Adsense by Google

I now have advertisement on my blog and I am not sure if I am feeling 100% okay with it. Google invited me to join their program. This means that in typical Google style, they will place ads on my blog in conjunction with what I write. If I want, I can exclude certain companies from doing so. I want my blog to stay independent. What means that I want to criticise a company in whatever way I want. Or praise a company in whatever way I want. But it might look like as if I exclude companies that unintentionally have their ad on my blog. So this gives me the headache.

Hey – I got it. I can turn the story around, and actually sometimes write about the companies that have their ads on my blog. Stories that I know. Are they good or “bad” companies. Yeah – this is one solution. And now I have shown to myself that writing a blog, jutting down the notes is a way to solve a problem.

Your personal Annual Report - Your Resume

Following my last entry, I started to update my resume. Well, it is on my to-do list for a long time already, but somehow I never managed. But I believe that everybody should have a very updated resume handy. And why not? The call from a headhunter can come any minute, for you, who is in an entry position, reached mid-level, or is already in the so called senior management level. Headhunters don't want to wait. It is not possible to say - Oops, sorry, give me a week, I have to update my resume. They want fast action, and how does it reflect on someone who says that he or she needs to update the resume?

Not very good - it means that somewhere along the line, you slacked. Yep. Or you are complacent, living the dream that the company that you work for hired you on a permanent, until retirement base. Dream on. DREAM ON. No company hired you on a long term base. Or, if anything, it means, you will change your job in the same company in an ongoing base. And your skill base changes, ongoing. If not, well, you are left behind and out of your job in zero. five seconds. You have been hired, a long time back, or not so long ago. But are you actually doing what was learnt in school, college, university? What was written in the original job description? Nope - probably not.

90% of the time, things have changed. Hopefully to the better.

This is your project. Write it down, in your resume. It is like the Annual Report of a company or their quarterly reporting to Wall Street or whatever. A company reports progress - please report your projects. Are they getting better? Have you learnt anything new? If not, it might be time to talk to your manager, about more challenging tasks. You don't want to be left behind and one day, your company comes to you and says: "Ahem, sorry, we realised that you job/ department or whatever has become redundant. It was nice meeting you, and you delivered a lot. You worked a lot, spent many hours here. From 7.30 AM to 8.30 PM but well, what you did is now done by a computer. You failed to upgrade your skills. We don't need you any more. Good bye."

So, check your resume. I am doing it now - haven't it done for a long time myself, but there are so many changes in my company, that I better do something. And oh - one thing - find a friend that nags. Nags you to do it. I have such a friend - thanks to her, I am on my way. She actually told me not to call her anymore, or send an e-mail and rather spend the time writing my CV. so I am doing it over the Merdeka holidays. Besides opening the window to shout out : Happy Merdeka, Malaysia.

Have fun.

Joining a company - leaving a manager

Last Saturday, and via a friend, I met a pretty young girl. She just graduated college and started in her job but is not really happy. She is in sales and according to her, quite successfully developed several accounts.

It so happened that her boss gave the accounts that she developed to someone less successful with the argument that she is good enough to develop new sales, while this person would need some help. I believe it is a dump move from the boss.

She herself is very unhappy, especially since the market is small and there are not that many buyers, and already starts looking for a new job – is actually going for an interview next week. What will happen is that the guy will probably mess up the accounts, since it appears to be outside his strength – but okay, to give him credit, he might be good at client relationships just not sales.

The clients won’t be happy because they have to get a feel for the new guy, have to invest trust and involvement - something they might not want to do, understandably. The boss, he will be left behind with one less great employee, fewer accounts, probably, and one employee that is not capable of meeting job requirements. As the saying goes: People join companies, but leave managers.

The question always is why people join firms in the first place. There are different types, of course. When you start your career after college or Uni, it probably is an irrational decision. You have no idea what to look for in a company. You don't know what to ask and how to probe for the right questions.

