Food to avoid for a happy tummy

For people who want to lose weight fast have to look out for the below listed food for the sack of your tummy! With the help of some Weight Loss Tips and by avoiding the below foods, I'm sure you will be able to have a fast weight loss.

• Dairy - can be hard to digest mainly because of the naturally occurring sugar it contains - lactose.
  
• Spicy food - something you want to avoid if you’re experiencing vomiting and diarrhea. They have no effect on some people, but cause problems for others.
  
• Tomato sauce and citrus fruits - such as lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruits, are acidic and can cause digestive problems. Even carbonated beverages are acidic.
  
• Avoid high-fat foods - like butter, ice cream, and cheese should already be limited in your diet and will otherwise slow down your weight loss.
• Deep fried foods - can either lead to diarrhea or causing you to feel full and bloated.
  
• Processed foods - should be avoided if you are feeling constipated because they lack fiber, which helps regulate bowel movements. Often contain preservatives and artificial coloring, and people with allergies or sensitivities to these additives will feel their effects during digestive problems.
• Artificial sweeteners - may upset your tummy.
  
• Alcoholic drinks - nutritionally speaking, alcohol itself has no nutrients and will also give you extra “unwanted” calories and slow down your weight loss. Alcohol is toxic to the stomach and drinking too much can cause a variety of health problems.
  
• Caffeine - is making contents move more quickly through your system, and excessive amounts can give anyone diarrhea. Remember that tea, soda, and chocolate are other sources of caffeine, and should be put on hold until tummy troubles go away.
• Sweet or salty foods - can be hard to digest - small amounts can be included in a healthy diet. Chocolate, a sweet-tooth favorite, can cause digestive problems including heartburn.
  

Teen admits to having four abortions

What is going on with the teenagers? Four abortions for a 14-year-old girl? It is ridiculous! Whom to be blamed for the act? Parents or the society? Hubby and I had put much effort in order to get pregnant, however the little girl already had four abortion! I can't imagine how bad the society had become. I must put extra effort on my coming daughter!!!

SEPANG: A 14-year-girl who gave birth to a stillborn at home has ad­­mitted to having had four abortions.

The teenager, who lives with her family in a shop house at Pulau Meranti here, was found by her parents on Monday night looking pale. They were shocked to see her bleeding profusely and informed a relative, who lodged a police report.

When the police arrived, they found a stillborn baby in a yellow plastic bag in the girl’s room. The girl then admitted that she had given birth to the baby. She also admitted to have had aborted four previous pregnancies.

Sepang OCPD Supt Imran Abdul Rahman confirmed that police were investigating the matter.

Eating out healthily

Eating out usually means that we have little control over how the food is prepared or how large the portion is. Foods eaten out tend to be higher in fat. I have no idea whether protein pudding is one of them. But I will share with you general tips on eating out healthily.

• If you're unsure as to what something is, or what it contains - ask! If the waiter/waitress doesn't know, then the chef will.
  
• Think ahead, if you know you're eating out later and it could be a lavish affair, choose wisely earlier in the day to keep calories, fat, sugar and salt intakes under control.
• Don't eat an extra course just to be polite.
• Only order a sweet after the main course, and only if still hungry. Opt for sorbets, or fruit dishes to balance out a heavy main course.
• Think about sharing a course with a companion if the portions look large.
• Speak up about how you'd like a dish prepared eg ask for no mayonnaise, dressing on the side.
• You're more likely to overeat at an 'all you can eat' style buffet.
• Choose side orders of salad or vegetables to fill up on.
• Cut off any visible fat from meat to keep saturated fat intake down.
• Look out for smaller portions ie a main meal option as a starter size.
• Opt for dishes which are grilled, baked, steamed, poached or cooked in own juice rather than fried.
• Check the menu for dressings on salads and ask for it to be served separately. An otherwise healthy and nutritious salad could be drowned in a high fat sauce, bumping up its calorie content.
• Avoid cheese, cream or butter-based sauces.
• If you're a cheese lover, think about sharing the cheese board option to keep saturated fat, salt and calorie intakes in check.

The Healthy Living Pyramid

Since I'm pregnant, I will put more effort on my nutrition intake. And I have found the healthy living pyramid. Thus I don't have to take protien bars.

The Healthy Living Pyramid (HLP) was developed to provide a simple guide to planning the types of foods we should eat and in what proportions different foods should be consumed. The pyramid represents food from the core food groups only. That is, it shows meat, fish, chicken, eggs, nuts, bread, cereals, vegetables, legumes, fruit, milk, etc. We all know though that during meals we do not eat core food groups alone - we combine several of them together to create a meal. For example, we mix meat with vegetables to make a stew or casserole, eggs with milk and sugar to make custard or flour with oil, cheese, vegetables and meat to make a pizza. Although the pyramid can’t show all possible food combination, mixing foods and adding herbs and spices to create appealing flavors can help us enjoy foods in the variety needed whilst keeping to the proportions outlined in the Pyramid.

The Healthy Living Pyramid encourages food variety and a diet of minimum fat, adequate fibre, limited salt and sufficient water that is balanced with physical activity. The ‘Move More' base of the Pyramid shows moving legs to remind us that physical activity is an essential part of the energy balance equation that should be combined with healthy eating.

