Manimal

Gaza is being assaulted again and again. Israelis rammed aid ships to prevent them from reaching (to help) the Paletinians. One look at the Israeli soldiers - young, boyish looking. All brainwashed by "orang2 terdahulu". Of being the chosen one (in other words, accusing God of being racist). Its ok if I screw you, but you can't screw me. Because we are the chosen one. Pure Shylock.

Never have I seen blatant approval of genocide, from the US, British & the enemies of Muslims, let alone the Israelis who lauched the attacks. Where blood was shed - women, children, civillians. And the world say, " we support Israel retaliation". What retaliation? Hamas (who is so damn stupid too) rockets create craters the size of flower pots. Israel's bombs create craters the size of buildings. 1 Israel guy died, 315 Muslims died. Don't tell me all these years of weapon building you can't aim at the correct buildings that there need to be collateral damage? Pure ethnic cleansing I'd say. Animals don't do this.

Egypt & Jordan closed their gates. What is this? The Saudis are ball-less. Infact the Muslims are in so deep a shit, these events will just be another statistic. Filthy stinking rich Mercedes cheuffered leaders whose people don't even know how to build a bicycle.

Conclusion: We have to equip ourselves with knowledge, translated into actions to at least be at par with the world. Then we have the respect we need to execute change.

Happy New Year

Its 1430 years after Rasulullah ensured that 9:20 was implemented.

9:20 Orang-orang yang beriman dan berhijrah serta berjihad di jalan Allah dengan harta, benda dan diri mereka, adalah lebih tinggi derajatnya di sisi Allah; dan itulah orang-orang yang mendapat kemenangan.

Me, a few small "faaizuun (kemenangan)" here and there. Nothing compares to you, my dear Rasulullah.

Today, we had an English lunch at Terry's & Kak Bib's. Roast Beef yang sangat kaw. I've never tasted any better than this.

Then we had early dinner with Dell & family. Mas & kids will be going away for good. Mas has exhausted her leave of absence & all possible tricks to stay longer. Anne is pretty sad .. no more friend to do this & that together. Sent them to LHR, thanks to Baha, checked in almost everything.

So long Mas, Syamil & Syida. See you guys in May (if I'm still here). And Salam Maal Hijrah.

Boxing Day at Cheshire Oak

Largest Christmas tree at the largest designer outlet in Europe. Gambar kantoi sket, biasalah .. iPhone punya camera bodoh vs other makers.

Pergh! Jauh mai peghabih duit. Saja, since we wanna spend xMas off day
at Diny's in Birm, C Oaks seems the natural choice, what with the 140+
outlets. 10.30 am to 5.40 pm. Rebeh poket Joe.

Kids got the bulk of the loot. TQ to Mr Dentease the designated driver for the day. Saja suruh kutu tunjuk skill lesen British.

Merry Keris Mas

Last week I received a (chain) mail advising against wishing friends "Selamat Hari Nata.. or Merry Christma..". Note that the email did not even finish the words. It's like in Harry Potter, "he whose name shall not be mentioned" kind of thing. A bit difficult for me coz most of my friends & those I do business with over here in this part of the world, are Christians - be it Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Protestant, Mormon etc. Banyak ek? Well before you say anything Islam has pretty much the same thing - Sunni, Shiites, Ahmadiyah, Ismailis .. etc.

What is Christmas anyway? Well, in its current spirit, it is celebrating the birth of Jesus. For Christians - the birth of god/son of god .. whatever. For Muslims I suppose we can celebrate it too as Maulidurrasul. Isa is a messenger spreading the same thing right? Islam. Actually, come to think of it, we should celebrate it if we are among the believers. That's what one of the most recited doa in any of our functions says:

2:285 Rasul telah beriman kepada Al Quran yang diturunkan kepadanya dari Tuhannya, demikian pula orang-orang yang beriman. Semuanya beriman kepada Allah, malaikat-malaikat-Nya, kitab-kitab-Nya dan rasul-rasul-Nya. (Mereka mengatakan): "Kami tidak membeda-bedakan antara seseorangpun dari rasul-rasul-Nya", dan mereka mengatakan: "Kami dengar dan kami taat." (Mereka berdoa): "Ampunilah kami ya Tuhan kami dan kepada Engkaulah tempat kembali."

Anyway, digressing again. Christmas can be broken into 2 words: Christ & Mas.
Christ came from the Orthodox Greek Kristos which means Messiah or the Annointed One.
Mas came from Mass. So it basically means Messiah Mass or Perhimpunan Untuk Utusan. Pretty harmless I would say, language wise.

BTW, Jesus wasn't born on December 25th. God knows when.

Oh, and the same person has previously sent me pics of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran showing him in humbling poses (partly to compare him with Pak Lah). Well, just check out what this role model wrote (look at the 1st line) in his blog.

I know I'm pretty merry today. Spending an off day with family. Ciao.

OxStreet on Xmas Eve

Buat bodoh today pakai jeans. Its gonna be half day & not gonna trade anyway. Only British, French & Dutch markets were opened. By 2pm dah terpacak kat Tottenham Court Road. Had lunch with Dell, Mas & Anne at the restaurant at the corner of TCR ntah apa nama tah. Had mixed donno what (ada lamb shish, kebab & chicken) + chicken doner. Not bad, sedap juga .. so boleh pegi lagi. Damage for 4 pax around £32. OK lah.

