The Fight Against the Terror of Chewing Gum !!!

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The country that gave the world chewing gum is getting gummed up: The average square yard (meter) of Mexico City sidewalk has 70 blobs of discarded chew.

Now Mexico is responding with innovations ranging from expensive sidewalk steam-cleaners to natural chewing gum that breaks down quickly. It's even telling its citizens (gulp!) to swallow their gum.

more from AP

PIKOM PC Fair 2008 (III)

PIKOM PC Fair 2008 (III) - Dates and Venues


5 - 7 December 2008 (11:00 am - 9:00 pm)

-Penang International Sports Arena, Penang - Jalan Tun Dr Awang, 11900 Relau
-Sabah Trade Centre, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah - Jalan Istiadat, Teluk Likas, 88400 Kota Kinabalu
-Central Square, Sungai Petani, Kedah - Jalan Kampung Baru, 08000 Sungai Petani
-Dewan SJK(C) Yuk Choy, Ipoh, Perak - 195, Jalan Sultan Iskandar, 30000 Ipoh
-Berjaya Megamall, Kuantan, Pahang - Jalan Tun Ismail, Sri Dagangan, 25000 Kuantan

12 - 14 December 2008 (11:00 am - 9:00 pm)

-KL Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur - Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50888 Kuala Lumpur
-Mahkota Parade Melaka, Melaka - Jalan Merdeka, 75000 Bandar Hilir
-Dewan Suarah, Bintulu, Sarawak - Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi, 97008 Bintulu

-Batu Pahat (BP) Mall, Batu Pahat, Johor - Jalan Kluang, 83000 Batu Pahat

19 - 21 December 2008 (11:00 am - 9:00 pm)

-Persada Johor International Convention Centre, Johor Bahru - Jalan Abdullah
Ibrahim,80000 Johor Bahru
-Dewan 2020, Kangar, Perlis - 01000, Kangar

-Dewan Tunku Ibrahim Ismail, Kluang, Johor - 86000, Kluang

Please contact the PC Fair Team at +603 7955 2922 or email us at pcfair@pikom.org.my for further information.


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Tamil film fraternity fasts for immediate solution to the suffering of SL Tamils!

Packed with performance and punch lines, the entire Tamil film fraternity staged a powerful show of strength at a one-day fast in Chennai Saturday to express solidarity with the Eezham Tamils. The actors demanded the Tamil Nadu state and the Indian Union Government to immediately find a peaceful and permanent solution to the Sri Lankan problem.

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The Nuclear Boom!

Shakuntala Devi- Human Computer and Mathematical Wizard-1 day program

World acclaimed Math Genius and Guiness Record holder Madam Shakuntala Devi is in Malaysia as part of her World Tour, conducting Seminars and Workshops.

Venue : Artha Dharma Concept Builders
Life Long Learning Center
Wisma Citras 25-1 , Brickfields

Date: Nov 1 2008

Time : 9.00am to 5.00pm.

Fee: The fee will rm 99. 00 only.Limited places (100 only)

For advanced bookings please contact us via the following :

012 2345664, 0166120587, artha.dha...@gmail.com.

Please email and sms only if you want to come and book your seat.

Shakunatala Devi is a well-known mathematical genius and calculating progidy from India. She has been nicknamed 'Human Computer' because of her extraordinary talent and skill in solving complex mathematical problems without any mechanical aid. Shakuntala Devi was born on 4th November, 1939 in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Shakuntala's father was a circus artiste and it was he who introduced Shakuntala to the world of mathematics, through card tricks. Shakuntala's amazing memory power was tapped, which then led her to develop an extraordinary love for numbers at the tender age of three.

Gradually, over the years, Shakuntala's memorizing and calculating skills were strengthened, whilst she simultaneously became an expert in complex mental arithmetic. Beginning at the University of Mysore and the Annamalai University, Shakuntala's public displays of her extraordinary abilities and talents even spread to institutions worldwide, bewildering the crowded gathering of students and professors alike. In her time, older calculating prodigies like Truman Henry Safford were also present, yet Shakuntala started displaying her talents from a very young age.

