Can you speak BM

For those who are not aware, Malaysia is made up of three main ethnic groups - the Malays, Chinese and the Indians (mostly Tamil) and other smaller ethnic groups. The national language of Malaysia is Bahasa Malaysia (BM), mother tongue of the Malays who form the majority of the population. 

The Chinese are made up of different Chinese dialect groups. This includes Hakka, Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, etc. Most of the younger generation of Malaysian Chinese can speak Mandarin too, due to the fact that most of them went to Chinese schools where Mandarin is the formal medium of education. National unity is issue of concern in the Country and also controversial because there are a lot of different views on how to go about it. 

Anyway, read an interesting piece of news on The New Sanctuary blog. The post titled "Chicken and Duck talk", discusses a new Malaysian TV series where most of the characters are ethnic Chinese but they speak BM. According to Anthraxxxx, this is a bad idea. He says,

"It’s fine if these casts are good and fluent in Bahasa Malaysia but if you read the article properly, most of them are not good in that Bahasa."

I haven't seen the series, so I can't really comment. What do you guys think? Would love to her the opinion of guys who have seen it.

Alcoholism and drug addiction treatment

Nobody needs to talk to me about the horrors of drug addiction or alcoholism because I have seen the ill effects with my own eyes. I have seen families torn apart and even people dying because of these two diseases.

The problem with many addicts is the denial. They refuse to accept that they are addicts and will give excuses like "I am only a social drinker".

I was going through Watershed.com's and found this interesting article titled "The Signs & Symptoms of Alcoholism and Drug Addiction". If you have the symptoms listed, you better seek some professional help.

Baby boy taking one step at a time

Taking care of a baby is not easy and I can totally relate to Ami-chan when she writes

"I remind myself part of learning is falling down, getting bumps and bruises, and apparently givng your parents heart failure on a half-hourly basis."

Read the full post here.

My son crawls so fast that before we know it, he's either in the kitchen or trying to climb up the stairs. We have put in door-safety hooks and stoppers. Right now we are shopping for used stairgates.

A few days back we were in the dining room and heard a thud followed by loud wailing. We guessed that he was standing up against the sofa and had fallen backwards on the wooden floor.

We nearly had a heart attack. And this was not the first time. Fortunately the living room is carpeted but we now take take the extra precaution of putting a thick comforter on the floor near the sofas. My wife also bought him a woolen helmet for extra safety but he hates wearing it and we gave up after the first day.

Car boot sale online

I am sure that most of my regular readers are aware that going to car boot sales has become our favourite family weekend pastime. iBootSale.com is UK's online version of Car boot sales, where sellers put up their unwanted possessions on their pitches. Buyers can browse, haggle and purchase the items just like in a real car boot sale.

The only difference is that this is one car boot sale is open 24/7 and is not affected by rain, snow or sleet.

If you have unwanted stuff stored in your attic or garage, just go over there and register. Right now the charge for pitches are currently FREE! This is for 90 days and 25 items. However in the future, there will be a simple charge for each pitch.

Just checked and found out that there are a lot of items at incredible prices. Better hurry before they are gone.

Google adsense on your blog

Was going through this post: "No sense in AdSense". Totally agree with Paul when he says,

"...for smaller sites (and I mean much smaller) it just isn’t really a big earner and often it doesn’t do anything except take up screen real-estate."

I have been running Google adsense on my blog since April 24, 2004. If you ask me how much I have earned from the ads, I can only say - not much. I used to have Google ads plastered all over my blog but not anymore. Later learnt that eople are turned off by too many ads on a site. Now, I still have some ads on my site but slowly culling those wthat don't bring me any or negligible revenue.

BTW, Paul is a web monkey since 1998 (his own words not mine), Read Paul's Rants and Revelations.

Tags: google adsense ads

Social networking for sci-fi fans

If you are a science fiction fan like me, you can socialize with others having a similar interest on Sci-Edge, a new social networking site. This site is not only for sci-fi fans. They also welcome people who love technology and gadgets, as well as science hobbyists.

I know of a friend who had a bad experience when he joined a social networking site. Unfortunately people in that site (or forum) thought that sci-fi was not cool and he was called a geek. Now he doesn't want to have nothing to do with social networking sites. I finally convinced him that being a sci-fi fan was not weird - though small in number, there are millions on this planet who love science fiction - books, movies and so on. He just happened to join the wrong group. I am definitely going to recommend Sci-edge.me.com to him.

If you are like my friend (or me), you can sign up for Free on this site, which will be will launched on April 2nd. BTW, you can also make some money by blogging and posting links on the site. Check it out for more details.

Guy with the big smile

Are you watching American Idol? 

Every week I keep expecting one person to be voted off but he's still there smiling his sweet smile. In case you are wondering who I haven't guess who I am talking about, it' Sanjaya. 

I was reading a post "Sweet Sanjaya..how could you?" on Jerri's journal, and totally agree with her. He's good but not that good. I keep wondering "who's voting for him?" 

 BTW, Jerri a mother of 2 and she blogs at "A crack n' life". She has written a book titled "Sleep is Sacred: Sleep Begets Sleep". E-mail her (jareason@gmail.com) to get a copy.