He gets paid to sleep on the job

Wow, who does not want a job like this? Just sleeping alone can earn you a living! I always sleeping at home nowadays, without income. Why not hire me to sleep? Then I could have earn some money while pregnant! Who does not want money? I want money and I need a lot of money!

HE has the best excuse to sleep on the job.

Lee Jia, 27, earns 10,000 renminbi (RM5,000) a month just to test the comfort level at hotel rooms.

Besides sleeping, he checks out the scent of the rooms, the cleanliness, the brand of toiletries and the type of TV programmes available.

Sin Chew Daily quoted Lee, a Chinese national, as saying that his job was more than just sleeping in hotel rooms and that it could get stressful at times.

His job, he said, required him to observe well his surroundings.

Lee, who loves traveling, said he would then write a review of the hotel and its facilities on his blog.

“You need to be highly focused and articulate to observe every detail in order to produce a comprehensive report,” he said.

Day-dreaming does not help, right? Okay, I will have to check out dealfun.com complaints now and stop my day-dream.

Straight Talk

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I love the idea that I feel richer with Straight Talk because I cut my cell phone bill in half. You have to be crazy to be on a contract these days when you can get everything you need without one. Hook, line and sinker! You can use Android on Straight Talk to Call a friend too!

Let us watch one of some real Straight Talk customers says.

Imagine the amount of money you could save switching to Straight Talk. I would have buy more baby stuff for my coming baby with the extra money I saved! My baby will definitely have more nice cloths! Six months to go before my precious little one comes to the world!

Free consultation from a injury lawyer

The Law Offices have helped many people who have been injured in auto accidents and motorcycle accidents. David W. Barlow, a Honolulu Injury Lawyer, is the owner. They have obtained compensation for people injured in pedestrian accidents and moped accidents. Do call them for a free consultation.

It's enjoyable while it's suffering

I seldom online nowadays. I will be backed at home after lunch everyday and start sticking my eyes to the TV for Taiwan dramas. It is enjoyable to chase one episode after another, but also suffer from watching too much TV, making myself tired!

Anyway, as what we all knew, it is no good to face computer for long as it will create a lot of radiation that may affect health, thus hubby refrained me from getting my computer on for long. I have no choice but to obey. I am a good girl! God will bless a good girl!

I have come across a sentence that worth a read - “Probably the worst myth about bankruptcy is that you need to be flat broke before you should file,” says Sacramento bankruptcy attorney Gerald B. Glazer. Interesting huh?

What causes cancer?

My mom died of cancer, thus the word Cancer means a lot to me. I am sensitive towards this word!

Cancer is essentially a disease of the cells, where individual cells become abnormal and multiply out of control. Cancer can occur in any of the cells in the body, as everything in our body, including our organs, bones, muscles, skin and blood, is made up of millions of tiny cells.

If cancer occurs in the cells of the skin, then the person has skin cancer; if it is in the cells of the breast, then it is breast cancer.

Cancer starts from the genes of one abnormal cell. In a normal cell, there are genes that control how the cell divides and multiplies – a cell becomes abnormal if those genes are damaged or mutated. This causes the cell to start multiplying out of control, to form a cancerous (or malignant) tumour. This tumour may form a lump or a patch of cells that can be seen on a scan.

Every person has a risk of developing cancer, simply because we are made up of cells. There is nothing that can completely prevent cancers from developing because nature cannot be controlled.

However, there are certain biological, environmental and lifestyle risk factors that increase the likelihood of cell mutations. These could range from cigarette smoke and asbestos, to certain viruses.

If you reduce these risk factors in your life, you would contribute towards dramatically diminishing the chances of getting cancer. In other words, don’t give your cells a chance to go bad!

Cancer triggers

We all know that smoking leads to lung cancer. This is because cigarettes and cigarette smoke contain cancer-causing substances that are carcinogenic, like benzenes or ammonia. These carcinogens, which turn cells cancerous, are one of the main causes of cancer.

The longer the duration, and the greater the amount of carcinogens that you are exposed to, the greater your risk of developing cancer. The most commonly known carcinogens are tobacco smoke (causes cancer of the lung, mouth, throat, oesophagus, bladder and pancreas), asbestos (causes mesothelioma), and radiation from UV rays or radioactive materials.

Certain viruses and bacteria can also lead to cancer. This doesn’t mean that you can “catch” a cancer the same way you catch a viral influenza. What happens is that the virus or the bacteria causes cell mutations that lead to cancer.

The hepatitis B and C viruses can increase the risk of liver cancer, while the human papillomavirus (HPV) can lead to abnormalities in the cervical and genital cells that may become cancerous after several years.

There are vaccinations for hepatitis B and HPV, so that can protect yourself from these infections. Furthermore, women should have regular Pap smears to pick up any possible HPV infection and treat it early.

One type of bacteria known to play a role in cancer is Helicobacter pylori, which infects the stomach lining and eventually leads to inflammation and increased risk of cancer. H. pylori infection can be treated with antibiotics.

Lifestyle factors

Some risk factors for cancer are beyond our control. For instance, age increases the likelihood of cancer, but we cannot stop the hands of time from advancing. You are more likely to develop cancer the older you get, because the mutations in the cells take a long time to develop and turn into cancerous cells.

When you are older, your body’s immune system is also weaker and less able to resist the development of abnormal cells or repair them. This is the same reason that certain types of cancer are more likely in people with weakened immune systems, like organ transplant patients who take immunosuppressive medications, people living with HIV and AIDS, or those who have disorders that affect their immunity.

