Eva & Hitler...

Strangely enough today is the 66th death aniversary of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun.

Hitler would have hated a species like me, but I've to admit I am a huge fan of his.

Hitler and Eva in good times.

Hitler's secret Polish hideout

Rain havoc ...

I was jolted out of fatigue sleep by a heavy downpour after a long drive home to Penang.

Rain has been causing havoc in Penang lately. Many low lying areas had flooded and roads became impassable with clogged up floating debris. A week before, I was told Penang had been experiencing some heavy downpour never seen before. This is something new especially this time of the year.

I was out of my house early and on a personal errand managed to get a first hand view of the rain mayhem.

 As I made my way back home, the view below reminded me of the impending storm about to hit the island soon

Rain brewing towards the Island

The Wedding ......tang tang tang ...

Regal with Splendour

William married Kate and the rest dressed in 'regal' ate and danced away.

Though she was plank dumb but lark pretty, if she Lady Diana was still around, she would be the one the world would have gaped for and not the newly weds.

Her absence WAS felt.


And now out come the crazies....  Ohh  dear... Pluto is a place on Earth...

and EJ brings his husband!!.....did I not say Pluto is a place on Earth.

and these two are ACTUALLY royal creed..huh!!

Pricey price ...

Purchasing a house ain't a breeze or a walk in the park though many wish and crave for it to be as such especially the lower income group. Buying a house or an apartment is never easy and everyone in the deal except the buyer is ever so trying to fleece, cheat, trick the buyer. Many buyers have actually lost they life savings cheated by property developers who take their money and disappear even before you can say hello again. And not forgetting the broker cockroaches from hell who negotiate on the dealings. Then come the money sucking lawyers - do I need to say more. How we wish we can tie all their legs together with a 50 ton anvil and sink them deep into the Bermuda Triangle.

Many dream of having a dream home and in the way fork out their life savings to buy one. For some, to have a roof over their heads is heavenly godly irrespective of how and where the house is built or located. And for the many others, buying a house is pure pain, torture and months of endless debts. Buyers are made to come up with loads of cash so that the banks, brokers and lawyers can sleep peacefully on the buyer's expense. 

The role of banks, by way of charter and being the custodian of public funds is to ensure customers are not cheated, bullied or hoodwinked by property developers, lawyers or even brokers. They also have the right to ensure properties bought are of worth the money and not any other way. But sadly and dejectedly, that is not the case. Many buyers are cheated and taken on for a ride. I worked in a bank so I kinda know this is true. I've heard countless stories from customers been cheated and taken on for a ride by the very bank they trust their money with. All I see in their eyes are pain.

Banks and their panel of lawyers play a big role when a sale and purchase of property come into play. Banks work their way - any way to make a profit in their dealings. A bank with all its money-might will ensure their part of the deal is safeguarded. They would do anything even drag a pauper house buyer to court to collect debts. 

Believe me, banks are heartless.

When banks auction off properties, buyers are NOT allowed to view the interior of the property. The bank will ensure the buyer pays his 10 or even 20 percent down payment or money up front and sign all documents before it allows the new buyer to view the interior of the house. In secrecy, the bank will ensure never to reveal the debts the auctioned off property had accumulated over the years. They'll cunningly pin all debts to the new buyer and make he or her pay up every penny of it. This part of the deal is never relayed to the new property owner when the property is sold by the bank. The onus is upon the banker to reveal all money or monies owed to the bank before the sale is concluded. This never happens. Banks are sinister, more crude than a shrew. 

The new owner will only come to realize later when he or she gets hounded by unseen "forces" haunting in. To the bank, if they can pin all their guilt onto the buyer, then their work as a bank financing the customer is deemed to be done, pure and on 'clean' sheets. How unscrupulous!

Lately, I came to know of a property left idle with a sizable amount of debts auctioned off. This property had been idle without any tenant for a little over five years (I know this for sure).  This property was auctioned off by a prominent bank.

From my point of view, the below are the problems I foresee the buyer need to address and get through with ...

This below is the very property the bank sold to a "victim."

1. The entire property, leaving no wood left, had been foraged by terminates. The main door looked sturdy but with a slight push, it caved in, crumbled and "shattered" to wood-bits. This is what happens when Mr.Termites go on a rampage, eating everything in its path. Smart fellows heh!! They leave the surface of the door looking perfectly intact whilst munching away the interior 'juicy' part to the pulp.

2. The water tank's internal float mechanism had busted and water had been overflowing a little over a year now.  The water seeps through the walls and exits via the front door. Even the water knows where to exit  hahahaah. What a mess!

3. Now, when it rains, the outer walls of this apartment will 'wail' in water. Over the days and months, the walls had become pungent, soft, soggy and fungus grown. The walls had discoloured and smell wet chalk.

4. The sipping out of the water flowing from rain and from the water tank had many times fused the walkway lights leaving other tenants to grope in the dark during nights.

