Monday, September 29, 2008

It's Monday Again

Another week has gone pass and looking back onto the previous week which was filled with a lot of headache and hangovers, it wasn't that bad after all as I had quite a balanced week. The days were filled with plenty of work while the nights were enjoyed at either Seri Pacific Hotel or Bamboo 9. 

It was last week Wednesday where we took a drive down to Seri Pacific (formerly known as Pan Pacific) to meet up with an old friend who works there for dinner at the Chinese Restaurant. The walk into the restaurant to our table was quite interesting as the hotel has been around for years but then the restaurant was still in quite good condition. Well there were flaws and preventive maintainance that could have been done to the place but still, it was acceptable by certain measures.

We were served with beers for a start as the dishes started coming in. We were served with a Double Boiled Chicken Soup with Dried Scallops for a start. It was quite ok as the flavour of the soup was quite subtle and it blended quite well with our taste. 

Next up was the main dishes which was served together. We had Stir Fried Asparagus with Sambal, Steamed Cod Fish with Supreme Soya Sauce, Black Pepper Venison and the House Speciality Prawns. 

The asparagus was a little lacking on taste as I felt the sambal for cooking this dish wasn't enough. The Cod fish had some fishy taste plus it was a little too oily for us. Even after asking them to pan fry the fish, it was still oily. The venison was quite good actually but sadly over oiled. Prawns were fresh and salty.

Overall, the food was quite decent minus the oil and salt even though I was gulping down the wines that they served. We commented on the food and it has been duly noted by the restaurant manager who happened to be a gem of a person. After listening to all of us complaint, we finally adjourned to the lobby lounge for some entertaining music and more wines.

We continued our drinking session till 1 am in the morning with me sending my friend back to his house in Jalan Gasing. We were quite blasted but somehow managed to get through a road block in his car. 

Well, I managed to get home in 1 piece without any dents, scratches or even a saman. (whew)

Anyway......that's all I have for you guys right now.....

Till my next posting,

Cheers 

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Something Silly

After blogging for a few days consecutively, I've noticed that I'm begining to feel a little brain dead in what to blog next. It never dawned on to me these few days as I've had things to share with all the readers. As we approach day 6 of the blog, I find it rather amusing as I've not written so much in the last few years as compared to this few days.

As we are coming to the end of September, I've got several eager people anticipatting my return to Penang for the yearly celebration of a certain person's birthday. Everybody is asking when is my expected arrival. Even my sister is wondering whether I'll be in town for my birthday or am I going away again. Hahaha. 

Lets put it this way, it is a yearly ritual for me to be in Penang and I wouldn't miss it for the workd as I hardly spend much time with my friend back there anymore. We used to hang out everyday till the wee hours in the morning and get up early for work the next day. To the extend of partying all night long till the next morning continued by working through out the day and then party again that following night. 

The whole hotel branded us as a bunch of crazy lunatics who will party at any given time of the day or night. So much so one my friends collapse and passed out for more than 24 hours. It was one of the best years I've had in Penang. We never had to worry about anything or anyone. 

Ever since I moved back to KL, the whole group has been disbanded and each one of them found new jobs, girlfriends and etc..... hence the eagerness during the end of each September. It is the time of the year where we will regroup for the next few days and party like there's no tomorrow.

After doing this for the 2 years in a row with the 3rd one on the way, I'm wondering to myself whether we can hold on to this tradittion for the next 5 to 10 years as I'm begining to find it rather an expensive affair each year. I would normally drive up but ever since the huge fuel hike, I've resorted to taking express busses now as it's much more economical. Besides that, if I go back on a public holiday or weekend, I get to choose the car of my choice to drive or have the privilege of being chauffered around town.

Sounds like a sweet deal? Hahaha. I've been chauffering this guys around for years and now it's my turn to be chauffered. Hahaha.

Anyway, I'll try to post some pictures of the wild parties when I'm there once I get back to KL. So in the mean time, keep guessing what we will do till the answers are out. Suggestions are welcomed.