Then rendek2 tengok orang berpusu2. But this is so much less vs last year especially since this year sale signs are everywhere. Up to 50% off etc. Then imagine on this 26th boxing day pulak (some shops 27th). How much more are they gonna slash?

I bet in January everything will dry up. By March some companies will be stretched. April we'll hear administration, liquidation & all that jazz. Imminent, Zavvi having problem. As for currency, £1 is now RM5.09 when I left office. Man .. this currency is £**<€d!! Imagine from £1 = RM7.13 at one point to now. That's bloody 29% devaluation. May be now its time for Malaysian companies to buy up British assets. Tunggu sikit lagi, houses might fall another 30%.

Anyway, ended up buying 1 shirt from Gap for £9 something (I bet its gonna be cheaper tomorrow, then may be I go and return it and repurchase it at lower price .. ha haa haaa [ketawa jin afrit]). Cun juga cuma tak de riak (the term riak means bila orang tengok orang tau tu brand apa - may be the logo at the pocket, strip on the side, engraved buttons etc). Although sometimes its brilliant not to have any "riak" especially when you bought stuff from Primark, which I do quite a lot for myself, baju £3, sweater £5 .. murah siot. Ye lah, coz nak kasi wife pakai MNG, Morgan, Uniqlo .. anakanda pakai Monsoon, Gap, Osh Kosh. Heh heh, suami cum bapak mithali. Woo hooo!

Yeayy! The books arrived.

2 days are what it takes for the books to arrive. Bought via Amazon
marketplace. 1 p each with P&P £2.75 ea. Hardcovers! Bloody good deal
I would say. Tah bila nak baca ntah la.

Red Handed

I think I'm gonna add another label, K .. short for knowledge. For anything that's like info or sewaktu dengannya.

Today I dropped by the National Gallery for a quick dart through those precious artworks with Gavin - a fund manager turned tourist guide. While admiring one of the art, can't remember which artist but it was showing his house & garden with vast land going into the horizon. In the picture there was a poacher (illegal hunter) with a gun eyeing some ducks.

Now, the knowledge that I got today is the figure of speech "caught red handed".
This comes from the fact that a person is proven a poacher when he is caught with his hand red (bloodied) from the shot animal.

Eid Mubarak

Solat Raya at the Youth Centre at Egham, an indoor basketball to be precise. Should've gone to M'sian Hall coz Dr Asri was delivering the khutbah. May be next time, perhaps in Birm. Plus my feet are still killing me.

Dell & Mas, Terry & Kak Bib, Sam & Linda singgah around 11.00 am. Had nasi impit, lemang, rendang, kari ayam w/o santan, laksa Johor .. meriah!

This is the time of the year to think of the needy and the less fortunate.

Citigroup, AIG, Lehman Brothers, General Motors...

- David Letterman-

Eid Mubarak Everyone

SocGen Conference

Dissapeared for a few days to attend SocGen Premium Review conference at La
Bourse, Paris with Dell. Anne tetiba muncul one day after .. tak sempat nak ngorat .. hmmmph.

Conference was pretty good with Economist quite bullish vs the Global Strategist dubbing what's going on as the Great Experiment. I suppose .. ok, its gonna get bad, perhaps the real economy gets really shitty .. then the stock market recovers 9 months in advance. Perhaps something like the Asian Crisis, this time the Global Crisis!

Took Friday off .. rendek2. Managed to squeeze a trip to Musee d'Orsay .. worth it! Then ronda2 Champs Elysee .. layan LV. Pergh! Harga maut, but no doubt product memang baguih.

Saturday went to the Louvre, kononnya nak complete the previous tour. Arggh! Its soo huge .. tak habis2. And my feet felt like burning. And the audioguide that we rented was crappy. There're so little paintings/sculptures with numbers (to key in in the audio thing & listen to explanations on the item).

Some pics from the wintry, drizzly trip. Nevertheless, enjoyable .. especially since Eurostar return was to cheap at £59. To be cont..

Makan Secupak Perut Jadi Segantang

Been about 1 week I avoided rice. Muka dah kuncup sket, perut needs
some work. And this is my dinner tonight: Nick Nairn Sear Salmon with
hot potato & tomato salad.

Hmm .. Sedapp. I like.

Kera di Hutan Anak di Rumah

Surfed for news from homeland. As usual most are bad news or at the very least, stupid news (as in how the thing become news). A lot of debates on Ketuanan Melayu, democracy, tak sedar di untung, Melayu mudah lupa, PAS vs UMNO, PAS vs DAP within Pakatan Rakyat, Umnoputra, Ameno, Fatwa, Altantuya, ish banyak nya membaca .. tak kerja ke aku ni?

Anyway, something from Datuk Kadir Jasin, a friend of Arwah Abah, sebijik kena batang hidung. BTW, I like his house .. cantik siot, kat Tropicana lagi ..

Melakar Cerita Suka Duka
A Kadir Jasin

HARI ini, izinkan saya berpuisi
Meluah rasa terbuku di hati
Melakar cerita suka dan duka
Tanah Melayu bumi ibunda
Semakin hari dibenci dikeji
Ditertawa dipersenda di desa dan kota
Kerana Melayu semakin tidak berani.

Kerana apa?
Kerana yang berkuasa
Lesu tidak bermaya
Yang diberi amanat
Dan memegang wasiat
Hilang dan sesat
Lupa sumpah dan janji
Tidur lena dibuai mimpi
Tidak peduli lagi perjuangan suci
Kerana selesa berpura-pura
Diracuni harta dan kuasa.

