Letter to Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad

Dear Tun Dr . Mahathir

I want to raise the issue of your personal agenda for UMNO. There is a number of agenda that you have been champaigning in your blog, chedet.com First, you said we need a strong government to deal with our multi racial community. This strong government , presumably is a strong UMN0 with the Ketuanan Melayu agenda. Secondly you argued that we need to retain the 30% bumiputera equity in malaysia.

I as the citizen of Malaysia cannot tolerate the first agenda by UMNO about Ketuanan Melayu. Its something that cannot be denied that Malays is the majority ethnic in Malaysia. Malays hold most positions in government minsterial , public service like immigration, national registration, police force, army, national posts, water supply, telekom, petronas, palm oil, FELDA , operations of Ports, Malaysian Airlines, etc. That is all aspects of malaysian life have got Malay's participation. You mentioned business sector that need more bumiputera participation. But you must understand to start up a business, you need creativity and risks taking attitude. Its difficult for government to instil such entrepreneur skills to bumiputera , the best they can do is through education. So far, through regulation such as NEP have not bring the bumiputera equity close to 30% ( under impression that i believe that not-closed percentage ), do you believe NEP will ever meet its target?

I am fed-up with the racists attitude shown by UMNO politicians and their basic agenda to instil fear among non-bumiputera that if they fight for their rights as stated in the Constitution, they will have bloody backlash from Malays. That is totally unacceptable.

Nonetheless, i support your vision 2020 and hope all Malaysian can strive to achieve it.

Yours sincerely

Will

Disclaimer: ( this article is not related to CSK, its entirely the opinion of the author)

Petronas Twin Towers

The Petronas Towers has won a public vote organised by the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE), entitled What's your favourite structure?.Launched on 21 July, the Institution's centenary campaign invited people to vote for their favourite structure

After ten weeks of voting, the Petronas Towers gained over 1200 votes, with second place going to the Burj Al Arab and in third place, the Millau Viaduct. The winner was announced by IStructE's President, Sarah Buck, at Stephen Wiltshire's gallery in Pall Mall

With over 780 structural engineers voting in this competition,( so dont play play ) The Petronas Towers clearly gets the vote for structural as well as aesthetic reasons and it's not difficult to understand why.The Petronas Towers were the world's tallest buildings before being overtaken by Taipei 101 in Taiwan, but remain the highest twin skyscrapers. The towers are joined by a two level skybridges some 170 metres above the ground, famously depicted in the 1999 box office hit, Entrapment.

Some features of PTT

The structure was made using high-strength reinforced concrete and its glossy steel and glass façade have a distinct Islamic flavour, honouring Malaysia's Muslim community. Concrete was chosen over steel as a more economical solution, with the resulting extra weight adding to sway resistance but requiring sophisticated structural support. The buildings are supported by huge concrete cores and its foundations are the deepest in the world, sinking some 120 metres into the bedrock below. Its structural design also allows for considerable column-free office space on each floor.

The Petronas Towers pay tribute to Malaysia's cultural heritage whilst embracing its modernisation and commercial focus. A symbol of Asia's construction prowess, the twin towers and skybridge create a structural gateway to the bustling city of Kuala Lumpur

tbh, i like our malaysia tower compared to the taiwan one, the tower looks very belonging to malaysian.

What do structural engineer do?

Son Ye Jin in picture

Basically they construct. But there is more to it than dreaming up a design and constructing it. When you look at a construction - a bridge, a concert hall, a block of flats - you may not see an apparent similarity with one of nature's finest examples of structural engineering - the human body. But the similarity is there.

The central strength of the body lies in the skeleton, the hidden framework that supports our shape and is integral to our ability to function. Without it we would collapse. To the Chartered Structural Engineer, the same considerations of strength, shape and function are paramount in their conception of the framework of a structure.

Then having chosen appropriate materials - such as steel, brick, concrete or timber - they have to design the structure and make all the necessary checks and calculations to ensure that the foundations will be sound, that the floors and roof will not fall down, and that the construction as a whole will remain safe and serviceable for the length of its intended lifetime.

A structural engineer is a professional man or woman who is involved in the design and supervision of the construction of all kinds of structures such as houses, theatres, sports stadia, hospitals, bridges, oil rigs, space satellites and office blocks.