There has been a lot of debate in recent years about whether your diet and physical activity has an impact on cancer development. Increasingly, scientists are starting to say “yes”, as research shows that certain foods have cancer-protective properties, while others can increase the risk of cancer.

Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that strengthen the body’s immune system and protect it from damage caused by age, the food we eat, and environmental factors. All the different-coloured fruits and vegetables, such as green broccoli, orange carrots, red cabbage, blueberries and purple eggplant, contain unique compounds that may protect against cancer.

Eating at least five servings of colourful fruits and vegetables every day is the easiest form of defence against cancer and keeps the body generally healthy.

Eating too much of high-fat foods is thought to contribute to the risk of cancer, because it is most likely to cause obesity. Along with lack of physical activity and overindulgence in alcohol, obesity has a strong link with certain types of cancers, such as colorectal cancer.

Some of my patients have read emails or heard claims that food additives and artificial sweeteners are carcinogenic. These claims can cause a lot of unnecessary fear in people. All ingredients in our food products are regulated by the Health Ministry, and these products would not be approved if they were shown to cause cancer.

If you are wary, you can reduce your intake of artificial sweeteners and processed foods, so that you consume mostly natural ingredients. However, there is no need to be paranoid, as it would take huge amounts of any substance to cause serious harm – and it is rarely possible for a person to consume so much of any product or ingredient.

Born with cancer?

Some of my patients have asked me whether they have “cancer genes”, because many of their close family members, like their mother, sisters, and aunts, have developed cancer.

Some people may be born with a genetic mutation in their cells that makes them “genetically predisposed” to developing cancer. However, it doesn’t mean that they will definitely get cancer, just that they are at higher risk because they already have one of several mutations needed for cancer to develop.

One instance of genetic predisposition is the BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer genes, where women who carry one of these genes may be at higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who do not have the gene. These genes can be identified through genetic testing.

However, all this talk about genetic predisposition can be misleading. Some women think that just because they have the genes, they are doomed to cancer. Other women think that just because they do not have the genes, they will not get cancer, so they do not have to do breast self-examination or go for regular medical checkups.

Let me use BRCA as an example again. Less than 5% of all breast cancer is due to the mutated BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene – which means at least 95% of breast cancer out there is caused by a multitude of other factors, some of which I have described above.

That is the most important take-home message for cancer prevention – there is not one single cause for cancer, but a combination of risk factors and triggers. There are many things that have to happen before cancer can develop – for instance, whether you have the genetic make-up, have been exposed to carcinogens, how you eat and exercise, and the general state of your health, all of which will have to cause several genetic mutations before cancer develops.

The best advice I can give women is to live healthy, think positively, and always be in control by managing your health. By reducing all of the risk factors listed above, you are giving your body a fighting chance to keep cancer at bay.

Datuk Dr Nor Ashikin Mokhtar is a consultant obstetrician & gynaecologist (FRCOG, UK). For further information, visit www.primanora.com. The information provided is for educational and communication purposes only and it should not be construed as personal medical advice. Information published in this article is not intended to replace, supplant or augment a consultation with a health professional regarding the reader’s own medical care. The Star does not give any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to the content appearing in this column. The Star disclaims all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.

Japan back in recession

The recent earthquake and tsunami in March has sent Japan back in recession. The below is a news I stumble in during my online search for Tile Floor. It was expected to happened after the turmoil, I pray for Japan in their speeding recovery.

Japan's economy, the world's third largest, has slid back into recession after the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami in March.

Gross domestic product shrank 0.9% in the first three months of the year, the Cabinet office said, giving an annualised rate of contraction of 3.7%.

Analysts say consumption and exports were worst hit.

Japan's economy has now contracted for two quarters in a row, the generally accepted definition of a recession.

Japan sank into a recession during the global financial crisis, but had emerged from it in 2009.

The contraction in the first three months of this year was bigger than expected, with most analysts expecting the annualised rate would show a contraction of about 2%.

"Japan's economy is expected to remain weak for the time being," said Japanese Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano on Thursday.

However, Mr Yosano said that supply constraints were easing and reconstruction demand was likely to spur growth.

"The economy has the strength to bounce back," Mr Yosano said.

Too many men 'unconcerned' about weight health risks

Too many men are failing to recognize the health risks of being overweight, according to Men's Health Forum chief executive Peter Baker.

He says that by not acting to tackle the problem, the NHS is making "a rod for its own back".

Women face a lot of cultural pressure to be slim. This is largely not because of health concerns and can sometimes have quite tragic consequences.

It does mean though, that many women often have a good understanding of the factors that affect their weight.

The majority of men, on the other hand, appear not to be as bothered about their weight as they maybe should be. Neither are health services.

A significantly greater proportion of men are overweight or obese (66% of men compared with 57% of women).

Too many men still die too young - 22% of men in England and Wales die before they reach 64 compared to 13% of women.

Overweight and obesity are a major factor in this excess burden of male death.

Two thirds of men are overweight or obese - the obesity rate alone could rise to 60% by 2050.

Overweight men tend to be "apple-shaped", overweight women "pear-shaped". For complex physiological and biological reasons, this extra fat around the middle causes much greater harm.

Yet many men seem unconcerned about their weight.

