief (and over simplified) explanation of the principle of PageRank is in order. Google was originally developed as a means of finding information in research documents at Stanford University where its inventors Larry Page and Sergey Brin met as grad students. PageRank was developed as the basic sorting algorithm for their search tool (then known as Backrub) and was based on a very simple concept, trust. Page and Brin understood that documents on the Internet could be linked together.

They speculated that if someone took the time to code a link (by hand in those days) to another document there was likely a relevance between the two documents. Why else would one researcher link to another researcher's work? Simply put, the more incoming links a particular document has, the better it would rank when sorted by PageRank. Given the environment in which it was developed, Google's genesis proved to be the perfect tool for intelligent users. Tranfering that simplicity from a dorm room at Stanford to practically every living room and office space on Earth has been a great challenge for Google's engineers.

While it is still somewhat based on the original, "democratic" nature of PageRank, Google's sorting algorithm has become infinitely more complicated. Google continues to weigh the number of links directed towards a site as positive indicators that there is relevant information to be found there. Since links are the veins and arteries of the web, links continue to be the most important factor influencing Google's perception of the relevance of a website.

As the Google index has grown so rapidly over the past six years, and search engine marketers have learned how to use Google's behaviours to influence rankings, Google weighs several other factors when considering the relevance of a site but the core of the algorithm remains rooted in PageRank. Not all Links are Created Equal Back in the good old days, seven or eight years ago at Stanford, one link could represent one positive vote.

As marketers learned to manipulate links, Google learned to apply different standards and measures when looking at those links and the content of sites in its index. Today, Google considers different links in different ways. As a matter of interest, our recent studies show that Google displays less back-links for sites than any other search engine, leading us to conclude that Google has become much stricter about how it views and values incoming links.

Google looks at a number of factors when determining the value of a link. Where the link originates from is as important as where the link is directed in Google's eyes. Google, like its rivals, is trying to find relationships between documents aside from obvious keywords. Google has the ability to fundamentally understand documents in its index and determine the topic, theme or context of those documents.

This is an important measure as Google is becoming increasingly strict about link-relevance. To receive a highly positive response from Google, the pages or sites linked together must somehow relate to each other in topic as well as by sharing similar keywords. An excellent example would be in regional tourism. A local tourism bureau will almost certainly have a website. That site will link to the sites of member-clients in its region.

Each of those sites represent businesses dependent on regional tourism, thus establishing relevance between the sites. The tourism bureau becomes the "hub" from which Google follows links to other, topically related websites. In this way, the Hub site becomes a highly positive link-reference in Google's eyes. The very best links, in Google's eyes, come from "authority sites". An authority site is one that is very well established and respected such as mainstream news sites (CNN, TIME, NYTimes, etc...) other search directories, industrial leaders (Macromedia, HP, Pitney Bowes, Nike, etc...), and other highly credible sources such as the regional tourism bureau mentioned above.

While a website doesn't necessarily have to represent a large corporation to be considered an authority site, the sheer number of pages and references, combined with high visitor numbers generally associated with large corporate sites helps. Some personal Blogs, smaller companies and alternative news sources/blogs have also enjoyed "authority" status. This status is, in some ways, flexible and situational. A link from the tourism bureau mentioned above will not tend to help a business outside of its region unless a tangible relevancy factor is somehow introduced.

In practical terms, the "authority" status of a website is irrelevant for SEOs as the vast majority of sites in Google's index are just regular, run of the mill websites run by regular, run of the mill folks like us. Small businesses, researchers, governments, NGOs, musicians, artists, families, hobbyists and others write websites to offer the world access to their information. 99.999999% of these sites contain links of some sort or another and the vast majority of those links lead to topically relevant documents. While not "authority" sites, Google still considers these links extremely important when sorting and ranking sites.

Again, the stress is on topical relevancy as Google places enormous value in good, solid links. Google does not live on links alone Much as been written in this article and thousands of others about Google and links. If links were the only factor Google looks at, the SEO business would not exist and Google's index would be as off-kilter as a Batman set. As stated in previous paragraphs, Google has the ability to read sites and understand what it is reading. Google is able to reference a world of information when figuring out the context of text used in Titles, Meta Tags, Body Text and Anchor Links.