Every construction project is unique and will involve the expertise of a number of professional people including a structural engineer. The specialist skills of a structural engineer will include calculating loads and stresses, investigating the strength of foundations and analysing the behaviour of beams and columns in steel, concrete or other materials to ensure the structure has the strength required to perform its function safely, economically and with a shape and appearance that is visually satisfying.

CSK definition : they are bunch of silly people that press computer buttons to analyse structures and follow some stupid codes to design, yet need listen to fuc?ing economic sense of savings , working with mostly old people in their 40s or 50s that have not guts to change profession , work with some fuc?ing technician that think they draw so well that they dont need engineer, and working tirelessly to build big structure but only get monthly salary, and have not had the same respect and pay given to financial people.

Flashpoint - Donnie Yen and Koo Tin Lok

Review from lovehkfilm.com states

For Donnie Yen fans, Flash Point is like pornography. For fight fans, it's an entertaining action blowout. For longtime Hong Kong Cinema fans, it's a throwback to poorly plotted action spectacles of the eighties. For some people, it could be a comedy.

Review from CSK

For Louis Koo fans, this is like wow, wow and wow. Btw, this cops and extreme triad movie is entertaining and contain lots of Donnie's wushu and wrestling scene. A brief appearance by Fan Bin Bin. Her eyes look lustful, tbh. hehe. The bad guys is lead by Collin Chou ( from Matrix Reloaded ) , Ray Lui ( veteran actor famed for Ding Lik role in TVB's Shanghai Bund) and another rookie with real fighting skills. The bad guys look bad and acted bad. So thats 1 point for the acting bit. Fighting bit , you wont have complaint with Donnie Yen, the perfectionist who always want the best . This time around, he even perform a few wrestling trick on Collin CHou.

Idol - louis Koo Tin Lok

Si Beh Yau Yeng,

wonder ,if i can ask £12 barber kwai lo cut my hair like that...

The layman's finance crisis glossary Part2

Hedge fund
A private investment fund with a large, unregulated pool of capital and very experienced investors.
Hedge funds use a range of sophisticated strategies to maximise returns - including hedging, leveraging and derivatives trading.

Hedging
Making an investment to reduce the risk of price fluctuations to the value of an asset.
For example, if you owned a stock and then sold a futures contract agreeing to sell your stock on a particular date at a set price. A fall in price would not harm you - but nor would you benefit from any rise

Liquidity
The liquidity of something is how easy it is to convert it into cash. Your current account, for example, is more liquid than your house.
If you needed to sell your house quickly to pay bills you would have drop the price substantially to get a sale.

Mortgage-backed securities
These are securities made up of mortgage debt or a collection of mortgages. Banks repackage debt from a number of mortgages which can be traded. Selling mortgages off frees up funds to lend to more homeowners

and this special jargon are most of the people would fear

Recession
A period of negative economic growth.
In most parts of the world a recession is technically defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth - when real output falls.
In the United States, a larger number of factors are taken into account, like job creation and manufacturing activity. However, this means that a US recession can usually only be defined when it is already over.

The layman's finance crisis glossary Part 1

The current financial crisis has thrown terminology from the business pages onto the front page of newspapers, with jargon now abounding everywhere from the watercooler to the back of a taxi.

AAA-rating
The best credit rating that can be given to a corporation's bonds, effectively indicating that the risk of default is negligible.

Bear market
In a bear market, prices are falling and investors, anticipating losses, tend to sell. This can create a self-sustaining downward spiral.

Bond
A debt security - or more simply an IOU. The bond states when a loan must be repaid and what interest the borrower (issuer) must pay to the holder. Banks and investors buy and trade bonds.

Chapter 11
The term for bankruptcy protection in the US. It postpones a company's obligations to its creditors, giving it time to reorganise its debts or sell parts of the business, for example.

Credit crunch
The situation created when banks hugely reduced their lending to each other because they were uncertain about how much money they had.
This in turn resulted in more expensive loans and mortgages for ordinary people.

Derivatives
Derivatives are a way of investing in a particular product or security without having to own it. The value can depend on anything from the price of coffee to interest rates or what the weather is like.
Derivatives can be used as insurance to limit the risk of a particular investment.

