End of Daylight Saving Time (DST)

Just a courtesy reminder that DST ends on Sunday, 31 October 2010, 02:00 local daylight time.

Therefore the time difference between Malaysia and UK is GMT + 8hr, i.e. Malaysia time is 8hrs ahead of the UK time.

More info visit

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=90

cheers

Targeted Advertising--Graduate opportunities for Malaysians wishing to return home to work

I got this email from the career office@ Glasgow Uni. I was one of the members of the international advisory group of career service, Glasgow Uni.

The info are as follows:-

**Disclaimer: I’m not responsible for the correctness of forwarded info

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Client (Xyratex) is looking to attract engineering graduates from a variety of disciplines to return to Malaysia to their new facility.

These are permanent positions and ongoing recruitment.

The salary is in Malaysian Ringgits RM2500 + benefits.

I am hoping to target students who have graduated/ final year students in the following degrees:
Electronic/Electrical/Mechanical/Software/Computer Science or Physics.

Please see the job spec below for further details: any queries please
give me a call. ( They will accept a 2:2)

Seeking your first Engineering position after Graduation? Are you due to Graduate this year? Studying for a Degree is Electronic/Electrical/Mechanical/Software/Computer Science or Physics?

My client is the leading provider of Network Storage Solutions and Storage Infrastructure. Due to expansion at their R&D and manufacturing plant in Malaysia, they are seeking to recruit highly qualified recent multi disciplined Graduates to start as soon as possible.

You would be part of a high achieving team working on the latest features with leading edge technology and have the satisfaction of seeing your work delivered to many millions of customers world wide.

This is an exciting opportunity to fulfill your potential in a challenging, friendly, supportive environment where good performance is rewarded.

Education:
Successful candidates will have a minimum 2:1 degree and ideally a PhD, MSc, MEng or BEng to work as part of a multinational and multi-disciplined team. We will also consider candidates with recent work experience.

Kind regards

__________________________________________
Sian Jones

Graduate Recruitment Consultant
ARM Consulting Division
E     sian.jones@armconsult.co.uk
T     02392 228288
D     02392 228238
M     on request
F     02392 228229
W     www.armconsult.co.uk <http://www.armconsult.co.uk> 

ARM Consulting - Flexible Solutions
Langstone Technology Park, Langstone Road, Havant, Hampshire. PO9 1SA


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SAY NO TO MEGA TOWER!!!

If not mistaken, Malaysia GDP is about $200 billion, and in 2011 Malaysian Budget RM411 Million (approx. $133.35/ $0.13billion) allocated for R&D. This means only 0.065% of the country GDP will be spent on R&D, a... key for knowledge economy.
FYI: Israel, Sweden, Korea, Finland and Japan all spending above 3%, and... Iceland, the USA, Singapore, Denmark, Germany and Austria all spending above 2.5%, UK about 1.8%.

Many coutries are increasing their investment in science, as there's a huge potential there. The success of science, knowledge development is important for future economic growth and this is a factor to attract foreign investor in high-skilled area as well.

Say NO/TAK NAK to mega tower, we want 5 billion MYR on knowledge economy development

Please show your support by joining the facebook page at

Facebook-1M Malaysians Reject 100-storey Mega Tower http://ow.ly/2XXX6

It’s time to exert people power.

GM mosquitoes- some random thoughts

I referred to the recent news published in the Star online regarding the Field testing approved for GM mosquitoes - http://ow.ly/2St3N

In the news, there are few key words that draw my attention, such as

National Biosafety Board, field testing, genetically-modified Aedes mosquitoes, Cabinet approval, Natural Resources and Environment Ministry

This is a breakthrough technology and I learnt that (if not mistaken) it’s a collaboration between IMR, Malaysia and Oxford based company. Of course, I’m looking forward for the outcome of this  exciting study.
However there are several concerns we should look into it:-

1) More information  (E.g. underlying safety issue, ecological impact, public opinion, etc) about this GM mosquitoes should be available to the public. I knew this effort one year ago, but other people may not know about this.

2) In research, every approach will have its pros and cons. We would like to know who are the panel members of the National Biosafety Board? What are their expertise? In this case, a biosafety board should be comprised of experts in genetic, molecular biology, ecology, environmental sciece, ethical science, etc. For public interest, we should keep inform with any side impacts of GM materials

3) Field study. Is it takes place in housing area, forest, confined region etc? How long it takes? Why these places were selected (Bentong, Pahang, and Alor Gajah, Malacca,)? Just a note that area of studies may affect the result, due to various factors e.g. weather, moisture, or amount of rainwater (precipitation rate). etc

4)GM tech. What approach was employed? What effects to insect, or “mosquitoes-eating animal” should they feed on this GM mosquitoes?