Since we know that Google is actually reading and comprehending content, we need to place specific content in places we know GoogleBot likes to look for it. Writing and placing this information is where SEO becomes an artful science that stems from simple common sense. Think about what Google knows about your website before it even visits. It finds your site by following links. Therefore it "assumes" your site is topically relevant to the site it acquired the link to your site from. Google knows the address of the site, the URL. It also knows what anchor text the original linking site used when phrasing the link to your website.

Keyword enrichment of both elements is beneficial with Google. In other words, if you can, use a target keyword phrase in the URL of your site, and request that others linking to your site use your target keyword phrases as the anchor text of links directed to your site. Once Google hits your site, it learns a lot more very quickly. It sees the title, tags, text and links, and records these elements as it moves through the site. These are the basic elements SEOs examine and modify when working on your site.

The first thing GoogleBot sees is the title of the site. Keyword enriched titles are very useful but webmasters are cautioned to be very conservative in the number of keywords or phrases they place in the title of a page. We generally use two or three keyword phrases when writing titles. Page titles should be page specific with keywords focused on the topic of the page. The second (or third) keyword set in the title is used to provide an overall context to the site. For example, Lastly, GoogleBot comes back to links. GoogleBot moves through your website following links you place there.

It reads the text that phrases the links to determine what it might find when it gets to the next page. For example, the second page in most websites is the "About Us" page. Billions of websites use "About Us" as the anchor text linking the index page to the about us page. A better link would read About "Blue Widgets Inc." as the keyword phrase Blue Widgets is used as the anchor text from one page to the next. Keyword enrichment of anchor text also effects Google's perception of external links . Going back to our tourism bureau example, a link to a local bed and breakfast might read "Humboldt House" Bed and Breakfast or it might read Humboldt House "Victoria - Bed and Breakfast".

The anchor text used in the second example would be far more beneficial than the first. Remember, links provide the pathway for GoogleBot and other spiders. A final element that should be included on all pages is a text-based sitemap that links to all pages in the site and is linked to from the Home or INDEX page. In a nutshell, that's how GoogleBot examines a site.

Here is a quick rundown of which elements GoogleBot is looking for:
Relevant Incoming Links
Good URLs that are not too spammy
Easy to follow link paths including a sitemap
Keyword enriched titles
Well written Description Meta Tag
Well written Keywords Meta Tag (less important than Description)
Topically focused Body Text
Keyword Enriched Anchor Text
NO SPAM
Relevance, relevance, relevance

Self Flagellation punishment if NOT hand coding

2006-04-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

Remembered something that made me smile, it reminded me of the movements in the past where another movement for the ??? ---

Popular front for Gods creation ~:)

I am not very good at creating great tomes, but this was a bit of fun between myself and K..

I have got to laugh even though its so sad --

Because in June 2004 or thereabouts, after I was taking a great interest in CSS, Yes I WAS doing ok at the time, I had found a beautiful elegant code Cascading Style Sheets that seemed to outsrip the old OLD html 3 with its cumbersome code---- which Dreamweaver was creating.

BUT Oh no here it comes, What now ? ?? :)

An aparition appeared on the net it was so beautiful, just the thought of it, brought warm tears, even to my mate and mentor K --- who said:

'Les FireFox has arrived' as he quelled away the tremor in his voice ---

THEN

The flag bearing zealots of the Firefox/firebird/Mozilla brigade, appeared in greater numbers each day as they poured their messages of delight onto forums throughout the world of the internet, gasping with the fevered cries of, Oh god Yes, Yes Yes' were the orgasamic screams, as the Web standards browser Firefox was downloaded.

BUT

Then came the crushing news from all and sundry that Internet explorer was a waste of time and because it did not support the CSS standards, it was recommended that all new web sites should be coded in CSS and your sites should be first tested in Firefox and the necessary hacks should be created for the (redundant) Internet Explorer.