Their attitude is that weight is a "women's issue".

This is a cultural thing. Women face a lot more body image pressure than men, although that is starting to affect some young men too.

But generally it appears men are less aware of the connection between excess weight and poorer health.

Being overweight increases the risks of heart disease and stroke - the biggest killers of men.

It is also an important risk factor for several cancers.

Men are 70% more likely than women to die from cancers common to both sexes and 60% more likely to get such a cancer.

For a better life and a better health, not only women but men also need to take in more diet foods.

Japan nuclear agency raises threat level

For Japan's nuclear leakage, the agency raises the level from 5 to 7, 7 is the highest possible level and is on par with Chernobyl. Japan's government has called for further evacuations.

This raised the public concern again for the possible radiation transport by air to nearby country. We had done canceling our trip to Korea as the result of this! I am now focusing on my website development instead.

Tokyo (CNN) -- Japanese authorities Tuesday "provisionally" declared the country's nuclear accident a level-7 event on the international scale for nuclear disasters -- the highest level -- putting it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency announced the new level Tuesday morning. It had previously been at 5.

Regulators have determined the amount of radioactive iodine released by the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was at least 15 times the volume needed to reach the top of the International Nuclear Event Scale, the agency said. That figure is still about 10 percent of the amount released at Chernobyl, they said.

The amount of radioactive Cesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years, is about one-seventh the amount released at Chernobyl, according to the agency.

Hackers hunt prey on smartphones, Facebook

This news is published in msn.com:

Hackers are following prey onto smartphones and social networking hotspots, according to reports released Tuesday by a pair of computer security firms.

Cyber criminals are also ramping up the sophistication and frequency of attacks on business and government networks, one of the companies, Symantec, said in the latest volume of its Internet Security Threat Report.

Symantec depicted a "massive" volume of more than 286 new computer threats on the Internet last year, continued growth in attacks at online social networks and "a notable shift in focus" by hackers to mobile devices.

"The major mobile platforms are finally becoming ubiquitous enough to garner the attention of attackers," Symantec said in its findings.

In March, smartphones running on Google-backed Android software were the target of the largest attack ever on the devices, noted a PandaLabs report focused on the first three months of this year.

"This assault was launched from malicious applications on Android Market, the official app store for the operating system," PandaLabs said.

Within a four-day span, seemingly legitimate Android smartphone applications rigged with malicious "Trojan" computer code were downloaded more than 50,000 times, according to PandaLabs.

"The Trojan steals personal information from cellphones, and downloads and installs other apps without the user's knowledge," the computer security firm said.

"Google managed to rid its store of all malicious apps, and several days later removed them from users' phones."

The Symantec report indicated that cyber crooks were also infiltrating news-feed capabilities at popular social networking services to "mass-distribute" attacks.

Such tactics typically involve getting into one person's account at a social network and then sending others links to websites booby-trapped with malicious computer code.

"Social network platforms continue to grow in popularity and this popularity has, not surprisingly, attracted a large volume of malware," Symantec said.

PandaLabs gave an example of a 23-year-old California man facing sentencing after pleading guilty to using information found on Facebook to hack email accounts to find compromising messages for blackmail.

Even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg saw his fan page at the social networking website hacked this year, the security firm noted.

PandaLabs researchers logged an average of 73,190 new snippets of malicious computer code daily during the first three months of this year in what was said to be a 26 percent jump from the same period in 2010.

Hackers showed a strong predeliction for a kind of malicious code used to mine bank account data and, ultimately, get into people's accounts, the computer security firm indicated.

China, Thailand and Taiwan had the highest rates of infection, with nearly 70 percent of the computers in those countries "riddled with malware," according to PandaLabs.

Many attacks on company or government computer networks involved hackers researching key employees and then duping them or colleagues into enabling access to protected networks, Symantec's report showed.

Researchers warned that onslaughts by "hacktivists" such as the group "Anonymous" and others with seeming political goals could signal a dangerous cyber arms race.

"Stuxnet and Hydraq, two of the most visible cyber-events of 2010, represented true incidents of cyberwarfare and have fundamentally changed the threat landscape," said Symantec Security Technology and Response senior vice president Stephen Trilling.

"The nature of the threats has expanded from targeting individual bank accounts to targeting the information and physical infrastructure of nation states."

Is email marketing service the cause of the hack?

Traditional chinese medicine

I have been eating traditional chinese medicine for more than a month, the result is quite significant. My face is now growing rosy pink. And overall, I am more energetic compared to previous days when I am always fatigue.

I was not confident with traditional chinese medicine initially, and from the beginning of the intake of traditional chinese medicine, I am extremely fatigue for a whole week. However, I am getting better day by day.

Via the search engine marketing, I have found some information about traditional chinese medicine:

Traditional Chinese medicines are made from plants and herbs, and occasionally from organ meats or other substances. Medicinals are typically constructed from a number of materials designed - according to its theory - to stimulate certain organ systems or to balance out the undesired aspects of other materials used. These are often provided in dried form to be steeped into a tea, though practitioners may suggest them as dietary changes instead - adding certain organ meats or herbs to meals, for instance - or they may be powdered and used in pill form. There are roughly 13,000 medicinals used in China and over 100,000 medicinal recipes recorded in the ancient literature. Some conceptions of the theory believe that toxicity is needed to fight pathogens in the body, similar to homeopathy, so chemicals considered to be toxic are used in some preparations. Further, ingredients may have different names in different locales or in historical texts, and different preparations may have similar names for the same reason, which creates inconsistencies and confusion in the creation of medicinals, resulting in poisoning.

