What Luck-Double Bonanza!

A British bus driver netted more than £2 million ($3.3 million) on the lottery a day after his divorce came through, The Sun reports. 

 

Kevin Halstead, 50, went out for a drink with friends after his decree absolute arrived in the post last Friday.

 

He bought a lottery ticket the next day – and was gobsmacked when his lucky numbers came up later that evening. This was reported by The Sun.

 

Kevin could have been forced to hand half the £2,302,668 to ex-wife Helen if the divorce had taken just a few days longer.

 

But the astonishing timing of the win means he and his new partner will be able to keep the lot.

 

A friend said: "Kevin was having a drink with his mates after his paperwork came through.

 

"He buys a ticket the following morning and scoops the jackpot. You couldn't make it up."

 

As the Australian guy who played James Bond in " On Her Majesty's Secret Service" once said, " Why doesn't this happen to me?"

 

I am keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully, it will happen to me, too! Cheers to you, Kevin.

Bus driver Kevin Halstead wins lotto day after divorce

A British bus driver netted more than £2 million ($3.3 million) on the lottery a day after his divorce came through, The Sun reports.

Kevin Halstead, 50, went out for a drink with friends after his decree absolute arrived in the post last Friday.

He bought a lottery ticket the next day – and was gobsmacked when his lucky numbers came up later that evening, The Sun reports.

Kevin could have been forced to hand half the £2,302,668 to ex-wife Helen if the divorce had taken just a few days longer.

But the astonishing timing of the win means he and his new partner will be able to keep the lot.

A friend said: "Kevin was having a drink with his mates after his paperwork came through.

"He buys a ticket the following morning and scoops the jackpot. You couldn't make it up."

As the Australian guy who played James Bond in " On Her Majesty's Secret Service" once said, " Why doesn't this happen to me?"

I am keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully, it will happen to me, too! Cheers to you, Kevin.

Malaysia: Aren't We Sensitive to the Physically Challenged?

One thing you must immediately take note of in Malaysia. It is a country of motherhood statements and everything nice.Then it stops just there.

As much as PM Najib wants action with his popular " People First, Performance Now', its not happening.Why, simple. We no longer have that culture of doing what we say. Look no further from the civil service to the GLCs. It's, " Me, me and me first attitude". Imagine the gall of a Chairman of a public listed company who wants his allowances to increase from RM40K to RM110K overnight. Did he ever think of service first,performance now? Noooooooooooooo.

So when our wheel-chair bound Stanislaw Anthony and his wife Janet wanted to go to India, they found out the hard way.Let us read about their sad encounters from the car park to the wheel-chair and cry together. This was taken from the on-line STAR dated 19 March 2010.

" Airport encounters that call for an attitude change.

STANISLAUS Anthony, 60, and his wife Janet, 53, were overjoyed last month when their son surprised them with a trip to India. Joachim, 26, paid for his parents’ 10-day pilgrimage to a healing centre in Kerala in South India.

Joachim decided to accompany his parents since they are persons with disabilities.

Stanislaus became disabled 12 years ago after he underwent a hip replacement sur­­gery. Although he is able to walk, he can only do so for very short distances. He tires easily and the pain in his left leg is often excrucia­ting. When this happens, he uses a wheelchair.

Janet, on the other hand, has been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy.

The couple and their son joined a crowd of 5,000 pilgrims at the centre. It was an experience of a lifetime for the trio.

I caught up with Stanislaus and Janet when they returned to Petaling Jaya a couple of weeks ago. Instead of telling me about the difficulties they encountered as disabled persons in a foreign land, they couldn’t stop telling me about the many problems they had to overcome before even leaving Malaysia.

When Joachim booked the flight online, he recalled ticking a box on the form to indicate “Disabled (passenger)”. No further questions were asked about the disability status.

So the eager retirees thought that all their accessibility needs would be looked into when they arrived at the airport.

When Stanislaus reached the Sepang air­­port, he was shocked to find that the only disabled parking spot next to the building entrance was occupied by a car belonging to a non-disabled driver.

He had no choice but to park his specially-adapted car next to the offending vehicle.