It WAS

A very short time later -- the call went out that the Table layout was absolute trash and should be avoided at all costs came the cry from the Mozilla HQ, So the posh dreamweaver editors were sidelined, the frontpage editors were unknown to everyone, except those brave enough to admit "Yes I used Frontpage, but that was years ago"

AND

What was in vogue now was the new and ultra modern way of creating the ultimate website -

"I always Hand Code" it was not long before, it was hard to find anyone who EVER used Dreamweaver or frontpage admitting that its use would be a self flagellation as punishment

Spy Murdered in N. Ireland

2006-04-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

I will never forget that first day in Northern Ireland in 1969, it was the FIRST time I had ever seen a Britsh Policeman carrying a gun --- this was in Belfast but still the UK.

We stayed in a massive hangar at the RAF Airfield which is NOW the Major civilian airport, there was hundreds of us in this freezing cold gigantic cold mauseleum, we had no beds but slept on the concrete floor, until the army top nobs decided where were going to be sent --- this was the time of the troubles, Day 1 --- on day we went to a brand new factory which was again a vast sace of nothingness, 500 soldiers slept on beds that we made as we wandered in with our kit bags -

Who would have known at that time Before the Provisional IRA and other parties that it would last over 30 years with thousands of people killed during the troubles. Our regiment went back and forth to Northern Ireland, We lost some men --- a great tragedy.

Today another killing took place, a person who infiltrated the SinFein, the political party of the republican was murdered and his hands cut off --- he admitted to being a British spy working for the MI 5 and accepted that he had spied upon the Sinn Fein who trusted him, Someone has murdered him -.

here is the story of todays events.

Tuesday 04 April, 2006

Sinn Fein spy shot dead

Shadows of Sinn Fein members By Paul Hoskins and Michael Smith

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Police launched a murder inquiry on Tuesday after finding the mutilated body of former Sinn Fein member Denis Donaldson who last year admitted spying on fellow Irish nationalists on behalf of British security forces.

The IRA denied it was behind a killing that risks heightening mistrust two days before a fresh bid by Dublin and London to end a political stalemate in the province.
"The Gardai (police) are treating it as a homicide not a suicide," Irish Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said. "They found the body on the floor with a bullet wound to the head," he told Sky Television. "There is damage to his right forearm ... it is almost severed."

Police in the Republic of Ireland confirmed they were investigating the discovery of a man in his mid-50s in Donegal.

Donaldson was a convicted IRA bomber who spent time in prison with Gerry Adams, now leader of the paramilitary group's political ally Sinn Fein.

Donaldson was again arrested in 2002 and accused of spying for Sinn Fein at the Stormont parliament in Belfast but in a dramatic twist he was expelled from the party in December after admitting he had been a mole for the British for two decades.
"SERIOUS REPERCUSSIONS"

The IRA took the unusual step of issuing a brief statement on Tuesday: "The IRA had no involvement whatsoever in the death of Denis Donaldson."
~
The guerrilla group called a cease-fire in 1997 and pledged last July to down arms and pursue its fight for a united Ireland through democratic means. An independent watchdog reported in October that the paramilitary group was keeping to its pledge.

But Northern Ireland's main unionist party cast doubt on whether the IRA had renounced violence. "If what I have heard is true, that they cut his hand off then that would show that they were saying 'here was the hand that signed away his obligation to IRA/Sinn Fein,'" said Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley.

"If this is so, or there is any suggestion that this is so ... this is a terrible happening that has very serious repercussions," he said.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams condemned the killing, agreeing it could damage efforts to restore the province's regional government.

"It is likely that his death at this time is intended to undermine current efforts to make political progress," he said in a statement. "Those who carried out this murder are clearly opposed to the peace process."

Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, are both expected in Northern Ireland this week to unveil their latest plan to kick-start a mothballed assembly which collapsed in part due to the 2002 allegations that Donaldson and others had been spying for Sinn Fein.

The Stormont assembly, in which Catholic and Protestant parties on either side of the Northern Ireland's sectarian divide shared power, collapsed three years ago after a police raid on Sinn Fein offices.

Is it True ???

2006-04-04T08:08:00.000-07:00

Oh please it is awful for the farmers, those neanderthal userpers of the British economy -

'I dont know how we are going to re build our lives" she said as she was being preened for the farmers monthly dinner dance, "Its awful no one thinks of us" as she is having the 4 x 4 washed and polished by one of Go-Fers outside the famers Georgian pile.