Yang Melayunya berkata:
“Kamilah Bumiputera
Peribumi tanah pusaka
Inilah tempat tumpah darah kami
Di sinilah kami hidup dan mati
Kerana di sinilah terkubur
Nenek moyang kami
Polis dan askar Melayu
Dan perwira-perwira dulu
Datuk Bahaman
Datuk Maharaja Lela
Tok Janggut
Dol Said
Mat Kilau
Tok Gajah
Mat Salleh
Datuk Sagor
Tok Kenali
Dan ramai lagi
Yang tumpas dan mati
Demi bumi dan pertiwi.

Orang India dan Cina
Yang asal usulnya
Pedagang dan buruh ikatan
Jauh dari seberang lautan
Pun menuntut hak yang sama
Menolak kontrak yang ada
Kononnya demi reformasi
Meritokrasi dan globalisasi
Lupa bahawa nenek moyang mereka
Kiblat mereka bumi asalnya
Aspirasinya Parti Kongres India
Kuomintang dan Parti Komunis China.

Tetapi Melayu mudah kasihan
Mudah pula diperkotak-katikkan
Maka oleh British disyaratkan
Terimalah mereka sebagai rakan
Maka dapatlah mereka
Satu juta kerakyatan
Di bumi Malaysia yang merdeka
Tanpa orang Melayu sedar dan perasan.

British hebat putar-belitnya
Mereka tidak buruh Cina dan India
Dari tanah jajahan bernama Malaya
Membanjiri bumi suci mereka
Menuntut taraf warganegara
(Seperti terjadi dengan Orang India dari Uganda)
Maka yang mereka bawa
Dari China dan India
Mereka tinggalkan di Malaya
Kerana Melayu pemurah hatinya
Dan mudah pula lupa.

Sekarang Melayu layu dan lesu
Pertahan hak sudah tidak tahu
Takut, malas dan malu
Menjadi defensif dan apologetik
Hanya berharap kepada kuasa politik
Yang gagal diartikulasi dan diisi
Kerana terlalu lama dibuai mimpi
Tidur lena kerana jenama Bumiputera
Lega dan selesa
Dengan tanah se kangkang kera
Dan panji-panji politik yang hambar warnanya.

Kalau Melayu tidak bangkit
Tidak sedar jiwanya berpenyakit
Jangan salahkan orang lain
Kalau terlondeh baju dan kain
Bogel bagaikan orang gila
Di bumi sendiri yang kononnya merdeka.

Ingatlah permata kata
Nenek moyang kita yang bijaksana
Kerana Melayu kita berbudi
Kerana Islam kita beriman
Maka jika Melayu kenal diri
Jadilah dia orang budiman
Yang harga dirinya
Bukan pada wang berjuta
Tetapi pada budi dan bahasa
Tauhid dan pekerti mulia.

Kerana Melayu mudah lupa
Apa sudah jadi kepada negara?
Bumi ini menjadi tempat buangan
Pelacur dan GRO dari Yunan
Ke bumi ini konon mencari pelajaran
Pengemis dan Shao Lin Master
Yang entah dari mana datangnya
Sepatah haram bahasa Melayu tidak tahu
Meminta sedekah hilir dan hulu.

Itu belum dikira
Pendatang haram yang berjuta
Dari Indonesia, Burma dan Afrika
Yang masuk keluar sesuka hati
Maka jadilah bumi ibunda ini
Periuk menidih yang isinya basi
Jenayah dan maksiat menjadi-jadi
Kerana birokrasi dibaham korupsi
Rasuah, pecah amanah
Salah guna kuasa dan berbagai lagi.

Melayu sudah jadi pengkhianat
Lupa kepada amanah dan wasiat
Kerana wang, kuasa dan harta
Mereka khianati bangsa dan negara.

Akhir nukilan,
Ingatkan pesanan orang tua-tua
Sesal dahulu kedapatan
Sesal kemudian tidak berguna
Kera di hutan disusukan
Anak di rumah mati kelaparan.

Tak Habis Lagi?

Ter-listened to a phone conversation re: suruh ....

Sapa yg baca ni rasa nak marah, tok sah. Nanti kena jual.

Happy Birthday My Luv

It's 21st Nov, and again I failed to get her flowers. Instead I got Anne a Dell Notebook. Actually I am the one yg teruja lebih2 with the spec. For £449 its got among others:

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5800
  
• 3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
  
• 320GB (5.400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
  
• 2.0 Mega pixel web camera

and for the heck of it, topped up another £29 to give the notebook her favourite colour.

• Spring Green Colour with Microsatin Finish

Checked for such spec everywhere, even Malaysia cannot give such spec for that kind of price. Advert pun keluar 1 day je. Need to chat with sales rep (in India) to get the proper link for the item.

Anyway, brought Anne out to Que Tapas in Staines. Just our luck some stupid printer rosak la pulak. We waited for 1 hour but still no food. When we checked with the waitress then she told about the printer. Brought our receipt & got everything done within 15 minutes. 1 hour 15 minutes .. that must be some record. But they were quite good, gave us complimentary drinks as well as complimentary desserts worth about £11. It was Churros & Choc fudge cake (sedap giller!!) Heh hee .. makan pree. Tak pe lah, tak de lah lapar sangat. Siap tapau lagi.

