Watching the London Olympic Games 2012

I am sure most of us will watch the 4-year-once Olympic Games. For this year, the venue is in London. I am very happy to be able to watch the games through my computer. The International Olympic Council has done a good job by asking Youtube to show the video clips to the world. Because of this arrangement, we can go to the following website to watch the games:
www.youtube.com/olympic

There are also video clips of past events which you might have missed. You can click them and let the Samsung Galaxy S3's ads disturb you for 30 seconds. Then the video clips will start to play. If you like the clips and would like to watch them again later on, you can right click the url of the video clips and download with Free Youtube Downloader so that you can watch them offline and delete them when you don't want them anymore.

Go to the site and start watching the games at real time now.

'Selamat Berbuka Puasa (Happy Breaking Fast) to all Muslims

The Muslims all over the world or rather in Malaysia will start fasting from today for a month. Being a Malaysian, I know too well the religious practice of the Malays all of whom are Muslims here. One of them is 'berpuasa' or fasting. They would start abstaining from food after 'makan sahur' (consuming food after midnight and before dawn prior to fasting). Then they will fast at 'imsak' or when the sun rises. For today, my Malay friend told me that the time for 'berbuka puasa' (breaking fast) was 7.38pm. I understand that  the time varies from day to day and from place to place.

Personally I feel that fasting is good for health because when the body is devoid of food, all the organs will start to work to make them function better.

I wish all Muslims happy breaking fast.

Proving through action

I was at the Jelutong market place this morning when I passed by a man who was selling abrasive sheet to clean the bottom of cooking pots. He told the crowd around him that the abrasive piece is very good as it can remove carbonised coating on the wok's bottom by rubbing it with the aid of water.

To prove that it is really water and not other chemical that he poured from his bottle, he drank the water first before pouring it onto the bottom of the pot he was dealing with. If you look at his action, you will surely be convinced that it is water all right and not chemical of any sort.

The man is really smart. He has proven his point in a simple way.

How to use 'bazir' and its other derivatives

Many users get confused when using 'bazir'. The following are the common mistakes related to this word.
1 Jangan bazir semasa menggunakan air.
2 Dia membazir wang yang banyak untuk membeli kad prayar telefon bimbit.

You cannot use 'bazir' (to waste) by itself. By adding the prefix meN you can form the intransitive verb 'membazir' which has no object. Hence sentence 2 above is wrong. The correct sentence to be constructed is 'Dia suka membazir semasa menggunakan air.' [He likes to waste water.]

The word 'bazir' can be turned into a transitive verb (a verb that takes an object) by adding the affix 'meN_kan'. The verb formed is 'membazirkan' (to waste + object). A typical sentence you can make with this verb is 'Adik sering membazirkan air semasa mandi.' (My younger brother often wastes water when he bathes.)

The correction for sentence 1 is 'Jangan membazir semasa menggunakan air.' (Don't waste when you use water.)

I hope this short article will benefit those who takes an interest in studying the Malay language.

Proscrastination is the thief of time

I have not blogging for over a month. My policy is to have something worth reading before I will pen anything. As for today, I have to admit that I just key in words that come my mind. The title shows how I keep delaying posting something in this blog and that's why I have nothing new for my readers. The above proverb is really true in my case.

In real life, if you keep postponing things, you will never get them done. You have to take the initiative of taking the first step to do it and more steps will ensue.

I really hope that after today's post I will be coming out with something new as days go by.

How to play iso files easily

If you borrow movie discs from your friend, he or she might want them back as soon as possible. I have a way to help you return him or her the discs yet you can take your time to watch the movies. Here are the steps to accomplish this.

First, copy the discs one by one using any iso maker such as Xilosoft Isomaker to your hard disc.
Next go to this site to get your free VLC Media Player: http://vlc-media-player.en.softonic.com/download
Return the discs to your friend.

Whenever you feel like watching any of the movies you have copied to your hard disc as iso files, use the VLC Media Player to play it.

It is as simple as that.

Happy copying movie discs to your hard disc as iso files and playing them with VLC Media Player.

How to use 'most of' correctly

In today’s post, I will deal with ‘most of’ used in sentences. Let us look at the following sentences. Tell me which one is wrong.

1 Most of the boys are interested in football.

2 Most of the cake was eaten by my brother.

Actually both sentences are correct. Let me explain.

