To whom it may concern

I'm seriously considering printing out a few copies and carrying it around. Maybe change the "To whom it may concern" bit to "To the driver of _____________"

The antics of the boss who doesn't understand the concept of "day off"

5.40pm, the day before: Email
"Please don't share any of our documents without permission. They are P&C."

5.50pm, the day before: Email
"Set up meeting for next week."

6.15pm, the day before: Email
"Please answer my calls and take messages."

D-DAY
8.38am: Phone call
"Set up meeting, clarify issues with people."

9.13am: SMS
"Contact this person."

9.49am: Phone call (response to missed call by me)
"What happened?"

11.00am: Back in office

11.02am: Email
"I'll do it"

11.03 - 11.30am: Discussion

11.47am: Leaves office

In short

BBC: Homing crocodiles defy relocation
By Phil Mercer BBC News, Sydney

Three homesick crocodiles in Australia have shocked experts by returning hundreds of kilometres back to their homes after being relocated.

Homing crocodiles. Fun!

BBC: Shetty questioned over Gere kiss

Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty has been questioned in India over her public kiss with Hollywood actor Richard Gere.

The 32-year-old was stopped at Mumbai Airport by officials who had no record of a court ruling that overturned a ban on her leaving the country.

Get over it.

Reuters: Nine die in Myanmar protest crackdown
Thu Sep 27, 2007 9:32pm EDT
By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - Troops cleared protesters from the streets of central Yangon on Thursday, giving them 10 minutes to leave or be shot before chasing them through the city, firing into crowds and beating people.

State television admitted nine people were killed in actions which stung an outraged Association of South East Asian Nations, one of the few international groupings which has isolated Myanmar as a member, into expressing its "revulsion".

Reuters: Sudan's floods claim 150 lives, $300 mln lost
Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:43am EDT

KHARTOUM, Sept 27 (Reuters) - The worst floods in living memory in Sudan have killed 150 people, made hundreds of thousands homeless and cost the country an estimated $300 million in damages, a Sudanese official said on Thursday.

Heavy and early winter rains have caused flash floods and forced rivers to burst their banks in Africa's largest country, which has been recovering from decades of multiple civil wars. Most people live along river banks in the mostly desert country.

"We have about 73,000 houses completely destroyed and 29,000 partially destroyed," said Hamadallah Adam Ali, head of Sudan's civil defence authority.He said 150 people had been killed and 302 injured by the flooding, with 42,000 livestock lost.

I'm sorry. I really am. And in the bigger scheme of things, the flood story in which so many died was a footnote in the International News page. Such is the life of those born into poverty.

It's Friday

So, in CIMB, we have a High Performance Culture (HPC), which means we're not allowed to say "Thank god it's Friday". Instead, we're supposed to say "Thank god it's Monday". Right.

Anyway, today, my boss is on leave. He evidently doesn't know what "on leave" means, because he called me at 8.38am to ask me to do several things, which is all well and good because I have absolutely nothing to do today. Then he asks me to keep him updated through SMS or email, because he has remote access to his email. What kind of leave is that? Pfft.

So I have absolutely nothing to do today, because my boss is on leave, 1 Haslina is on annual leave, and the other members of the unit are away at a meeting. Therefore, this Haslina (dubbed "Lin", or sometimes "Haslina A.") is the sole representative of the unit left at the office. Fun.

What does that mean? That means that I'll probably go over the daily average of 4 posts today. Try and keep up with me, people.

Today, September 28, 2007 (Friday), is:

1. The 15th day of Ramadhan, marking the midway point of puasa (yey \o/)
2. The last working day of the month, meaning next week I (maybe) have to start coming in at 6.30am (suck)
3. Friday (yey \o/)
4. The day the F1 starts at the Fuji Speedway, Japan for the first time in over 20 years (yey \o/)

That is all.

Aren't you glad you're not in China?

Reuters: China bans "sexual sounds" on airwaves
Wed Sep 26, 2007 11:31am EDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has banned "sexually provocative sounds" on television and pulled the plug on a show reconstructing infamous crimes by women ahead of a major Communist Party meeting next month.

