better be prepared

Holiday season is coming and most KL's will be empty except KLCC, Bukit Bintang, Kotaraya but not with local but PATI. For all we should take extra percution when left our houses. We should doulbe check window lock, switch off all unneccessary power point. better prepare then sorry later.

Snippets from the MASTER

THIS IS WHY PEOPLE STILL REMEMBER HIM AS THE GREATEST

Snippets
Posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at September 8, 2008 3:56 PM Permalink Comments (263) TrackBacks (0) Previous Blog

Cuti-Cuti Malaysia

1. There are only 365 days in a year. Take away 104 days of Saturdays and Sundays weekends and we have left 261 working days. But Malaysia is multi-religious and we must not work during Raya, Chinese New Year and Deepavali. But we must also not work on Wesak Day, Taipusam, Christmas, New Year, Federal Territory Day, various Muslim holy days and I do not know what else.

2. But we must not work on by-election polling day also. Then there is the Agong's Birthday and the birthdays of all the Sultans and Governors.

3. We seem to find more reason for not working. If the holiday falls on a weekend, then have a long vacation beginning the day before Saturday and the day after Sunday - four days in all.
4. I love all these. Kuala Lumpur is cleaner when people leave the city for balik kampong on Raya and Chinese New Year. It is exhilarating to drive on streets which are almost deserted.

5. But I ask myself are people like me, a pensioner being paid and not working? Or is the country on automatic - administrating itself? Or is it that there really is not much work to do that we can close up for one-third of the year?

6. We are still a developing country. Developing requires work. Rich developed countries can afford not to work. August holidays see the cities like Paris and London bereft of traffic.

7. I believe, but I may be wrong, that when you are trying to catch up with someone running ahead of you, you must run faster than him. We have this great ambition to become a developed country. If we move slower than our objective can we catch up? I think we cannot.

8. A developed country today and a developed country in 2020 is not the same. In 2020 it will be far more advanced and richer than in 2008. The developed status is not static. It is moving. 9. Even if it seem to be growing slowly percentage-wise, but its one percent is bigger than our 5 or 6 percent. Our base is lower. To catch up we must really grow faster.

10. Can we grow faster by not working? I think not.

11. Lets look at the implication of having holidays. If workers have to work on holidays they have to be paid twice their daily wage. If they work beyond working hours they have to be paid four times their wages. And many industries just cannot stop operating.

12. All these add up to higher cost of production and therefore we will be less competitive. For a trading nation which depends on exporting goods, raw material and services, the cost of our exports is important. We will not be competitive especially against low-wage countries. But not to worry. The Government will make us competitive by withdrawing subsidies and giving them back again under different headings in the budget or off-budget.

13. Its a bit early but I would like to wish everyone Happy Hari Raya. Please drive slowly. We want you to come back after a very relaxing 4 - 5 days holiday. Do not worry about unfinished work. It can take care of itself.

P.S. I think the Government and the private sector should consider retreats. It's not a holiday of course but comes very close to a holiday.

Besides you can become a savvy agriculturist.

SELAMAT BERPUASA

To all my muslim friends, Selamat Berpuasa. Puasa didnt mean you must stop all activities.

for those who didnt fast please remember there are alot of benefit if you fast as required in Islam. Maybe this story from the net can enlight us with the fasting benefits:-