Happy Birthday My Luv

Leadership

There I was, sitting infront of the idiot box, squeezing my mind hoping that it would ooze out words for the speech/talk I'm preparing for my boss to present in Cardiff this weekend. The title is: Corporate Leadership: Challenges and Prospects (or is it Opportunities? whatever .. sounds the same to me). 

The TV was playing School of Rock .. you know, Jack Black. Damn! It's all there. He played a phony teacher after being thrown out of his rock band. And how stupid this may sound, his "teacher on crack" character really has some leadership qualities.

• Has an eye for talent, not unlike Sir Alex of Man U.
• Great empowerment - assigned each and everyone a great role according to their strength
• Everybody listens to him! - although it was actually some kind of a manipulation
• Flexible enough to change - who does what
• Listens to & solves greviences - consoled the chubby black girl when she wanted out because of her weight problem
• Understand the organization (school)
• A great mentor/teacher - taught the class the evolution of rock
• Leading the team - the Rock Band called the School of Rock

Damn! I enjoy this movie. Again.

Now, why am I writing this? I'm supposed to write the speech. Duh!

Monk

Received this today. Truly amazing discovery.

MONK
 
A man is driving down the road and breaks down near a monastery.

He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, 'My car broke down.
Do you think I could stay the night'?

The monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, and even fix his car.

As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound; a sound like no other that he has ever heard. The next morning, he asks the monks what the sound was, but they say, 'We can't tell you. You're not a monk'.

The man is disappointed but thanks them anyway and goes about his merry way.
Some years later, the same man breaks down in front of the same monastery.

The monks again accept him, feed him, and even fix his car.

That night, he hears the same strange mesmerizing sound that he had heard years earlier.

The next morning, he asks what the sound was, but the monks reply,

'We can't tell you. You're not a monk'.

The man says, 'All right, all right. I'm dying to know.  If the only way I can find out what that sound was, is to become a monk, how do I become a monk'?

The monks reply, 'You must travel the earth and tell us how many blades of grass there are and the exact number of sand pebbles. When you find these numbers, you will become a monk'.

The man sets about his task. Some forty-five years later, he returns and knocks on the door of the monastery. He says, 'I have travelled the earth and devoted my life to the task demanded and have found what you had asked for. 

There are 371,145,236,284,232 blades of grass and 231,281,219,999,129,382 sand pebbles on the earth'.

The monks reply, 'Congratulations, you are correct and now you are a monk'.

'We shall now show you the way to the sound'.

The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, the sound is behind that door.

The man reaches for the knob, but the door is locked. He asks, 'May I have the key'?

The monks give him the key, and he opens the door.

Behind the wooden door is another door made of stone. The man requests the key to the stone door.

The monks give him the key, and he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby. He demands another key from the monks, who provide it. Behind that door is another door, this one made of sapphire. And so it went until the man had gone through doors of emerald,......silver, topaz, and amethyst.

Finally, the monks say, 'This is the key to the last door'.

The man is relieved to no end. He unlocks the door, turns the knob, and behind that door he is astonished to find the source of that strange sound.

It is truly an amazing and unbelievable sight 

. . But I can't tell you what it is because you're not a monk.



DON'T SWEAR AT ME,
I'M STILL HUNTING FOR THE IDIOT WHO SENT THIS TO ME!

Dubya Out Mubarak In

Yesterday, in Washington, the Secret Service arrested a man who climbed over the White House fence.

Secret Service told the man, "Get back here, Mr. President. You have two more months."

- Conan O'Brien

It's Obama Mania all over again. After the most expensive campaign ever, where all candidates raised $1,553 million (of which Obama alone raised $639). 21 months of traveling & campaigning. We see history today - 1st American black President.

Checkout Obama's acceptance speech - made infront of 240,000 audience at Grant Park, Chicago. Moving! Pandai siot speech writer dia. This is the CNN version which has a transcript (siap nyala2 macam karaoke lagi).

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/video.transcript/index.html

I probably will never forget this day. It's Shasya's birthday too .. dah belasan tahun kalau dalam Melayu (sebelas). But in England she's yet to be a teenager, only Venager (eleven).

BTW, I certainly hope the new President will live up to his name .. Barakah.

2008 New Stock Market Terms and Definitions

I've not dropped by my own blog for a few days now. The directors are in town, so a bit busy. May be I should explain to them some new definitions in capital markets.

2008 New Stock Market Terms and Definitions…

CEO --Chief Embezzlement Officer.

CFO -- Corporate Fraud Officer.

BULL MARKET -- A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.

BEAR MARKET -- A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.

VALUE INVESTING -- The art of buying low and selling lower.

P/E RATIO -- The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market keeps crashing.

BROKER -- What my broker has made me.

STANDARD & POOR -- Your life in a nutshell.

STOCK ANALYST -- The idiot who just downgraded your stock.

STOCK SPLIT -- When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets equally between themselves.

FINANCIAL PLANNER -- A guy whose phone has been disconnected.

MARKET CORRECTION -- The day after you buy stocks.

CASH FLOW-- The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet.

YAHOO -- What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.

WINDOWS -- What you jump out of when you're the sucker who bought Yahoo @ $240 per share.

INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR -- Past year investor who's now locked up in a nuthouse.

PROFIT -- An archaic word no longer in use.