BBC: China slaps curbs on talent shows
23rd September 2007

China has ordered strict curbs on Pop Idol-style TV shows, the country's state media has reported.

The curbs include a ban on public voting via the internet, telephone or by text messages.

The rules also say participants must be healthy and mature, while hosts of the reality TV programmes should not flirt with each other or be nasty.

BBC: China bans 'sexy' advertisements
26th September 2007

China's broadcasting watchdog has banned all "sexually suggestive" advertising on television and radio, state media has reported.

Adverts for products like sex-related health supplements and sex toys will be prohibited, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said.

"Vulgar" adverts for things like breast enhancements and female underwear will also be banned, Sarft said.

The watchdog said the move was taken as the adverts were "socially corrupting".

BBC: China bans 'vulgar' talent show
17th August 2007

TV talent shows have attracted thousands of fans in China. A Chinese TV talent programme has been banned by the state's broadcasting watchdog for being vulgar".

The First Heartthrob, a Pop Idol-style competition, was accused of catering to "the low-grade interests of a minority" and cancelled with immediate effect.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (Sarft) added that the show lacked social responsibility.

Interesting.

BBC: Quest to become 'UK's first female imam'

I know I'm averaging like three posts a day. Shut up. This is what the blog is for.

Quest to become 'UK's first female imam'

(etc...)

Salma Qureshi, a computer programmer and British Muslim, tells the BBC of her ambition to become one of the UK's first female imams.

Like many young women in their thirties, computer programmer Salma likes shopping, aerobics and yoga. But her personal mission to be a religious leader poses one of the biggest challenges to the Muslim world today.

"I'm quite religious but at the same time I'm quite a liberal person myself," she says.

"What I'm doing at the moment is something new. Until now there hasn't been a female imam - the imams have always been men.

"They never think about females as imams, and what I'm about to do is very challenging."

Passing on Knowledge

Taught by her father, Ms Qureshi had read the Koran by the age of seven. She said that when she was younger, she could not "differentiate what was religion and what was culture," and that she thought Islam imposed "too many restrictions" on women.

"It's only afterwards I realised that this is all cultural - religion doesn't really stop women doing anything," she added.

"In fact women can do anything that they want providing it doesn't go against the religion."

(etc...)

Navid Akhtar, a commentator on Britain's Muslim community, explained that because the vast majority of the community is very traditional and has a "quite basic" understanding of Islam, it is "very patriarchal, very tribal" and expects women simply to pray at home.

"So the idea that a woman trains to become an imam or wants to play quite a leading role in the running of a mosque would be a real shock," he said. "They would see it as a real challenge to their established power base."

Ms Qureshi said that both her husband and brother had reacted by saying "How can a woman be an imam?" when she had told them of her plans.

But she pointed out that Ayesha, wife of the Prophet, had carried out teaching and prayers, "passing on Islamic knowledge and teaching". "So why can't it be done now?" she added.

She also stressed she felt there was a need for this, "because at the moment we don't have leadership amongst women, there's just male imams".

(etc...)

"I was really surprised that I had younger girls coming up to me, teenagers and younger girls, and they said to me 'You are actually breaking the ice. There's a gap there between male and female and you're trying to fill that up'."

I think it's great. I think it's a good idea for there to be female imams.

For starters, some muslim women might find it easier to talk and get advice from a female imam. They might also feel more comfortable in all-female mosques.

Yes, I know we live in a modern world where everything is unisex and co-ed, but some people are just more comfortable being around women. I don't mean that they have to never ever come in contact with men, but it's just more comfortable, and I know how they feel.

Will there be an uproar? Almost certainly.

Can it be done here? Probably not.

Is this a good idea? I still stand by it. Yes.

Is it against Islam? No. Women can be imams, but they can only be imams to other women and boys who are not "of age" yet. Otherwise, it's not against the Islamic religion. It may, however, be against the Arabic culture which is what most people take to be Islamic law, but that's a whole nother story for another day.