And basically, you are happy to find a job, any job that somehow seems right. But one does not realise that every job puts you on a road, and as longer you stay on this road, the more difficult it is to get out of it and change career. Even in today's age of frequent job changes. But it is okay to change and to learn. Keep asking question about the sense of things that you are doing.

Remember, one spends a lot of time on a job, in a firm - if the job is bad, the boss cruel the colleagues @%$#, just change. Hang the hat on the wall and leave. Find a firm that is aligned to your values. That drives you, and provides you with some real stuff to do. Just leave but leave in good terms. You never know what will happen with those that you leave behind. You might meet them again, a year later, or 5 years. And they might remember, how you treated them when you left - or even before you left. Show integrity and pride in what you are doing!!

For me, as an expat (I don't want to be one, don't feel like one, but companies see me as one), it is a similar situation. Every time I find a job, after a contract expires, I am happy to find a new one. This was the case after my first job in Malaysia, when I than moved to Indonesia. I was happy to find a job when I lost my job in Indonesia, after the Suharto crisis. I found a job in Singapore that brought me over the Asian crisis. And when my contract in Singapore expired, I was happy to find a job in my current firm. And I am "damn" scared to lose it again, with kid in school and all that, and since I am getting older (yeah yeah yeah, even I get older, just not in my heart).

I could give 111 tips on how to stay current in the job for Malaysians of every colour and size and how to find or choose a job in the first place, and may be one day I will start doing it. Grrr - may be I start it with a short story in the next entry.

Tom Peters: This I believe - a document or statement

How to survive in challenging times? How to be different? Is it better to be different or to conform to the norm?

Wel,, I don't have a solution mix to this, but I know that I have learnt a lot from books written by Tom Peters. I"love" the guy - and I wrote about him earlier in this blog already (http://alwayswow.blogspot.com/2003_10_01_alwayswow_archive.html ).

I guess most of you have read about him already, have heard him somewhere or read one of his many, many books.

I came across him back in 2000 for the first time - yeah, I know, that this is late, but back than, I was busily doing other things. I bought some of his books - BrandYou 50, The Project 50, The Service Firm 50.

All these three books just blew me away and I thought, yes, that's it, that is what is needed, that is what I am thinking, and wow, so nicely said. Now I live much more passionately, I do understand better what is happening, and see opportunities in many places, instead of problems. New ideas, new concepts. And yes, I frequent his own webpage at http://www.tompeters.com .

His newest contribution is NOT Re-Imagine, a book that is available in the bookshops here in Malaysia but one that is published on a great new webpage called http://www.changethis.com , that features a lot of different "authors", contributors or thought leaders/ contributors.

It is called This I Believe and summarises 60 statements of Tom - one for each of his years - he turned 60 recently. I wish I would be as lively, as agile, when I am 60. I believe Tom is more agile than many of the 20s, 30s, 40, or 50s that can be found in many organisations.

The "paper", more than 60 pages long, can be downloaded for free. It is not an "actionbook" but very nicely introduces his thinking, and what he believes is required from all of us to "survive" and thrive in the 21st century. Sure, there are contradictions in the documents, and repetitions, but WTH, this is a statement, and we all repeat ourselves. It doesn't also provide the deepness of his thinking that comes to bear in Re-Imagine, but this is because it is a shortened version of everything there is. I love it.

You can download the document when you click at the link:


http://www.changethis.com/pdf/2.01.ThisIBelieve.pdf

Waiting for others - what a waste of time

How do you feel when you have a meeting at 12.30 and meeting partner (MP) does not show up on time? I know that I need to accept a certain delay - traffic jams in KL are a normal occurrence. So a couple of minutes are okay, actually. It would be great so, if one would also call me or send an SMS if he or she is late.

Today I was waiting. I met someone I haven't seen for a longer time for lunch. I was at our meeting place punctually, and actually too early. So I waited. At 12.35, I called him and asked, if we were on. I always start to doubt that I am correct, when I have to wait, and wanted to confirm. Yeah, he said we are on, and that he was just around the corner.

