Ha! Ha! Ha! This is too funny. An Antarctic fur seal has been observed trying to rape a king penguin of undetermined sex on Marion Island.

Well I guess the penguin can be considered pretty lucky. Seals don't usually try to mate with them; they usually hunt and eat them for food. So besides a bruised ego and possible post-traumatic stress disorder, this one managed to keep its life.


(The 15kg penguin is pinned under the 100kg seal)

Click on the picture above for the full story on BBC News.

Labels: funny, nature

Yup, I am so over Bangkok. The city has finally lost its appeal to me. Out of so many trips, this is my worst ever. Getting dragged around by a friend for shopping is bad enough (I am so not a shopper). But having people around me getting wallet stolen and drinking from a spiked mix and then me getting into a physical altercation with a drunk ang moh troublemaker who was apparently going around making a nuisance of himself with other patrons is one too many bad experiences back to back; not to mention the few other stuff that also got to me. Anyway, it's already been said that misfortune comes in a series of threes.

Then on a much lesser scale of irritation, there was also the big party I got dragged to which was busted midway by cops looking for a bribe or two before allowing it to go on. Wah liao... How much more eventful can it get.

But having said all that, there were a few nice strangers like the other ang mo who told me about the mischief that the drunk was making while explaining that security has already been alerted about him and the local girl who asked me if I was ok after the run-in and offered the space next to her for me to stand and cool down in the packed club. And I did enjoy myself shooting at others with my supersoaker in crazy Silom during one of the evenings. Quite a number of foreign cuties to target. ;-P

Hmm... it just occurred to me that someone seems to be a lightning rod for travel misfortunes, just like my ang moh friend who was a lightning rod for Songkran celebrants. Anyway, I don't see myself returning to Bangkok in a long time, if ever. And if I do go back to Thailand, I think it will probably be to some other city or town far from the madding crowd.

PS: Actually, I wouldn't mind getting my cellphone stolen. I would be able to claim from my travel insurance and get a nicer and newer model like the Nokia N82 or the Samsung i780. =) Heh! Heh!

Labels: thailand, travel

So what could be pissing Farish A. Noor (author of "The Other Malaysia" which I reviewed back in 2004) off so much that he is "absolutely consumed by anger" (to use his own words)?


This is not all; they have also proposed increasing the penalty (including whipping) on a range of "moral" crimes like prostitution, consuming alcohol and involvement in gambling activities. And on top of that, they would like to set up a rehab centre for those convicted of offences such as prostitution and effeminate men.

Rehab centre for effeminate men??!!! And how do they intend to butch-ify them? Put them through deportment classes to teach how to swagger like cowboys? Electric shock therapy to wean them off colour coordination and accessorisations? Duh...

And do you know what makes this even more interesting? The jokers above are NOT from PAS. Ikim and the Syariah Judiciary Department of Malaysia are government institutions and agencies created by and operating under the auspices of the UMNO-led government.

I can go on and on about it, but I think Farish and Marina Mahathir have done a good job commenting and criticising the above so I shall not add anymore to it.

Anyway, while I was reading Farish's posting, I came across an earlier article attacking the destruction of Hindu temples in Malaysia. Even though this was written in 2006, the destruction is still happening and hence the article is still current. In this piece, he argues that these are not Indian Hindu temples being demolished, but rather Malaysian temples that belong as much to the Malaysian cultural, historical and religious landscape as mosques, churches and Buddhist and Taoist temples. As such, the destruction should not be just a concern of Malaysian Indian Hindus but all Malaysians regardless of religion. And lest we forget, Hindu predates Islam in the peninsula and the larger archipelago by centuries.

And for something slightly off tangent and funny, check out Karipanas' post on fun things to do in a "Guided Democracy", some can be applicable in Singapore too. Number 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 and 10 cracked me up badly!

Labels: malaysia, politics

I found this set of interesting satirical cartoons on my friend's blog, which I am posting here for your viewing pleasure. I don't know who the artist is and hence I am not able to attribute it.

Labels: china

• 10 December 2007 - Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) pumps US$10 billion into UBS amid significant writedowns related to its subprime banking exposure in the United States.
  
  
• 1 April 2008 - UBS announces a further writedown of US$19 billion due to the abovementioned exposure and seeks a further US$15 billion of capital infusion.

The total writedown has hit US$37.4 billion, making it the biggest writedown by any bank since the credit crunch began.

Question: Did our government's investment vehicle made the right choice when it saw UBS's initial capital plea as a chance to get a 9% stake in the bank? Or was it betting on the wrong horse? Or is this the lowest it can go before bouncing back and proving GIC's investment choice correct?

A bit scary considering that GIC is investing Singapore's vast reserves. But then again, US$10 billion is a drop in the bowl when our official reserves is US$172 billion as of February this year, making us number 8 in the world.

Let's hope UBS doesn't go under and make GIC's investment a fiasco. However I do wonder whether the asset managers were aware that there could be further writedowns or were certain facts either withheld by UBS or were totally unknown by them at that time. In which case, how diligent was GIC's due diligence?

I guess this should provide our MPs new materials to base their questions on when parliament next sits on 21 April 2008.

And in other news, an outline of a deal has almost been reached for Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to step down. The opposition says it won Saturday's general elections.

Labels: banking-finance, international, singapore

Latest discovery about the Adelie penguins of the Antartic featured on the BBC! I guess birds will always be birds.

BBC News - If Penguins Could Fly

You really really have to watch this.

Okay, I am not a Kelly Rowland's fan and the song is okay hot. But the video absolutely sizzles!

Don't you think she looks a bit like Gladys Knight from Gladys Knight and the Pips?

Labels: music