With her brilliant mind, Shakuntala Devi was adept at solving arithmetical problems, including functions of addition, multiplication, division, calculating square and cube roots, along with complex algorithms and Vedic Maths. She could even state the day of the week of any given date in the last century in a jiffy. Shakuntala could even outdo some of the fastest available computers of that period. Amongst her numerous feats, the most outstanding ones that fetched her name in the 1995 Guinness Book of World Records are:

• In January 1977, at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, Shakuntala Devi extracted the 23rd root of a 201-digit number, at the fifty-second mark, with the correct answer being '546372891'. She had beaten the then fastest computer, UNIVAC's time of 62 seconds, and 13,000 instructions.
• On 18th June, 1980, Shakuntala Devi demonstrated the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers: '7,686,369,774,870 x 2,465,099,745,779', picked randomly by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London. She produced the correct answer of '18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730', in just 28 seconds.
• Shakuntala could find the cube root of 332 812 557 in under a minute.

Today Shakunatala Devi is an accomplished mathematician whose interests also include the mystic field of Astrology. While setting up of several mathematics research centers are her future plans, Shakuntala Devi has also written numerous books, some of which are - Puzzles to Puzzle You, Fun with Numbers, Astrology for you and Mathablity.

more from artha dharma

Chandrayaan-1 launched successfully!

India's first moon mission blasts off

Chandrayaan-1 placed in transfer orbit

Pallava Bagla

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 6:23 AM (Sriharikota)

Chandrayaan-1, India's maiden moon spacecraft, was put into Transfer Orbit around the earth by the Polar Launch Vehicle PSLV-C11 after it blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

The 1,380 kg Chandrayaan-1, carrying 11 payloads, was released into a Transfer Orbit 18.2 minutes after the PSLV-C11 blasted off.

ndtv.com

Chandrayaan-1 launch perfect, says ISRO chairman

SRIHARIKOTA: As India's first lunar mission settled into its chosen orbit successfully, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair described the launch as "perfect" which was achieved after "fighting against all odds".

"It is a remarkable performance by the launch vehicle," he said.

It is a perfect launch. Now it will be orbiting the earth, he said, adding that today "what we have started is a remarkable journey for the Indian spacecraft to go to the moon and try to unravel the mysteries of the moon".

India Times

Virtual Strip Search Scanners for Airports!

Body Scanners in EU Airports By 2010!

The European Commission Regulation has asked all European Union airports to use virtual digital scanners by 2010. This scanner is a virtual strip search machines, which creates a 3D image of a naked body. Such a scanner has been opposed as it is next to a strip search.

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Australian airports are trialling body scanners that can see through passengers' clothes. (ABC)

Trial Begins

AIR travelers will be invited to take part in "virtual strip searches" at Australian airports when the Federal Government begins trials of security screening measures this month. The measures include a body scanner that can see what lies under a person's clothes. The Government says the scanner could detect weapons and explosives, but critics say it is an invasion of privacy.

more from theage

To fight Terror?

Ever since terrorist Richard Reid tried to detonate a bomb hidden in his shoes, the government has been searching for a faster, more efficient way to detect plastic explosives.

“The technology we’re using today, in some cases, can take 12 seconds to do a scan,” says Randal Null, Chief Technology Officer of the Transportation Security Administration. “We’d like to drive that down to a few seconds.”

So now, instead of looking at your shoes, Null says, “we are actually going to do a full body scan of an individual.”

Airport security screeners have the ability to take the shirt right off your back, “so all anatomical features are shown,” says Null.

It’s called Backscatter X-ray — low levels of radiation that could deliver high levels of embarrassment at airports all across the country.

more from cbs

The Protest and Privacy Debate!

Mr O'Gorman, who heads the Council for Civil Liberties, says the technology is a "total invasion of privacy", allowing virtual strip searches and has overstepped the mark.

"You have to ask yourself: Has the war against terrorism got to the stage where we, in effect, have to have our genitals shown, viewed by someone in another room, in the name of airport safety? We say this goes too far," he said.

"We say it skews the balance between proper security on the one hand and the maintenance of basic civil liberties, particularly bodily privacy, on the other.

"These virtual scanners will show women who've had breast enlargements, breast implants, or show women who have colostomy inserts, will show women who have had mastectomies.

"And we can switch it to men - it will show men who have had penile implants."

But the Government says this will not be allowed when the technology is used with the public.

"No images will be stored," the Office of Transport Security's Andrew Tongue said.

"Anybody but the person viewing the image is remote from where the person will be going through the body scanning, so they can't link in any way a person and their image.

"Faces are blurred, so we've tried to build a system that is very protective of people's privacy. And anybody participating in the trial is a volunteer."

more from abc

Chandrayaan's Countdown Begins, Undeterred by Rain!

One hour ago :

The work on filling of propellant for the first stage of the polar launch vehicle had been completed and the second stage filling would be over tonight, SDSC Associate Director Dr M Y S Prasad told PTI here, 80 kms north of Chennai.