Till my next post......
Cheers

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Shit Too Happens

After reading through a couple of blogs today, I finaly sat down to think what I was suppose to write. As I'm typing the words in, I'm still half decided on publishing this post. What the heck...

As we may all notice from the people who was born during the sixty's onwards, the divorce rates within each family was rather minimal. Those days, such cases were very rare even though there were such instances where there was a break up within the family. Some how, most of this cases were just a temporary measure. There was such a thing called "Happy Ending" within each family through thick or thin.

However, as we humans evolved through time, the news of a married couple going through a divorce procedure was slowly escalating during the late 70's and also the 80's. Unfortunately, I was one of those child who went through the painful process when your parents were filing for a divorce and not to mention fighting for custody rights. 

It was somwhere in 1982 or 1983...(can't really recall the exact year) my mom moved out of the house and left me with my dad. What transpired between them was unknown to me till today as I did not want to get into their problems as when we were young, we were thought never to meddle with the problems of the adults. 

Couple of months later, my mom with the help of one of my uncle took me and we lefft for Penang in his car. It never dawned onto me what was going on at that time as I was only around 3 years old. As we arrived Penang, we went to my other uncle's house to stay. It was from then on I was staying in Penang till I was somewhere around 8 years old.

On the last day of school in 1988, my dad appeared at the doorstep of my classroom and called out my name. I was quite shocked and at the same time pleased to see him at that juncture. We had a quick chat and then he arranged to take me back to KL. As we got back to KL, due to certain laws or notices put up by my mom to my school then, I was unable to continue my studies for the whole year of 1984. After going back and forth a few times between Penang and KL's education ministry, I was finally able to go back to school to resume my studies. From then on, I was staying with my dad and also my step mom. 

To me, I thought things were pretty normal and that I have a family even though she was not my mother and all, but she still took care of me. Events took a change when she was pregnant with her first child. From then on, her daughter was the most important thing in this world to the both of them and I was some sort an abandon child. 

I got from bad to worse and from worse to indescribable. I was extermely rebellious to the extend of running away from home at 3 am to go back to Penang. After all, I was going back to my mom's so it didn't matter that much to me as with or without me, it didn't matter that much to them.

For 1 year I stayed with my mom. Somehow I thought things would be much better off for me as I was staying with my mom. Along the way, due to her busy and hectic lifestlye, we never really spent that much time together. We had our good days and also our bad days.

After staying there for 1 year, I finally left Penang and came back to KL to stay with my dad again thinking things might have changed. Well I was wrong in that matter, in fact things got worse. It was so bad that I moved out of the house and started doing odd jobs to earn a living and support myself. 

That was the happiest time of my life as I could do what I want and when I want. The only thing missing was the love from our parents. But who cared, I told myself. 

Well it has been a while since that day and I still miss the love from my parents even though I almost 30 now. But come to think of it, how many years of love and care did I receive form both my parents together? Can you blame me for being who I am today? I guess I owe it to God who set me on a right path and also my friends who has supported me through out the years. I sincerely thank all of you.

Coming back to the point. It is always easy for adults to get over a sour relationship or marriage but have they ever thought of the consequences that will take place on that poor child pshycologically? I've seen quite a few kids growing up through either the same was I grew up or worse. The poor child feels abandoned and unwanted thus leading to a very unhealthy upbringing of a child.

For crying out loud, don't get married if you're sure that you'll get divorced should this marriage turns sour when you already have kids. If it's without any kids involved, then by all means divorce all you want. The actions that we adults take bares a great consequence on how the poor child will feel for the rest of their lives. Put the poor child in the picture first and think of the consequences should you decide to get divorced.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is, don't get married until you are pretty sure that he or she is the right one for you. Word of wisdom, you may be happy during courtship but that doesn't mean that you guys can live under the same roof forever. 

Choose wisely and I hope and pray for those who are getting married soon that they will have an everlasting marriage with happy childrens.

Till my next post.....

