Now this is funny...
Try it... it really does work... it's hysterical
This is too much!
1) Go to http://www.google.com
2) Type in (but don't hit enter): "weapons of mass destruction"
3) Click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button, instead of the normal "Google Search" button.
4) READ CAREFULLY what appears to be a normal ERROR message. Make sure you read the whole error message.
Someone at Google apparently has a sense of humour.
Try this soon, before someone at Google removes it.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Robert Williams ~ Conman in Thailand
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dr Robert Williams
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 15:49:10 +0700
Subject: Strictly Confidencial From Robert Williams
To: azlan
Dr Robert Williams
Director Foreign Operations
HSBC Bangkok Thailand
Dear friend,
This letter may come to you as a surprise due to the
fact that we have not yet met. The message could be
strange but real if you pay some attention to it. I
could have notified you about it at least for the sake
of your integrity. Please accept my sincere apologies.
In bringing this message of goodwill to you, I have to
say that I have no intentions of causing you
any pains.
I am Dr Robert Williams, the Director of Foreign
Operations HSBC Bangkok Thailand. I have urgent and
very confidential business proposition for you. On
June 6 1997, an American oil consultant/contractor
with theThailand National Petroleum Corporation, Mr.
Barry Kelly made a numbered time (Fixed) deposited
for twelve calendar months, valued at US$25,000,000.00
(Twenty-five Million Dollars) in my bank. Upon
maturity, I sent a routine notification to his
forwarding address but got
no reply. After a month, we sent a reminder and
finally we discovered from his contract employers,
Thailand National Petroleum Corporation that Mr.
Barry Kelly died from an automobile accident. On
further investigation, I found
out that he did not leave a WILL and all attempts to
trace his next of kin were fruitless.
I therefore made further investigation and discovered
that Mr. Barry Kelly
did not declare any next of kin in all his official
documents, including his Bank Deposit paperwork. This
sum of US$25,000,000.00 is still sitting in the Bank
and the interest is being rolled over with the
principal sum at the end of each year. No one will
come forward to claim it. According to the Thailand
Law,
at the expiration of 5 (five) years, the money will
revert to the ownership of the Thailand Government
if nobody applies to claim the funds.
Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a
foreigner to stand in as the next of kin to Mr.
Barry
Kelly so that the fruits of this old man's labor will
not get into the hands of some corrupt officials.
This is simple, I will like you to provide me
immediately with your full names and address so that
the attorney will prepare the necessary documents and
affidavits, which will put you in place as the next
of kin. We shall employ the services of two attorneys
for drafting and notarization of the WILL and obtain
the necessary documents and letter of
probate/administration in your favor the transfer. A
bank account in any part of the world, which you
provide, will then facilitate the transfer of this
money to you as the beneficiary/next of kin. The money
will be paid into your account for us to share in the
ratio of 60% for me and 40% for you.
There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for this
transaction will be done by the attorney and my
position as the Bank Foreign Operations Director
guarantees the successful execution of this
transaction. If you are interested, please reply
immediately via the private email address below. Upon
your response, I shall then provide you with more
details and relevant documents that will help you
understand. Please observe utmost confidentiality, and
rest assured that this transaction would be most
profitable for both of us because I shall require your
assistance to invest my share in your country.
Please consider that i am still serving in the office
and keep this very confidencial, my intergrity is at
stake if you decided to share this transaction with
any one...please keep it very secret untill we get
this transfer succesfully into your account.
Awaiting your urgent reply via email : Thanks and
God bless you
Dr Robert Williams
Director Foreign Operations
HSBC Thailand
From: Dr Robert Williams
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 15:49:10 +0700
Subject: Strictly Confidencial From Robert Williams
To: azlan
Dr Robert Williams
Director Foreign Operations
HSBC Bangkok Thailand
Dear friend,
This letter may come to you as a surprise due to the
fact that we have not yet met. The message could be
strange but real if you pay some attention to it. I
could have notified you about it at least for the sake
of your integrity. Please accept my sincere apologies.
In bringing this message of goodwill to you, I have to
say that I have no intentions of causing you
any pains.
I am Dr Robert Williams, the Director of Foreign
Operations HSBC Bangkok Thailand. I have urgent and
very confidential business proposition for you. On
June 6 1997, an American oil consultant/contractor
with theThailand National Petroleum Corporation, Mr.
