Mount Nyiragongo & Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier

A plume of ash rises from the volcano in southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier. Meteorologists in Iceland said eruptions from the volcano were weakening and the ash was no longer rising to a height where it would endanger large commercial aircrafts. - APpix - 20 April, 2010



Smoke rises off of churning magma in the lava lake of Mount Nyiragongo, one of Africa's most active volcanos, outside Goma, Congo. Mount Nyiragongo is the ultimate symbol of death in Goma, the lakeside city it shadows and has overrun several times. - APpix - 25 April, 2010

Higher car loan rates

I am paying for 3.5 % for a nine year loan for my myvi. I am glad I bought it early because the interest went up to 4%. that's a lot of money. it means you will pay RM 20 more than me every month if you go for more than 5 years term loan and Rm 8 more than me for a five years term loan. Now i love my Myvi.RM 20X12X9=RM 2150 more out of your pocket. for you information, I am paying almost RM 15000 for the interest and you might be paying almost rm18000 for the interest for a brand new MYVI for nine year term loan.

The news is attached below:

PETALING JAYA: Interest rates on car loans have increased by an average of 0.25 percentage point for national cars and 0.7 percentage point for non-national makes since the overnight policy rate — the benchmark interest rate which determines banks’ lending rates — was revised upwards by 25 basis points to 2.25% in early March.

Proton and Perodua car loan rates had been adjusted to 3.75% for loan tenures of five years and below, 3.9% for six to seven years and 4% for eight to nine-year loans, according to major car dealers. Previously, they ranged from 3.5% to 3.75%.

With the new rates, for example, a person looking to purchase a RM40,000 Perodua car with a five-year loan tenure (at the new rate of 3.75% per annum) will have to pay RM791, or RM8 more, per month.

This goes up to about RM20 more a month for a longer-term loans.

As for new non-national makes, a dealer with Kah Motor Co Sdn Bhd which distributes Honda cars, said hire-purchase rates for new non-national cars had been raised to 3.25% for loan tenures of five years and below, 3.4% for six to seven years and 3.5% for eight to nine-year loans.

Before, hire-purchase interest rates were in the range of 2.4% to 2.8%, he said.

star online

9 Things You Can Do to Reduce Global Warming

We had our Earth Day on the 22nd April 2010 and by now I am very sure all the hype about the Earth day and the Earth hour fully gone for certain people. The Earth has given us everything that we needed and we have reached the extend that we took more than we needed from our Earth. It is the time for us to give back the Earth our love and care.

We can help to reduce the demand for fossil fuels, which in turn reduces global warming, by using energy more wisely.

Here are 9 simple actions you can take to help reduce global warming.

1. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

2. Use Less Air Conditioning

3. Change a Light Bulb
replace regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs

4. Drive Less and Drive Smart
Less driving means fewer emissions
make sure your car is running efficiently.
keeping your tires properly inflated can improve your gas mileage by > 3 percent

5. Buy Energy-Efficient Products
Avoid products that come with excess packaging

6. Use Less Hot Water
Set your water heater at 120 degrees to save energy
Buy low-flow showerheads

7. Use the "Off" Switch
Save electricity and reduce global warming by turning off lights when you leave a room
It's also a good idea to turn off the water when you're not using it

8. Plant a Tree
If you have the means to plant a tree, start digging. During photosynthesis, trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. They are an integral part of the natural atmospheric exchange cycle here on Earth, but there are too few of them to fully counter the increases in carbon dioxide caused by automobile traffic, manufacturing and other human activities. A single tree will absorb approximately one ton of carbon dioxide during its lifetime.

9. Encourage Others to Conserve
Share information about recycling and energy conservation with your friends.

These 9 steps will take you a long way toward reducing your energy use and your monthly budget. And less energy use means less dependence on the fossil fuels that create greenhouse gases and contribute to global warming.

Think about the Earth...