Cheers.

p/s- Annette, hope you could read and see what I've been through as compared to you now. Remember that I'll love you always ok. Take care


Monday, September 22, 2008

Monday Blues

Somehow I had a feeling that today was going to be a little screwed up as I'm now working alone. My partner in crime has decided to go on a solo mission into the east to look for either joker or penguin, leaving me all alone here to hold the fort with ample of work to last me a whole lifetime.

As the day began, I had a rude awakening when I was told that the testing dof equipments with a certain ministry has been postponed due to unforseen circumstance. It was not about the postponement that I was worried about. It was more towards to 2 angry looking clients of mine when I broke the news to them about the delay of the testing that was worrying me. I had to come up a brilliant and diplomatic excuse to give to them in order for me to get out of there alive.

With a little luck, I managed to escape the noose without much injuries as they bought the excuse and I was home free. I thought that things will turn out better for the rest of the day without any obtacles. So I've decided to have lunch with 1 of my suppliers and a personal friend at Eastin Hotel. We had a sumptuous Dim Sum lunch where everybody was full to the brim with lots of Dim Sum going around the table. Both of them enjoyed the lunch where we sat there for about an hour talking about business and golf. 

When we parted our ways, I thought I could come back to the office and relax while clearing off the mess I created on my table before i left the office earlier. Somehow, trouble has it's own way of appearing before you. I was told that the important shipment that has to arrive Singapore has been delayed. It was suppose to leave Shanghai within this few days but somehow it has been delayed to the 29th of this month. I was about to call the manufacturers and give the a piece of my mind but I relaxed and called my forwarder instead to check on the earliest possible vessel to Singapore.

With that part settled, it was time to talk to the Chinese counterpart which doesn't understand English that well. It took me about 45 mins just to get her to understand what I was trying to say to her and God knows how many more minutes for her to arrange the necessary for this shipment. 

Well, seems to me that this has been a very interesting day for me so far. Hopefully the drama will end right here and let me enjoy that balance of this day without anymore headache or migraine. 

I'm looking forward to tonight's dinner plans drawn up for me and hopefully it would not be this dramatic.

Hope you guys had a better Monday as compared to me.

Till my next posting.....

Cheers 

Sunday, September 21, 2008

5am

Here I am, sitting in front of my pc at 5 in the morning figuring how to kill some time just because I had to send somebody to the airport at 6. I thought I could do something like my Avril does all the time, which is to take a power nap for 15 minutes and be able to bounce all over the country side for the next 24 hours. After serious considerations on how well I am able to sleep no matter what, I've decided that I shall not sleep and do something till I send my friend to the airport.

After watching Wall-e and a couple more shows, I finally realized that I've ran out of movies to watch. What's next? Hmm....ah well, I thought I would just turn this pc on and further improve this blog site. After playing around with it for the last 1 hour, I'm finally done on the widgets that I wanted to add.

After a quick glance at the time, I noticed that I have another hour to kill before I'm due to pick him up from his house. Looks like I'm going to blog something after all I thought to myself. My brain activity has been so low that I find it difficult to think of what to write. In view of the situation, I hope that you could forgive the mistakes that I've made here.

Well, looks like it's going to be a good sleep till dinner time for me today. Luckily it's a Sunday and I don't have to work at all. So looks like I'm going to slowly get ready to go and pick my friend up and send him to the airport and make it back home before 8am.

Hope you guys have a great weekend.

Till my next blog....

Cheers

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog.

Due to the lack of time and working brain cells, I've decided to start this off by borrowing some of the articles which I thought might be interesting enough for all of you to read. I've been sitting in front of the computer for 3 solid hours and nothing seemed to come out from the inactive brain of mine. Hence the past articles.

For those of you who know me from way back, I'm still in one piece if thats what you were thinking before coming across my blog. I've been through the ups and downs in life for the last few years. Right now, I'm quite settled down (I think) and I'm quite happy with what I have and where I work....(something like that lah)

It has been an amazing journey for me through this last 3 years of my life. At certain points in my life, I wished it never had happened but still that can't change the fact that it has already happened. All I can do about it is to benefit from the experience and move on. (Of course it is always easier said than done) 

Anyway, I think I've had enough blabbering for a day. Hope you guys liked my blog. Please feel free to drop your comments and stuff like that in order for me to improve.