Duplicity and full scale fraud in the foot and mouth debacle was found after that awful period - When herds of animals were destroyed and signed by the duplicitic Vet that the herd was of a rare breed (Enhancing the payout) Millions upon Millions of taxpayers money was signed over to farmers and theit pet Vets it was found.

Animals killed in areas which were not in the effected area, but signed as being IN the area by vets who were taken on in bulk to garner more money for their overflowing coffers.

Just a thought from a documentary on BBC

The Day he left his bride to go with his regiment

2006-04-04T03:18:00.000-07:00

I have asked some of my mates to send me memories of their time in Terendak, this morning my friend Les Turner sent me a VERY Moving account of the day he will never forget.

My wife reads all my web pages as she is a good critic, as I read Les,s story she became emotional and said “That is so lovely, but so sad”

Here is Les Turners letter in Full, I will put into the KOYLI.com later, it really is good - (if any ex koyli soldier would like to contact me with their stories I will put into the site)

Story:

You talk about the first day in Terendak, I would like to talk about three or four weeks earlier. I would like to call it–

The most miserable day of my life.

The day we left Pontefract barracks to go to Malaya.
There isn’t a worse feeling in the world than when a soldier as to leave is family to go abroad, but also there isn’t a better feeling in the world than that when a soldier comes home. But my story is the one when on a cold snowy night we got on the train in Pontefract railway station to go to Southampton.

I had only been married a month, and I was very upset, I had shed my tears and was trying to get over it, but fate was to deal me another cruel blow, because after we had been traveling for about ten minutes I had my head through the carriage window, when I thought this country side looks a bit familiar, I looked up the track and we were approaching a bridge that went over a road, yes the road was the main street of my village how cruel can fate be, for not more than two hundred yards down that road I could see my house where my new wife was , I do believe that if that train was going any slower I would have jumped off, I went back to my carriage, I’m glad to say that it was in darkness, because this roughie tuffi soldier cried is eyes out .

That house as now gone, but that bloody bridge still stands there over our main street, and every time I look at it, it reminds me of the most miserable day of my life, Thats about 45 years ago.
-------

Thanks les T – A wonderful insight into a soldier leaving home for years, in your case leaving his loving new bride.

The day is Nigh

2006-04-04T00:53:00.000-07:00

By I love this spring Sun when I wake up and the Sun is streaming into the bedroom, how many more ?

It may sound completely mad what I am about to say but NOT if you believe in the Chinese Spirits -

When I had that chat with my late Chinese wife shortly before died she said, 'I feel the time is near Les', as she looked directly into my eyes, 'I feel you will get Perempuan, you must wait the spirits will be angry'

I of course thought she was joking --- I hugged her and said "No you will be here when I have gone" --- she looked at me wistfully "No you not"

Some weeks later she died whilst we were on holiday.

She was right --- in everything, The day is nigh.

The Indian Shrines of Batu caves, near Kuala lumpur

2006-04-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

On one of my many many trips around Malaya, I found a visit batu caves, Kuala Lumpur, a must.

Batu Caves is a limestone hill to the north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which has a series of caves and cave temples. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill. Batu Caves is also the name of the nearby village.

The 'Orang Asli' (local aboriginal tribes called Jakun) had been aware of the caves for a long time. However, they became famous only after it was discovered by the American Naturalist, William Hornaday in 1878.Of the various cave temples that comprise the site, the largest and best known is the Temple or Cathedral Cave, so named because it houses several Hindu shrines beneath its 100 m vaulted ceiling.These serve as the focus of the Hindu community's yearly Thaipusam festival.

The site is well known for its numerous macaque monkeys, which visitors feed, sometimes involuntarily. There are 272 steps that a visitor has to climb in order to access the temple at the summit of the hill.

The climb is very difficult in the sweltering heat -- and to keep you company are the monkeys which GRAB anything out of your hand and can be aggressive if they do not get their banana or choc bar --- these animals cannot be hurt as they belong to the priests on the lower indian temple who supply food to the altar in the open altar of which the monkeys take as their own.