Dato' Latt - Ketua Bahagian Kuala Kedah

TERMUDA: Latt Shariman Abdullah, 40, kelmarin menjadi Ketua Bahagian termuda di Kedah apabila memenangi jawatan Ketua Bahagian Umno Kuala Kedah.Latt Shariman, kini bertugas sebagai Pegawai Tugas-Tugas Khas Timbalan Perdana Menteri Najib Razak, menewaskan Timbalan Ketua Bahagian Hashim Jasin. Ketua Bahagian dahulu Syed Razak Syed Zain Barakbah tidak mendapat cukup pencalonan untuk mempertahankan jawatan beliau.

Dato' Latt is my buddy from school. Great guy. Will go to illogical length to help people. After school we were quite active for old boys dinner/concert. I think at least 3 times I acted in sketches with him. Twice I was Tun Ghaffar Baba (Encik at that time) and he was DSAI. That was fun .. so much so that people who don't remember my name, simply call me "Ghafur".

Dato' Latt was the guy who persuaded me to go to UK for the 1st time in 1993 (FX was RM3.87:£1.00 !!). He even gave soft loan for half the ticket price, which was only RM1,600 return. Murah kan? We stayed near Baker Street station that time. Kalau tak, memang tak merasalah jadi tourist.

Congratz bro!

BTW, it snowed just now. Hmmm .. it's still October. Camana January nanti???

In Others' Shoes

Today's the first time I go to work in a car. Dell drove (I couldn't), coz Anne & the gang ada Rombongan Cik Kiah to Queen Anne & Stoke. Left around 0615 & reached office close to 0700. Took Earl's Court/Embankment route, missed turning near Queen Victoria St & had to take a slightly longer route. Actually, we took the car coz we had to bring the extra office carpet from previous renovation which is now parked in my garage.

Duh, forgot that I had an appointment with Dr Galton at 0900. Brilliant! Had to take the train back to Egham. The best doctor at Grove Medical Centre so far.

Anyway, got back to the office. Suffered some anxiety. Am starting to get immuned with the non-stop markets fall. Left around 1715. It's already dark by then.

Heck! Now I can emphatise with drivers in London. Most times I am a pedestrian. Today, we saw/avoided:
1. Pedestrian selamba kodok crossed roads while talking on the phone.
2. Pedestrians testing their luck crossing roads at non-designated crossings/middle of the road.
3. So many cyclists hogging the left lane of the streets.
4. Cyclists with dark clothing & no light on their bikes.
5. Small streets, sharing with psyco cabs & bus drivers.
6. Dark streets - dah la tengah twilight.
7. Bus lanes, although it was already dark - all the CCTV still berkuat kuasa. Thanks to the new time.
8. Idiotic drivers who flashed light at traffic light as if we were so slow moving, although the light just turned green 0.01 second ago.
9. Jam at M25 Junction 14, nasib baik ada ramp T5 - boleh cut queue via that ramp.
10. Stingy drivers - kemut tak kasi masuk lane. Nak kena lepuk tuh..

Next time, no peak hour driving for me. I believe Dell had the same feeling.

BNM Open House

After a terrible heart-stopping day at the office. Left for Bank Negara's open house at Berkeley Square .. quite easy to park at around 1815. Parkings were ample around the square.

Good food, from Makan Cafe I heard. Dannial undecided.

Asset managers & bankers, mengumpat Hank Paulson kot?

Asaraf + wife & Mazlan

Before leaving, saw these signs .. immediately reminded of this:

6:116 Dan jika kamu menuruti kebanyakan orang-orang yang di muka bumi ini, nescaya mereka akan menyesatkan mu dari jalan Allah. Mereka tidak lain hanyalah mengikuti persangkaan belaka, dan mereka tidak lain hanyalah berdusta.

Two Little Three Little Indians

Markets tanked again today.
*&%£@/,.# arrrghhhh!!!!

It was autumn, and the Red Indians asked their New Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was a Red Indian chief in a modern society, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to be.

Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his Tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared.

But also being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked 'Is the coming winter going to be cold?'

'It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed,' the weather man responded.

So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood. A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. 'Is it going to be a very cold winter?'

'Yes,' the man at National Weather Service again replied, 'It's definitely going to be a very cold winter.'

The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find. Two weeks later, he called the National Weather Service again. 'Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?'

'Absolutely,' The Man replied. 'It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever.'

'How can you be so sure?' the Chief asked.

The weatherman replied, 'The Red Indians are collecting wood like Crazy.'

Now, that is how Stock Markets work!!!

Top Shelf

Went to Top Shelf at Whitecross Street Market (its a stall selling cheap books & slightly outdated magazines, named it as such because .. ermm, well you can just check out any book/mag stores .. see what mags you can find on their top shelves). Picked up some mags for the analysts clan in KL.

The street is one of London's oldest street markets,dating back to mediavel times. At this market you can fantastic local and regional food - Portugese, Albanian, Indian, Thai, Arabic .. macam2 lah. Settled for falafel wrapped up in kinda pita bread for lunch. Sedap jugak.
Had the most amazing experience while eating at Golden Lane's Park. The doves were all over the place, circling our feet for crumbs. All of a sudden every single one of them flew away together, I mean away from the ground of the park! Kisahnya there was a police car siren. I thought only man yg cuak dgn police. Burung pun?

Rewang

Saw this car yesterday when I took Faez & Ita to Staines. Pretty apt for there was a queue for parking & everybody was me-lilau looking for one. Went to Mas & Dell's later makan-makan. Lontong, lemang & nasi tomato ... sedaaaap!

