The Many Faces of Christmas 2009

I have scouted for pictures. These are great and bring on the mood of the yuletide spirit. Have yourself a blessed Christmas and may the new year brings wondrous joy to you!

AS1M-Poor Product,Poor Response?

This will be the third time that the subscription of the Amanah Saham 1Malaysia (AS1M) share trust units managed by Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) has been extended. The current deadline is December 31, 2009.

PNB Group CEO,Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman, said the extension, given according to the community allocation, will be third after the Sept 30, and Dec 31, 2009 deadlines.

To date, a total of 3.06 billion units of the AS1M have been subscribed by 235,288 investors. So far, 85 per cent of the quota given to the Chinese community has been subscribed, while another 21 per cent of the quota for Indian investors have been bought.

PNB said it will have road shows nationwide to promote the AS1M, beginning with Perak and Sarawak in January. Promotions will be also carried out in Sabah, Terengganu, Pahang and Melaka.

AS1M, a fixed price fund with a size of RM10 billion units, was launched on July 31 this year by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. It is opened to all Malaysians with an allocation of 50 per cent for Bumiputera, 30 per cent for the Chinese community, 15 per cent for the Indian community and five per cent for others.

The silence on the uptake of the Bumiputra portion of AS1M is deafening!

Malaysia: New Currency Declaration Rule

Hot on the heels of the illegal transfer of huge amounts of cash out of the country, johnny-come-lately Bank Negara Malaysia is just warming up to the issue.

As usual, they use lofty terms to premise their belated actions.

In line with the global effort to combat money-laundering and terrorism financing, BNM has now issued a new currency declaration requirement at all entry and exit points in the country.

As usch, effective January 1,2010, travellers entering or leaving Malaysia with cash and/or negotiable bearer instruments (traveller’s cheques, bearer cheques) exceeding US$10,000 (RM34,000) must make a declaration in form Customs No. 22.

“The forms will be available at counters located before the Customs checkpoints at all entry and exit points of the country.

“Travellers could be fined up to RM1mil and/or face imprisonment not exceeding a term of one year if they fail to declare or make a false declaration,” it said in a statement here yesterday.

BNM said this was required under section 23 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 and was in line with the Special Recommendation IX by the Financial Action Task Force which required countries to have measures in place to detect physical cross-border transportation of cash and negotiable bearer instruments.

“This new requirement is in line with global efforts to combat money-laundering and terrorist financing activities.

“Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Philippines and Singapore have adopted the same declaration requirement,” it said.

But why now, when a sitting Chief Minister and other wealthy individuals have absconded with so much money?

But there is Santa Claus!

Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

A Splash of Cool Water

This is a great graphic presentation of the effects of a splash of cool water on a hot humid day.


Enjoy!