So I kept waiting. Actually, started this blog entry at 1.00 PM, while still waiting. I walked up and down, looking into the camera shop and an exhibition from Samsung. Looking at other people who also wait, but which are picked up earlier. Others look at me, probably thinking, hey, this guy is still here, probably a dangerous guy. I called my MP again, at 1.15 PM. And yeah, he is still coming, just parking. It took him another 15 minutes. He is an important guy, important to me, especially professionally, since he knows a lot of people. A lot of important people.

But I don't like waiting. I think it is about respect - respect for the other person. Respect, what the other person represents. The one, who let's another person wait, actually imposes power. He "steals" the other person's time. There are better things to do than to wait. I am trying to teach my kid to be punctual, and I hope that things are getting better in the future.

If you could accumulate all the time in your life that you waited uselessly somewhere, wow, it would be another year or two. Imagine, one might wait more than a year in a whole life time.

Inside Alamanda Mall

A picture from the inside of the Alamanda Mall. Looks nice, doesn't it? Question is only, if the trees will survive. But what I really liked was that I could actually oversea the mall. It wasn't endlessly long, compared to other malls in Kuala Lumpur.

Alamanda Shopping Mall in Putrajaya

There is a new shopping mall in Putrajaya, called Alamanda. It is also the only mall in Putrajaya. It is a two floor building, set up for RM380 million, and apparently, has been benchmarked against malls in Europe and Australia.

I like the building - it is not too big (thus, just nice for guys) with just two floors. Its layout is in the form of a "Y" (also the press wrote, it is in an "L" shape). Outside the mall, you can find a lake, and a playground - resembling KLCC - and I believe some more, that I haven't seen.

The shops are not too big and not too small - there were the usual clothing shops, perfumery, food plentiful, an MPH, electronics shops and some more. Not all the shops are open yet, with Carrefour still to come (well, see my comment about Carrefour earlier in this blog). Still, the Alamanda is just nice for a little walk. Really - it is not as daunting as a Times Square or the new 1Utama in KL.

The only thing that I didn't like too much was the entry to the parking lot - which is pretty small. And that not all the shop attendants understood what I said. They had to get assistance from someone who could speak a better English than they do. But this is my problem - my accent and my lack in speaking Bahasa that is good enough to communicate.

Who can help: How to use .htaccess?

I am not sure if this is possible with a blog but I am reaching out to all those who know more about tech and html or source code than I do. I understand that with the .htaccess code, it is possible to block the access of certain IPs to a webpage.
The code is sequence is:
order allow,deny
deny from 123.45.6.7
deny from 012.34.5.
allow from all

The numbers are examples.
But my question is, where do I put this in the code of my blog? Is there anybody who can help?

Chatango

I found Chatango (http://www.chatango.com) over at Joi Ito's blog (http://joi.ito.com/archives/2004/08/17/chatango.html) . Chatango is a chat program that allows you to talk to me when you click on the button or leave messages behind, when I am offline, even so you don't have it installed at your computer.

Which I think is pretty cool, since with messengers like Yahoo or Messenger, you need to have the same software installed.

So if you want and the button is green, contact me directly! If the button is red, I am offline and you can just leave a message.

My kid's school

I just love my kid's school. He is turning seven years next month, and this makes him a first grader in the Malaysian school system. He is attending to a so called Smart School. What I like at the school is that the teachers don't drown children's creativity by giving an extraordinary amount of homework, or speeding up the school topics that are taught, overwhelming their still developing brains.

The children have a limited amount of school homework, and a lot of it is already done in school, under the supervision of the teachers and in teamwork with each other. I think no class has more than 15 minutes of homework. There is not much to do at home - may be 30 minutes max, if he takes his own sweet time. As such, he has time to play at home, or to draw some of his favourite pictures, which is a robot that is fighting against a lot of bad guys.