Feel like stress level is high. Just a hunch. May be I should get that high blood pressure monitor from Lloyd's. And not to forget, start exercise balik. Puasa & raya punya hal .. lama nar pause nih.

Fall Season

It's autumn in New York. Leaves are falling...
Also bonds, stocks, banks...
- David Letterman

On leave today. Tapi hatiku tak tenang. Damn you Yankee banks!!!

Bush Bailout

The past several days, President Bush has been speaking out about the Wall Street bailout, and today a reporter asked him what he planned to do about AIG.

Bush got upset and said, "Why does everyone always spell in front of me?"

- Conan O'Brien

Lockets

Have sore throat? Like me at the moment. It's hell. Don't go for Strepsils. Go for Lockets. It's so much stronger.

And what if you have hiccups? According to our Colombian cleaner, Calixto - chew sugar. Yes, sugar .. sucre, you get what I mean. Forget standing on your head. Try sugar .. it works!

Po in Rantau Panjang

Markets in Europe made a spectacular drop again yesterday, mostly dropping more than 7% with France & Ireland falling close to 10%. So today, I am feeling rather depressed. And this overdose of rendang & kuah nasi himpit is not helping either.

Anyway, saw this in NST site. Nice architecture. Reminds me of Po a.k.a. Kung Fu Panda jumping around trying to reach the Dragon Scroll. Ahh .. I need to exercise. I'm tired .. yawn...

Open Houses - Non-Stop Eating!

Raya .. incomplete without open houses.

1st Weekend.

At Gumok's/Zakiah's

At Jai's/Mazza's

At Our's

Eid Mubarak

'twas just after 1500 on Sept 29. The US indices started to fall .. quite badly. As usual, the European follow suit. Weren't in no mood to do anything. Had a suspicion that tomorrow will be Eid for London & yg sewaktu dengannya. I say yang sewaktu dengannya coz definitely some will raya on 29th Sept, some on 1st Oct and maybe a few on 2nd Oct. Really ironic for a religion which emphasize Tauhid as such an important concept. No need to ulas .. I did it before here.

Gedebak-gedebuk, managed to complete our cooking etc. This year we are all Boy Scouts (coz their motto is "Be Prepared"). Managed to leave for Birm around 2245 & reached there just after midnight. Rumah baru wooo...!! Along the way, got texts asking me to check out news. Oh my god! S&P 500 just fell 9%!!!!

Eid

I was quite early mengerah the kids to shower etc. Coz solat will be at 0945. First time solat raya this late! Despite that, we were still late - masbuq into the 2nd rakaat. Biasak la .. nak mengatur 7 adults & 8 kids.

Open house at Sis' .. Whoaaa!! I think about 200 came! Memang Birm ramai Melayu!!

Raya Photos in Birmingham - Quinton Road

Songkok ketat sket. Songkok shrink ke, aku dah besar kepala sket?

Nat - standard ~ mesti x nak pandang camera

Hah, duit raya Mar mana? ..

Eh, you pakai perfume Sarah Jessica Parker ke? I like ..

Aiman missing & budak baju kuning tu plak tersesat masuk.

Gotcha! Everybody in.

Briyani, khuzi kambing, laksa Johor, nasi impit, rendang ..

Khuzi Diny - terangkat siol!

Laksa Johor - kick giller!!

Nasib BIL & Kak Yah - basuh pinggan lah kamu yea

Pantun Raya

Some pantun raya that I love:

Kelantan
Make ike cicoh budu
Jange lupo tamboh satar
Kelik ghayyo toksey laju
Nati ghayyo dale spita

Terengganu
Makang ubi jamang jepong
Makang kepok cicah cuke
Bulang pose mung bengong
Bulang raye mung gile

Pahang
Sepadan Pahang ada kasino
Nasi dagang ikan patin
Jange mu masam muko
Raya makan rendang sadin

Johor
Cegitu cegini awak suke
Awak suke kite tak suke
Esok luse hari raye
Sama-sama bersuke rie

Melaka
Hawau kau berak merate
Kaki bengkak ulau patok
Kalu balik naik kerete
Jangan pandu kalau ngantok

N. Sembilan
Masak lomak cili api
Campo dongan daun turi
Hari rayo kolumpo sopi
Tinggal penyamun dongan pencuri
(org kolumpo jgn kocik ati!!)

Selangor/K.Lumpur...
Wa cakap lu wa tak tau
Tapi wa tipu sama lu
Raya jangan buat tak tau
Angpau ada bagi gua dulu

Perak
Gulei tempoyak ikan mayong
Deroyan busok tebok tupei
Pandu hemat ingat kampong
Ase(Asal) teman selamat sampei

Kedah
Aloq Staq terketaq-ketaq
Lapaq perut makan pau
Macam mana tak ketaq
Kena paksa bagi angpau

Penang
Nasi kandaq kedai mamak
Anak mami juai pesemboq
Lepaih raya jgn dok triak
Kalu ceti mai kot dapoq

Perlis
Padang besaq kecik aja
Tempat Siam lalu lalang
Hari raya kita berbelanja
Jangan sampai menambah utang

Sabah
Nanti raya sia pulang sabah,
Teringin jumpa kawan lama,
Hari raya sudah mau datang bah,
Dosa lama diampunkan saja..