Barry Kelly made a numbered time (Fixed) deposited
for twelve calendar months, valued at US$25,000,000.00
(Twenty-five Million Dollars) in my bank. Upon
maturity, I sent a routine notification to his
forwarding address but got
no reply. After a month, we sent a reminder and
finally we discovered from his contract employers,
Thailand National Petroleum Corporation that Mr.
Barry Kelly died from an automobile accident. On
further investigation, I found
out that he did not leave a WILL and all attempts to
trace his next of kin were fruitless.
I therefore made further investigation and discovered
that Mr. Barry Kelly
did not declare any next of kin in all his official
documents, including his Bank Deposit paperwork. This
sum of US$25,000,000.00 is still sitting in the Bank
and the interest is being rolled over with the
principal sum at the end of each year. No one will
come forward to claim it. According to the Thailand
Law,
at the expiration of 5 (five) years, the money will
revert to the ownership of the Thailand Government
if nobody applies to claim the funds.
Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a
foreigner to stand in as the next of kin to Mr.
Barry
Kelly so that the fruits of this old man's labor will
not get into the hands of some corrupt officials.
This is simple, I will like you to provide me
immediately with your full names and address so that
the attorney will prepare the necessary documents and
affidavits, which will put you in place as the next
of kin. We shall employ the services of two attorneys
for drafting and notarization of the WILL and obtain
the necessary documents and letter of
probate/administration in your favor the transfer. A
bank account in any part of the world, which you
provide, will then facilitate the transfer of this
money to you as the beneficiary/next of kin. The money
will be paid into your account for us to share in the
ratio of 60% for me and 40% for you.
There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for this
transaction will be done by the attorney and my
position as the Bank Foreign Operations Director
guarantees the successful execution of this
transaction. If you are interested, please reply
immediately via the private email address below. Upon
your response, I shall then provide you with more
details and relevant documents that will help you
understand. Please observe utmost confidentiality, and
rest assured that this transaction would be most
profitable for both of us because I shall require your
assistance to invest my share in your country.
Please consider that i am still serving in the office
and keep this very confidencial, my intergrity is at
stake if you decided to share this transaction with
any one...please keep it very secret untill we get
this transfer succesfully into your account.
Awaiting your urgent reply via email : Thanks and
God bless you
Dr Robert Williams
Director Foreign Operations
HSBC Thailand
Sunday, September 26, 2004
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Caught in the Act...
A woman is having an affair during the day while her husband is at work.
Her 9-year-old son comes home unexpectedly, sees them and hides in the
bedroom closet to watch. The woman's husband also comes home. She puts
her lover in the closet, not realizing that the little boy is in there
already.
The little boy says, "Dark in here."
The man says, "Yes, it is."
Boy - "I have a baseball."
Man - "That's nice."
Boy - "Want to buy it?"
Man - "No, thanks."
Boy - "My dad's outside."
Man - "OK, how much?"
Boy - "$250"
In the next few weeks, it happens again that the boy and the lover are
in the closet together.
Boy - "Dark in here."
Man - "Yes, it is."
Boy - "I have a baseball glove."
The lover remembering the last time, asks the boy, "How much?"
Boy - "$750"
Man - "Fine."
A few days later, the father says to the boy, "Grab your glove, let's
go outside and have a game of catch."
The boy says, "I can't, I sold my baseball and my glove."
The father asks, "How much did you sell them for?"
Boy - "$1,000"
The father says, "That's terrible to overcharge your friends like
that... That is way more than those two things cost. I'm going to take
you to church and make you confess."
They go to the church and the father makes the little boy sit in the
confession booth and he closes the door.
The boy says, "Dark in here."
The priest says, "Don't you start that shit again..."
Her 9-year-old son comes home unexpectedly, sees them and hides in the
bedroom closet to watch. The woman's husband also comes home. She puts
her lover in the closet, not realizing that the little boy is in there
already.
The little boy says, "Dark in here."
The man says, "Yes, it is."
Boy - "I have a baseball."
Man - "That's nice."
Boy - "Want to buy it?"
Man - "No, thanks."
Boy - "My dad's outside."
Man - "OK, how much?"
Boy - "$250"
In the next few weeks, it happens again that the boy and the lover are
in the closet together.
Boy - "Dark in here."
Man - "Yes, it is."
Boy - "I have a baseball glove."
The lover remembering the last time, asks the boy, "How much?"
Boy - "$750"
Man - "Fine."
A few days later, the father says to the boy, "Grab your glove, let's
go outside and have a game of catch."
The boy says, "I can't, I sold my baseball and my glove."