The school is trying to identify and support each child's ability and strength. Overall, the teachers, mostly pretty young, are really, really good with the children. Like, tomorrow, they start the final exam session for this year. So there was a lot of learning, nevertheless. The teachers tried hard.

The Chinese teacher is taking it a step further. Every time when there is an exam, she is sending a Greetings Card to the parents to pass it on to the children. I am pasting the link below - but it basically shows a scared guy walking over a wobbly bridge. The text is saying: "Dear Parent, today I did last revision for the tomorrow Exam, I hope that those revision have done in class really help my student. Good luck to all of my lovely students."

Doesn't this give hope that there is still greatness in Malaysia? Or, better - isn't this the Malaysia that we all should emulate?

Here is the link to it, just in case it works from here:


http://www.yahoo.americangreetings.com/view.pd?i=81744461&m=8781&rr=y&so
urce=yahoo999

Summarising the conference: How to become a Malaysian Entrepreneur

There were three speakers at the conference that I mentioned in my previous posting. One was Aman Aznan (I hope I got his name correct), who is running an office furniture supply business. The second one was Lim Boon Siong who runs the Vista Laser Eye Center (www.vista.com.my) and the third was a guy called Suresh, from www.jobstreet.com.

Their objective was basically to showcast, how someone becomes successful without a lot of capital at hand. I think the objective was good, because most of the time, people think that it takes millions and millions of dollars to get a business up and running.

Azman started by redefining capital. He said that capital is also having a good character in everything you do. Being a good person, living great values would build up trust that allows someone to get credit from for example, suppliers, who wouldn't give this credit to someone with lesser character - makes sense.

The second point he made was about knowledge. His objective is to learn something new everyday and he showcast how much he read. It is important to learn in order to understand and utilise what one learns. Basically, nobody wants to do business with someone who doesn't understand much.

The third ingredient to become a successful entrepreneur is to have selling skills. Selling is everything in life - be it the sale to your kid to learn smarter, a discussion with your wife, or to convince someone that his product is a good product and that he is the right person for the deal (examples by him). Azman also talked about the necessary passion that one needs to go forward.

Lim Boon Siong started his business of eye surgery as he underwent an operation of his eyes in Australia. His business is to correct eyesight, so that one doesn't need glasses or contact lenses anymore. He first brought people over to Australia but than started to set up a partnership with this company in Malaysia.

He stressed the importance of a couple of points as well:

1.) Will it work - one needs to have the vision and the strategy to run a business
2.) Where to get the capital you need - think outside the box what is possible, not just about the money available in the bank account
3.) How to get the know-how for the business. He isn't a doctor, so it was clear to him that he needed to team up with someone who has the knowledge
4.) Identify your sacrifices - it is clear that no one is rich or successful from day 1. There is a lot of suffering and a lot needs to be given up in order to become successful.
5.) Do whatever it takes and go forward with it.

The third speaker from www.jobstreet.com , Suresh, somehow missed the objective. He talked about the starting up of Jobstreet, but never related it to some simple and distilled points. May be one point that I could take from it was that timing must be right. Jobstreet started in 1995, 2 years before the Internet took of. What means that he was ahead of time. I learnt, in a different setting last week, that to be successful in business, one needs to build a business where demand comes tomorrow. So Jobstreet was able to capitalise on this.

SME Conference - How to become a Malaysian entrepreneur

There is an exhibition in Kuala LUmpur currently, for Small and Medium Sized Entrepreneurs. I went to one of the conferences today. Topic of the seminar was "From Nobody to Somebody - Becoming a Malaysian Entrepreneur". Well, here is my reflection - the first of two postings.

The picture has been taken before the conference started, and I had time to think some of my typical thoughts in such situations - what about my experience here. How do I feel, how do others feel?