Fundamentals
Fundamentals determine a company, currency or security's value. A company's fundamentals include its assets, debt, revenue, earnings and growth.

Two Orchards Bracknell

I was involved in this project( from picture 1 to picture 2 , the stage where the buildings are being built) from the very first stage of column load take down till the end of detailed design. That 10 months period provided me with very valuable experience.

1. Design experience for Institute of Civil Engineer's objectives.
2. Working in a fully english company
3. Given a junior CAD technician to chase my work and i keep changing my design to frustrate him
4. Working under a arsehole leader, which have not been helpful and various sarcastic comments with his fuc?ing mouth.
5. Standing up to a leader and nearly pick up a chair and wanted to bang on his head

Jonathan Ross' Depression Part 3 ( final)

'One night I was out at a hip place in town called the Atlantic with my wife Jane and a bunch of friends when a young guy came up to me quite full of himself.
'"Excuse me" he said - and I immediately assumed he wanted an autograph or something.
'"Excuse me, but didn't you used to be Jonathan Ross?"
'Not a bad line and he was right. Standing there, overweight from booze, looking forward to another night of getting off my face in an expensive restaurant, paid for by churning out rubbish I had no respect for, why should others respect me?

'Even though the bloke who said it was clearly obnoxious and he almost certainly didn't mean to be anything other than unkind and make his mates laugh, he actually did me a favour.
'There was a moment of low-level epiphany and I realised more keenly at that point than ever before the wisdom of the great Jimmy Tarbuck's words.
'I had found it surprisingly easy to get there, but staying there had meant gradually losing sight of what I had enjoyed doing and why I had started doing it, with the result that I was now making the kind of rubbish that I had started out deliberately mocking.

'So I backed off and stopped doing shows for no reason other than cash.
'I started doing radio which helped me get my foot back in the door. I really learnt to trust my own judgment about what works and what doesn't.

'I also started doing the comedy sports quiz They Think It's All Over on BBC1 which was liberating and fun and finally I started Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in 2001.

'I like being famous but only because I like what I'm doing and want it to stay that way.'

Sohai 's joke

Jonathan Ross's Depression - Part 2

Jonathan rose : 'Of course, I now know how right he was, but at the time I dismissed it as showbiz nonsense.'My first television talk show The Last Resort started on Channel 4 in 1987. It had been a big hit but after series four, despite it continuing to get pretty good ratings, we agreed with Channel 4 to stop.

'But I had grown accustomed to having my face on TV, and the money that comes with it, so I fronted a number of different programmes, none of which really worked.
'Anyway, this unhappy and unproductive period inevitably led to depression.

'I was stuck in a groove, basically drinking too much and spending my earnings none too wisely.'I wanted to keep making shows because I didn't know what else to do, and because I thought I needed to keep earning the sort of money I had grown accustomed to.

'But earning that money by making shows I didn't care about made me far unhappier than being broke ever could have done. 'I also missed being respected for what I did.

Jonathan Ross 's depression- Part 1

Jonathan Ross has spoken of how fame sent him into a spiral of depression and heavy drinking.The 47-year-old presenter, who is reportedly on an £18 million deal with the BBC, said he began sinking into depression when he started doing shows which he didn't like.

Millionaire presenter: Jonathan Ross, says he struggled to cope when he was out of the limelight and descended into heavy drinking and depression

Ross said: 'The truth is that fame is almost definitely not what you'd expect it to be at all.
'The depressing thing - or one of the depressing things - about fame is how quickly you get used to it and start to take it for granted.

'At first you can't quite believe your luck, but after a while you only notice it when it's not there, and even then your reaction isn't that you were lucky to have had it at all, but rather how unfair it is that you can't enjoy it every day, for ever.

'Jimmy Tarbuck once said to me "Getting there's easy, but staying there's hard".'

to be continued...

Malaysia's financial cure in the eyes of BBC

MALAYSIA:
Background: Malaysia is one of the world's largest producers of computer disk drives, palm oil, rubber and timber.
Exports are a key part of the economy, but the government has been trying to increase domestic demand.
Data: Gross national income per capita: $6,540 (World Bank, 2007)
Latest: The government has offered to guarantee all local and foreign currency deposits up until the end of 2010

Compared with Singapore
SINGAPORE:
Background: Singapore is south-east Asia's hi-tech, wealthy city state. A former colonial outpost of Britain, Singapore has become one of the world's most prosperous regions - with a thriving port, and skyscrapers.
It is often referred to as one of Asia's economic "tigers". Singapore's economy has been driven by electronics manufacturing as well as financial services.
Data: Gross national income per capita: $32,470 (World Bank, 2007)
Latest: The government has offered to guarantee all local and foreign currency deposits up until the end of 2010.