 Thank you for all your support and caring.

Doing the right thing

Is there ever a time when you feel that you have the the right thing that you're suppose to do but turns out completely the other way? i'm sure you've had this kind of encounters before. Like they always say, sometimes doing the right thing is not soing the right thing.

At times I thought I made a right choice of action to settle a certain set back in your daily life. After revealing this course of action taken to your parents, partners, friend and etc... they seem to think that you have made a fool out of yourself by making that choice. However, they failed to realize that at that juncture in time, that was the only option that looked like the best option to take in order to solve the dillema that you were facing.

Instead of supporting the choices you made, you were riddiculed either personally or in full view of the public without any hesitations. This brings me back to the point where I start to think to myself on whether I made the right choice or not. This deep soul searching process will lead to many negative thoughts and probably one or two positve thoughts. 

I was once told that to know by a dear friend of mine "Never regret the choices you make" but some how I can't see through this rationale as each decision I take seem to be heading nowhere. I've gone through all the possibilities in the situation and personalley felt that that is the choice to be made but somehow I was wrong. Do I regret the decission? 

There were many choices that I've made in the past were not quite good but I managed to pull through it and made it work to the best I could. Certain choices tend to haunt you down eveytime something similiar crops up and looking for the right alternative decissions seems to be getting harder and harder each time it crops up. 

They say learn from experience or learn from your mistakes. I wonder how many times will we have to go through the same scenario if the scenario had tens of thousands of solutions but only one is the right one. In other words, we just have to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again till you find the right one I guess. Even if you were given come advice by someone who has far more experience than you, would the solution to the problem be the right one in another person's eyes?

Making decisions in life is far more complicated than any algebra questions put together as in maths, there is always 1 answer to a question. To get there is just 1 simple formula. Some how this is not the actual simple equation that helps us solve our daily mystery questions.

Looks like this will another never ending story if we keep debating on this issue as there is never a perfect answer to your questions in life. I just hope that we all make the nearest answers and make up for the rest later in life.

Hope this gives you something to ponder on as I've been pondering on this for years now and I've not found the right solution to it.

Till my next posting....

Cheers

Resigning with Class



How to Diplomatically Resign From Your Job

Are you preparing to resign from your current job? Some job-seekers have a hard time doing so, either because they love the job and their co-workers or because they can't stand the job and can't wait to leave. Curious? Then read on.
Strategies for Resigning with Class
The most important job-search rule to remember when resigning from any job is that you never want to leave on bad terms -- if possible. Courtesy, etiquette, and professionalism go a long way. So, as much as you may want to tell off your boss or a co-worker, you should never burn any bridges. And don't spend time bragging to co-workers about your great new opportunity. Job-hunting is a funny process, and you never know when you'll run smack right into your former supervisor, a former co-worker, or a former employer through a merger or other circumstance.
So, once you are ready to announce your resignation, how can you make as smooth a transition from your current employer to your new one? You'll again want to act professionally -- and follow company guidelines. Specifically, you need to consider:
  • Timing. Give enough notice. The standard notice has traditionally been one to two months, but you should consult your employee handbook in case your employer expects more (or less) advance warning.
  • Negotiating. Be sure to get a fair settlement for any outstanding salary, vacation (and sick and personal) days, and commission payments or other compensation due to you.
  • Hiring. Offer to help your current employer find your replacement.
  • Training. Volunteer to train or work with your replacement to show him or her “the ropes.”
  • Working. Don't disappear during the last weeks on the job. Stay an active member of the team. Avoid taking a short-timer's attitude or aligning yourself with any discontented co-workers.
  • Completing. Be sure to do your best to complete all open assignments and leave detailed progress reports for your supervisor and co-workers.
  • Leaving. Before walking out the door for the last time, be sure you have contact information for key supervisors and co-workers that you want to keep part of your network of contacts -- and be sure to thank them again for their support.

