New Year Greeting - From SMS To Facebook

A year ago, and two years ago, and three years ago, at this time, was busy thinking about new year greeting message to SMS to family and friends. Also, handphone was non stop receiving SMS greeting messages.

Today, it seems to be a bit quiet. Not because I have less friend, but most New Year greeting messages were posted on Facebook, rather than SMS.

So much social changes happening in a year!

Look further back, from New Year Greeting Card, to e-card, to SMS, to Facebook, the way we greet others has changed drastically. The only constant is still the will to wish and greet.

I don't like to wish, I like a more affirmative greeting, the one I started using since 2009:

Spread your joy, share your love, keep your health and claim your wealth in the coming year. Happy New Year 2011!

Adspaper; Newsmedia?

Q: Where do you get your news today?

A: Online medias.

Q: How do you look for advertisement?

A: Newspaper.

I read news on www.malaysiakini.com, sinchew.com.my, thestar.com.my etc daily. Occasionally, I buy newspaper on Friday or Saturday, to find out the latest hypermarket promotions, new property launch, products and services promotions.

I (we) have changed the way I get information in recent years, and it make me wonder whether the word "newspaper" still carry its original meaning? I decided to do a study, and the subject of my study is last Saturday Star "newspaper" on 23rd October, 2010.

The purpose of the study is to find out the news and advertisement content distribution on newspaper. Following is the summary:

Section	Pages	News	Advertisements
Star	72	55%	45%
Saturday Metro	56	44%	56%
Weekender	36	51%	49%
StarBizWeek	40	81%	19%
StarJobs	32	0%	100%
Classified	44	2%	98%
Overall		49%	61%

On average, 61% of what I read from that newspaper was advertisement. Well, I spent RM1.50 to buy that newspaper because I want to read the advertisement, and I got 61% of it, not bad!

But wait, isn't it newspaper? Why the content of advertisement is more than news? If I take away StarJobs and Classified which are supposed to be adspaper, the overall percentage of advertisement on the newspaper still stand at 43%, which I think is still very high.

On a typical www.malaysiakini.com news page, the percentage of advertisement is still less than 25%. Going at this trend, would newspaper eventually evolve into adspaper? And newsmedia will be the new source of news? Time will tell, and we are the one who will decide.

Note: The percentage is based on visual estimation only.

Note2: Obituary is classified as advertisement.

Note3: The result is based on a single day newspaper only.

Malaysian Maid

Very soon, we will see this kind of job posting in major newspapers and recruitment web sites:

Full Time Domestic Helper (Maid)

Qualification

• Must be Malaysian female
• Age 21 and above

Job Description

• RM1,000 - RM1,200 monthly salary
• 6 days week
• Optional overtime on Sunday
• Optional stay in package
• 8am - 7pm working hours
• Lunch and dinner provided
• To handle household chores
• To take care of baby and children
• To take care of elderly

Note:

To apply for a foreign maid nowadays, one got to pay close to RM10,000 up front, plus a monthly salary of RM650. There is a fee to renew the working permit at the second year, plus a flight ticket to send the maid back at the end of the contract period. There is also no guarantee on the maid quality, and unfair termination clause and run away maid policy for employer.

On Average, it cost more than RM900 / month to employ a foreign maid for a 24 months contract, why not go local? For family looking for a short term helper, it's far more cost effective. Assuming normal job contract, employer's interest is better protected. For job seekers, the package is much more appealing than a lot of other jobs out there. Why not?

The prediction by Corston-Smith Asset Management is becoming real. Read the article "Malaysia's next export: Maids?"

What is Politician?

1. Take a small issue, and make it a big issue and keep reminding people about this issue. (Used to be owned by opposition, but now is applicable to all.)

2. Crave to be in the ruling party.

3. Need to make headline occasionally.

4. Work for the government and own self, and not the people. (NGOs are more efficient and effective in serving the people.)

5. Must work in pair, one liberal and one extreme.

6. Must know how to buy time, buy some more time, and some more time, and ...... till people forget what is the original issue.

7. Good in shouting through the press.

Are You Gen-i?

"Are you Gen-i?" A question that will be asked commonly from now on.

We heard about Gen-X and Gen-Y, and now Gen-i?

My definition of Gen-i, the Apple i-series gadgets enthusiast/owner/user/lover ... The iMac, iPod, iBook, iPhone, iPad and more i to come, probably iTV, iTube (YouTube), iCam (iCamera) etc.

More definitions welcomed!

Mamak Stall/Restaurant - A Malaysian Culture To Be Worried Of?

A quick search on google, mamak food will be considered as Malaysian culture. Besides bloggers, the Malaysian government also promotes mamak food as tourism attraction. (Read here)

Where to get mamak food? The first answer will be mamak stall or mamak restaurant.

Mamak restaurant provides a great place for social get-together or a proper meal. They serve great food and drinks, and normally equipped with LCD TV or projector screen showing live telecast sports program.

However, most of the mamak restaurants have become the breeding ground of smoker. Just walk into any mamak restaurant during the "prime time". You will notice that >80% of the tables will have at least one smoker, and most of the mamak patrons are youngsters.

What worrying are:

• A tourist will think that Malaysia is a country that promotes smoking, as most of the youths around them smoke
• A non-smoker will endure a torturing time, rather than a pleasant dining experience.
• A young smoker thinks that smoking shisha is okay
• The environmentalists will cry on air pollution
• The health ministry had run out of steam saying "Tak NAK"

But, who cares?

• Tourist can bring back their perception, so ... ?
• Non-smoker starts to shy open air mamak, but will opt for air-conditioned mamak or take away.
• Shisha is bad? Then go for cigarette.
• Forget about cigarette smoke, vehicle smoke pollution is thousand times worse.
• Tak NAK? There are young ladies promoting NAK everywhere.

Life goes on, and mamak stall / restaurant still a unique Malaysian culture.

Legalization of the Illegals

What's the best way to curb illegal activities? To double the enforcement and awareness? Or to legalize the illegal activities?

Malaysia's way of curbing illegal sports betting is to legalize it. They believe that by legalizing sports betting, the illegal betting activities can be curbed.

Despite lots of people engaging in the betting, no one will deny that betting is bad. But, strange, the government is like telling you, if you want to do bad thing, do it the legal way. It's okay to do bad things, but make sure you do it legally.

If legalization of illegal activities can curb the illegal activities, are we going to:

- Legalize prostitution?

- Legalize drug abuse?

- Legalize abortion?

A big big no ....