With me climbing the steps was an Indian couple with their little boy, we entered the massive cavern and the couple and child went to an Indian altar where an indian priest bare chested with long long hair and a large moustachio spoke to the parent of the child who prayed to the God and present gifts and the priest took the child who was crying with fear of this old man, Who in turn smiled said some prayes and put a mark of paint on the childs forehead, and blessed the child.

The Duplicity and fraud of Technorateri

2006-04-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

Yes a mouthful but in reality perfectly true.

We have in this day and age of computers the extremely able tutors who will in volunteer their time and energies in helping novices young and old in the creation web pages, and then in the periphery of the web Help sites there are the Technorateri !!

Those who meander onto a forum and pass on a few words of complete brain splatter ie

Technorateri

"You have got understand that HTTP headers for HTML documents transferred over the network. The charset parameter is a part of the Content-Type header field and takes the following form: Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 if you do not get the proper charset it is difficult to get the validator to check your web page "
that the young learner is completely confounded, he/she says

Student:

"I will never be able to learn that I only wish to create a simple page"

The able teacher tries to bring calm to the scene by saying "That is the advanced html that can be learned at a later date and has nothing to do with our present early lessons.

Destruction of a an early lesson in the throes of html learning can takes the confidence from the young.

They usually have a long script that they have from different forums they then copy paste into forums -- everyone knows them as useless Technocratics.

A Visit to Lantau, Hongkong

2006-04-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

My late wife and I visited Hongkong in 1984, during our stay we went by ferry to Lantau island to visit lo Pin monastery which at the time was run by Buddhist monks, the monks were on a vegetable diet not allowed to eat meat.

(Click photo for large photo)

It was very quiet and serene, I took this photo of a mountain top with a cloud around top which was described by a monk as the magic mountain, it looked beautiful.

Not far away a gigantic statue of Buddha was being built, friends have since visited Lantau and describe the statue as awesome ---

The monastry was built on a mountain top and the road up was very narrow and crumbly, glad to get down safely -- it was about an hours ferry ride from hongkong island.

Life's tribulations

2006-04-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

Life's tribulations

A Lovely face to start the day

2006-04-03T02:38:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be nice to brighten the blog this morning by introducing Danni -- from the Sun Newspaper --

Thanks to Ronnie an avid sun reader.

What disgrace over UK MPs pensions

2006-04-03T02:27:00.000-07:00

Read in Daily Telegraph about the pensions of MPs -- Bluddy outrage, BUT one MP speaking for his Coterie ( fellow MPs) said the pension was not as much as they expected, the pay was poor ---

Can you imagine that ??? They will retire with a pension of £40,000 that in real terms would mean a Pension pot of £800,000 if it was a normal pensioner.(That would be what you and your employer has put in your pot at your retirement)

If you and I wanted a pension of £40,000 We would have to have created a Private pension Plan with monthly payments of ?? with the intent of getting good pension, normally you would be advised that at your salary rates and input you would an X Amount at the age of 50 or whatever age you want it --and as your pay scale improves you might might putting X + £ into the pension, but if inflation rises your pot decreases and there you XX + to compensate ---/ Pensions get their profits from the stocks and shares/hedge funds/property/

What has happened with the pensions that have a black hole in their pension funds such as the MPs, their pension fund is - £40,000,000 in the red, In normal practise new work force members would NOT get a guaranteed pension due to this BLACK hole, BUT MPs have/elected to get you and I the taxpayer to fill the hole, WITH a GUARANTEED pension for all incoming and present MPs.

Baba Nyonya --- thanks Malcolm/ Sally

2006-04-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

A Taste of the Site page on Baba Nyonya (Click)

I (Cede) had lived in Malaysia for several years and knew nothing of the Baba-Nyonya, until my Chinese wife Noi and I were visiting the Singapore museum, where a display was showing this beautiful selection of clothes and jewellery, and wedding baskets all highly decorated, Noi told me they were of the Baba-Nyonya culture in Malacca.
Noi was born and brought up in China until the age of 11 years of age, when she was adopted by her aunt Lo Gan who lived in Malacca

That may sound strange (Adoption by an aunt) but in Chinese society in the olden days, girls were not as highly treasured as boys, and girls were usually sent to live with family members in other countries who were more well off to lessen the load of the family in China.