Recently

I have been getting better by day with the intake of traditional chinese medicine. Though it is rather troublesome to boil and stay around to keep an eye on the pot - to avoid over-boiled, I think it worth the hard work. The medicine are in pack form which is to be boil twice per pack to drink for 2 days - one small bowl each day. For day 1 - boil 5 bowls into 1 bowl; day 2 - boil 3 bowls into 1 bowl.

My aunt's new home is renovating now, going to move in end of April, they are having Laminate flooring install today. Hubby and I will be going Kuantan again soon!

Sad news from Japan had came over everyday, we pray for them. Hopefully everything going to settle down soon - no more disasters. World peace!

TOKYO (Reuters) - Operators of a quake-crippled nuclear plant in Japan dumped water on overheating reactors on Thursday while the United States expressed growing alarm about leaking radiation and urged its citizens to stay well clear of the area.

While Japanese officials were scrambling to contain the nuclear crisis with a patchwork of fixes, the top U.S. nuclear regulator warned that one reactor cooling pool for spent fuel rods may have run dry and another was leaking.

Let's pray for Japan

As we all knew, 8.9 magnitude quake had struck Japan, there must be hundreds or may be thousands of people lost their life. Let's pray for them. I'll get more education books on how to survive in earth quake, in case we meet up any during holiday trips.

FUKUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - Japan scrambled on Saturday to contain a crisis at two nuclear plants damaged when a massive earthquake and tsunami struck its northeast coast, probably killing at least 1,300 people.

A day after the biggest quake on record in Japan, the government said it was still too early to grasp the full extent of damage or casualties. The confirmed death toll so far is almost 300, though media reports say it is at least 1,300.

"Unfortunately, we must be prepared for the number to rise greatly," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters.

The tremor, with a magnitude of 8.9, was so huge that thousands fled their homes from coastlines around the Pacific Rim, as far away as North and South America, fearful of a tsunami.

Most appeared to have been spared anything more serious than some high waves, unlike Japan's northeast coastline which was hammered by a 10-metre high tsunami that turned houses and ships into floating debris as it surged into cities and villages, sweeping aside everything in its path.

Travellers shun capsule hotel

Capsule hotel now appears in Shanghai! It's a concept from the Japan. However, not much people especially Chinese accept this kind of concept, they should needed the email marketing service to promote it to the public.

THE Xitai Capsule Hotel, modelled after famous capsule hotels in Japan, has not received a single guest since it was launched in January.

Travellers have shunned the hotel, located near the Shanghai Railway Station, where the fire authorities have refused to give it a clean bill of health.

The department found that the 300sq m hotel was made of glass-reinforced plastic and other flammable construction materials, the local media reported.

The average space for each capsule unit, which is measured at 2.4sq m, did not meet the city’s basic requirements for rental units.

The regulations state that each person shall have a minimum living space of 4sq m.

Even if the hotel operator changed the construction materials to inflammable ones, it would still be hard for the building to meet the other requirements such as emergency evacuation, said an official from the Zhabei district fire and rescue department.

It is the first capsule hotel ever built in China.

Opened by a 32-year-old Chinese man, who brought the capsule hotel concept back from Japan where he studied for several years, the hotel consists of 68 capsule units, each measuring 1.1m in height, 1.1m in width and 2.2m in length.

Each capsule only fits a person and is equipped with independent sockets, clocks, lights, television and wireless Internet service.

The building has other shared facilities like a lavatory, shower room and smoking room.

Hotel owner Ta Zhan regretted the whole episode and said that all he wanted to do was to provide an alternative choice of accommodation for budget travellers, who might be stranded at the railway station at night after the end of the metro and public transport services.

He said he had put in a lot of thought into the construction of the hotel and taken into account the local safety guidelines and standards as well as those in Japan.

He hoped that the authorities would review their decision and look into how to help the capsule hotel industry set new building safety guidelines instead of just saying no to operators of such hotels.

“I have not given up the idea of opening the capsule hotel. This is a new thing in China and although I have been denied a licence, I would like to show the value of such hotels in other ways,” he was quoted as saying by Wen Hui Daily.

Despite safety and privacy concerns in the cramped capsule units which do not have doors but curtains, Ta pointed out that the hotel was for male guests only and guests who often snore would stay in a different zone from torpid guests.

The newspaper reported that, apart from fire safety and space requirements that the authorities said were not met, the hotel was equipped with smoke detectors, emergency exit signs and fire extinguishers.

Ta said he had planned to install closed-circuit television and engage two security guards to monitor the hotel compound round-the-clock.

“I am planning to take one million yuan (RM470,000) from my logistics company to maintain the hotel for a year even if it doesn’t get the approval of the fire authorities.

“I am willing to wait for the authorities to do something to make capsule hotels like mine legal. I will invite my best friends and relatives to stay here for free and experience it for themselves,” he said.

According to him, several companies in Hong Kong and Macau had approached him to see whether he would open similar hotels in both places.

Ta had also agreed to allow a Malaysian advertising firm to use the capsule hotel for a commercial shoot.