"The countdown, which started at 5.22 am yesterday, is progressing smoothly and the propellant filling of PS-2 (first stage) has been completed," he said adding a total of about 43 tonnes of propellant would be filled.

Asked about weather conditions in this space port town, which is witnessing isolated rains, Prasad said the rains would not affect the launch. "The rain does not matter as the spacecraft is fully rain proof. Even if it is drenched, the launch would take place as per schedule." However, the launch might have to be rescheduled if there was cyclonic weather conditions, he added.

Press Trust of India

Pacific Earthquake poses no tsunami threat to Sabah!

Strong Earthquake Hits Tonga Islands, No Tsunami Threat To Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- A strong eathquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale hit Tonga Islands, about 7,898km Southeast of Tawau, Sabah, at 1.11pm today.

The Meteorological Department said in a statement that the earthquake did not pose any tsunami threat to Malaysia.

BERNAMA

Blood Money and 'horror' of Saudi executions!

Saudi beheading on the rise!

Amnesty International reported that Saudi Arabia has executed 71 people through the end of August this year. Nearly half of them were foreigners, including migrant workers who don’t understand Saudi laws, have no political connections and are too poor to pay “blood money” that would spare them.

Foreign nationals, mostly Asians and Africans, who face capital trials in the conservative kingdom, are frequently unable to understand court proceedings if they are not Arabic speakers, are often not represented by a lawyer and are routinely held for long periods in harsh conditions and coerced into false confessions.

The state does not provide official statistics but Amnesty said it had recorded at least 1,695 executions between 1985 and May 2008. Of these, 830 were foreign nationals - a highly disproportionate figure since foreigners make up about one-quarter of the country's population.

In some cases, execution is followed by crucifixion, Amnesty says in its report.

Saudi officials were not immediately available to comment. They routinely defend beheadings as a quick and clean form of execution sanctioned by the Islamic faith.

Saudi Arabia is one of the few states in the world with a high rate of executions for women. It is also one of the few to execute people for crimes they committed when they were still under the age of 18.

The kingdom applies a strict version of Sharia law, under which rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty. Part of the reason for the rapid rise in executions, Amnesty shows, has been an extension of the use of death penalty in the late 1980s to cover "corruption on earth" (sometimes applied to political activities) as well as drugs-related offences.

A Saudi executioner prepares to behead a convicted drug dealer in Jeddah in this 1985 image. Photograph: Rex Features

BBC

GUARDIAN

LA TIMES

Petrol and Diesel price brought down again!

Today,our Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the price of petrol would be cut by 15 sen to RM 2.30 a litre while diesel prices would fall by 20 sen to RM 2.20 effective Wednesday.

"Because oil prices have fallen sharply in recent times, the government has decided to cut fuel prices to allow the masses to benefit (from) lower prices," Abdullah said in a statement

This is the third adjustment to the price of petrol and diesel.Looks like Anwar Ibrahim has succeed in putting some pressure on the ruling government.However, to what extent is this reduction going to help?Is it enough?Right now many questions are being asked.Will there be another adjustment in the near future??

Survey shows Tamil Nadu support for LTTE!

A survey undertaken in 10 cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu by the Indian Express newspaper shows that a clear majority of the respondents wanted India to lift the ban on the proscribed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and 66% of the respondents said the LTTE is either freedom fighters and/or the sole and genuine representatives of Tamil voice.

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Russia launches the sixth space tourist for $30m !

British-born space tourist, Richard Garriott, blasts off in $30m odyssey

A Russian carrier rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carring a British born American “space tourist" as a private passenger aboard a Soyuz capsule.He is said to have paid the Russian space agency $30 million for the privilege and undergone a year’s training.

Richard Garriott and his father, Owen

The multi-millionaire computer-game developer is the son of of a Nasa astronaut,Owen Garriott who flew aboard one of Nasa’s last Apollo missions to Skylab, America’s first orbiting laboratory.

Times Online

China Daily

AFP

And we will be sending our very own space tourist again, for the SECOND time, very soon!
I bet he is training somewhere in Russia now
Or maybe not...

In case others have more money than us to "book" a seat.

Thanks to Russia!

Selangor govt decides to lift restriction on Hindu temple Gate Towers!

Finally we can have the space to build temples properly!

Today's Star quoting Makkal Osai reported on the removal of restrictions on the construction of Temple "Gopurams" by the Selangor State Government.

The state government had also ordered that a piece of land must be allocated for the building of an Indian temple in each housing estate.