The father asks, "How much did you sell them for?"
Boy - "$1,000"
The father says, "That's terrible to overcharge your friends like
that... That is way more than those two things cost. I'm going to take
you to church and make you confess."
They go to the church and the father makes the little boy sit in the
confession booth and he closes the door.
The boy says, "Dark in here."
The priest says, "Don't you start that shit again..."
Looking for Insurance Trainees
for Putrajaya Office
I'm starting an Insurance Agency in Putrajaya offering a full suite of insurance and financial services and am actively seeking and recruiting Insurance Trainees to be trained to become my agents at my new agency.
My agency is expected to be fully operational from January 2, 2005 and I'm looking for Insurance Trainees to commence training now. Applicants need to have a minimum of SPM with 6 passes, including BM, BI and Maths. Suitable candidates will be required to undergo training in Menara AIA/Wisma AIG in Kuala Lumpur for six months, during which time they will be paid a monthly training allowance of RM1,550 and given EPF and SOCSO benefits. Upon completion of their training, they are expected to work for my agency in Putrajaya. A bonus of RM3,000 will be given to those who meet an excellent Standard of Performance and pass the mandatory exams conducted by the Malaysian Institute of Insurance by the end of their training.
While no previous sales experience is required, preference will be given to those with customer service experience.
If you know of dependable, friendly, highly-motivated and affable young people with own transport and driving and/or motorbike licence, interested in building a profitable insurance career, please have them send me their CV.
The American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is one of the world's largest insurance firms and the leading US-based international insurance and financial services organisation. Our extensive network has operations in over 130 countries throughout the world. AIG holds the highest possible ratings - AAA from Standard and Poor's, AAA from Moody's and A++ from A.M. Best Company. With our financial strength and security, be assured that we will be there for you, fully committed to meet your needs.
Would it interest you to discover how YOU can be part of the American International Group, Inc. (AIG) and be professionally trained to build a profitable insurance business?
ASK ME!
Azlan Adnan, MA International Business and Management
Distribution Management
American Home Assurance Company Malaysia (991951-W)
Level 4, Wisma AIG
99 Jalan Ampang
50450 KUALA LUMPUR
H/P: 012-383 1324
Fax: 03-2058 5349
E-mail: azlan.aig@gmail.com
Copyright 2003-2004 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Around the World in 30 Days
By ZACHARY G. BEHR
August 22, 2004
ABOUT a year and a half ago, my college friend Flo Pesenti and I
finished first in the CBS-TV reality show ''The Amazing Race.'' The
show follows teams of two as they race around the world for a
million-dollar prize. During the race, we traveled 41,000 miles and
visited 13 countries in 30 days.
The show appears to have tapped into a vast national sense of
wanderlust: it recently began its fifth season, with ratings among the
top 10 prime-time shows, and has already outrun its reality-genre
competitors to an Emmy award.
Any trip that compresses so many airline flights, mad-dash cab rides
and rocky train trips into so short a time would seem to be a crash
course on how to deal with the vicissitudes of modern travel. For Flo
and me, that's exactly what it turned out to be.
Flo and I had a large degree of spontaneity forced on us by the nature
of the race, but even on a well-researched trip, it doesn't hurt to
assume everything you think you know is wrong. That wasn't hard, since
we usually didn't know much about our next destination.
Besides, we couldn't possibly carry all the necessary guides, even if
we knew in advance where we were headed. Instead, we came up with a
topographical solution: When in a new city without a clue where to go,
start walking uphill. When you feel you have reached the highest point
around, usually there will be a church or mosque or some other site
with an equally impressive view of the surrounding area. From this
vantage point, you can usually plot out the rest of your day.
Staying healthy is crucial to any vacation, but with us it was
especially so. Besides the typical bottled-water precautions (I was
usually lugging a gallon of it in my backpack), we learned to let the
locals be our guide when it came to cooked food. Near the finish line,
on a train in Vietnam, a wonderful smelling cart full of chicken
skewers and noodles passed by, and the Vietnamese passengers
immediately flocked to it for a helping of one of their traditional
dishes.
While our competitors passed up such delicacies, for fear of stomach
troubles, I dug in. Luckily, there were no gastric consequences to the
delicious, cheap fare. I now make it a point to follow the local crowd
when hungry in a foreign land, on the theory that where throngs
gather, there is good, clean food.