The room rate of the capsule hotel is about 80 yuan (RM37.60), cheaper than any budget hotel in the city.

The basic rate is 28 yuan (RM13.16) per person, plus an additional 4 yuan (RM1.88) an hour. The maximum rate is 88 yuan (RM41.36) for 24 hours.

Unlike Xitai Capsule Hotel, the capsule apartments built by 78-year-old Huang Rixin in Beijing had a slightly different fate and he has been upgrading his capsules from the first generation to the present fourth generation.

Huang has been interviewed by dozens of journalists since his venture to convert his 50sq m apartment in Haidian district into smaller capsules about the size of a bed and rent them out to fresh graduates and migrant workers created waves last year.

The first and second generation of capsules, which measure less than 4sq m, received an overwhelming response from blue-collared workers, who rented it for 200 yuan (RM92.22) to 450 yuan (RM207.51) a month.

Because the units did not comply with the latest city’s regulations, Huang modified the existing capsules to larger units and came up with his third-generation capsules, which were equipped with a shared kitchen, shower, washing machine and living room.

The new generation capsules had painted walls instead of wallpapers.

Faced with the pressure from the authorities to crack down on collective rental practices in the city’s apartments, Huang has lost many tenants and was thinking of donating his capsules to non-profit organisations or developing the fourth generation capsules together with a developer.

Huang may not succeed in making his business model work but he has become a hero of sorts in China. The grandfather, who draws a pension of 2,000 yuan (RM922.28) and spent hundreds of thousands of yuan on his capsules has popularised this new way of living.

Discount on traffic summonses extended to 10 March

Have you paid yours? I have paid hubby's summonse while browsing logo design pricing online. No rush, you still have time to pay! Or I will suggest a better way of paying instead of suffering queuing - pay online at myeg.com.my. I paid the summonses conveniently (with RM2 service fee)! Worth it, right?

PUTRAJAYA, Wednesday 2 March 2011 (Bernama) -- The government has agreed to extend the 50 per cent discount on traffic summonses until March 10, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

He said the decision was made after taking into account complaints from motorists, who were not able to settle their dues, to technical glitches and congestion at the counters for the past few days.

There will be no more extension after this and motorists who fail to make use of the opportunity will be blacklisted, he told reporters here today.

A total of 5.5 million summonses were paid during the discount period beginning Aug 12 last year until yesterday, of which 1.5 million summonses were settled in the past week.

Hishammuddin advised traffic offenders not to squander the opportunity to prevent their vehicles from being blacklisted.

He said the extension of the grace period would be closely monitored and those who dispute the validity of the summonses could make appeals by providing evidence to the authorities.

Monday blue

Monday blue? No. I wouldn't have any! In fact, everyday is almost the same for me except Sunday, the day when hubby is free to go out with me.

Tomorrow will be the 1st day of March, we are going to make our booking for Korea trip! Yay! I wish we could stay in log houses in Korea! lol!

Happy Chap Goh Meh

Chinese New Year is going to end on today - Chap Goh Meh (fifteenth and final day of the Lunar New Year period). Tomorrow will not be a Chinese New Year anymore. We have to wait for another year for the Chinese New Year celebration to happen again.

The traditional mandarin oranges throwing event is a highlight on Chap Goh Meh, whereby those singles throw mandarin oranges with their contact details into the river and hopefully pick up by others. A relationship may start magically with the interaction following that.

I have never attended such event. I am curious about this event. And yet, I have no idea where this event will be held. I know Penang is expecting the annual Chap Goh Meh celebration to be a major tourist attraction. But we got to work! How to travel to Penang for the event? And of course, I don't need to throw mandarin orange (hubby will kill me off if I go ahead to throw one into the river). lol!

May be I shall request the favor from hubby to take a day off to bring me over to Penang to witness such grand celebration. However, it is hard to do so since we already taking many days off during Chinese New Year - my FIL may not like it! So we better don't!

Okay, that's all for now. I'm going to shop for my leather furniture now!

Late sleep for yesterday

As usual, hubby and I will stay awake until late night - 1am, to listen to our favorite radio program. But as usual, I fell asleep during the commercial time. lol! Our previous radio is spoiled due to hubby's carelessness of accidentally pouring a cup of water on top of it, we shall buy a waterproof radio next time!

Anyway, I didn't have a good sleep yesterday night, was having nightmare for the whole night! Tonight I promise myself to sleep early!

CNY-ing

Time goes by really fast, it is now the 8th day of CNY (Chor 8). There is 7 days left before the CNY ends. Oh, how I hope it never ends. Though I had been busy throughout the days, yet I enjoy it. Our relatives are backed and we sat to chit-chat and gamble. It is the most joyful moment of the year!

Our shop has started to re-operate yesterday. Weird huh? Chor 7 should be everybody's birthday, but not a good day to start the business for the year. However, we as a worker have no choice but to follow the boss's order. :(

After continuous busy days prior to CNY, I'm finally back in one piece. I should take my rest to recharge. I think a week is not enough for me to recharge back to full energy, I need at least 2 weeks. I'm having slight flu now, making myself sleepy and heavy head. *Yawn*

Though I can have a good rest after this, I have still many items listed in my to-do list. One of the top item is about our Korea trip in April. I have to do survey on Korea ground tour among the travel agencies. We are quite concerned about the language barrier in Korea, thus joining a ground tour will solve the problem. However, I have called a few travel agencies, with each of them giving me different tour fare, I need more time to make my decision on which to follow.

