It's Already July 2013

A bust of Julius

Yes, today marks the next half of 2013.

And what have we to show for?

We had a very much controversial elections and for many life goes on as usual.

The haze came and schools had to close. No joy, though, as most stayed at home and there will be replacement classes.

July marks the month of my daughter's birthday and we are still thinking on where to have the birthday dinner?

As for me, I am on the verge of losing my consultancy job.So it will be less cash and more time on my hands.

There is little teaching and perhaps more AGMs to attend.

The interesting thing about July is that it is named after Julius Caesar. Not to be outdone, nephew Augustus also leave his mark by taking on the month of August.

And so we now have 12 months in our calendar.

Man of Mayhem

The Letter S Means Hope!

Went out with the family to see Man of Steel last Sunday.

My verdict-over-hyped!

A Dark Superman!

The movie is another rerun of the birth of Kar-El and his quest to look for his origin.

Then there is the usual fight with the bad guys led by General Zod.

City Demolisher!

Except for the first few minutes which we hope would lead to a more promising movie, most of out hopes were dashed when it became pedantic story-telling and absolute mayhem in city destruction.

Full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

A classic movie of more is less.

 Dullsville revisited!

A much wasted effort by Christopher Nolan!

Henry Cavil plays the new Superman without the red under-wears outside while Russel Crowe played Jor-El.

 Diane Lane acted as Martha and Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, the adopted parents of Clark Kent.

The Appealing Amy Adams

The only saving grace of sorts, I believe that added a spark of magic to the boring movie was Amy Adams as Lois Lane.

Interesting Facts but Maybe Insignificant...........

You learn new things every day. Most of them may be insignificant but certainly interesting.

An arm struck by Lightning

Satanic Leaf Gecko

The Insides of an Oyster

Strange 2-colour eyed cat

How giraffes drink

Smallest Horse called Einstein

Most beautiful Horse is from Afghanistan

Speaker Hannah Yeoh

Selangor puts a feather to its cap when they appointed Hannah Yeoh as the first Lady Speaker of a State Assembly this morning (21 June 2013).

This is a first for both State Assemblies and Parliament.

Putting decorum into place in Selangor

With this lady in the chair, I believe there will be more decorum in the august House  from both sides of the divide now.

Rare Past Photos of Significance

These are some of the photos collected for us to hand down to the next generations.

Enjoy......

The Clintons-Those were the Days

Arnold obtains US Citizenship

Castro at Lincoln Memorial

Christ the Redeemer in Construction in Rio

Constructing Statue of Liberty- Work in Progress

Constructing Disneyland

Einstein and his Sandals

Mediocre Einstein School Report Card

A Shell-shocked deer in Russia-WW2

The Tasmanian Tiger-Extinct since 1933

Aerial combat and Dog Fights over London WW2

Hitler-Triumphant in Paris

Nagasaki-20 minutes after the Atomic bomb

Real Bygone Japanese Samurais

First McDonald Outlet

First Ronald McDonald

Crabby Action on Christmas Island

This is the crabbiest place on earth. Christmas Island.

City Dwelling Crab

In December, some 120 million crabs come out of hiding and they make their way toward the ocean for their annual migration. As they live everywhere, they traverse municipal roads, your back lawns, driveways, the jungle, down cliffs, and even cut through the residents’ houses.

A Red carpet of Crawlies

They then mate and each female will lay 100,000 eggs which will hatch a month later in the ocean and these baby crabs will then head back to town and find homes amongst the humans.

That Beef Noodle Action at Lai Foong

The famous Lai Foong in downtown KL

Yes, I was introduced to this superb beef noodle soup by the late Alex Ooi.

To date, except for the hometown beef noodles that I tasted as a child in Jasin which still holds the record, none come close to this beef-noodle as Lai Foong.

The Stall

I was introduced to one opposite Lai Foong a long time back but it was just not up to my taste-buds.

Then PH introduced another to me that was just around the now torn-down old Klang bus station.

The Maestro

Different and again not to my liking.

The SEAPARK market beef-noodles was different as it comes with a strong scent of five spice powder.

This is the action!

So, verdict.....

Lai Foong beef-noodle still takes the cake!

Pharmaniaga-So Tightly Held

Boustead's Baby

The best ex-bonus and ex-split price was registered on 5th June where it touched RM 4.87.

The lowest price was RM 4.48 yesterday (13 June 2013)

Interestingly, there was no great selling in spite of the split and bonus.

The volume ranged from 205,100  on 7th June to 1,061,720 on 29 May 2013.

As such,one can see that Pharmaniaga is a collector's item and will go up with time with Boustead buying into it at the sideline.

Once the sellers disappears, then expect some ramping action even on small volumes.

Could be a perfect  time window for collection for retailers as well.

MAS-Digestion and Accumulation

Hope and Faith

When it went ex-rights in early May 2013, it was in everyone's mind that this is one counter which will go nowhere for quite sometime.

The par value of the MAS shares was written off by 90 sen to 10 sen.

On top of that, there was a cash call of  4 rights shares at 23 sen per share for every share held.