Awesome Cakes

So didi just found me this awesome cake maker lady who calls herself ladygloom. Once I had a look at the photos of her cakes, I knew I had to have her make mine for my BLACK AND WHITE party. I think the conversation with didi went something like this:

[12:10] hassi:omg didi i love her

[12:11] hassi:she's perfect

[12:11] didism: le f*cktardation - Paramore:yes i know...especially for you!!

[12:11] hassi:it's like a whole new world of cakes

[12:12] didism: le f*cktardation - Paramore:the goth and emo world
[12:12] didism: le f*cktardation - Paramore:she'll do horror cakes no worries

[12:12] didism: le f*cktardation - Paramore:none of this pretty frilly shit

[12:13] hassi:she's damn good... there's a dior gaucho bag cake

[12:13] hassi:the tengks will love that

[12:15] didism: le f*cktardation - Paramore:that's what i said...

[12:15] didism: le f*cktardation - Paramore:tengks

Do ignore the derogatory remarks towards people you (hopefully) don't know or care about.

So here are some her cakes that I love. And I'm only showing five because I can't be arsed to upload more. Very tedious, okay. There's a lot of her stuff that I like okay. You check it out yourself at http://www.flickr.com/photos/theladygloom okay?

Surreal Skull Cake

Autobots Logo

Rocky Horror Picture Show Lips

Halloween Ginger Massacre

Nightmare Before Christmas

She also does pretty, frilly things really well but they're not nearly as interesting. HA!

BBC: Shock at archbishop condom claim

From the BBC:

Shock at archbishop condom claim

The Catholic Church formally opposes any use of condoms. The head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique has told the BBC he believes some European-made condoms are infected with HIV deliberately.

Maputo Archbishop Francisco Chimoio claimed some anti-retroviral drugs were also infected "in order to finish quickly the African people". The Catholic Church formally opposes any use of condoms, advising fidelity within marriage or sexual abstinence.

(etc...)

Archbishop Chimoio told our reporter that abstention, not condoms, was the best way to fight HIV/Aids. Condoms are one of the best manners of getting protection
against catching Aids.

Aids activist Gabe Judas

"Condoms are not sure because I know that there are two countries in Europe, they are making condoms with the virus on purpose," he alleged, refusing to name the countries.

"They want to finish with the African people. This is the programme. They want to colonise until up to now. If we are not careful we will finish in one century's time."

Aids activists in the country have been shocked by the archbishop's comments.

(etc...)

Fun.

NST: It never pays to compare wives

From NST:

It never pays to compare wives

JOHOR BARU: Hell hath no fury like a first wife scorned, as an Indonesian man found out when he needed 11 stitches to reattach his almost severed penis.

The incident took place at a kongsi in Taman Pulai Flora in Kangkar Pulai here, when the 43-year-old husband and his 48-year-old first wife were chatting in bed on Saturday night.

For reasons only known to him, the man was comparing his wife's sexual prowess to that of his newly-wed second wife who is in her 30's.

It is understood that the first wife was upset with such comparisons. She got out of bed, took a knife and attempted to chop off his penis.

Fortunately for the husband, she only managed to partially cut the man's member. In shock and pain, the Indonesian contractor managed to put on his pants, mounted his motorcycle and rode to Sultanah Aminah Hospital here.

Doctors managed to reattach his penis and discharged him. He later lodged a police report at the Kangkar Pulai police station.

etc.

Jackass. I wonder if he's infertile now. That would make him eligible for the Darwin Awards.

Sneak Preview: Cake

Okay, posting through my email just seems to make more sense now. At least it won't be so obvious to my colleagues that I'm blogging.

Anyway, here's a sneak preview of my upcoming black and white party. That's right. Nov 3, 2007. You heard it here first. More sneak previews to come.
This is what I want my cake to (roughly) look like. I'm getting the help of dave to order me a goth barbie doll cake in monochrome.
Plus more ;)

First email blogpost

Just testing this email to post feature. Quite cool, really. Look, eBay sent me a love letter.

This is for me.

Like I said in the description, if you don't know who I am, then this blog isn't for you. Stop reading now and leave.

For all else, welcome. I'm bored (as you know). I surf the net a lot (as you know). As such, instead of bugging you with funny links, I will from now on just start posting here.

Don't mind me. I'm just passing through.