Since my aunt's new condominium unit has gotten CFO, I'll have to help my aunt on the furniture selection. We have done with the sofa, dining table and beds; TV consoles have yet to get. Other than that, the main entrance door has been selected which is a security door that we saw in my sis in-law's new home. Painting, installations of air-conditioners and lighting will be done within next week. Carpet Installation will be done after house cleaning. Oh, our second new home is going to be ready in a short moment. *Excited*

In the mean time, I'm going to recharge before I take my move to assist my aunt in her new home decorations!

When the sun is needed

When will we need the sun? I am sure you will tell me: it is when we need to dry our clothes. For me, it is untrue. I do not need the sun to dry my clothes. My clothes are hanged indoor under the fan to dry, there is no use of sun light.

When I need the sun light? I do not like the sun, it is devilry hot, making people sweating. However I have waited for the sun light to come out of the clouds for few days.

What for? The prawn crackers are awaiting the sun to heat them up before it is ready to deep-fry in the pot. Without the heat, the prawn crackers would not come up nice and big!

When I needed the sun most, it decides to hide away from me. Chinese New Year to drawing near, the crackers needed to be ready before that to serve my dear relatives.

These few days, the sky remained cloudy, without direct sun light, and randomly rain a little bit. Weird huh? It supposed to be deadly hot during Chinese New Year, but the weather seems to change. Is it the prior notice to the end of the world?

Before the world ends, I'll try out my luck in bingo sites. lol!

Boudreaux's Butt Paste

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Boudreaux's Butt Paste. All opinions are 100% mine.

Those who follow my blog would probably knew by now that I am yearning for a baby but yet to have one. Don't you think I have got no knowledge about baby! I am the eldest in my family (though I am the only child), I have a few younger cousins. I always took care of them while my mom and aunt were busy.

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Busy preparing for CNY

That's only a week before Chinese New Year finally arrived. Meaning that it's also a week before my birthday arrived!

My birthday falls on the day before first day of CNY. I think we shall have a small small celebration - yum cha, after the annual CNY eve dinner. I'm pretty sure hubby won't have any gift for me. But that's not a big deal, as long as he treated me good and we are happily together.

I'm quite busy these days since the CNY is drawing near, my aunt had many orders. Orders in terms of buying CNY biscuits, foods, this and that...... Kuantan had really nothing, she wants to buy everything in Ipoh, and bring back - almost everything in Kuantan had a higher selling price compared to Ipoh.

Okay, till then - I would have to continue busying!

TABASCO® Original Red

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TABASCO® Original Red. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you tried TABASCO® Original Red? I bet you had it before and most probably in pizza restaurants. Yup, you got me right! It is the little bottle of red colored sauce that we used to eat with pizzas! TABASCO® Original Red is not about heat for heat’s sake. It’s about what heat does to the flavor of food. The simple combination of salt, red pepper, and vinegar are perfected in a 3-year aging process that produces a hot sauce with the uncanny ability to bring the most out of your food.

My mom will always keep a bottle of it in our kitchen. Whenever spices needed with the dishes, she would add in some. I still remember mom's fried rice, TABASCO® Original Red is surely dripped into the pan mix up with the rice and the rice ended up all inside my stomach (I can finished the whole pot of fried rice!). Though mom had passed on, I will still carry on mom's recipe. TABASCO® Original Red is "So Much More Than Hot." Tabasco sauce is a must in my kitchen! Without TABASCO® Original Red, fried rice will never as tasty as before.

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Cleaning the home ‘is bad for heart’???

While browsing news, I come across this interesting article:

Fears about paying bills, getting the car serviced and even cooking can result in heart problems, a study has found.

Cleaning, shopping and looking after the household budget can also raise blood pressure, it says.

Worrying about how you will cope, rather than the actual workload, is thought to be the cause of the problems.

However, looking after children or pets is not thought to have adverse effects on blood pressure.

A total of 113 men and women in full-time work took part in the study and gave details of levels of responsibility for running their homes.

Systolic readings – a form of measuring blood pressure – rose by up to 4.4mmHg. The recommended ideal limit is 140mmHg.

‘The perceived responsibility for household tasks, rather than the time spent doing those tasks, is what’s most distressing,’ said the US researchers, whose study is in Psychosomatic Medicine journal.

High blood pressure affects about one in five Britons and the National Health Service estimates that there are 270,000 heart attacks a year in this country.

Oh, I need a temporary cover!

Man shot in head sneezes out bullet

This is ridiculous! Man shot in head sneezes out bullet?

Mr Sangermano, 28, who is expected to make a full recovery, then said he felt no pain other than a strong headache.

‘This was a very strange case and the first of its kind I am aware of,’ said Prof Sid Berrone, who carried out a ‘tidy-up operation’ on Mr Sangermano before sending him home.

‘He was a very lucky man – he could have been easily killed.’

Mr Sangermano was hit by the stray bullet as revellers fired into the air on New Year’s Eve.

The .22-calibre round entered the right side of his head, passed behind his eye, hit a bone in his nose and finally lodged in his nostril, before being sneezed out in hospital.

The incident happened in Naples, Italy, where two other people were hit and one was killed in similar incidents.