Then came the second upset. Despite the numerous stickers on his car clearly indica­ting that he was a disabled driver, he was promptly served with a summons. The real offender, meanwhile, got away scot-free.

However, this was nothing compared to the nightmare that was yet to come. The disabled couple were made to climb up a flight of stairs before they could board the aircraft. The ambulift – a specially designed contraption to lift wheelchairs into the aeroplane – was out of order, they were told.

After the rest of the passengers had boarded the plane, it was their turn. Stanislaus has had frequent hip dislocations over the past year. He was terrified as he took each step up the stairs. Janet was on tenterhooks, too.

Once inside the plane, the couple had to walk almost halfway across the length of the plane to get to their seats. Stanislaus won­­­­­­­der­ed why the airline had not made things easier for them and changed their seats to one of the front rows instead. Only on their return trip were they given front-row seats.

The couple also raised a few points:

• The staff were ill-advised on how to help disabled travellers. When the couple were struggling up the steps leading to the aircraft, there were only two small-sized women and one man on standby in case of emergency.

•  Although there was an express lane for disabled/elderly passengers at the airport in India, none existed in the Sepang airport. 

• The ambulift was still under repair when the couple returned from India. The wheelchair provided by the airport in Sepang had wheels that wobbled. Stanislaus was charged RM15 for the use of the wheelchair and no receipt was issued. In India, the wheelchair service was free.

 “All this clearly calls for an attitude change from the airline and the airport authorities if they want everyone to fly,” said Stanislaus.

Malaysia Airports Berhad-Where are your KPRAs? What has happened to practicing PM Najib's," People First, Performance Now' ?

Are we all going to wait for Godot?

Buck up, man!

English Proficiency:Play It Again?

We have enough of motherhood statements. It's either we do it seriously or abandon ourselves to the consequences of not being equipped to compete globally.

Too often, we allow political considerations to over-ride rationality. The back-peddling of reverting the teaching of English and Mathematics back to Bahasa Malaysia recently is the unkindest cut of them all.

Anyway, for whatever it is worth, let us read this on-line news report extolling the merit of learning English.

" Malaysians, including civil servants, must be proficient in English to seize opportunities for future economic survival, said chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Sidek Hassan.

Mastering the language was vital because China, an emerging economic power, was predicted to be the world’s number one English speaking country within 10 years, he said.

“As English will remain the global lingua franca for centuries to come, we must emphasise proficiency for communication, negotiation and articulation purposes.

“For example, proficiency in English is vital when negotiating FTA (Free Trade Agreement),’’ he said.
Sidek said this after presenting a keynote address at the 11th National Human Resources Summit at a hotel in Bandar Sunway Thursday.

He also stressed that mastering English would not make a person less patriotic.

“In fact, we will be more patriotic if we can master English and use it to get the best deal for our country,’’ he said, noting that a survey in India showed that 100% of its college graduates could speak English.

Earlier in his keynote address on “Building empowered organisations: A Case for Malaysia”, Sidek said students must be prepared for jobs and technologies that have yet to emerge.

“We need to think 27th Century, today,’’ he said.

He also said that equality and equitability were crucial in creating empowered society, empowered organisation and empowered individuals.

“The government subscribes to the economics of ethics and fairness,’’ he said, adding that under 1Malaysia no one would be left out or sidelines due to exterior merits.

Sidek also noted that only 26% of the 10.6 million working population serve in professional and managerial capacity.

Comparatively, professionals make up between 35 and 50% of the working population in developed countries, he said.

“Only 80% of our workforce are educated up to upper secondary level,’’ he said.

The private sector could play a role in helping Malaysia transform into a high-income economy, he said.

He said public and private sectors, media and civil societies should not be drawn into “silo” agendas that abandon the country’s destiny in the global arena.

“We need trend setters who dare make bold changes to set new standards and break new grounds,’’ he said."

Well said, but where is the beef?

Jumping JAKs Flash Once More!

While awaiting the BOT water supply project in China to come to reality, JAKS has added to its book value, the Paya Peda Dam Project. This was first announced on 3 March 2010. The official letter of award to a joint venture company of JAKS and Pembinaan Sujaman Sdn Bhd (PSSB) has now been received from the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Malaysia.

What is this project?

