Saturday 28 June 2014

Wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am!

The summer holiday's here finally and I can feel some weight lifted off my shoulders.
Two reason mainly.
One -- I will be spared the early rush preparing snack boxes for the kiddo and trying to be creative with what kind of snack to be packed daily in order for her to eat.

Second -- I was so looking forward for my kid to end this term because of her so 'overwhelming' class teacher. Oh yes...
She is so overwhelmingly not interested to teach, no dedication, lack of everything I would say. Oh, I can carry on with this...
I've had several experience with this particular teacher.
My kid was sent to another club because her normal one was cancelled, resulting in her coming home an hour later, sending me worrying calling the school whatnot. Besides the occasional news regarding academic activities and programmes informed late not at all, queries written in daily students dairy ignored and replied few days later by the key stage head teacher ... I can carry on.

Despite knowing I could take the matter further, especially when almost everything was in black and white, and despite expressed dissatisfaction in writing via the student's daily diary-- this mat salleh, even though they contradict themselves -- they're mat salleh -- they will definitely say they're right and they will definitely back each other up.
No matter what.

Maybe because of the authoritarian and colonialism, plus the distant and unwelcoming self are still thick in them towards the lesser (in their eyes) nationalities, the darker skins from other continents -- especially the Asians.
Can't blame them, really.
Most Asian are the kow-tow type and will trust the brunet and blue eyed better -- in any occasion.
Maybe they felt insecure especially when this Brits splurt their accent or deep 'kampung' way of talking.

It was just yesterday I was having a small chat with another expat wife here informing me that two of her kid were sent to Doha to attend an international school. Her youngest who is the same age as mine will probably follow the elder sibling footsteps.

Why?
Dedications, methods of teaching and learning and the commitment of the students per se.
After a while I can see the slacking side of this British run school.
No doubt they adopted a different angle of teaching compared to result oriented Asian schools or schools in my home country. I salute that. BUT it is applicable only for the lower stages of schooling life.
With bookless scholing, internet researching there are pro and cons of it.
But certain emphasis is just not there; very easy example is writing skills.
That, I guess maybe one of the reason why the Mat Salleh's handwriting is so bad and ugly.

My conclusions of all these would be due to their short stint.
Majority of them are young, adventure must be going to countries such as the Gulf (or now China and heard the latest Kazakhstan) which does not include producing high achievers in their classes -- After two or three years they will move on to another country.
That amount of teaching will not make a teacher engage in the real dedication of teaching.
Unlike those older ones who have a different approach and are more concern in student's achievements.

There is this phrase I like to use depicting unsavoury situations such as this  -- ‘Wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am’ -- And that is how I describe these (not all but most) teachers.

It's all about fun in the sun.
With 10 minutes drive to the beach and booze on the weekends or Wednesdays added on with clubs or all sort from diving, to yachting, to boating and golfing and you just name it -- Im pretty sure they're having a hell of a time here -- unlike the cloudy skies of where they come from.
And their occasional HashRun...oh so typical British.
Even the non Mat Salleh British seems to adopt this mentality too.
Must be so colonised them all...

Oh well.
Let's leave that aside.

I was actually quite surprise to learnt that parents have to fork out QR200 to QR 500 for an application form to other international schools in Doha.
It bewildered me.
Why so expensive?
Is it because they know they can reap off the parents pocket who have got limited choices...that to me is unbelievable.
Paying that much does not mean you're secured a seat even.
Earning QR20,000 a month and without special arrangement with companies -- educations will be a BIG burden here.




Thursday 26 June 2014

Sendiri tengok bulan...


Ramadan moon

Okay.
It's either the editor could not find the best title for this post, or it is actually a fact that they're calling the residents to look for Ramadan crescent after sunset Friday.

Qatar’s Muslims should look to the sky on Friday evening, June 27, to see if they can spot the new moon, which would signify the beginning of the month of Ramadan.

With the Ramadhan in just few days, sometimes news like this can be quite misleading.
Like as if they do not have a trusted board to look for the crescent indicating the start of the holy month.

The committee also called on whoever sees the crescent of the blessed month of Ramadan to report to the Ministry’s headquarters at the The Towers (al-Abraj) in Dafna and attest his testimony.

That made me laughed somehow.
It can also implies that their finding might be contradicting.
Don't you think so?

Que sera sera...

The real crash of Malaysian Airlines.

History is slowly showing.
The truth will prevail.
Im a true believer of the second line. Especially when we're made mum in situations of better to retreat then to die.

The national carrier, Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) is facing their at the brink (it has been almost all the years there anyway) and the only option to ensure survival is by making radical changes to its business structure -- that was what indicated by the sorrow-ridden chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, suggesting that the changes could be 'anything from spinning off certain divisions,filing for bankruptcy to privatisation'.