I met Noi one day in Malacca, the sun seemed to shine more brightly as I looked into her eyes, she was to me the most beautiful lady in the world, and after a long period of courtship where we were escorted by her friends I went and asked her Aunt if I could marry Noi and take her to the UK, with the promise that we would return and visit. She accepted my offer and Noi and I married in Malacca lived together for 27 years throughout the world, having two daughters.

History of Baba-Nyonya

Peranakan, Baba-Nyonya and Straits Chinese ( named after the Straits of Malacca) are terms used for the descendants of the early Chinese immigrants to the Nusantara region, including both the British Straits Settlements of Singapore, Malacca and Penang and the Dutch-controlled island of Java among other places, who have partially adopted Malay customs in an effort to be assimilated into the local communities.

The Baba house museum (Photo on site) in Malacca, Malaysia, which was a place for many Peranakan Straits ChineseThe word Peranakan is also used to describe Indonesian Chinese. In both Malay and Bahasa Indonesia 'Peranakan' means 'descendants'. Babas refer to the male descendants and the Nyonya the female.

Most Peranakan are of Hokkien ancestry, although a fair denomination of them are of the Teochew or Cantonese descent. Written records from the 19th and early 20th centuries show that Peranakan men usually took brides from within the local Peranakan community. Peranakan families also commonly imported brides from China and sent their daughters to China to find husbands. A small group of Indian Peranakans, known as the Chitty, does exist as well.
Language

The language of the Peranakans, Baba Malay (Bahasa Melayu Baba) , is a dialect of the Malay language (Bahasa Melayu), which contains many Hokkien words. It is a dying language and contemporary use is mainly limited to members of the older generation; this is indicative also of the Peranakan culture at large.

History

In the 15th century, the city states of the Malay Peninsula often paid tribute to various kingdoms such as the kingdoms of China and Siam. Close relations with China were established in early 15th century, during the reign of Parameswara, when Zheng He visited Malacca. In return for such tribute, a princess of China, Hang Li Po was presented as a gift to Sultan Mansur Shah, the Sultan of Malacca, at that time (+/-1459 AD). The royalty and servants who accompanied the princess initially settled in Bukit Cina and eventually grew into a class of straits-born Chinese known as the Peranakan.

The Peranakan retained most of their ethnic and religious origins (ancestor worship), but assimilated the language and culture of the Malays. They developed a unique culture and distinct foods. A lot of sources claim that the early Peranakan inter-married with the local Malay population. However, the lack of physical resemblances have also led many experts to believe that the Peranakan Chinese ethnicity has hardly diluted.

The Peranakan often sent their sons and daughters to China to look for spouses. Also, the religion of the local Malay population was Islam which forbids inter-marriage with other religions without conversion first. In the early 1800s, new Chinese immigrants to the Straits Settlements bolstered the Peranakan population.

By the middle of the Twentieth century, most Peranakan were English educated, as a result of the British colonisation of Malaya, and the natural propensity of these people who were able to easily embrace new cultures. Because the Peranakans readily embraced English culture and education, administrative and civil service posts were often filled by prominent Straits Chinese. The interaction with the British also caused many in the community to convert to Christianity. The Peranakan community thereby became very influential in Malacca and Singapore and were known also as the King's Chinese due to their perceived loyalty to the British Crown.

Because of the interaction of the different cultures and languages that Peranakans had, up to the mid-1900s, most Peranakans were trilingual, able to converse with Chinese, Malays and the British. Common vocations were as merchants, traders, and general intermediaries between China, Malaya and the West; the latter was especially valued by the British, since the Babas also enjoyed good relations with the Malay community and served as advisors to the royal Malay courts. In fact the term "Baba" is an honorific term in Malay; probably derived from Hindi/Sanskrit [Baba: literally means grandfather or father, and is used as a term of reverence and affection for an elderly gentleman.