The project is the undertaking of the construction of the Paya Peda Dam in Besut, Terengganu for a total cost consideration of RM333 million. The terms of the joint venture is currently been varied with the agreement of PSSB.

Further to the Company’s on the Paya Peda Dam Project, the Board of Directors of JRB is pleased to announce that subsequent to the receipt of the letter of award from Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Malaysia informing of the Government’s offer to the joint venture of JRB with Pembinaan Sujaman Sdn Bhd (PSSB) to undertake the construction of the Paya Peda Dam in Besut, Terengganu (“the Project”) for a total contract sum of RM333 million subject to certain terms and conditions, JAKS has on 18 March 2010 agreed with PSSB to vary the terms of the joint venture.

JAKS shall now be responsible to lead, finalise, undertake, perform and complete all works in relation to the project for and on behalf of the joint venture.

JAKS will finance the project through internally generated funds and external bank borrowings. The financing will not have any material effect on the earnings per share, net assets per share or gearing of the JAKS Group for the financial year ending 31 October 2010 and the project is expected to contribute positively to the Group’s future earnings.

None of the Directors and Major Shareholders of the Company and/or persons connected with them has any interest, direct or indirect, in the project.

The Directors of JAKS are of the opinion that the project is in the best interest of the JAKS Group.

I think with this project going on stream and the Pahang-Selangor Water Transfer Project and the China Water Supply Project in tow, JAKS should be the counter to watch for.

So, we can see Jumping JAKS Flash again, won't we?

Universal Studios Singapore Theme Park Opens

It was definitely auspicious 18, the day in March 2010, that the world’s fourth Universal Studios opened and welcomed its first visitors. With a a lavish ceremony aimed at attracting luck, and repeat business to the park,it hoped it will not face the same fate of loss-making Hong Kong Disneyland.

Doors were flung open to the public at precisely 08.28am today, March 18, after 18 Chinese lions blazed through the entrance at 08.08am, as the number 8 is considered by many in mostly ethnic Chinese Singapore as auspicious.

Actresses dressed up like Marilyn Monroe and Betty Boop paraded with the lion-dancing troupe along Hollywood Boulevard, one of the seven themed zones in the 20-hectare park that aims to attract 4.5 million visitors in its first year.

“We have ambitions that this would be the No. 1 destination in Asia and also Europe as far as theme parks are concerned,” Genting Group chairman Lim Kok Tuay told reporters after the opening ceremony.

Asked if Universal Studios Singapore could lose its novelty quickly and suffer losses like Hong Kong’s Disneyland, Lim said: “Definitely not, we are different from Disney.”

He adding the park would bring in more rides over the next three years to keep the experience “fresh” for visitors.

Since opening to fanfare in 2005, Disney’s first magic kingdom in China struggled to attract the expected flood of visitors from mainland China, and has been criticised as being too small to attract repeat visitors.

In 2008, it made a net loss of US$170 million (RM578 million) and is now undergoing an expansion aimed at bolstering its competitiveness with a rival Disneyland scheduled to open in Shanghai in the next five or six years.

The 24 attractions at Universal Studios include the world’s tallest duelling rollercoaster — where two rollercoasters shoot off at the same time and loop around each other — plus a 4-D cinema and rides based on Hollywood films such as “Madagascar” and “Jurassic Park”.

“It is surprisingly nice,” said Vijay, an Indian Singaporean visiting with his two kids, and wearing a Florida Universal Studios T-shirt. “The environment, the crowd and the merchandise is on par with Florida.”

“In the Singapore context, this service is very good. There are always common complaints in Singapore about lousy, rock bottom service, but these people make a difference,” said Vijay, who declined to give his full name.

The park is part of the US$4.4 billion Resorts World at Sentosa, owned by a unit of Malaysia’s Genting Group, which also has a casino and six hotels, and plans to lure 60 per cent visitors from Southeast Asia, China and India.

The Singapore government expects visitor arrivals to the city-state to rise by as much as 30 per cent to 12.5 million this year, helped by an economic recovery in Asia and the lure of two new multi-billion dollar casino resorts.

Cancer: Outside the Box Treatment

I think the scientists are on the right track. If you cannot hit them head-on, go around them.And that was exactly what they did.