Believe me, the MAS shares were, however, oversubscribed by over 41.5% and  most who applied for excess  shares got their wish come true.

Upon the listing of the new rights, MAS shares lost 2 sen from RM 0.345 and ended the day at RM 0.325.

MAS's  theoretical value  was 32 sen.  At 0.325 sen, there was even a 0.5 sen premium when the rights got listed that day.

So, while they were still in the money of (0.325 sen -23 sen= 9.5 sen), numerically strong sellers came in and sold down MAS.

Share values subsequently rose to 41.5 sen before succumbing again to fanatical selling pressure  driving the price down to as low as 30.5 sen.

As always, those who had volume in their keep, sold for quick profits while those who somehow felt they "knew" the true value of MAS shares as a GLC took a chance to accumulate based on experience, hope and faith.

Buyers  may make quick bucks  on the remote chance if MAS goes up in the short term but the probability is that they may have to lock it up for for sometime  for their MAS shares  to turn into golden eggs.

Currently it is in the long phase known as the digestion stage. At this stage, sellers will continue to sell down until there is price equilibrium. At low price levels, buyers will come out in larger numbers if they believe the counter has reach a  value worth collecting.

Once selling has dissipated, then equilibrium will arrive and price will move upwards.

As MAS shares have fallen from 40 sen, it is about 10 sen cheaper now. Perhaps, it could be bargain time for some.

If today (12 June) is any indicator, selling pressure seems to have abated and by the lunch close, MAS shares actually managed a 1/2 sen rise to 31 sen. ( It has gone back to 30.5 again by 4 pm.)

While Khazanah has taken up all their rights, it seems EPF has sold down MAS and is no longer a major holder of the stock..

Let us see how the digestion and accumulation phase will go in the next few trading sessions.

PS: on 19 June, the selling seems very much restrained though buying persists.
Share of MAS is now still hovering around the 30.5 sen to 31 sen range.

Mid-Life Crisis-This is 40

Mid-life Crisis

Judd Apatow's movie, "This is 40" gives one a window into what are the issues when you turn 40.

The family becomes dysfunctional when parents lose their direction and wants to start life anew.

Uncertainty in life

The Female Protagonist

In this movie, Pete and Debbie goes through the motion of love and distrust and then went out to look for themselves again.

The Real thing

This is one fun movie and forces us to re-look at our lives especially on the issues of family happiness and priorities.

Animal Instinct

Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann plays the parents, the real Apatow kids took on the role of Sadie and Charlotte, the kids and Megan Fox proved one great distraction for us all.

Megan magic

Happy watching.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D- The Continuing Mayhem

This is surely a franchise to promote more ghastly violence of body parts on the movie screen.

Though I have not seen any of the ghastly series, I guess this one has enough violence packed in a single movie.

You can expect wanton chainsaw action in this one installment as Jed Sawyer exact revenge on the murderers of his family with this handy weapon of his.

The plot is simple. A cousin who escaped the earlier family massacre has now grown up, found that she has been adopted and came home to claim the family assets.

Petite Alexandra

Alexandra  Daddario provides the wicked allure and petite eye candy here.

Divine Justice in Indonesia

God's Divine Law in Action in Indonesia

This happened in Indonesia.

What the law could not provide, the judge did. 

Praise the Lord!

This is a touching story of a “nenek” who stole a piece of tapioca for her hungry grandchild charged in court in a country rich in natural resources, minerals and oil and gas but the majority of whose rakyat are living below the poverty line.

The Nenek

An Indonesian Judge, Marzuki, was sitting in judgment of an old woman who pleaded guilty to stealing some tapioca from a plantation.

In her defence, she pleaded that she did this because she was poor, her son was sick and her grandchild was hungry.

The plantation manager insisted that she be punished as a deterrent to others.

The judge, going through the documents, then looked up and told thenenek, “I’m sorry but I cannot make any exception to the law and you must be punished.”

Accordingly, our nenek was fined Rp1 million (US$100) or jailed two-and-a-half years. She wept as she could not pay the fine.

The judge then took off his hat, put in Rp1 million into it and said, “In the name of justice, I fine all who are in the court Rp50000 (US$5.50) as dwellers of this city and letting a child starve until her grandmother had to steal to feed her grandchild. The registrar shall now collect the fines from all the accused.”

The court collected Rp3.5 million (US$200). Once the fine was paid off, the rest was given to our nenek. The fines collected included those from the plantation manager!

This short story succinctly shows what a judge can do to achieve justice, despite the sometimes inhuman strictures of man-made law. To his eternal credit, Judge Marzuki meted out justice of a divine variety.

With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone. – Oscar Wilde

Superb Man and Nature Shots

Hanging on the Brooklyn Bridge

Most Skiers Pulled by a Boat

Two Rivers Collide in Geneva

Hottest Kiss Atop a Volcano

The Engines of the Titanic

Base Jumping off Christ the Redeemer  in Rio

The Power of an Ant

X-Ray of a Stingray

This is another great series involving nature.

Honey Bees Leaving  its  Sting Before Death

A Seahorse Looks at a Diver's Watch

Elephant Meets a Sea Lion

Enjoy!