Culture

Historical and cultural items from the Baba culture are displayed in cultural establishments on Heereen Street and Jonker Street in Malacca and in Penang in Malaysia, and at the Peranakan Museum in Singapore. There one can find museums displaying furniture's, food wares, and even traditional clothes of the Baba and Nonya. There are also a small number of "Nyonya" restaurants in Singapore, Penang, Malacca, and the West.
The Peranakans were partially assimilated into the Malay culture (especially in food, dress, and language), while retaining some Chinese traditions (religion, name, and ethnic identity), thereby creating a fusion culture of their own. For instance, from their Malay influence, a unique "Nyonya" cuisine has developed using the spices of Malay cuisine (examples are Chicken Kapitan, a dry chicken curry, and Inchi Kabin, a Nyonya version of fried chicken).

The women (Nyonya) have taken to wearing the baju kebaya (a Malay dress, seen most notably as the uniform of Malaysia and Singapore Airlines' female flight attendants). However, most of the Peranakans are not Muslim, and have retained the ancestral worship tradition of the Chinese; though some converted to Christianity. The wedding ceremony of the Peranakan is largely based on Chinese tradition, and is one of the most fascinating wedding ceremonies in Malaysia and Singapore.

The cause for their cultural extinction is largely due to racial politics and economics brought about by nationalism in Singapore and Malaysia. Without colonial British support for their perceived racial neutrality, Peranakans feel pressured to assimilate back into the mainstream Chinese culture in both countries following independence from the British. In Singapore, the Peranakans are classified as ethnically Chinese by government policies, and because second language instruction (so-called "Mother Tongue") is decided based on ethnicity, this requires them to learn Mandarin Chinese instead of Malay in formal education. While in Malaysia, the standardisation of Malay Bahasa Melayu Malaysia] -required for all ethnic groups- has led to a disappearance of the unique characteristics of Baba Malay.

Here are the photos of my very good friends Malcolm and Sally Moore, Sally was born into a Baba Nyonya family and the leading photo at the top of this page is Sally dressed in the Baba Nyonya dress.

Malcolm and I joined the army together, We trained together and joined our regiment The KOYLI together, and we got married to our Chinese wives in 1963. So we were pretty close, until 1964 when he and Sally moved to a training camp where Malcolm trained recruits until they moved back to Malaya with another regiment then he retired from the army and moved to Hongkong where he joined the police service. We met again in 1990, just after I had lost my wife and Sally tried her match making skills in getting me married to another Chinese lady.

They are very good people very generous and kind.

A couple of hours in gibralter

2006-04-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

A Snippet from my Army Memoirs

We called in at Gibralter for a few hours ha ha

As we entered Gibraltar bay prior to docking, A water tender boat appeared heading our way from the port and as it neared, We heard the bugle strains of 'Little Bugler' and there standing in the boat were about 5 buglers, hanging on as the boat went up and down in the wave swells playing so well, Everyone cheered when they played The KOYLI call, Absolutely brilliant, tears came to our eyes for the way they had welcomed us.

Calling in at Gibraltar where we had a few hours ashore and some old soldier knew a bar where women stripped and a donkey was part of the act and rings were put on its P----- to save damaging the stripper, or as it was known in that area belly dancing ?

There was a lot of noise as this fat Arab woman started swaying around on the stage which was like a boxing rink with everyone looking up at her as she swirled around, throwing parts of her dress to the lads, who were panting away like dogs on the heat and then a fight started when some blokes tried to get to the front to see the show better, some local doormen tried to part the fighters and then uproar as everyone stopped fighting each other but turned on the Arab doormen- some chaps thought it was a good idea to get on the stage and help the Arab woman Undress, she started screaming and it was utter mayhem except for the donkey who was quiet and reserved in the corner, munching away on a carrot wondering when he could get started on his part in the act ? ha ha

It was at this time that a very loud scream of command came from the doorway to the club, everyone stood in mid strike and there was our Regimental Sergeant Major, his body size blocking out the streaming sun which before had made the whole debacle clear to see but what happened next was the command "God Save the Queen" from the RSM and a three man band gave an Arabian rendition of the Royal Anthem and a miraculous thing happened, everyone snapped to attention put on their head dress and sang the anthem 'God Bless the Queen' and as it ended the RSM shouted the command, "Outside you lot and fall in !!"