In a seminar or a conference, the time before the speeches begin is the time an organizer is the most anxious. Will it be a success or a failure? The seats are slowly filling up, the speakers hussle around their presentation. It is here, where the connection between the organisers and the audience could be established. Why let people get bored? Not everybody is in a group. Not always is a conference laid out in a way that allows for networking and conversations before the conference starts. The picture taken is from the SME conference. The topic of this specific forum was ''From Nobody to Somebody" - a forum about becoming a Malaysian entrepreneur. So why not showing clips about entrepreneurs? Or play some motivational audio tapes. Well, not the best ideas as well, but anything is better than silence, is it? And nothing worse than apologising for a delay occurred. Speakers were established entrepreneurs were invited speakers. So how does it reflect if they are late - okay - they were about 15 minutes late, which is still very punctual in Malaysia.

Fresh graduate encounter of the Third Art

One of my friends just graduated and is looking for a job. Subsequently, she started to apply for a couple of jobs in a variety of areas.

One of those companies now called and during the conversation, they apparently asked her that if they were to recruit her, if she would be willing to wash and clean the toilet during the first week. She originally applied for a position as management and marketing coordinator. After this, she asked what this would have to do with cleaning the toilet, and they said that this is a personality test.

I know that it is tough to get a job today, and that it is a buyers market - employers have some power in "dictating" the conditions. It is okay to start at a lower level and don't expect too much in the beginning - many companies prefer their top management to have worked through the ranks - but this? I hope that this is really not what all graduates encounter. What are you thinking?

Anybody has got a similar story?

Does anyone knows this song and who is singing it?

Last week, I heard a Rap Song on RTM 4. It was a male singer, and he sang about himself and his kid and how they are living together after he separated from his wife. The refrain was something like "Just The Two Of Us".

It was a very nice song, but also very sad. I don't believe that the DJs mentioned the name of the group or the singer, so my question, does anyone knows who is snging the group? I googled the assumed title, but to no avail - there were just too many hits.

Picture of the week - Badawi speaking the World Council

I think that Dato' Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi (Pakp Lah) speaking at the World Council of Churches was one of the great happenings this past week. He called himself a Muslim Leader of all Malaysians. He called for tolerance of religious groups that goes beyond their living together. He stated that the greatest achievements and progresses were made at the fringes when different religious groups interacted with each other and thus rejected the notion of the "bloody borders of Islam", as stated in the book "The Clash of Civilizations" by Samual P. Huntington.

All that he stated should be nothing more than normal procedure in any country anywhere in the world. It is known that diverse cultures flourish and nurture each other. It is common knowledge that companies where diversity of ethnic groups, religions and gender is common, thrive and expand. It is clear that a mutual understanding is nothing that comes overnight. It needs to be developed, supported and fostered over a long period of time. It needs to be acknowledged, by all the leaders in a country, from the politicians to those in companies and taken up by those many people who live the spirit and live the little changes in their daily life. Affirmative action for certain groups is okay, but should not lead to the disadvantaging another group - neither should affirmative action be used to ones own gain. In addition, affirmative action needs to be limited to a specified timeframe only.

Pak Lah's speech was great and a lot of people celebrated him for what he was saying. I was happy to read the speech and felt even more at home in Malaysia. But think about it!

Shouldn't it be the most normal thing that we all live together, party together, celebrate achievements together? To repeat, it should be the most normal process that different ethnic groups, different religions and different gender mingle with each other, learn from each other and enjoy each other's company.

It should be as normal as the behaviour of one person that leaves a note behind on a window screen with contact details, if he or she accidentally scratched another car. Nothing worth celebrating, just an act of integrity and honesty. A simple act of honesty.

