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.

Now that my sis in-law's baby boy whom wears diapers all the time will definitely cause diaper rash, thus she uses Boudreaux's Butt Paste as a skin protectant as recommended by pediatrician. It is easy to goes on and cleans off, most importantly it cures the diaper rashes and irritated skin!

Boudreaux's Butt Paste was a diaper rash ointment specifically formulated by a pharmacist with direction from a respected pediatrician to provide effective diaper rash care. It is available in convenient sizes - flip top cap (tubes) and handy travel size with pleasant scent.

The butt paste is featured on : Oprah Show, Tonight Show, Today Show, People Magazine, ESPN , While You Were Out TLC.

If you are interested in Boudreaux's Butt Paste, visit their site to receive their own free sample!

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.

Since it's football season and the Super Bowl is right around the corner, some of us may pay a visit to pizza restaurant. Be sure you have your bite of pizza accompany with TABASCO® Original Red, I'm sure you will enjoy it and make it a game day tradition ever since!

Do check out the Game-Day Party Menu and Pizza Perfected too!