Airports were the scenes of the most stressful moments of the race,
since we never found out what our destination was until we began each
leg of the race. On one segment, we had to jet from Casablanca to
Munich, and a few days later made the leap from Zurich to Kuala
Lumpur, and most of the time we had no idea how to map out a trip
based solely on speed. This led to the next epiphany: the
knowledgeable airline ticket agent.
Initially, it didn't seem to make sense, given the archaic, mouseless
computers many agents were using, but they helped us to an
unfathomable degree. Naturally, they had the most up-to-date
information on flights, delays and weather conditions, but they also
seemed invariably to know the airport layout in our destination city.
When we explained that we were racing around the world, ticket agents
would always give us their full attention and -- the best part --
crucial information on all the other airlines' flights as well. And
agents can work incredibly quickly under absurd amounts of pressure,
although few may be as agile as the Mexicana ticket agent in Cancun
who booked our seats to London in 10 minutes while telling us the
precise departure, arrival and layover times of every other flight
going from Mexico to England that day.
In the air, flight crews become another information source if you
befriend them, as we took pains to do. They were particularly helpful
for driving directions to sites off the beaten path, which the TV
show's producers seemed to take a twisted delight in sending us to. On
our way back to the United States, we had to find ''The Big Kahuna''
on a rocky bluff somewhere on Oahu, and the attendants helped us find
our man.
What flight attendants did not know, some homeward-bound fellow
passenger usually did. On our way to Malaysia, a woman gave me some
critical time-saving advice about express-train service to our next
destination. Any reservations we had about striking up conversations
with complete strangers had evaporated by the end of the race.
Cabdrivers, too, were often a key support. Sometimes, it was
surprising -- even a little frightening -- to see how far cabbies
would go to satisfy our need for speed (and we were always demanding
that they go faster and faster, through some of the tightest, most
crowded streets in the world). Driving through the medina in
Marrakesh, packed with freely roaming cattle, assorted hawkers and the
occasional bewildered tourists, we pleaded with one cabdriver (and
tipped him generously) to cut around cars, and he obliged every one of
our requests without hesitation.
On average, though, taxis were about as much of a crapshoot as they
are in New York -- a different Moroccan cabby took two of our
competitors way off the route into a scary situation involving a local
government official and their being temporarily detained. They were so
shaken by the incident, they wound up being eliminated soon after.
My partner and I were traveling light in the linguistic department.
Together, we were fluent in just English, Italian and Spanish. But
communication in any tongue, I am now convinced, is as much about tone
and facial expression as it is about grammar and pronunciation.
Gesture, grunt and moan: you'll feel like an idiot, but most often get
what you want. The real universal language, however, remains a flash
of a smile and some cash -- it gets the lines of communication
humming, as it did with a Vietnamese train conductor, the only guy
standing between us and a place to sleep in an air-conditioned car on
the 24-hour trip from Saigon to Hue in 90-plus temperatures.
And when the cash runs out, just try asking. While driving through
Spain in the middle of the night on the way to a ferry that would take
us to Morocco, I mistakenly put regular unleaded gasoline into our
diesel car. I thought for sure I had put an end to the race for us.
Instead of giving up and going to a hotel for the night as another
team did (which got them eliminated), we trekked half a mile back to
the station, where I pleaded with the attendant to get help. He made a
phone call and woke up a mechanic friend; a few stressful hours later
we were back on the road.
In general, getting help was easy. Flo would walk up to strangers on
the street, wearing a look of desperation, and beg for directions or
some other form of assistance. Manage your finances properly, and you
won't have to walk into a Munich pizza shop and ask for a free slice,
as I did (the shop owner handed one over). But when you have no other
choice, you would be astonished by how generous people can be to total
strangers.
Flo and I didn't get along -- she was constantly threatening to quit.
And I wouldn't let us spend more than a few dollars on food, which I
somehow deemed unnecessary. In fact, the tension between us eventually
became one of the main subplots of the show that season. Yet
interpersonal dynamics, I have come to believe, are overrated. Our
friction-filled dynamic was perfect because it led us to victory. We
excelled because our roles were defined. I was the driver and
navigator and eternally optimistic one; Flo was in charge of creating
instant relationships with strangers and getting crucial bits of
information along the way, as well as doing much of the legwork at
airports. We focused on the journey, and not on each other, and what
we got out of ''The Amazing Race,'' besides the million-dollar prize
money, was this: Sometimes, you need to let the trip take you, instead
of the other way around.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
Are you an Intrepid Traveller?