When I came to Malaysia, 11 years back, I was lucky to find a group of people that accepted me as their friend. We were a small group first, but grew over the next couple of years. We were a great mix of people - Malays, Indians, Chinese, one Scot, one American, one German (yours truly) - men and women, some older, some younger. We went out together to discos, we had late night suppers at Bangsar, we had game evenings, when we played Pictionary throughout the Saturday nights, we visited each other during the different religious celebrations - we had fun with each other. Many of us married another one in the group -one Malay an Indian, the Scot a Chinese, the US guy another Chinese, I married a Malay. That was how I fall in love with this country - that there are so many people that simple respect each other as human beings.

We still visit each other, not that often anymore as we used to as today, we have kids and live a bit further apart. Still, we do see each other, every couple of weeks or months, individually and not that often as a big group. Still, we all were there to enjoy each other's company again when one Indian friend that now lives in France came back to marry her French boyfriend and had her ceremony here.

What gives me hope for Malaysia’s future? When I go to the playground with my child, I see other children playing soccer together with some teenagers and even one older guy is playing with them. There are Chinese, Malays and Indians. They are just enjoying the game - this gives me the hope that Malaysia still has a chance.

When I see how global politicians search the opinion of Malay leaders - Bush, Schroder, Girac, but also those in the Islamic world, from Saudi Arabia to Iran, I know that Malaysia is heard loud and clearly and I feel hope for this country.

There are many failed countries in the world that struggle to meet their needs end. Look at Sudan, look at Bangladesh, even look at Palestine. Their population would give so much to have something like a Malaysia for their future.

So yeah, Pak Lah is on the right path to assure that Malaysia is home to many different religions. He is right to say that only diversity and the rejection of extremism of any side is important to secure the world’s future. It is a start.

Is this write-up too emotional? Well, I am emotional about this, and I believe everybody should be emotional!

By the way: The picture was found in The Star, and came with this search string:

http://202.186.86.35/news/story.asp?file=/2004/8/5/nation/8598764&newspage=Search

Just to be on the safe side.

I am worried

I was never in the mood to comment much about politics, although I believe that if you are silent on certain issues, you are also supporting those issues. But I have to say something about the current situation in the US and how it is heading towards the next election.

I don't see too many differences between Bush and Kerry, and it might be more a choice between Pest or Cholera, to bring a drastic example. However, the experience with Bush over the past couple of years taught me to be worried about a continuation of his reign.

Bush and Kerry are racing head to head in public opinion polls. In segmenting the polls according to areas of interest Bush has a lead in the area of security (for whatever reasons). I am very very worried that recent events play into Bush's hands and that he is able to pull off another election victory.

How? Think about possible arrests of other al Qaeda members. Last week, Pakistani's captured Tanzanian Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani - which is great news. But what I don't hope is that America knows where more of the terrorists are and arrests them just on time for the election. Joi Ito indicated this in his blog, and The New Republic also wrote an article about it (http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040719&s=aaj071904).

This is just an assumption and there is no proof that this is the case - so take it as a speculation.
Over the last couple of days, major areas in the US were put on high alert for terror attacks - what will happen if there is an attack on the country?

In any of these events I believe that America, in a vote full of emotions, would vote for Bush again. I also believe that this would create a world which is more divided than ever and becomes more dangerous to live in.

But two parties are needed for division - and nothing better can happen for al Quaeda if Bush is re-elected. Why? Bush is very much criticised in the rest of the world. The Arab world is not happy, Europe has strong objections over some of his policies. Some of his politics - even if well intended - frustrate young, desperate and disillusioned Muslims in the Middle East, and they might just pick up their weapons in the ill-guided idea of a just war for their cause.

I know that this entry is probably creating an uproar - but it is my personal opinion. And I am also guided by emotions, and frustrated by what is happening. Frustrated, shocked and horrified by terror attacks, mutilated children and killed, innocent people. I am strongly feeling for Palestine as well as for Israel as well as for Iraq as well as for .... I can go on endless. I am very very unhappy with the current foreign politics of the US - this is my right (In the same urge and to justify myself, I am unhappy with the internal politics of Germany and its rigidity in the labour laws, for example).