Daybreakers (2010)

What can I say about the movie? The movie is really awesome. It is a vampire movie but the storyline is so superb and even a non vampire movie fan like me can enjoy every moment of the movie. The movie is fantastic and i even have a direct link for you so that you can download the movie.

my rating: 9/10

more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433362/




download link(702mb):
http://theta.videofriender.com/videos/0049/0483/c58f9dbb5ab2a34c47119db48132f5526808eb2a.avi

Iron Man 2 Global Release Dates.

Finally the movie Iron Man will be release in Malaysia on the 30 th April 2010. We get to see it first than US peoples do. I cant wait for the movie.

United States-7 May 10
Hong Kong-30 Apr 10
India-30 Apr 10
Korea-29 Apr 10
Singapore-30 Apr 10
Malaysia-30 Apr 10
United Kingdom-30 Apr 10

What's coming up at a cineplex near you.

* The Last Airbender [Release Date: 2-July-2010]
* Ip Man 2 [Release Date: 29-Apr-2010]
* Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time [Release Date: 9-May-2010]
* Toy Story 3 [Release Date: 9-May-2010]
* The Karate Kid [Release Date: 10-Jun-2010]
* Resident Evil: Afterlife [Release Date: 16-Sep-2010]
* Tron [Release Date: 16-Dec-2010]

Teachers in a trap

educate@thestar.com.my

Just earlier this month, it was reported that teachers were considering holding a demonstration to highlight their plight of being laden with “irrelevant work”.

‘’We are mostly doing clerical work in schools and among our duties include collecting irrelevant data, attending courses, organising programmes and doing correspondence work.

In a survey carried out by the NUTP in 2005, it was reported that almost seven out of 10 teachers say that they are under stress.

“Aside from marking students’ essays and homework, we have to fill out their personal records, health records and various assessment reports,” says secondary school teacher Sharon*.

Teachers have to balance the difficult task of managing parents’ expectations for a string of A’s and instilling a love for learning in their students.

“We have to coordinate sports days, graduation days, camps, competitions — all of which are taxing.

“I barely have time to prepare my lesson plans at the moment.

“At the very least, I think that teachers should be given roles that are relevant to their interests and expertise; that way, they can focus on being good at a particular area for the benefit of their students.”

“Parents say we are not pushing their children hard enough academically,” she says.

“I’ve even had complaints from parents that I’m not doling out enough homework!”

“In reality, I have to force them to mug for examinations so that they have a string of A’s to show their parents.”

He says that parents are too quick to blame teachers.“Some students just do not respond to reasoning, no matter how hard you try.

“I think what makes them bold is knowing that they’ll have their parents defending their actions,” he says.

Internet disruption to go on until May 2

KUALA LUMPUR: Repairs to a fault in the submarine cable network linking Malaysia, Europe and the United States are expected to cause disruptions in nationwide Internet services from today until May 2.

Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) said it was taking active steps to minimise disruptions by having additional links on other routes and coordinating with other international carriers to provide additional bandwidth for its customers.

“Despite these initiatives, customers using Internet services nationwide may experience some degree of service degradation, such as slow browsing while accessing international websites.

Vatican to finance adult stem cell research

ROME: The Vatican is pushing for research of adult stem cells as an alternative to the use of embryonic stem cells, which the Catholic Church opposes because it maintains that the destruction of the embryo amounts to the killing of human life.

The church is opposed to embryonic stem cell research because it involves the destruction of embryos, but it supports the use of adult stem cells, which are found in the bodies of all humans.

Human embryonic stem cells are produced from surplus embryos of in vitro fertilization procedures used to help infertile women get pregnant.

Both are prized for their ability to morph into other kinds of cells, offering the possibility of replacing tissue damaged by ailments such as Parkinson's disease.

But adult cells are thought to be less versatile than embryonic ones, and scientists have had more trouble growing adult stem cells in the laboratory than embryonic cells.

Still, adult stem cells could be easier to use if they are taken from patients themselves, because the replacement tissue would have less chance of being rejected.

Obama has lifted restrictions, imposed by his predecessor President George W. Bush, on federal funding of research using human embryonic stem cells.

He called intestinal stem cells "a very exciting area of basic research" but said therapeutic uses are only speculative at this point.