Mr Sangermano’s girlfriend, of Turin, who asked not to be named, said: ‘We were walking when all of a sudden there were some bangs and he said he felt a pain to his head – he was covered in blood.’

Mr Sangermano should have a photo calendars to mark down this part of his life!

Time to prepare money

I was being told that the passed Monday, new notes will be available to exchange. However, that's not true, there are no news notes on Monday and the bankers told me they were not sure when the new notes will be out!

When I bank in a cheque just now, I try to ask again. The banker told me tomorrow will be the day, the day when new notes are out and available. Wow! Excited! But she told me to go bank early tomorrow morning since there are limited new notes for this year.

The banker whom told me about the new notes available tomorrow is from Maybank, but I think all others banks will issue out the new notes on the same day since Bank Negara is the one who decide when the new notes being distributed.

Okay, I will be fast - 9am stand-by in front of the bank with money in hand! Wakakaka.... I will need to exchange new notes for my in-laws, aunt, father and ourselves. That is why I must present at the bank as early as possible, just in case there are really little new notes available for exchange. lol!

Saloon-ing

Gosh, I 'm stuck in the saloon from 10.30am to 12.45pm!!! No, no! I'm not doing any treatment, perming, coloring nor rebonding. All I want to do is to wash and cut my fringe.

Since Chinese New Year is around the corner, saloons tend to increase price around 10 days ahead, that is why the saloon is packed during this time. I waited in front of the shop even before it opens. Yet, I have to wait for long time before my hair is washed and waited longer to have my fringe trimmed.

Fortunately, I bumped into my ex-ladyboss who coincidentally went there to rebond her hair. We chit-chatted about everything happened recently. Thus time won't passed boring. My ex-ladyboss is working for her dad to take care of the developer department. Now that she has stopped working with his dad, she will launching another developer partnered with my ex-colleague. They are building terrace houses in Kampar. And they will have their custom design business cards. It is always a good idea to part out from own parents to do business, not to rely on parents is great for me. I envy them for their courage. I wish them every success.

Service tax increase to 6% from 5%

I was asking about where to get a genuine Astro remote control from the Astro call centre. Only now that I found out that the genuine remote controls are not sold in local Astro centre, we have to get it from a shop name Cynnyx. Selling price is RM30.

While searching for the call centre contact number, I accidentally saw this: Government Service Tax. With effect from 1 January 2011, all pay TV broadcasting services (paid satellite broadcasting services) including Astro will be subjected to a service tax of 6% as announced by the Government in the Budget 2011 in which this service was not subject to service tax previously.

This means my coming Astro bill will be charged an additional 6% as the GST!!! *Faint*While searching for more info regarding the Astro GST, I realized that we will be paying almost everything higher price than yester-years!

According to the Malaysia Budget 2011, service tax rate will be increased from 5% to 6% with effect from 1 Jan 2011. This will impact quite a number of service industry as well as individual consumptions. This may be a temporary measure to increase government revenue while pending the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST). You may probably feel the effect of service tax increase, although some said marginal, in 2011 when you visit to the restaurants, or when you pay your telephone bills.

Oh, gosh! My future telephone bills, broadband bills, food bills is even higher by 1%. You may think it's not many difference, but this may brings the government a lot of extra income!!! I need a beam clamps! #@$%@^

CNY is coming?

When I'm in the bank to hand in the EPF and SOCSO bank in slip with the cheque, I asked when can we change new notes. The banker told me next Monday, new notes will be available.

Came back from the bank, I counted - it's only 2.5 weeks away from Chinese New Year!!! It is so near yet I can't feel the CNY mood? May be it's because I didn't go KL for CNY clothes shopping this year. Shopping malls in Ipoh are decorated with red lanterns and stuff, but it is minor compared to KL's shopping malls.

Gosh, I haven't got myself and hubby any new clothes for CNY. When I was small, I got a lot of new clothes for CNY. Growing up into adult, my new year clothes become lesser. And yet, I insist to have at least a piece of new clothes for the first day of CNY. But finding nice clothes is a hard task for me - with my size. Hopefully I'm lucky to found one for myself and one for hubby.

Hubby and I are thinking to escape to Kuantan on the 4th day of CNY, back to my aunt's house to prepare a Java PDF for my coming plans.

A whole new year

It is already 2011. It is always fast year after year, month after month, day after day! It is a blessing we all went through a year safe and sound. Nothing serious happened for the previous year, though some sadness is inevitable.

In this whole new year of rabbit, I have got some plans and wishes, and I will try my best effort to make it comes true. With many things that we can't control, I will try to over come it uneventfully by all means.

What is your wish for year 2011? I wish, I wish, I wish could have a baby of my own in the year of rabbit. It had move forward to the 2nd half year of marriage, yet I am able to carry a baby to full term. It always choose to leave me before 2 months of pregnancy. We are yet to figure out what is the cause of the miscarriages, nor did the doctors. May be it is not the time yet. Or really our house's feng shui problem??? Any how, we will try our very best to make it a success! Wish us luck!!!

Hubby and I have already planned for holiday trips for this year. We are going to Korea on April and Bangkok on May. Yay! We enjoy traveling a lot!

Lastly, we are finding way to earn more. Our monthly earning currently is not enough for long run, we need more for saving and investing. Hopefully the company checks we will be receiving before Chinese New Year is BIG enough for us to have a Happy Chinese New Year!!!