Sarawak
Bila tiba buka puasa,
Kek lapis, terubuk bakar kamek suka,
Meh sini kamek mau madah sama kita,
SELAMAT HARI RAYA!!

Buy Sell

Financial Crisis in Summary

A Summary of What's Been Going On The Past Week

The last few days and weeks have been truly extraordinary. In short, we have seen events that none of us thought we would see in our generation:
• A bank run in the UK.
• The central bank of the most powerful country of this planet offering help to households on the first page of its webpage.
• A dramatic change in this central bank’s balance sheet now filled with repackaged mortgages at the expense of government bonds.
• Financial authorities who explored new paths in search of the best market support
• Repurchase agreements of huge proportions.

Things that were unthinkable have happened:
• A central bank going out of jurisdiction to bail out an investment bank.

In the last three weeks, we saw:
• The two biggest mortgage providers of this planet becoming nationalized
• Followed one week later by the largest insurer
• The disappearance of a 150 year old financial institution, meanwhile its competitor was taken over by a bank.

And last week:
• A major shortage of dollars on a worldwide basis.
• A money market fund’s NAV dropped below $1.00 (a situation known as "broken the buck"), prompting huge redemptions and forcing other MMFs to suspend redemptions.
• Commercial paper yields rose from 3% to 5% in one day, the result of MMF sales.
• The US central bank directly injected a whopping $245bn into financial institutions.
• Other foreign central banks injected $247bn in financial markets for their part.
(Pictet)

The reflief rally following the promised $700 billion clean-up of Wall Street's toxic waste lasted barely more than a trading day. One day!! Foreign investors finally realising that they are bailing out Uncle Sam.

For most of September, Treasury bond prices rose on the theory that, in the midst of a crisis, they were a safe haven. But, as Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke have approved a bewildering array of ever more far-rearching bailouts, investors started adding up the numbers.

Depending how you account for the quasi-nationalisations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the total cost is now well over $1 trillion - and possible several trillion dollars.

If Uncle Sam was rich, this might not matter too much. But the government's deficit is already yawning as the result of a slowing economy. On conservative estimates, it will reach $450bn next year. It doesn't take a dire assumption to think it could top $1tr by 2010.

What's more, the country as a whole is still relying on funds from abroad to finance its trade gap. The current account deficit is running at $60bn a month, a cool $720bn annually

From an international investor's perspective, this is beginning to look worrying. Last week they were receiving a yield of only 3.4% for holding US government paper for 10 years. Even if inflation comes back under control and hovers around 3%, that doesn't look like much compensation. Something more like 5%-6% would be reasonable. If inflation starts to take off - and Monday's astonishing 12% spike in oil prices is not a comforting omen - a reasonable bond yield would be still higher.

In the past week, the dollar has fallen by 3% on a trade-weighted index while the price of 10-year Treasuries have dropped 4%. Put these together and foreign buyers of have suffered a 7% loss. The real worry is that there could be a stampede for the exits as they try to cash out before suffering even bigger losses. The Federal Reserve might then be forced into the unpleasant task of pushing up interest rates in the midst of a crisis.

In short, we're £u<*#&!

Mad Rally

It was the most unbelievable rally I've ever seen in my life. It was like a stampede. This was due to the SEC's temporary ban on short-selling of 799 financial stocks. Same with UK, ban on short selling for financial stocks. Friday saw Wall Street extended Thursday's rally. European markets went crazy as well. At one point FTSE100 was almost 10% up. Russian MICEX was 28% up

The ban was effective Friday, to help protect any future victims of short sellers, who have been criticized in the demise of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and AIG. (Short selling occurs when traders borrow a stock, betting it will go down, only to buy it at a lower price)

Portfolio's a bit stable now. Headed for Maybank's iftar session at Holiday Villa. The ox-tail soup was fantastic. Then rushed back - to drive to Birmingham. Pekena nasi briani for sahur. Then melepek the whole day.

Today went to Asda, Dunelm Mill Shop (bought pillows for Shasya & Rina), then to Wing Yip - lantak one box of 40 Indo Mie - mee goreng (share with Diny). Now, after watching Man U squandered that one goal lead against Chelsea (final score 1 - 1), off to pau making.

Dear Investor

This is hilarious if you understand investment & finance.

ACME Systematic Leveraged Macro Momentum Fund LP
321 Overprice Street
Greenwich, CT
00573


Dear Investor,

This letter is to inform you that the wheels have come off of the proverbial wagon at ACME Systematic Leveraged Macro Momentum Fund LP, and that the same awesome thematic portfolio that made you feel (in the first half-year) as if you'd become very rich in comparison to those sucking wind on their leveraged MBS portfolios or Japanese Small-Cap Value Funds, has, quite literally, spontaneously combusted in our faces.

Our long-oil (PBR, SU, SWN), long coal (MEE, BTU), long fertilizer (POT, MOS), and long iron ore (CLF, RIO) positions have been crushed (no pun intended), and though we remain hopeful going forward as the story remains "in tact", our models have forced us to sell some in response to prevailing price action. Our offsetting shorts in selected financials (MS, BLK, GS, and LM) have not fared as we expected, while our core retail and consumer discretionary shorts in AZO & URBN, DECK have quite literally been lodged deeply and inexplicably in an unmentionable orifice.