AIG Assist
is Travel Insurance Coverage that provides
Global Travel Protection
Call Azlan Adnan for details:
012-383 1324
August 22, 2004
ABOUT a year and a half ago, my college friend Flo Pesenti and I
finished first in the CBS-TV reality show ''The Amazing Race.'' The
show follows teams of two as they race around the world for a
million-dollar prize. During the race, we traveled 41,000 miles and
visited 13 countries in 30 days.
The show appears to have tapped into a vast national sense of
wanderlust: it recently began its fifth season, with ratings among the
top 10 prime-time shows, and has already outrun its reality-genre
competitors to an Emmy award.
Any trip that compresses so many airline flights, mad-dash cab rides
and rocky train trips into so short a time would seem to be a crash
course on how to deal with the vicissitudes of modern travel. For Flo
and me, that's exactly what it turned out to be.
Flo and I had a large degree of spontaneity forced on us by the nature
of the race, but even on a well-researched trip, it doesn't hurt to
assume everything you think you know is wrong. That wasn't hard, since
we usually didn't know much about our next destination.
Besides, we couldn't possibly carry all the necessary guides, even if
we knew in advance where we were headed. Instead, we came up with a
topographical solution: When in a new city without a clue where to go,
start walking uphill. When you feel you have reached the highest point
around, usually there will be a church or mosque or some other site
with an equally impressive view of the surrounding area. From this
vantage point, you can usually plot out the rest of your day.
Staying healthy is crucial to any vacation, but with us it was
especially so. Besides the typical bottled-water precautions (I was
usually lugging a gallon of it in my backpack), we learned to let the
locals be our guide when it came to cooked food. Near the finish line,
on a train in Vietnam, a wonderful smelling cart full of chicken
skewers and noodles passed by, and the Vietnamese passengers
immediately flocked to it for a helping of one of their traditional
dishes.
While our competitors passed up such delicacies, for fear of stomach
troubles, I dug in. Luckily, there were no gastric consequences to the
delicious, cheap fare. I now make it a point to follow the local crowd
when hungry in a foreign land, on the theory that where throngs
gather, there is good, clean food.
Airports were the scenes of the most stressful moments of the race,
since we never found out what our destination was until we began each
leg of the race. On one segment, we had to jet from Casablanca to
Munich, and a few days later made the leap from Zurich to Kuala
Lumpur, and most of the time we had no idea how to map out a trip
based solely on speed. This led to the next epiphany: the
knowledgeable airline ticket agent.
Initially, it didn't seem to make sense, given the archaic, mouseless
computers many agents were using, but they helped us to an
unfathomable degree. Naturally, they had the most up-to-date
information on flights, delays and weather conditions, but they also
seemed invariably to know the airport layout in our destination city.
When we explained that we were racing around the world, ticket agents
would always give us their full attention and -- the best part --
crucial information on all the other airlines' flights as well. And
agents can work incredibly quickly under absurd amounts of pressure,
although few may be as agile as the Mexicana ticket agent in Cancun
who booked our seats to London in 10 minutes while telling us the
precise departure, arrival and layover times of every other flight
going from Mexico to England that day.
In the air, flight crews become another information source if you
befriend them, as we took pains to do. They were particularly helpful
for driving directions to sites off the beaten path, which the TV
show's producers seemed to take a twisted delight in sending us to. On
our way back to the United States, we had to find ''The Big Kahuna''
on a rocky bluff somewhere on Oahu, and the attendants helped us find
our man.
What flight attendants did not know, some homeward-bound fellow
passenger usually did. On our way to Malaysia, a woman gave me some
critical time-saving advice about express-train service to our next
destination. Any reservations we had about striking up conversations
with complete strangers had evaporated by the end of the race.
Cabdrivers, too, were often a key support. Sometimes, it was
surprising -- even a little frightening -- to see how far cabbies
would go to satisfy our need for speed (and we were always demanding
that they go faster and faster, through some of the tightest, most
crowded streets in the world). Driving through the medina in
Marrakesh, packed with freely roaming cattle, assorted hawkers and the
occasional bewildered tourists, we pleaded with one cabdriver (and
tipped him generously) to cut around cars, and he obliged every one of
our requests without hesitation.
On average, though, taxis were about as much of a crapshoot as they
are in New York -- a different Moroccan cabby took two of our
competitors way off the route into a scary situation involving a local
government official and their being temporarily detained. They were so
shaken by the incident, they wound up being eliminated soon after.
My partner and I were traveling light in the linguistic department.