5)Ecosystem: as mentioned earlier, what if other insects/ mosquitoes eating animal feed on them? Since we are not sure that the larvae produced are 100% eradicated, so what will happen if the larvae alive, will the offspring become a new species of mosquitoes? When the field study carry out, ecological assessment should be carry out, e.g. what happen to the population in the area of study.

6) Cabinet approval: Wondering is there any cabinet member/ minister have knowledge of GM. This is a big decision, the cabinet should also refer to opinions from scientific community / public locally & internationally.

7) The study itself. No matter positive or negative feedbacks.  A good finding should be opened for discussion, ready to be challenged by expert or public. Just like the GM crops issues in China and UK, there were good discussion involved. These discussions will lead to better before the study begin.

I don’t play down the government effort in tackling the dengue fever, but proper control on GM materials is crucial. Also, I hope there will be more discussion involved in this issue. The government should also increase public awareness on the GM issue as well.  

There are few papers from the nature about mosquitoes that are worth reading (paiseh, I haven’t read through the papers):-

Mosquitoes: schemes to render them extinct are impracticable : Nature -  http://ow.ly/2Sv1D

Mosquitoes: retain an ex situ population for ecological insurance : Nature - http://ow.ly/2Sv2j

Mosquitoes: just how much biodiversity does humanity need? : Nature -  http://ow.ly/2Sv36

Mosquitoes: first evaluate impacts of eradicating them : Nature -   http://ow.ly/2Sv3y

The Cartagena Protocol and genetically modified mosquitoes : Nature Biotechnology -   http://ow.ly/2Sv3Z

Malaysia Boleh!

My colleagues in the UK asked me how come I have so many friends on fb and why am I so active.

I remembered that I told them I come from Malaysia, a country where her people are actively involving in social networking activities. This “genetic background” makes me so active as well, no matter where I am. :P

Recently, there is a news on BBC reported

“Malaysians have the most friends on their social networks”

“In Malaysia the average number of friends is 233,”

As well as having the most friends, Malaysians are also the heaviest users of social networking sites, spending an average of nine hours per week on them.

source: BBC News - Japan has fewest digital friends -  http://ow.ly/2ReOv

haha, we may not good in many aspects, but these facts will certainly make us proud of it..Don’t you think so?

Anyway, make use of social networking sites in a sensible and responsible ways. Use it as a platform to keep in touch with friends, families instead of spreading rumours / false information.

Trip to Cambridge

 

Travelled to Cambridge 2 days before I went back to Malaysia for one month holiday in August 2010.

Visited the Fitzwilliam Museum, colleges in Cambridge such as King's, St. John's & Trinity's

For more pictures, please visit the following link.

http://ow.ly/2Phji

Nice comments

1) a very thoughtful comment from my buddy Donah L. Moabi :-

" its better to die with failures than with potential. Dying with failures means you tried and everytime i put all my effort into  something, i’m gratified just by that fact more than the result. "

on one of the blog post (http://ow.ly/1o1ao) I shared recently

 

2) another comment on chinese blogpost (http://ow.ly/2NyLn):

“Totally agree. Having a Ph.D. doesn’t mean that one has good judgement / are quality to comment on something as an expert. Even though its not a route to wealth / riches, the whole Ph.D. process changed me fundamentally. My peers and professors in graduate school developed me personally and professionally. I wasn’t popular in high school and wasn’t smart enough to be a geek/nerd either. I discovered my identity rather late in life — in my early 30′s when I obtained my first Ph.D. I wish you all the best in your research.”

what scientist are you?

Read lulu & wenni blogs and found out this, refer the following link :)

http://science.discovery.com/brink/quiz/what-scientist-quiz.html

From the test,

I'm Tesla :p

Creative, manic, ahead of your time. Inventions and concepts pop into your head fully formed – no testing necessary. Not only that but your views of the future, while against conventional wisdom, always seem to be vindicated by history.

The original mad scientists, Teslas are not really all that practical. Sit back and watch as others make millions on your inventions and you die penniless. Good times! At least David Bowie will play you in the movies.