Every single soldier did exactly as he was told and fell into three ranks outside on the road, where the R.S.M told the Sgt and Cpl's who had ALSO been fighting to march the lads back to the ship. (Me included) Oh I forgot to mention before we all made it to the club, we had a few beers at a bar just off the jetty.

A Great thoughtful post from a mate

2006-04-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

Percy Potts is a man with a literary style of his own, I hope he is going to be a poster on here?

At 9.53am on 30.3.06 I wrote a thread under the title "Gone...but not forgotten"

It's now 0143 on 31,3,06 and it's a wake up call about regionalisation.

Let's not enter the political arena.....then again, let's.Your lives are governed by shitty politics espoused by lying scumbag, dictatorial, back stabbing, duplicitous bar stewards.Got that?

That's the reality. Read what I said about regionalisation.

Picked up the Telegraph and there was confirmation of what I said, letters page.

I quote:"Phillip Johnstone wrote interestingly about the proposed mergers of our Countries police forces. Surely we can see through the rubbish spouted by Charles Clarke, the home secretary, and acknowledge that the only reason for the proposed mergers is that each new police authority will be responsible for one of the regions into which those who control the EU have decreed this once free and indepedent country shall be divided"

There you have it boys, soon, Yorkshire won't exist, it'll be the Northern Region as espoused by the unelected dictators in Brussels.For Gods sake fight back.Read the bloody papers, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph in particular and see what these unelected swine are doing to our heritage.

Adolf Hitler made a film called 'Deutschland Erwacht', Germany awake, perhaps a bad example, but we really need to awaken before we're totally stuffed and become regions and numbers with our history and heritage wiped out forever.

Tomorrow morning I'll be just as ferkin' bolshie about the rape and destruction of my heritage.

England awake,old soldiers awake,Remember what you gave,Don't take this crap lying down.

Percy,

Cede Nullis,and that Motto means everything in these times.

Hi there -- What I am doing

2006-04-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

hi

The Far East I knew is changing but you can look at the Malaysia I knew if you look at my site, which is also on the side bar. To start i will put an interesting headline from Indonesia -- I do this daily, but on her i will probably be moaning about something ha ha, Want to moan with me ?? Join in ha ha

Daily news: Today indonesia

Sunday April 2

Indonesian police tighten security amid attack warnings

Indonesian police tightens security in the capital Jakarta amid warnings from the United States and Australia of possible terrorist attacks this weekend, the city's police chief says.
"We are tightening effective security (measures) and our patrols," Jakarta Police Chief Inspector General Firman Gani said on ElShinta radio.

He said police were also stepping up intelligence gathering in anticipation of any terrorist attack but gave no further details.

An updated travel advisory issued by the foreign affairs department in Canberra urged Australians against travelling to Indonesia "due to the very high threat of terrorist attack".
"Recent reports suggest Sunday, April 2, 2006, could be a potential date for attack but we emphasise that attacks could occur at any time, anywhere in Indonesia," it said.

The US embassy also warned Americans in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, of a possible attack against Westerners and Western interests on Sunday.
Spokesmen for the national and city police could not be reached by telephone on Sunday.
On the resort island of Bali, police spokesman A.S. Reniban said police were already prepared since triple suicide bombings at restaurants there last year which left 20 bystanders dead.
"Since the Bali 2005 bombings the Bali police have been prepared... we have been continuously prepared," Reniban said by telephone.

Bali had increased the number of uniformed police at strategic locations, including places of worship and tourist sites, and tightened patrols, he said, without giving further details.
Indonesian police and government officials have said there was no intelligence indicating an imminent terrorist attack.

"So far there's no information to that effect but we will check," national police chief General Sutanto told reporters on Saturday. "We will not issue a warning based on something uncertain."
Jakarta has often complained about Australia's travel warnings amid suspicions that Canberra deliberately exaggerates the extent of the terrorist threat in Indonesia.

Indonesia has been rocked by a series of deadly attacks blamed on Muslim militants, notably the first Bali bombings which killed 202 people including 88 Australians in 2001.

Just a Test

2006-04-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

First Test on new blog