5. The interior of the house, now that it is broke opened, looks like an unused storeroom kept in the basement of a disused mine. Spider webs and gossamer sway like curtains hanging down from the white turned brown ceiling.

6. The balcony of this apartment looks like it's gonna be the next leaning tower of Teluk Intan. It may fall anytime soon due to the slanting corroding walls.

7. I don't know how much the new owner is regretting over this purchase. I hope the owner knows about the 'other' charges coming in when the Sale and Purchase Agreement comes into the picture.

8. This is a leasehold property. Over the period of 5 years, there could be a collection of late maintenance fees and penalties awaiting to be paid and also not forgetting the late interest charges as well. I can easily say it could amount to a whopping five to six thousand ringgit more or less...

9. Let's not forget about the Quit rent and the other Dewan Bandaraya blah ... blah .. blah... issues and chargers.

10.  The tenant may need to spend something like RM50,000.00 or so to fully repair and restore the apartment and that so taking into consideration the other hidden damages there could be as it is a duplex apartment.

Now the bomb - This apartment was auctioned off for a whooping RM102,000-00. That's a lot of money to pay for a  "dungeon." Either the buyer is filthy rich or plain dumb.

This is how banks work. Something worth dirt cheap is sold three folds higher. 

Let me tell you this too - I don't think the buyer can even raise a finger or even sue the bank for selling such a worthless property for such a price. The bank knavishly would have covered all corners if the buyer were to sue.

If you're planning to buy a house / apartment or for the matter any property worth a bomb, do GO and INSPECT lots, I mean lots of queries from the people who live around such properties or people who have been cheated by big large humongous hungry and greedy financial institutions. It'll cushion you from an 8.0 Richter scale cardiac arrest.

Sick.

Age to ageing...

How do you know for sure age had caught up with you?  

There could be a million reasons and ways to know and tell. All the same, many may have their own ways of revealing the age factor within them. I've my own way too and after carefully looking at me from a bird's eye view, AGE has definitely caught up with me... for sure.

The tell tale signs are ever so ringing in my ears now.

* I need to jot down my daily work chores to ensure I don't forget or procrastinate. Some 10 years ago, I never need such a task. Everything was in me like clockwork.

* Driving takes me so long to get to office as my mind is never at getting to work. It's daydreaming - old people day dream I read often.

* Takes me time to look for my car and house keys. I often put them at remote places withing the confinement of my house. Once I even left my car keys on my post box and only realised 6 hours later.

* Left my cellphone on the porch of my sister's house in the rain. Only realised when I was about to leave for home after rain - 4 hours later.

* My shopping / grocery list is ever so short - only 2 items. Reason being I cant remember what needs to be bought.

* Takes me time to visualize my callers via my cell. Some names I can't really remember who they are.

* Countless times have forgotten to collect my cloths left for laundry. 

* I can never tell what exactly my bank account is.

* I need to be reminded via looking at old bills to which bank I need to pay my tangible debts.

* I get SMS's from people who claim to know me whom I don't know or have forgotten but their names and numbers are in my cell phone.

* I often take the wrong lane / road and end up driving in circles even though I have driven / travelled on those roads like a million times.

* I can never remember where I laid my passport after my travels.

* My cell phone reminds me of all the important calender dates I need to remember else nothing.... I mean absolutely nothing is important to me now.

* Birthdays, anniversaries, dates of importance are never on my list to remember.

* If you ask me what I ate last night, I'll give you a blank stare.

* I look at people, even at my neighbour and know for sure I've seen them somewhere, but can't put my finger down to say exactly where.

* My reading habits have dwindled. The reason - I need reading glasses now.

* I haven't watched MTV or any music video in a very very long time and the interest of music in me is DEFINITELY fading. I use to be so into the music scene some time ago.

* I take up my guitar to strum and all I can do is stare at the neck and wonder what cords come after C minor.

And the SURE thing I know age has caught up with me is - I'm almost there to collect my Employee Provident Fund savings.

Yup..I've aged and somewhat in a state of amnesia as well. 

Men & house hold chores...

Korean men spend the least amount of time doing housework as reported lately in Yahoo.

Southern European and Asian men were least likely to participate in household chores – reported in Yahoo too.

A survey was conducted on 29 countries to see time devoted to do unpaid work. Unpaid work  here is defined as the production of goods and services not sold on the market such as cooking, gardening and cleaning In simplicity, work done voluntarily without any form of money or salary.

The survey showed men spend 3.5 hours a day on unpaid work whilst women spent 2.5 hours more a day doing household chores than men.

Asian men, especially Indians, Japanese and Koreans spend the least amount of time - less than an hour a day - doing unpaid work. On the other hand, American men, spend around three hours a day doing household chores apart from their regular work.

Countries with high levels of female paid employment had a more equal gender division of total working time. Norway, well known for strong gender equality policies, had the lowest female unpaid working time.