That must be the most crystal clear admission made by MAS top gun ever since. With more than 10 years in red,  Ahmad Jauhari indicated the cruciality of the situation saying 'it is not good enough to take the airline to the future'.
And I reckoned that must have been assisted by all the gloom surrounding the to-date still missing MH370.

There are also news that the airline's selling its maintenance, repair and overhaul division, MAS Engineering, as part of its plan to return to profitability -- which I think would not help much after years and years of net-profit loss.
Honestly, receiving continuous monetary help from the government has prove to be futile and will not help much either.
Why should the government want to carry the burden when the money helping a limp company can be channeled somewhere else?

People might be in the dark of what actually going on in the company, but simple conclusions can be summed up when it comes to this carrier's history. To say that they offered very cheap seats, nope.
To say they provide the best meals onboard?...Nope -- but maybe they've been overcharged by the contracts caterers, which probably too are related to those people with interest.
Are they losing to Air Asia -- maybe in certain sectors.

But all must be tailing back to 15 years ago.
As they say, history will show....


Wednesday 25 June 2014

Petronas and a non-virgin wife.




The caption which read "Petronas in discussion with Sarawak govt on royalty" somehow churned my thought on how this will help the 'publicly pitiful' ex-wife of the son of Sarawak's King Taib claim for RM400 million payout for her divorce settlement case.

Petronas, the government oil and gas owned company, will conduct a special briefing on the royalty with the state government soon and although the decision on the monetary increase has yet to be made but with federal government's allocation of RM3 billon for Sarawak --  I bet every eyes and mouth would be gawking by now.

The counsel for the sister of once famous jazz singer should know what to do and where to hit next.

In his defend to not pay amount she wanted, the son of Taib Mahmud said he discovered his estranged wife was not a virgin on their wedding night on January 9, 1992 -- Thank god they didn't go to the extend of stating the actual time and and what they wear that night. God Almighty!

On the political side of it, I reckon the federal government will definitely find it easier to gather more votes for Barisan Nasional for the next General Election.

Que sera sera....

Tuesday 24 June 2014

Let's encrypt...

This is interesting.
I do not know whether this is security-proof or not but news on the rapid increase of e-mail cloaked in encryption technology in social platform and emails such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook it seems shielding their users' online communications from government spies and other snoops.

Google and other companies are now automatically encrypting all e-mail.
However it doesn't mean they ensure confidentiality unless the technology is being used by both parties.

An analysis showed that  65 per cent of Google messages sent by its users were encrypted while delivered, meaning the recipient's e-mail provider also supports the technology.

That's up from 39 per cent in December. Incoming communiques to Gmail were less secure. Only 50 per cent of them were encrypted while in transit, up from 27 per cent in December.

Encryption reduces the chances that e-mail can be read by interlopers. The technology transforms the text into coding that looks like gibberish until it arrives at its destination.

Google and other internet services rely on a form of encryption known as Transport Layer Security, or TLS. Security experts say that encryption method isn't as secure as other options.

But encryption that is tougher to crack is also more complicated to use.

Gmail, with more than 425 million accounts worldwide, was one of the first free e-mail services to embrace TLS.

Yahoo, Facebook and AOL are also encrypting their e-mail services. Microsoft, whose stable of e-mail services includes the Outlook, MSN and Hotmail domains, has started encrypting many accounts as part of a transition that won't be completed until later this year.

Meanwhile, I think I'll start learning to encrypt -- my public yet 'personal' post on facebook first...if you know what I mean.

Sunday 22 June 2014

Lucky people.

Qataris at Souq Waqif

If my memory serves me well, I remember reading that Qatar is one of three countries in the Gulf, in fact in the world that pays high wages to skilled expats.

The intentions of sharing this is just to indicate the differences in income between the locals and expats. Unlike my home country Malaysia, where the expats gets higher pay than their local counterpart -- although the locals are doing similar job with better qualifications.

Probably Malaysia will never cease to adopt the "Kera di hutan disusukan, anak dirumah mati kelaparan"...direct translation will bring the meaning of a human child will die of starvation while the monkey in the jungle being fed milk by the human -- or the mother...or whoever.

See, with an average Qatari household earns QR72,700 ($19,918) a month, nearly three times the average expat household income of QR24,400 ($6,685) and when taking into account housing, free electricity and water, the Qatari income figure increases to QR88,200 ($24,164).

What happen is, when these locals gets their special increment, the last one happened just when the Arabs Spring started in Syria couple of years back, the items food and related provisions will automatically increases too.

The average Qatari household surveyed was made up of 8.7 people, more than twice the size of the average expat household of 4.3 people – a difference that may help explain the expenditure and earnings gaps between the two groups.

The studies also  shows that a Qatari household will spend on average QR49,600 ($13,589) a month, while the average expat household will spend QR18,000 ($4,932).

