Trouble with Internet

Want to connect to internet but having problem just now.
My DSL light is stable. Its just that I cant connect to the net.
After spending almost an hour with the support from TM doing this and that.
Finally found out the problem....

My DNS server. Should put it to streamyx's DNS.
The DNS are:
202.188.0.133
202.188.1.5

Before that I have to flush DNS.
The command is ipconfig /flushdns

Actually I have been using OpenDNS for quite some time without much problem.
Maybe its because of the undersea cable near Egypt. I don't know.
Later maybe I'll change again.

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart

The video to "Last Christmas" saw George and partner Andrew Ridgeley accompanying girlfriends to see friends at their home in an unspecified ski resort, although the cable-car that can be seen in two shots is from Saas-Fee, Switzerland. It became clear early on, however, that Andrew's girlfriend had previously been in a relationship with George, and it was to her character the song was aimed.


This is the version by Hilary Duff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXqqrl-XE7g

This is the original by WHAM.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZhoF9Isf0o

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, You gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, You gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special

Once bitten and twice shy
I keep my distance but you still catch my eye
Tell me baby do you recognise me?
Well it's been a year, it doesn't surprise me

(Merry Christmas!) I wrapped it up and sent it
With a note saying "I Love You" I meant it
Now I know what a fool I've been
But if you kissed me now I know you'd fool me again

(CHORUS)

(Oooh. Oooh Baby)

A crowded room, friends with tired eyes
I'm hiding from you and your soul of ice
My God I thought you were someone to rely on
Me? I guess I was a shoulder to cry on
A face on a lover with a fire in her heart
A man undercover but you tore me apart
Oooh Oooh
Now I've found a real love you'll never fool me again
(CHORUS)

A face on a lover with a fire in her heart
(Gave you my heart)
A girl undercover but you tore me apart
Maybe next year
I'll give it to someone,
I'll give it to someone special (special)
someone
someone

===============
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone special
who'll give me something in return
I'll give it to someone
hold my heart and watch it burn
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone special
I've got you here to stay
I can love you for a day
I thought you were someone special
gave you my heart
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone
last christmas I gave you my heart
you gave it away
I'll give it to someone, I'll give it to someone

Night out....

Went for a yamcha session last night. With a few acquaintances.
A few professionals. Some of them pharmacist, doctors, police officers, and politicians. No lawyers this time. So as usual the topics will usually turn to the issues of corruption, politics and gangsterism. We argued on what should the opposition do. What they are doing wrong and stuff like that.

We questioned him(the politician) about on why Anwar still doesn't want to take over the government if he already has the numbers? Where is the shadow cabinet? The reason is quite long and I'm not going to put it here. Still the same issue. You can find the explanation in Malaysia Today.

New mouse again

My old mouse, MobileGear is still quite new, meaning I haven't use it in more than a year when the axel of the scroll wheel snapped. I bought it this CNY with my sister.
Sigh... Want to see if i can glue the broken plastic back together. If not then I have to use the new mouse.


Today bought another mouse for my laptop. This time I bought Logitech V120 optical laser mice. Cost RM55.00 with 3 years limited warranty. Don't know what does that mean. Maybe some of you can give some idea.

Anyway here is the feature stated on the website: Convenience

Cord Management: Cord winds neatly into base, USB plug snaps securely into place protecting laser lens.

But I think it is quite troublesome if I just need a short cable from mouse to laptop. Maybe a spring operated cable is much better.

Shoes for Bush

These two days the news is full of news about Bush being attacked by a reporter.
The second day,(yesterday)there is a flash version of the game.


Then today I found a funny image. But it is quite big. Over 1Mb in size. If it is copyrighted please tell..
The title is "Bush Captured!"

If you do watch pokemon, you will understand... Haha..

Car Service

Money draining out of my pocket this week. Today spent more than RM700 to service my car.


Alignment should be RM 30.oo but since we change 4 pieces of wheels, they provide the alignment service free of charge. Using computerized Miller software to align the wheels. POKAI

Particulars	Price per unit	Total
Change contact:	RM 80.00	RM 80.00
Change tyres	RM 130 x 4	RM 520.00
Rear absorbers	RM 70.00 x2	RM 135.00
Absorber Dampers	RM 10.00 x2	RM 20.00
Labour charges + Gov taxes	RM 30.00 + RM 1.50	RM 31.50
Grand total		RM 706.50

How to save the world from Economic Depression.

The problem with all these ideas is the money is only directed at those who created or benefited from the problems. Why not attack the situation in a manner that will benefit most everyone, an approach that has been successful before and, when compared to the current course, has little downside?

I came across this article in the Forbes. It is written by Frank Beck. It tells us how to solve the world from Economic Depression. The solution?

World currencies should be devalued overnight.

It can be done on a country-by-country basis, but a coordinated devaluation would work best. A devaluation of 30% would raise the dollar value of all assets by 43%. A $200,000 home with a $230,000 mortgage would become a $286,000 home with the same mortgage. Presto! The homeowner who was $30,000 upside-down now has $56,000 equity and a good reason to make his payments. Both the homeowner and the bank are immediately better-off.

It would even benefit those who purchased their homes responsibly, as the value of their homes would rise by the same 43%. The current course of throwing trillions of dollars at the culprits is without any benefit to those who acted responsibly.