In the spring of 1957 I was managing the airport in Point Barrow, Alaska, the main supply site and a scene of heavy air traffic during the construction of the Distant Early Warning Line radar stations along Alaska’s northern coast. Working 50 to 60 hours a week, I hadn’t taken a day off for nearly a year and was scraping the bottom of the energy barrel. Overweight, irritable, tired all the time and feeling much older than my 34 years, I decided that a vacation was a necessity. Not just any vacation, however. I went to a health resort near Escondido, California, and fasted for two weeks under the direction of a physician. I drank as much water as needed but ate nothing at all for 14 days.
I
Before this I had tried a few short fasts of three or four days on my own but had never gone longer than that with only water. James McEachen had supervised many fasts and understood what to look for. He told me to take no exercise but simply to rest and sunbathe during the day and to drink water whenever I was thirsty. About the fifth day without food I developed a sore throat, my back began to ache and my teeth hurt. Dr. McEachen explained that this was a healing crisis: my body was cleansing itself of toxic substances. About the tenth day these symptoms cleared up.
With McEachen’s guidance I broke the fast on the 14th day. This was a crucial point. A fast has to be ended properly and carefully or there can be painful and dangerous complications. I was given small amounts of orange juice every three hours for two days and then allowed to eat whole fruit for another two days. After this I was given more substantial food on a regular meal time schedule. I stayed there for a week after I resumed eating and then returned to my job in Point Barrow feeling 1,000 per cent better than when I left.
I experienced a number of specific benefits from the two weeks without food. My energy was greater than it had been since I was 20. I fell asleep immediately at night, slept soundly and awoke refreshed and alert. The job of managing the Point Barrow airport was hectic at times, but after the fast it was easy to remain calm and unflustered no matter how much pressure the work generated. I lost 25 pounds during the two weeks without food, which put me a little below my best weight, but I gradually regained the needed pounds. The benefits from the fast far outweighed what one would expect to experience from taking a three-week vacation.
I have fasted many times since the stay in Escondido in 1957, for periods of a few days up to 40. In every instance the fasts have provided such benefits as increased energy, calmness, improved concentration and a feeling of well-being. In the past five years I’ve visited David Stry’s health resort near Cuernavaca, Mexico, five times and fasted there from four to eight days.
Last year my 54th birthday arrived. Friends my own age who used to joke about my dedication to diet and exercise have been creaking and puffing around for some years now. They’ve quit laughing and started asking what they might do to repair the damage that careless living has wreaked on their bodies. Probably the best place to begin is with a fast to clean out the system and give it a new start.
Many people begin fasting because of sickness. As one who has always had good health, I approached the fast as a possible way to make good health even better. It has. Physical conditioning through fasting -- as well as exercise -- is essential to effective functioning in my life. And without exception, fasting also has enabled me to pray and meditate better.

Drink Coffee then???

Coffee: The New Health Food?

Plenty of health benefits are brewing in America's beloved beverage.
By Sid KirchheimerWebMD Feature
Reviewed by Michael W. Smith, MD

Want a drug that could lower your risk of diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and colon cancer? That could lift your mood and treat headaches? That could lower your risk of cavities?
If it sounds too good to be true, think again.

Coffee, the much maligned but undoubtedly beloved beverage, just made headlines for possibly cutting the risk of the latest disease epidemic, type 2 diabetes. And the real news seems to be that the more you drink, the better.
Reducing Disease Risk

After analyzing data on 126,000 people for as long as 18 years, Harvard researchers calculate that compared with not partaking in America's favorite morning drink, downing one to three cups of caffeinated coffee daily can reduce diabetes risk by single digits. But having six cups or more each day slashed men's risk by 54% and women's by 30% over java avoiders.
Though the scientists give the customary "more research is needed" before they recommend you do overtime at Starbuck's to specifically prevent diabetes, their findings are very similar to those in a less-publicized Dutch study. And perhaps more importantly, it's the latest of hundreds of studies suggesting that coffee may be something of a health food -- especially in higher amounts.

In recent decades, some 19,000 studies have been done examining coffee's impact on health. And for the most part, their results are as pleasing as a gulp of freshly brewed Breakfast Blend for the 108 million Americans who routinely enjoy this traditionally morning -- and increasingly daylong -- ritual. In practical terms, regular coffee drinkers include the majority of U.S. adults and a growing number of children.

"Overall, the research shows that coffee is far more healthful than it is harmful," says Tomas DePaulis, PhD, research scientist at Vanderbilt University's Institute for Coffee Studies, which conducts its own medical research and tracks coffee studies from around the world. "For most people, very little bad comes from drinking it, but a lot of good."
Consider this: At least six studies indicate that people who drink coffee on a regular basis are up to 80% less likely to develop Parkinson's, with three showing the more they drink, the lower the risk. Other research shows that compared to not drinking coffee, at least two cups daily can translate to a 25% reduced risk of colon cancer, an 80% drop in liver cirrhosis risk, and nearly half the risk of gallstones.

Coffee even offsets some of the damage caused by other vices, some research indicates. "People who smoke and are heavy drinkers have less heart disease and liver damage when they regularly consume large amounts of coffee compared to those who don't," says DePaulis.
There's also some evidence that coffee may help manage asthma and even control attacks when medication is unavailable, stop a headache, boost mood, and even prevent cavities.