If that were all we'd not be too sullen, all things considered, but unfortunately our short US dollar positions (vs. everything), our JPYNZD & CHFAUD carry trades have also not performed to forecasted expectations, and both our our long-only, and zero-exposure long vs. short commodity baskets have imploded with a rapidity that would even frighten Taleb to vows of silence. Oh, and if that weren't enough, our gold and silver longs, too, have gone south as if trying to re-embed themselves in the ground, whilst the short Russell-2000 ETFs we've been using as a hedge have been behaving all-too priapically. These losses of course are not as bad - relatively speaking - as some of our peers (who regretfully are no longer in business) and should of course be viewed in the proper context of our delft avoidance of long exposure in the worst of the RMBS and CMBS sectors, our eschewing of becoming a CDO issuer/manager, and our resolve to avoid anything denominated in Icelandic Kronor. Unfortunately we still have a large (leveraged) position in high-yielding cov-lite loans, US sub-prime credit-card-backed receivables for which we remain unable to obtain sensible bids at levels near to where our auditors and administrators agreed that we should pay our prior year's incentive fees. Only our long Japanese REIT portfolio and our unlisted fund of Spanish Olive Groves have held their ground, though regretfully we refrained from hedging the currency risk, and so these too, are now in the red and eroding rapidly.

We have no explanation, since our trades are systematically based upon doing what others are doing (only, hopefully, faster... though, in this instance, not fast enough). Nor do we offer you apologies. You [presumably] knew the risks, and felt the glory (if only for a while). We do lament the the now-sky-high high-water mark, and the absence of performance fees (this year).

Finally, saving the best for last, we will be suspending redemptions as per the Force Majeure clause 6(c)-2 of the Private Placement Information Memorandum of the Fund. We trust you'll agree that only something supernatural could have torpedoed such a finely constructed portfolio put together by the best and the brightest Wall St. has to offer.

Yours sincerely,

Hugh G. Fallis - Managing Partner
ACME Systematic Leveraged Macro Momentum Fund LP

Lehman Bankrupt, AIG on the Brink

Yesterday Lehman Bros filed for bankruptcy. Price came down 93% since 1-year ago. Today, I'm jolly pleased that Barclays (who walked away from talks to buy Lehman) came back to renegotiate especially the broker-dealer side. That helped a bit. But then another tragedy wacked us today. AIG, the biggest insurer in the world, is in the brink of bankruptcy due to sub-prime mortgage. The stock price crashed by 95% from over USD70 a share to around USD3 a share. So the Federal Reserve had to come up with an USD80 billion rescue package to avoid AIG filing for bankruptcy today. Gosh! That's why they say - The bigger you are, the harder you fall.

How big is AIG? Picture this: its total asset was worth USD 1 trillion. Note that the US GDP is around USD 13 trillion, making AIG’s asset about 7% of US GDP. AIG employs over 100,000 worldwide spanning 5 continents.

So thanks to the US tax payers, another major catstrophy in the financial world has been avoided. But wait a minute .. isn't it more like the rest of the world esp. Japan & China, who are financing this deal? Picture this - Fed need electronic money to finance this rescue (you call it "rescue" if its developed market, and "bail out" when its developing markets like Malaysia), the Fed will issue more bonds (which essentially are debts) which are mostly snapped up by countries with high savings rate like Asian countries. Hmmm .. might as well I go and ask Khazanah to do the bailing out.

Now, where's that small kitab? I need to go talkin kan my equity portfolio.

Ramadan Potluck

It was a fine Sunday, fit for a barbeque. But it's Ramadan .. what are we to do? Potluck iftar of course. Our house is the venue & just need to masak nasi and sup ekor/ox tail.

We got Dell, Mas & Co, Rosli, Rahiyah & Huda, the Malaysia Airlines families: Asmadi - Aniza, Baha - Ana, Ros. Plus all trailers a.k.a askars. Sam, Linda & Co - absent with apologies.

Kids - either playing games or watching Camp Rock.

Food: nasi, sup ekor, ayam masak lomak cili api, fried chicken for kids, urab, ikan bakar, sayur gorreng, roti jala, serimuka durian flavoured, ikan bilis cili

More Food: tembikai, blackberry, cara goreng, agar2 buah, tiramisu. Gallons of mango lassi, juices, teh tarik, nescafe tarik etc.
In other words - kenyang ya amat laa ..

Girls on Film

Posing in kitchen (Aniza using Shasya as tummy cover .. tau tak pe .. kih kih)

Baha the penglipur lara: corruption stories - slow2, nanti kena ISA!!

Khusyuk dengar cerita airport & immigration
(Note: Poster behind Asmadi is a cover for Nat's grafitti)

Nothing to do with anything. This is today's kueh bom. Just happy its now quite round, not penjong like last week's. Where last week, true to its name - kueh bom ni melotup-lotup, terus jadi ghope labu Sayong.

Popia Basah Day

Wanted to make popia basah & black pepper beef for iftar today, so needed to find a few things like: tauge, carrot, flour, shiitake mushroom, leek .. mmm, that's about it. So headed for Sainsbury's - coz parking is free.

But, its Ramadan .. so in the end, its the tummy who does all the shopping. A trolleyful at last.

Nafsu

So, got home & started on the popia. Now I know why the popia basah mamak infront of the small Giant Kelana Jaya is so good. The kulit is hand made! My hands & the pan were so messy just now.

Work in Progress

Inventory

Finished product for "export" (to Sam & Linda and Zamri & Maswa)

And finally - the black pepper beef, masin sket - so repair just before b'buka. Cantik kuali kan?