Lets hope all temples in Malaysia will be granted such space in the near future.
Its a good start for now, in being fair to all :)

Tuesday October 7, 2008

Selangor govt decides to lift limits on temple gate towers

Compiled by SIM LEOI LEOI, TAN SIN CHOW AND A. RAMAN.

THE Selangor government had decided to lift the earlier 7.3m limit for the construction of gopurams (entrance towers) for temples set by the previous government, Makkal Osai reported.

State Executive councillor Dr Xavier Jayakumar said that the current government had recently given approval for the construction of a temple gopuram for more than 12.8m.

He added that the previous state government had approved 929 sq metres of land, next to a sewerage reclamation pond, for the building of a temple and did not allow any extension or renovation.

He further said that the current state government had ordered that a piece of land must be allocated for the building of an Indian temple in each housing estate.

He was speaking to reporters after visiting the Tasik Kaliamman Temple in Ampang yesterday. He briefed the 300 people who were present on the state government’s plans for the Indian temples in Selangor.

He urged all Hindu temples in Selangor to register with the relevant municipal councils within a month so that the government would have a record of all temples in the state and also ensure that no temple would be demolished in the future.

He said committees fighting for ownership of land for their temples in Selangor could meet him to submit their applications.

Other News & Views is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a sub-heading, it denotes a separate news item.

thestar.com.my

Public Forum: World Blindness Awareness!

Chandrayaan: India's First Mission to the Moon.

Chandrayaan I is a Lunar mission by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)

In Chandrayaan-1, the lunar craft would be launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The Lunar craft would orbit around moon 100 km from moon surface.

In Chandrayaan-2, ISRO will send a moon rover on moon surface.The rover would move on wheels on the lunar surface, pick up samples of soil or rocks, do a chemical analysis and send the data to the spacecraft orbiting above.

http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/

India’s Space Ambition!

The rocketing Evolution

India’s Moon mission set for this month!

Chandrayaan: Oct 19 launch likely, weather permitting

19 Sep 2008 04:45:00 AM IST

BANGALORE: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday, unveiled India’s first mission to the moon Chandrayaan- 1.The Chandrayaan-1 satellite will be launched by a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.However, ISRO officials did not confirm the date of the launch, but hinted that Chandrayaan-1 could lift off on October 19 if weather permitting.

‘’The launch window could be between October 19 and October 28. But, we are slightly worried about the weather conditions due to disturbances in the East Coast. In case we are not able to launch the satellite during this period then we have two more opportunities, one in early November and the other by the end of November,’’ Chandrayaan- 1 project director M Annadurai told reporters.

The 590-kg spacecraft, which will carry 11 payloads, has been delayed by over five months but ISRO Officials said that the launch would take place well within the project time frame and that the delay would not overshoot the project cost of Rs 386 crore.

Chandrayaan-1 will carry payloads of six foreign countries __ the US, Britain, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria __ apart from those of India.‘‘The Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft along with all 11 science instruments has been fully assembled, integrated and tested.

expressbuzz.com

Malaysia-Singapore: Lower Roaming Charges For Mobile Phones!

October 04, 2008 19:54 PM

Malaysia-Singapore Agree On Lower Roaming Charges For Mobile Phones

SEREMBAN, Oct 4 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Singapore have agreed on lower mobile phone roaming charges to encourage communication between the people of both countries.

The Minister for Energy, Water and Communications, Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor said the agreement was reached at a meeting between him and Singapore's Minister for Information,Communications and the Arts, Dr Lee Boon Yang in Bali, Indonesia recently.

"At the meeting I asked for the roaming charges to be reduced and he agreed.

"As of now, the charges are quite high when you use the mobile phone to call Singapore," he told reporters when met at the Hari raya open house hosted by Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan in Kampung Tanjung, Rantau.

"This move will certainly benefit Malaysians working in Singapore and Singaporeans frequently visiting Malaysia," he added.

Shaziman also stated that he had asked the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to begin discussions on the matter with the Singapore agency responsible for telecommunications.

According to Shaziman, he had informed local telecommunications companies of the agreement and they had expressed strong support.

He also hoped the lower charges could be implemented at the soonest or by early next year.

BERNAMA

India Bans Smoking in public places!

India has banned smoking in public places from today(2nd Oct) in an attempt to fight tobacco which is blamed for the death of a fifth of all deaths in India.Offenders will be fined 200 Rupees.

Everyone agrees, that implementing the ban could be a problem and much will depend on compliance rather than enforcement.

How effective is enforcement going to be in the largest democracy of the world???

Could this lead to a rise in corruption associated with the police???