But among all the survey findings, I found one interesting fact -- the biggest single expense for the average Qatari household is transport and communications, which account for one-fifth of its monthly budget i.e.  QR9,560.
And, you would think that too because you won't fail to see any one of them, men or women, not talking or texting at any point of time.





Tuesday 17 June 2014

Twisted and Sick in the name of Jihad...


I like to share here the horrific mass execution of Iraqis in the hand of The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
The photos released by them show how horrid and cheap life can be when it comes to war obviously led by greed to gain power and economy.

Mass execution photos of Iraqi soldiers/civilians by jihadi savages. Photos show hundreds of Iraqis (majority Shias & Alawites) being transported in trucks and executed by ISIS. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were transported and met the same brutal fate. (It is thought/reported to be 1700)

A couple of days ago, ISIS declared that they had captured 4,500 Iraq soldiers in Tikrit.

These photos were released by ISIS — they are not doing this under cover of night or in hiding. They are proud of their slaughter in the cause of their -twisted and sick- Takfiri belief.

































ISIS butchers leave ‘roads lined with decapitated police and soldiers’

The full horror of the jihadists’ savage victories in Iraq emerged yesterday as witnesses told of streets lined with decapitated soldiers and policemen.

Blood-soaked bodies and blazing vehicles were left in the wake of the Al Qaeda-inspired ISIS fanatics as they pushed the frontline towards Baghdad.

They boasted about their triumphs in a propaganda video depicting appalling scenes including a businessman being dragged from his car and executed at the roadside with a pistol to the back of his head. The extent of the carnage came as:

Images from captured cities such as Mosul and Tikrit showed deserted streets, burnt out vehicles and discarded uniforms left by government troops fleeing the brutal fanatics;
ISIS leaders urged their bloodthirsty followers to continue their march and warned that battle would rage in Baghdad and in the holy city of Karbala;
Thousands of residents in the capital answered a call to arms to repel the invaders amid fears the government’s own troops were not up to the job.
Aid groups warned of a new refugee crisis after half a million terrified Iraqis left their homes to escape the jihadists..



ISIS butchers beheading Iraqi Soldier


ISIS photographs detail execution of Iraqi soldiers

By BILL ROGGIO   June 15, 2014

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham’s administrative division in Salahaddin proudly displayed photographs of the capture and execution of Iraqi soldiers after it took over a base in the province.The graphic photographs were released today on the Twitter account belonging to Wilayat Salahaddin, or Salahaddin Division. The ISIS has divided its “state” in Iraq and Syria into 16 administrative units, or wilayats.

The stream of photographs begins by showing ISIS fighters in dirt-caked pickup trucks with machine guns mounted in the beds traveling to Tasfirat prison in the city of Tikrit, and then launching an assault with dismounted troops. Tikrit fell to the ISISearlier this week.After capturing the base, the ISIS takes photographs of dozens of US-supplied armored Humvees, Ford and Chevy pickup trucks, and various military transport and supply vehicles that were left behind.

ISIS fighters are then photographed posing over the bloodied and mutilated corpses of the slain soldiers. The ISIS photos show the capture, transport, and execution of scores of Iraqi soldiers. Most of the soldiers are in civilian clothes, but some are seen wearing civilian clothes over their uniforms.

Iraqi soldiers had reportedly shed their uniforms and deserted en masse as the ISIS blitzkrieg advanced from Mosul to Tikrit and on to the outskirts of Samarra in the course of one week. At least four Iraqi Army divisions are said to have melted away during the ISIS onslaught.

In the photos, the Iraqi soldiers are rounded up at gunpoint and placed on flatbed trucks, some of which appear to have been captured from the base. Some of the ISIS fighters are seen holding US-made M-16 assault rifles, which had been issued to the Iraqi Army and police forces.

The ISIS fighters then order the frightened soldiers to lie face down in shallow ditches, with their hands behind their backs. ISIS fighters then open fire on the unarmed prisoners of war.

The ISIS is said to have executed thousands of Iraqi soldiers during its southward advance to Baghdad. Several Iraqi military bases are believed to have been overrun. Forward Operating Base Speicher, which once was a major US military hub in Salahaddin province, was reportedly seized by the ISIS during its southward push.

Over the past week, the ISIS took control of Ninewa and most of Salahaddin province, as well as parts of Diyala province. Most of Anbar province fell under ISIS control in January.


GR Editor’s Note:
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is a terrorist organization supported covertly by the Western military alliance.  The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) claims to have executed 1,700 Iraqi soldiers. Those who trained and financed the ISIS rebels have blood on their hands.




Online Banking Warning.











They will try every mean possible to get you in their scam net.
This is the latest try I must say.
Never receive anything like this before, however without clicking on the 'proceed' -- I decided to log in and everything seems okay.

So watch out and be aware.