I might be unhappy with a future government of Kerry as well, for the same reasons or others. But this is my flexibility. So. This is that. Booh me, flame me, if you don't like it - but be reasonable.

Malaysia is just so cold

I had to go to the doctor this morning for a medical checkup for my company's insurance provider. Had to fast since last night and just hoped that everything would start on time - It is a pity that this is not always the case in Malaysia, and that frequently, "one has to wait the obligatory 30 minutes" before the person you want to see arrives.

Well, this time it was okay. I got my weigth checked (changing) and my height (still the same as it has been for a long time).

I had an EEC and blood test, and heart checkup and all that. What bothered me, is that the rooms were so cold. I had to take off shirt and trousers for the checkup, and gosh, why is it that those rooms are freezingly cold.

This really is no fun. I mean, it is so normal in Malaysian buildings that the aircon is just blowing hard. In my office, many of the employees wear pullovers, sweat shirts or cover themselves in blankets. I wear a casual jacket most of the time. Many of us get sick, because it is so cold. I once couldn't type fast anymore because it was just so cold.

I sometimes wonder if building managements across the countries think that having a cold building is giving them a competitive advantage. My boss sometimes says, jokingly, that he requests freezing temperature, so that we won't fall asleep, especially after lunch.

The bad part is that many doors in those buildings are open, basically letting the cold air out - cooling down Kuala Lmpur?? How much electricity could be saved, if a management would increase the temperature by just 1 degree. How much money could they save?

Just think: Tourists are coming here to enjoy the weather - fleeing the cold weather of Europe or the US, they are saving a whole year worth of money to come to Asia or Malaysia - and what do they encounter? Cold temperatures. Isn't it funny, actually?

Interesting article about cause of and solutions to traffic jams

We all curse those days when we get stuck in traffic jams. And guess what - major traffic jams are caused by drivers - those who weave in and out of their lanes, and cause other drivers to apply the brakes. And when someone applies brakes too heavily, well, the ripple effect that is caused affects the cars behind and more and more cars are affected, until the traffic jams is, simply put, just there.

A study related to the US found that a total of 75% of all traffic jams are created in such a way. Again: because cars apply the brake too heavily - translated into the traffic in Kuala Lumpur - all traffic jams, because we cut in too close in front of the car forcing the car to use the brakes heavier than what might be needed.

A remedy is a little equipment called adaptive cruise control and the study found out that only 20% of the cars would need such equipment and than, traffic would be smoother. What does it do? The article says that "Human drivers have a tendency to brake harder than the car in front of them did, erring on the side of safety. That can make a bad situation worse, says Prof. Davis. But "ACC eliminates the tendency to overbrake. It smoothes out the overreactions, correcting for bad drivers."

May be the Malaysian government, should look into this tool. They just announced that they want to have a total overhaul of the transport system, what is needed and long awaited. May be Proton should build that thing into their cars. Wouldn't that be nice?

Kashmeer Naan

This is Kashmeer Naan. It is prepared with five different kinds of fruits, and until yesterday, I didn't know that it exists. It tastes delicious (I ate it with Tandoori Chicken, one of my favourites).

Food is one of the great attractions in Malaysia. I love it, I simply do. All this different types of snacks and sweets and how Malaysians blend different cultures into their cuisine.

Sometimes, food surprises my taste buds. Something that looks sweet, suddenly tastes sour or is spicy. Sometimes, something that looks spicy is extremely sweet, that your teeth start screaming.

I am in Malaysia quite a long time and feel pretty assimilated. But what also surprises me is the different types of sauces. I never get it right, which sauce goes with which dish, and I am happy, when my wife is with me and tells me that this sauce wouldn't taste at all with (..... - fill in the brackets). Tourists face the same problem. I recently saw one tourist, I don't know in which hotel, who put honey on her Roti Canai. Okay, it might taste - I haven't tried. But I think that the cook should also inform tourists what goes best with what. Otherwise, some funny stories develop.