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!

Mr Nobody Drill: MCQs

This is easier then the cloze exercise as answers are given. The important thing to do first is to cross out all the answers that are 'remote'. Once you can cross out two of them, then the remaining two will give you a 50-50% chance of hitting the right answer.

Before we start, do put on your thinking cap.

Choose the correct answers by circling it.

1. The main theme (message) of the poem is

      a. funny happenings in the home
      b. family life
      c. a naughty child
      d. untidiness

    2. All the  poetic devices except one are used in the poem. Which one isn't?

      a.simile
      b. imagery
      c. repetition
     d. alliteration

     3. Who is responsible for 'cracking' the plates?

      a. The servant
      b. The mother
      c. Mr. Nobody
      d. Mr. Everybody

     4. Mr. Nobody has been described as

        a. amusing
        b. noisy
        c. serious
        d. tidy

    5.  Mr Nobody likes doing the following except

        a. throws the pins around
        b. closes the doors shut
        c. buttons from shirts
        d. tears books

   6.  The fire is not burning properly as the wood is

        a. wet
        b. damp
        c. dry
        d. dirty

  7.  What causes the house curtains to fade?

      a. moonlight
      b.starlight
      c.sunlight
     d.headlight

  8.  Reading the poem, we can say that Mr.Nobody likes to

      a. do homework
      b. cleans his boots
      c. walk on carpets
      d. play in the fire-place

  9. The tone of the poem is

     a. justifying
     b. accusing
     c. advising
     d. suggesting

 10. The persona in the poem is probably one of the following except

    a. a youth
    b. a boy
    c. a baby
   d. an teenager

This is much easier,right? So I would expect a 10/10 success rate here. Did we get that?

The answers are as below.

(1)b (2)d (3)c (4)c (5)b (6)b (7)c (8) c (9)b (10)c

Mr Nobody: A Cloze Drill

Let us have a revision drill on the simple poem,"Mr Nobody". It is a cloze exercise and so I do hope you have good memory cells. Let's go!

The persona says every household has a little man called Mr. Nobody. He moves around as (1).......as a mouse. He does a lot of (2).........and yet no one has seen his face. He does things like (3).......pages from books,leaving door ajar,pulling (4)........from shirts and (5)........pins.The squeaking door will continue to (6)......... because Mr. Nobody is supposed to oil it.Mr. Nobody has also put in (7) ........wood so the fire will not light for anyone to boil water.The floor and carpet has(8)..........foot-prints and the paper are tossed around. Mr. Nobody also leaves (9)........upon the door, does not draw the (10).......... and leaves his boots all around the house. Then, there are ink stains on the floor. Mr Nobody did it.

So ,did you get it all correct?

Look at the answers below:

(1)quiet(2)mischief (3)tearing (4)buttons(5)scattering(6)squeak (7)damp(8)muddy (9) finger marks (10)blinds

Up close with Valerie Bloom

Valerie Bloom was a Jamaican before she came to England in 1979. After studying English with African and Caribbean Studies at the University of Kent at Canterbury, she started wiring poems  in English and Jamaican patois for all ages. She has performed her work throughout the world, with many television and radio appearances. Her poetry is included in a number of anthologies. I guess "The River" could be one of them.She tutors regularly for schools and colleges too.

Her books include the Jamaican poetry collections Touch mi! Tell mi! (1983); and Duppy Jamboree and other Jamaican Poems (1991); Hot Like Fire (2002), a collection of poems in English and Jamaican patois; and more recently, Whoop an'Shout! (2003).

She is also a book editor,having edited several collections of poetry such as On a Camel to the Moon and other poems about journeys (2001) and One River, Many Creeks: poems from all around the world (2003). Her children's novel, Surprising Joy, was published in 2003.

Valerie Bloom has been awarded an Honorary Masters Degree from the University of Kent, and lives in Kent. Her latest books are The Tribe and A Soh Life Goh, both published in 2008.