Compared with Hong Kong
HONG KONG:
Background: The former British colony became a special administrative region of China in 1997. Governed under the principle of "one country, two systems", under which China has agreed to give the region a high degree of autonomy and to preserve its economic and social systems for 50 years from the date of the handover.
Key data: Gross National Income per capita: $31,610 (World Bank, 2007)
Latest: The central banks joined the growing number of countries to cut their interest rates. Has promised to guarantee all bank deposits until 2010.

Colin Powell

A statement from current USA's secretary of State, Colin Powell who endorsed Barack Obama in this coming presidential race :
"I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the [Republican] Party say... such things as 'Well, you know that Mr Obama is a Muslim'.

"Well the correct answer is, 'He's not a Muslim, he's a Christian, he's always been a Christian'. But the really right answer is, "What if he is?' Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is 'No', that's not America."

Jacket

I got a similar jacket at £129 as his..hehehe

Work Ethic

(Football news picked from BBC )
Rio Ferdinand feels there is a healthy distance between the players and Capello and the former West Ham and Leeds star compares the relationship with that of his club manager at Old Trafford Sir Alex Ferguson.

"Do you really know any managers? I don't know the real Fergie," he said.

"When he comes to football, he's probably a totally different person to when he's at home with his wife and grandchildren.

"That doesn't matter. They're not here to be buddies, talk about old times or be great friends. They are here to win football matches."

I believe discipline are important in work. If you mix work with personal relationships or issues, it will breed lack of focus and will increase the risk of job cock - up. But i would encourage light sense of humour at the right time to lighten up the work environment.

AirAsia X in London

Malaysia’s premier long-haul, low-cost carrier, AirAsia X, is starting its flights to London next March and has stated a preference for using Stansted Airport due to good connectivity



Stansted Airport is located 56km north-east of London.



But FFS, its 73.4 miles or 118 miles from Leatherhead dei, means 1.5 hrs drive from my place.



I would prefer Air Asia to use Gatwick which is only half an hour from my place.



As usual, peng yeah, mou hou yea, CHeap stuff , No good stuff.



To all CSK members, due to credit crunch, we test test Air Asia back KL..hehehe..

Interview Questions Part 1

The interview for hiring graduate structural engineer can be the combination of technical questions, one on one interview with manager ,or one full day assessment days with activities like group work, IQ tests and interviews with 2 or more managers.



For those studying for structural engineering degree, and wish to enter this industry, can you answer the technical questions below?

Bridge Checking

Checking the pipe rack in the bridge linking 2 offshore fixed platform

Structural Engineer at Night

When a structural engineer cannot sleep at night, they pick up the British Standard Code and put under their pillow. They should always think that their design have been following the code,and if anything collapsed, just blame the bloody code!!! So they can have a good night sleep.

A day as structural engineer

What is it like being a structural engineer?

This morning started off with 2 hours of pak wu ying ( catching flies ) . Still awaiting instruction from lead engineer.

Arggh, 11.10 am, shits begin to come. Some punching shear check to be done.

This is the project to design topside components for an offshore oil platform in South Australia. The design work will be done in UK. Topside picture at the right.

The punching shear phenomenon is caused by the braces in the trusses ( the 2nd picture) try to punch through or exert force on the connected vertical component of the truss. In short, its just calculating the forces and moments and hope the sizes of the members can withstand the punching game.

Next, I open up some corporate spreadsheets. One computated using API LRFD code which stands for American Petroleum industry, Load resistance force design and the other one Norwegian code, NORSOK. My task is to punch numbers. Input the sizes of members, forces and moments and look at the final results. The so called Interaction Ratio of IR, is an ratio of actual forces divided by allowable forces must be lower than 0.95. Then its should be ok.

And that’s its. That’s what I have done for the whole day . And I actually gets paid !!!

That’s one day of being a structural engineer