Here are some other issues you need to be prepared for once you announce your resignation:

  • Escorted out of the building. In some industries and with some professions (such as sales), once an employee resigns, the employer asks the person to leave on the spot. Be prepared for this scenario by clearing personal files and removing personal software from your computer, removing personal information and belongings, and getting your workspace organized.
  • Guilt from co-workers or your boss. It's only natural, especially if you are leaving an unpleasant work environment, that your co-workers may be a bit envious and try to make you feel a little guilty. And no matter how great your boss may be, s/he may also make you feel a little guilty for "deserting" the team. Try not to let these things bother you; instead, concentrate on making the final weeks/days pleasant and professional.
  • A counter-offer to entice you to stay. Be very wary of counteroffers. No matter how good it makes your ego feel to have your current employer respond with a counteroffer, most career experts advise against taking it because studies show that the vast majority of employees who accept counteroffers from current employers aren't in those jobs for very long. Whether the employer admits it or not, your dedication will be questioned, and once that happens, your time on the job is limited. It's better to tactfully decline the offer and focus on your new job with your new employer.
  • An exit interview. Some employers like to have all departing employees meet with someone from the human resources department for an exit interview. Be careful -- but be professional. Some employers want to know the "real" reason you are leaving. Again, remember not to burn any bridges by saying anything negative or petty.

Writing a Professional Resignation Letter


What should you do once you've made the decision to take a job with another employer? You should take the time to write a letter of resignation to your current employer. It's best to have written documentation of your resignation and planned last day of work.

The most important thing to remember when writing your letter of resignation is to be professional -- there is just no sense in making enemies. Regardless of whether you loved or hated your job or your employer, the outcome should be the same: a short, polite, and professional letter stating your intention to leave.

People leave their jobs for all sorts of reasons, and you certainly do not need to provide any details on why you are leaving the company. Resignation letters are a courtesy to your employer, so you simply need to state that you are leaving your current position to pursue other opportunities.

As you are composing your letter, please again remember that your job history follows you around, and that frequently the world is much smaller than we think. You never ever want to leave on bad terms with any employer -- mainly because doing so could come back to haunt you later in your career.

When should you submit your letter of resignation? And to whom? You should submit your resignation one or two months before your planned resignation date (depending on company/profession policy). And you should submit the letter/memo to your direct supervisor, with a copy to your human resources office.

What exactly should you say in your letter of resignation? Here's a basic outline:

First Paragraph: State your intention of quitting your job and leaving the company. Give a specific last day of work.

Second paragraph: If you feel comfortable, give a reason why you are leaving -- relocating, better job, career change, graduate school, etc. Or, reinforce your value by mentioning your key accomplishments with the employer (though doing so may trigger a counter offer).

Third Paragraph: Thank both your supervisor and the company for the opportunities you had working for them. Be sure to end the letter on a positive note.

One final note: Assuming you leave on a positive note with your supervisor and co-workers, once you have settled into your new job, remember to contact your former supervisor and co-workers and give them your updated contact information so that you can continue to keep them as a part of your job search network (because you never know when you'll be job-hunting again).

Good luck!

***courtesy of kamsol said***

I work with little green men


Bosses and supervisors aren’t from another planet, but sometimes they seem to be.