When ‘most of’ is followed by a countable noun, it takes a plural verb. For instance, you can write a sentence such as the one below.

Most of the apples sold here are fresh. [As apples are plural, the verb that follows it is plural, that is ‘are’]

On the other hand, if ‘most of’ is followed by an uncountable noun, then a singular verb is used. Look at the following example.

Most of the palm oil in Malaysia is exported to China. [ As palm oil which follows ‘most of’ is uncountable, it is considered singular and hence a singular verb ‘is’ is used]

These are other examples when ‘most of’ is used in tenses.

1 Most of the girls in the school play netball.

2 Most of the activities here require skills and patience.

3 Most of the work was done by my mother.

4 Most of the fun comes from knowing that one has achieved something.

5 Most of the rubbish is not disposed of properly.

I hope readers of this blog are able to use ‘most of’ in sentences properly after reading my post.

Today is Qing Ming or Chinese All Souls Day

Today the Chinese will go to the graves of their relatives who had passed away to show respect to them as well as remember their good deeds. Usually, food will be offered when they pray in front of the grave.

As a regular practice, the Chinese will clean up the graves before doing the praying. This can be done 10 days before or 10 days after Qing Ming. If the inscriptions on the grave have become blur, the words will be repainted with red or gold powder.

I went to my late father's grave with my sister last Saturday to do the cleaning-up and resurfacing of soil on the grave. We had to buy RM60 for 6 bags of soil for the job. The man skilfully carried 6 bags of the stuff on his Honda C70 bike from somewhere to where my late father's grave was and helped do the topping up of soil. Then we put the yellow paper on the surface and use pebbles to press them down in case the wind blew them away, at least for the period when we pray. Then it is time to place food and fruits in front of the grave before we start to pray. The burning of paper money, paper shoes and clothes were done after tossing two coins to get consent. If head and tail shows up, we can start the burning job.

Although burning such paper items will not benefit anyone, it is the custom of the Chinese and a way to show their respect to the dead.

What we did in front of my late father's grave will be almost the same for the other visitors to the same graveyard.

Relatives of new graves have to come to clean up and do the pray on Qing Ming Day. On the fourth year, they can come 10 days before or after Qing Ming to do the task.

That's all for Qing Ming for today's post.

Weight loss

Weight loss is the concern of most obese people. By this I mean those whose BMI or Body Mass Index is beyond the normal range. BMI is calculated by diving the body weight in kg by height (in metre) squared. For example, I am 1.60 metre and 60 kg in weight. My BMI is 60 / 1.6X1.6 which is 60/2.56 and my final BMI is 23.43. I am normal in weight and height because the normal range is 18.5 to 24.9.

Those with BMI exceeding 24.9 is overweight and those below 18.5 is underweight.

The former group will think of ways to effect weight loss so as to fall within the normal BMI range.

You can achieve your weight loss through dieting, that is cutting down on the intake of fat, starch and sugar. Exercising regularly will also enable you to cause weight loss in your body.

My friend tells me of a way to bring about weight loss. According to him, when you have your lunch or dinner, start by eating the vegetables and meat first because by then your stomach will have been filled with food and fluid and you will eat less of rice.

If your state of being overweight is due to hormonal causes, you will have to see your doctor to rectify it so that weight loss will be rendered possible.

Proper diet and exercising are the best ways to solve the problem of having to think of ways to effect weight loss to your body.

How to remote control your computer at home

I have learnt of a way to remote control your computer at home and I would like to share this knowledge with readers of this blog.

Suppose you need to do something using the computer at home. It may be to transfer a file, to download a file and others.

There is a free software for non-c0mmercial use which you can use to do the above task. It is called teamviewer. You can download it at http://www.teamviewer.com free of charge. With this software you can manipulate the computer at home even if you are at your office. However, you have to install the software in the computer at home and the one in your office or somewhere such as in your friend's house. After doing that, you just need to key in the ID generated by the software and the password for the computer at home. In this case, you can set a fixed password which you can create by clicking the extras folder and create the password which you can use when you are at your office. Once the software connects you to the computer at home, you can manipulate your home computer as if you were sitting right in front of it. How wonderful!

Happy downloading teamviewer and start remote controlling your home computer from your office or your friend's house.