Korean women ranked eighth for the amount of time spent on unpaid work out of the 29 surveyed countries. In contrast, Korean men were placed last among the surveyed countries for their participation in unpaid work. They spent only 50 minutes a day on average compared to almost 200 minutes a day spent by their female counter parts.

Other unpaid work such as child care was low in Korea, Belgium and Hungary. Total time devoted to child care occupied less than one hour per day, the lowest among all surveyed  countries whereas Anglo countries ranked the highest.

Parents spent on average 4.1 hours with their children. Gender differences were apparent in primary child care as well with fathers spending 42 minutes whereas mothers spent an hour and 40 minutes on average with their children.
The study said, unpaid work not only contributes to household consumption but also to future well-being and to community well-being.

In the worldwide league of kindness, Koreans ranked below average.. In other words Koreans ain’t kind.

On the pro and anti social index - Korea ranked 21^st  followed by Mexico, France and Japan. Japan came 28th at 26 percent.

Koreans also showed low levels of anti-social behaviour along with Israelites, Japanese and the Polish.

About 60 percent of people in the U.S. and Ireland ranking first and second in the index have in sometime helped someone in distress followed by Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.

The report concluded those in higher income countries are likely to help others as northern European countries showed a high percentage for pro-social behaviour.


On a personal note – all Asian men cannot be equated to Koreans. I for one spend more then 2.5 hours daily on household chores as compared to other Asian men counterparts.

So, the underlining gist of this survey is – men see the kitchen as a women’s domain. This in part and parcel contributes as to why men spent fewer hours indulging in household chores..

I rest.

Good laff....

A delayed post...

"Taib confident of majority as cops make postal votes today"

The above headline appearead just before the Sarawak State Elections in the papers.

Just by reading it made me laff to the bone. ..and I'm still laughing.


...no wonder he won by a whooping majority of 5 thousand votes....

grrrrrrrr....gotcha ...

Sarawak "FOOLS" Polls ...

The Sarawak Polls are over. The National Front (BN) got their 2/3 majority but in an unconvincing way. The again and has been and run lame 'billionaire' horse Chief Minister has been again sworn in as the Chief Minister for the god knows how many times...

The opposition party especially DAP made some inroads and got some really convincing wins. The thing was that, the major towns were won over by the opposition parties with far convincing majorities. This is new in Sarawak.

Many of the indigenous people's votes went for BN who have been hoodwinked for ages. Come to think of it, what would they care who runs the state at the end of the day as long as they get what they want. Even though lands and more lands were confiscated, tress felled and sold with large profits, none of these Dayaks, Ibans, or locally called "orang-ulus" are given the wealth of the state. 

We can't call them dumb or obtuse for these are the genuine 'bumiputras' who have nothing to look forward to then to live in poverty. All they know and do is hope for the government-of-the-day to help them satisfy their menial needs.

How long more are these people going to be cheated out of their wealth?

This is what has happened in Sarawak when the indigenous people living in makeshift long houses again voted for the 'blood-suckers' to rule over them. They know not of any other way then to vote for the same marauders. Deprived and depraved, what else can they do when money is dangled as carrots for thier votes.

Long live Sarawak the so called "fortress" of Barisan National.

A sad tale bumiputras living in pauper...

Politics

Tian Chua -  Parti Keadailan Rakyat.

Quote ...

Rakyat Sarawak kerja gaji hanya 400 hingga 600 ringgit sahaja di ladang-ladang. Di Selanagor orang mati, Kerajan Pakatan Rakyat bagi RM2,500.  Lebih baik rakyat Sarawak mati di Selangor dari hidup di Sarawak.

Good One.....hahahahah

Sarawakians go to the Polls ...

The state of Sarawak with a population of almost 1.5 million people stretches over 750 km along the north east coastline of Borneo, interrupted in the north by about 150 km of Brunei coast. Sarawak is bordered by the Indonesian part of Borneo (Kalimantan) and its not-so-friendly neighbour Sabah.

Rajang, the Tonle Sap of Malaysia, is a behemoth of a river that meanders through this lush green wet state, flooding when it rains and feeding when its calm. It's the longest river in Malaysia. Kuching – ‘Cat’ in Malaysian sits on the west end of Sarawak as being the capital of this state. Sarawakians are a motley lot – strange accent, looks and very much tradition cooked.

Other than all the sleepy ones, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri are the only three lively towns in Sarawak. The rest are all deeply tucked-away into the inland areas of this vast multi-ethnic State. On the other hand, Sarawak boasts of its extraordinary natural wonders in abundance. The Niah Caves, the Mulu Mountains and the Bako to name a few.

Today, (April 16, 2011) Sarawakians go to the polls to elect a new governance.

Sarawak is considered the richest state in Malaysia. The wealth of this land is immense but Sarawakians are the Malaysians poorest.

The outcome of this polls shall decide if Sarawakians should wake up and be heard or lay plundered in poverty with the same "forces that walk the corridors of brute power."

Good luck ...

Well! he is from Bukit Mertajam allright...

Spot the mistakes...again