If you deal with the boss from hell, you will know. Conflict between a difficult boss and an employee can be daunting and intimidating.
Here are some tips to help you deal with difficult bosses and supervisors.
Most people at some point in their lives have to deal with a difficult boss. Difficult supervisors vary in personality from being a little pushy or rude, all the way to being downright abusive.
Many people feel that an abusive boss has control on their personal life outside of work by lowering their self-esteem and making them live in constant fear.
The role of a supervisor sometimes attracts certain controlling-type personalities because they crave the power it gives them and because they lack such control in their own personal lives. A supervisor has complete control over your most basic human needs—your ability to put food on the table and a roof over your head. These are powerful motivating factors that allow a difficult supervisor to control people out of fear of losing these basic needs. We may not be able to always correct their behavior, but we should never have to live in fear and let our difficult boss control our lives.
Here are some strategies on handling a difficult boss situation.
1. Always have a plan B.
Most people are scared about having a discussion with their boss concerning their abusive behavior because they fear reprimand or losing their job as a result of it. Their fear is usually justified if the supervisor is a control-freak and feels that their subordinate is threatening their control. Before you deal with any type of conflict, you always need to have a plan B in case things don’t work out. A plan B is the best alternative that you can come up without having to negotiate anything with your boss. In this type of scenario, your best plan B would probably take the form of having an actual job offer in hand with another employer before you have your talk. By not having a back-up plan, you have given your abusive boss even more leverage over you because they know you have no where else to go. Having a plan B, however, empowers you with the ability to walk-away at any time should the negotiation not go right. Increase your power and have a plan B before you deal with the conflict.
2. Never react to verbal abuse or harsh criticism with emotion.
This will always get you into more trouble than you started with because it will become a war between egos and chances are good that your boss has a bigger ego than you have—hence why he is difficult in the first place. When a personal attack is made on you, they are trying to bait you into reacting emotionally because once you react, you become an easy target for additional attacks. The key then is not to react, but to acknowledge and move on. By doing this, you effectively strip all of the power behind their verbal attacks away from your abusive boss, without creating conflict. If your boss happens to be an intimidator or a control freak, then the best way of dealing with their behavior is to remain calm and acknowledge their power by saying, “You’re right, I’m sorry.” By saying this, you take away any chance of them lashing back at you because you have sidestepped their verbal attack rather than meeting it head on.
3. Discuss rather than confront.
When your boss criticizes you, don’t react out of emotion and become confrontational with them about it because that just breeds more conflict. Instead, use their criticism as a topic for discussion on interests, goals, and problem-solving and ask them for their advice. If they criticize your work, then that means that they have their own idea on how that work should be done, so ask them for their advice on how your work can be improved.
4. Manage the manager.
A source of conflict usually occurs when a group of employees gets a new manager who demands that things run differently. These changes are usually reactionary in nature because the employees go about their regular duties until the manager comes by and criticizes the way it is being done. Instead of waiting for their criticism, take a proactive approach and be absolutely clear from the very beginning on how your boss wants things to be done so that there is no miscommunication later on. There are many ways of completing a task and having a discussion about them at the very beginning will allow you to see things from their perspective as well as sharing your own with them. Get to know their likes and dislikes inside and out so that you can avoid future criticisms.
5. Know that you can do little to change them.
Being a difficult person is part of their personality and therefore it is a very difficult, if not impossible thing to change in a supervisor, so don’t think that you can change how they act. Instead, change the way that you view their behavior. Don’t label them as being a jerk–just merely label them as your boss. By avoiding derogatory labeling, you avoid making it easy on yourself to be angry with your boss. Stop Creating Conflict. It’s better to prevent unnecessary conflict than to manage conflict once the flames have started.
6. Keep your professional face on.
Know the difference between not liking your boss and not being professional. You don’t have to make your boss your friend or even like your boss as a person, but you do have to remain professional and get the job done and carry out their instructions dutifully as a subordinate, just as you would expect them to be professional in their duties as a supervisor.
7. Evaluate your own performance.
Before you go attacking your boss, examine your own performance and ask yourself if you are doing everything right. Get opinions from other co-workers about your performance and see if there is any warrant to the criticisms of your supervisor before you criticize their opinions.
8. Gather additional support.
If others share in your concern, then you have the power of numbers behind you to give you additional persuasion power over your boss. It is often easy for a supervisor to ignore or attack one employee, but it becomes more difficult to attack all of his employees. He might be able to fire one of you, but he will look like an idiot (and probably get fired himself) if he tries to fire all of you. An inter-department union is a good way of mustering power against an abusive employer.
9. Don’t go to up the chain of command unless it’s a last resort.
Going straight up the chain of command is not an effective way of dealing with a difficult supervisor because it only increases conflict in the workplace. Your immediate supervisor will consider this a very serious backstabbing maneuver and might seek some sort of retribution in the future against you and your career. Also, other people in your workplace might brand you as a whistle-blower because of your actions. Try to discuss issues with your supervisor first and only go up the chain of command as a last resort.
10. Encourage good behavior with praise.
It is easy to criticize your superiors, but criticisms often lead towards resentment and hostile feelings. Everyone likes a pat on the back for good behavior, so you should strive to watch for good behaviors from your supervisor and compliment them on that. Proactive praising is much more effective than reactive criticisms.
11. Document everything.
If you choose to stay with a toxic employer, then document everything. This will become your main ammunition should a complaint ever be filed down the road. Document interactions with them as well as your own activities so that you can remind them of your own achievements at performance review time.
12. Leave work at work.
Get into the habit of leaving work at home and not bringing it into your personal life because that will only add to your level of stress. Keep your professional life separate from your personal life as best as you can. This also includes having friends who you don’t work with so that you can detach yourself from your work life rather than bringing it home with you.