"We want to harvest them, we want to isolate them, we want to make them grow outside our body," and transform them into cells of any kind, said Alessio Fasano, the scientist leading the project and the director of the University of Maryland's Center for Celiac Research.

"If we reach that phase, if we are able to achieve that goal, then our next step is to eventually move to clinical application," Fasano told the AP.

Intestinal stem cells have certain features that make them appealing for this kind of research, Fasano said.

They are very active cells - the intestine replenishes all its cells every few days - and they are intrinsically flexible - already programmed to generate all the various kinds of cells such as mucus cells or epithelial cells present in the highly complex organ- AP

80% of children are not designed to jog: M’sian Physiotherapy Assoc

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Physiotherapy Association is urging parents and teachers to discourage children from jogging as 80% of them have bone structures that are not suited for it and risk suffering significant injuries.

“All children are not designed to run. It is important to screen them for any physical conditions that might cause injuries,” said the association's president Dr Balwant Singh Bains.

While most injuries were not disabling, he said they caused strain and children’s complaints of pain usually fell on deaf ears.

“For adults, jogging is the first thing that comes to mind when a doctor recommends exercise,” he said, adding, however, that aging could have left weak points in their bodies.

He advised people to meet a physiotherapist and be screened to identify the problems which could be triggered by jogging.

Alternatives included swimming, cycling and other low impact activities such as step exercises, Dr Balwant Singh added.

He also said physiotherapists could be posted to schools to open new avenues for the profession.

AIDS vaccine researcher hopeful

JOHANNESBURG: A leader in the search for a vaccine against HIV, which causes AIDS, said that recent advances have given scientists new reason for hope.

Dr. Alan Bernstein, executive director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, cited the world's first successful test of an experimental AIDS vaccine.

In September, researchers said the vaccine protected one in three people from getting HIV in a large study in Thailand."A vaccine is possible, and we have the scientific tools now to turn that possibility into a reality."

Scientists must now try to improve the vaccine so that it protects more than a third of the people who get it, and lasts for more than the six to 12 months it now appears to be effective.

A vaccine "is the most effective public health measure we've come up with," Bernstein said. - AP

Strong earthquake rattles eastern Indonesia island

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 has struck Indonesia's North Maluku province.There have been no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning has been issued.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Completing Your Assignments

1. Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a well-lighted place.
2. Read over the assignment carefully, to make certain you understand it.
3. Walk down to the mamak shop and buy some coffee to help you concentrate.
4. On the way back, stop and visit with your classmate. If your friend hasn't started the paper yet either, you can both walk again to the mamak shop and grab something to eat.
5. When you get back to your room, sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well-lighted place again.
6. Read over the assignment again to make absolutely certain you understand it.
7. If you haven't sent a sms to that cute guy or girl that you met recently, you'd better sms now and get it out of the way so you can concentrate.
8. Listen to your favorite song with your portable mp3 player.
9. As soon as it's over you are going to start that paper.
10. Listen to the other songs in your playlist.
11. Once finished, phone your friend on the other floor.
12. Ask if he's started writing yet. Talk bad about your teacher, the course, the college, and the world at large.
13. Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well-lighted place again.
14. Read over the assignment again
15. Check the news listings online to make sure you aren't missing something truly worthwhile. Anything about football is truly worthwhile.
16. Phone your friend on the third floor to check whether he knows about the football news. Discuss the finer details of the goal scored.
17. Sit down and do some serious thinking about your plans for the future.
18. Open your window and check to see if there are any mysterious strangers lurking downstairs.
19. Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well-lighted place again.
20. Read over the assignment one more time, just for the heck of it.
21. Lie face down on the bed and scream at the top of your lungs.
22. Leap up and start writing the paper.
23. Complete the paper.
24. Complain to everyone that you didn't get any sleep because you had to write the paper.

The Losers (English)

I watched this movie yesterday without having any idea about the movie. But this movie is no loser at all. It is entertaining and worth to be watched because of its good storyline and acting. The action sequence and graphic is moderately poor but if you are looking for action and comical humor, this is the movie. By the way, it is a based on comic characters by DC comics (batman, superman etc should ring your mind).Go and watch it.

My rating: 7/10

more detail: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480255/