Reuters has this to report.

Instead of killing off cancer cells with toxic drugs, scientists have discovered a molecular pathway that forces them to grow old and die, they said yesterday (17 March 2010).

Cancer cells spread and grow because they can divide indefinitely.

But a study in mice showed that blocking a cancer-causing gene called Skp2 forced cancer cells to go through an aging process known as senescence — the same process involved in ridding the body of cells damaged by sunlight.

If you block Skp2 in cancer cells, this process is triggered, Pier Paolo Pandolfi of Harvard Medical School in Boston and colleagues reported in the journal Nature.

And Takeda Pharmaceutical Co’s experimental cancer drug MLN4924 — already in early-stage clinical trials in people — appears to have the power to do just that, Pandolfi said in a telephone interview.

The finding may offer a new strategy for fighting cancer.

“What we discovered is if you damage cells, the cells have a built-in mechanism to put themselves out of business,” Pandolfi said. “They are stopped irreversibly from growing.”

For the study, the team used genetically altered mice that developed a form of prostate cancer.

In some of these, they inactivated the Skp2 gene. When the mice reached six months of age, they found those with an inactive Skp2 gene did not develop tumours, while the other mice did.

When they analysed the tissues from lymph nodes and the prostate, they found many cells had started to age, and they also found a slow rate of cell division.

This was not the case in mice with normal Skp2 function.

They got a similar effect when they used the Skp2-blocking drug MLN4924 in lab cultures of human prostate cancer cells.

To see if this would work in mice, they transplanted the cells and treated the mice with the drug.

“We put human cancer cells into mice. We fed them with a drug and these cells do senesce (age),” Pandolfi said.

“The same mechanism of damage caused by the sun can be evoked pharmacologically in cancer cells.”

He said this Skp2-related aging pathway appears to be active in cancer, and not other cells. “We have no intention of aging the patient. But only the cancer,” he said.

Way to go,scientists and bring it home for use soon!

Amber Chia: Model turned Woman Entreprenuer

Yes Amber Chia of the  pouty lips and supermodel fame. She wants to be an entrepreneur.

In the next three to five years, Amber hopes modeling will just be part of her history, as she now wants to be seen as a businesswoman involved in television production and events management. I think this is a natural progression for this beauty.

Unlike Kate Moss, the uber-model, who is not only a muse to fashion designers, but also a fashion collaborator with Topshop and Longchamp, and Victoria Beckham who has turned a career of pouting and spouting catchy pop lyrics into a fashion powerhouse and a shrewd businesswoman, Amber Chia is spreading her entrepreneurial wings and not confining herself to just fashion.

In fact, fashion may take a backseat as she expands into reality shows and corporate launches under the banner, Amber Creations.

The company, which started 10 months ago, faces the same challenges other events companies do.
“It is a learning experience for me,” Amber smiles. That is why she partnered close friend Jay Phua and kept her team to people she has worked since the day she started out as a rookie model.

Ever pragmatic, Amber is clear about her role: she markets herself, and the company, to get the business. “Fortunately, clients have been very supportive and recognize me as a product. Sometimes I work behind the scenes, and sometimes I make an appearance to boost up the event,” she said.

Jay and the team produce the events.

Amber knew that modelling as a career could not last forever. Realizing that her days were numbered, so to speak, she began talking to her clients.

“In that sense I was lucky. There was very little financial investment needed to start up the company but there were a few paying projects which we could bank on, and Amber Creations took off from there,” she explained.

Amber Creations is also looking at producing reality TV shows beginning with their very own “Amber’s Diary”, a fashion-driven talk show, and of course producing the Ford Models Search.

So why didn’t Amber choose an easier route? After all, rich suitors must be plenty.

She laughed, “I love to work. I like getting my hands dirty. This (work I do) challenges me — my team teaches me things I never knew. Besides even if I have a million ringgit a day to spend, what would I shop for?”

The sluggish economy has been a challenge but so far, they have been able to clear operations costs. Amber hopes their reputation for doing good work “… should keep us steady for the future.”

And if things don’t work out?

Amber gave us one of her famous smiles. “I’ll figure something out.”

You have my support, Amber!