***article courtesy of streetfighter & kamsol said***

Friday, September 19, 2008

unLicensed to Grill

Life for microwave baby killer

A mother who murdered her one-month-old daughter by burning her to death in a microwave oven has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

China Arnold, 28, was spared the death penalty when the jury in Dayton, Ohio failed to reach a consensus.

Prosecutors said Arnold, who maintains she is innocent, killed her daughter in 2005 after a fight with her boyfriend.

Judge Mary Wiseman said the crime was "shocking and utterly abhorrent for a civilised society".

"No adjectives exist to adequately describe this heinous atrocity," Judge Wiseman said, rejecting a plea by Arnold's lawyers for a sentence that allowed the possibility of parole after 25 years in prison.

Arnold was not in court to hear her sentence, but followed proceedings by video-link from a side room.

Cell confession

The court had heard that China Arnold had argued with her boyfriend Terrell Talley about whether he was the biological father of baby Paris.

Officials investigating the case said Paris Talley had suffered high-heat internal burns but had no external marks.

Prosecutors said that the baby's DNA had been found inside the microwave in Arnold's apartment.

Arnold's cellmate told the court that she had confessed to putting her daughter in the microwave and switching it on, because she was afraid that her boyfriend would leave her if he discovered that he was not the baby's father.

The defence team said that there was evidence that somebody else was responsible for Paris Talley's death, and that the cellmate had now changed her story.

Arnold's lawyers now want a third trial. The first hearing was declared a mistrial when new witnesses came forward.

Arnold "has faith in the system, she is strong and will continue to fight until her innocence is proven", said her lawyer Jon Paul Rion.

***courtesy of kamsol said***

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Read It If You Can


Just to see whether you guys have good eye sight

Amusing or requiring serious attention?




School uniform sexy, says group

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian group condemned the uniform worn by girls at government schools, saying it encouraged rape and pre-marital sex.

“The white blouse is too transparent for girls and it becomes a source of attraction,” National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia vice-president Munirah Bahari said in a statement.

“It becomes a distraction to men, who are drawn to it, whether or not they like looking at it,” she said, calling for a review of uniform policy so that it did not violate Islamic ideals.

In multicultural Malaysia, home to majority-Muslim Malays as well as ethnic Chinese and Indians, female students at government schools have a choice of wearing a white blouse with a knee-length skirt or pinafore.

They may also wear a “baju kurung” and a headscarf is optional for Malay students.

Munirah said that “covering up” according to Islamic precepts was important to fend off social ills, including “rape, sexual harassment and even premarital sex.”

“This leads to babies born out of wedlock and, to an extent, even prostitution,” she said.

“Decent clothes which are not revealing can prevent and protect women from any untoward situations,” she said, suggesting that girls wear a blouse of a different colour or with an undergarment.

However, the girls themselves also came in for criticism, with the association saying that some used the white blouse to lure men.

“This is the source of the problem, where we can see that schoolgirls themselves are capable of using this to attract men to them,” Munirah said.

“This could see them getting molested, having premarital sex and all sorts of things.” – AFP
***courtesy of kamsol said***