Admittedly, this is not a solution without the price of inflation, but the inflation would be short-lived. The current course will ultimately cause massive inflation that cannot be accurately estimated, and it may not even solve the problem.

Currency devaluation proved effective in ending the Great Depression. In 1930, Australia was the first to leave the gold standard, immediately devaluing the aussie by more than 40%, and the economy quickly recovered. New Zealand and Japan followed suit in 1931, each with the same result. By 1933, at least nine major economies had enacted a devaluation of their currency by removing it from the gold standard, all of whom emerged from depression.

In 1933, through a series of gold-related acts, culminating in the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, America realized a dollar devaluation of 41% when the price of gold was adjusted from $20.67 per ounce of gold to $35 per ounce. America, like the others before, had its economy bottom and recover as a result. Of the larger economies, only the French and Italians continued to adhere to the gold standard, and their economies remained depressed until finally, in 1936, they allowed their currencies to devalue, and their economies then recovered.

I see no reason to believe we would have any different result today. Only debt would remain the same. All other assets would immediately be worth more (in nominal terms), whether it be a home, a stock, an ounce of gold or a used car. Bank balance sheets would immediately improve, as many loans would be moved from non-performing to performing status. Banks would be paid with devalued dollars, but they made millions creating the mess. The current use of government stimulus through the creation of dollars will certainly lead to a similar or worse devaluation, so this is likely a net gain for the banks too.

Businesses would instantly become more profitable, and workers' pay would increase, allowing each to pay their debts more easily, even while sending more tax dollars to Washington, without raising tax rates. As assets are sold, the capital gains would send even more taxes to Washington. States and locales would receive more revenue via sales and property tax, improving the fiscal condition of school districts and local governments. The national debt would effectively be reduced by the same 25%, giving future generations a chance. Combine the move with a congressional pledge to only raise the budget by half the devaluation, and we could be on track for a balanced budget and paying down the debt.

As the old Saturday Night Live skit said, "Think of inflation as your friend. Wouldn't you like to wear $1,000 suits and smoke $100 cigars?" I know I would.

Frank Beck is Chief Investment Manager of Capital Financial Group and ProPlayer Investing in Austin, Texas, an affiliate of Partnervest Securities of Santa Barbara, Calif. Mr. Beck may be reached at Frank@FrankBeck.com.

Natures Grossest Creatures

Just came onto something interesting while surfing just now.
Some of nature's Grosset Creatures..

For example the Blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus)

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-12/natures-grossest-creatures

Beware!!! If you can't stand it, don't click on the link above!!
It is really gross!!

Chameleon

Saw a chameleon on my way back from school today. Almost crushed it to death. I was thinking of catching it but I drove too fast. Couldn't stop in time.

Reminded me a few of my encounters with it in the wild. The first time is while waiting at a bus stop in KL (Taman Tun if I'm not mistaken).

Then once during my training years in MPR. I caught one on my way to class. Put it in a bucket. It really changes colour, from green to brown but not much. And when I brought back to the hostel, my friend was so afraid of it. He said that if we are bitten by it, we would die before we could walk 7 steps. I guess that is the Chinese belief. Never knew it before.



The other time was when we are going for jungle trekking during the Toastmaster's Youth Leadership Camp this year. Caught it but don't know what to do with it so just take a photo of it and let it go.

Refund (2)

Remember my last post about my canceled trip? Well I was thinking of how to get my refund back.
I've mentioned how Airasia had refunded my flight ticket. Actually they did not refund the flight ticket, they just refund me back for all the airport taxes, managment fees, the nasi lemak I ordered and the baggage handling fee. Which is quite ok condsidering that if my flight ticket is the RM0 fare, I would get all my money back. But alas, I booked a last minute flight to Bali so I guess it is ok.

Actually it was not a refund. They just gave me a credit so that I can use it to buy a ticket within this 3 months. The due date is 11 Feb 2009. Must remember to use it by then!! Hahaha...

About the trip back from Bali, it is a very nice surprise for me. Just now when I was going to settle my credit card bill, I found out that I couldn't pay the statement's balance. The error message was "Amount Exceeded Outstanding Balance"

After checking my account details, I found out that Lionair had credited IDR 599 000 into my account. The flight costs IDR 799 000.

11-Nov-2008 WWW.LIONAIR.CO.ID JAKARTA PUSATID IDR799,000.00 = RM252.23
26-Nov-2008 WWW.LIONAIR.CO.ID JAKARTA PUSATID IDR599,000.00 = RM176.06(Credit! :)

I was already worried on how to call the office to get the refund. Cause there is no Lionair office in Sarawak. In their website, they gave you a few numbers to call, all Indonesion numbers, without the country code. So I ask around and seems like nobody knows. Then during my trip to Melaka, I asked the hotel which I stayed in and they told me the code.
It is +62 and the numbers are:
+6202163798000 or +6208041778899.
When I called the numbers, they asked me to call their office in KL (03-27139911).
I called the number and guess what? The number is not in service!

Don't know what to do anymore and just now I saw that there is a credit in my account! Good job Lionair!

Oh yes.. Forgot to mention that I went to their website http://www.lionair.co.id to cancel my flight.

And thanks sis! For lending me your phone to call. My phone can't call international number. =)