Together, we were fluent in just English, Italian and Spanish. But
communication in any tongue, I am now convinced, is as much about tone
and facial expression as it is about grammar and pronunciation.
Gesture, grunt and moan: you'll feel like an idiot, but most often get
what you want. The real universal language, however, remains a flash
of a smile and some cash -- it gets the lines of communication
humming, as it did with a Vietnamese train conductor, the only guy
standing between us and a place to sleep in an air-conditioned car on
the 24-hour trip from Saigon to Hue in 90-plus temperatures.
And when the cash runs out, just try asking. While driving through
Spain in the middle of the night on the way to a ferry that would take
us to Morocco, I mistakenly put regular unleaded gasoline into our
diesel car. I thought for sure I had put an end to the race for us.
Instead of giving up and going to a hotel for the night as another
team did (which got them eliminated), we trekked half a mile back to
the station, where I pleaded with the attendant to get help. He made a
phone call and woke up a mechanic friend; a few stressful hours later
we were back on the road.
In general, getting help was easy. Flo would walk up to strangers on
the street, wearing a look of desperation, and beg for directions or
some other form of assistance. Manage your finances properly, and you
won't have to walk into a Munich pizza shop and ask for a free slice,
as I did (the shop owner handed one over). But when you have no other
choice, you would be astonished by how generous people can be to total
strangers.
Flo and I didn't get along -- she was constantly threatening to quit.
And I wouldn't let us spend more than a few dollars on food, which I
somehow deemed unnecessary. In fact, the tension between us eventually
became one of the main subplots of the show that season. Yet
interpersonal dynamics, I have come to believe, are overrated. Our
friction-filled dynamic was perfect because it led us to victory. We
excelled because our roles were defined. I was the driver and
navigator and eternally optimistic one; Flo was in charge of creating
instant relationships with strangers and getting crucial bits of
information along the way, as well as doing much of the legwork at
airports. We focused on the journey, and not on each other, and what
we got out of ''The Amazing Race,'' besides the million-dollar prize
money, was this: Sometimes, you need to let the trip take you, instead
of the other way around.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
Are you an Intrepid Traveller?
AIG Assist
is Travel Insurance Coverage that provides
Global Travel Protection
Call Azlan Adnan for details:
012-383 1324
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Up-Coming Roadshows
I shall be conducting the following roadshows to sign up customers for credit cards, balance transfer, Flexi-3 (Personal Protection, Medical Care and Critical Illness insurance), motor insurance, houseowner insurance and householder insurance, life insurance and investment-linked insurance.
Do drop by if you are interested to find out more.
Wednesday, September 22
6 pm to 11 pm
Klinik Zahida
Kg Tunku, PJ
Thursday, September 23
11 am to 4 pm
Tanglin Community Polyclinic Cafeteria & Kantin Kelab Kesihatan
Ministry of Health
Jalan Cenderasari, KL
Friday, September 24
11 am to 4 pm
Tanglin Community Polyclinic Cafeteria & Kantin Kelab Kesihatan
Ministry of Health
Jalan Cenderasari, KL
Monday, September 27 (postponed)
11 am to 5 pm
PUSB Kafeteria
Statistics Department
PUTRAJAYA
Thursday, September 30
11 am to 4 pm
Kompleks Kejiranan Presint 16
PUTRAJAYA
Monday, October 4
11 am to 4 pm
Attorney-General's Chambers
Block C3, Parcel C
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan
62512 PUTRAJAYA
Tuesday, October 5
11 am to 4 pm
Kompleks Kejiranan Presint 16
PUTRAJAYA
Thursday, October 7 (cancelled)
11 am to 4 pm
Attorney-General's Chambers
Block C3, Parcel C
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan
62512 PUTRAJAYA
Friday, October 8 (cancelled)
11 am to 4 pm
Attorney-General's Chambers
Block C3, Parcel C
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan
62512 PUTRAJAYA
Monday, October 11
11 am to 4 pm
Tanglin Community Polyclinic Cafeteria & Kantin Kelab Kesihatan
Ministry of Health
Jalan Cenderasari, KL
Tuesday, October 12
11 am to 4 pm
Tanglin Community Polyclinic Cafeteria & Kantin Kelab Kesihatan
Ministry of Health
Jalan Cenderasari, KL
Thursday, October 14 (cancelled)
11 am to 4 pm
Attorney-General's Chambers
Block C3, Parcel C
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan
62512 PUTRAJAYA
Monday, October 18 (to be confirmed)
10 am to 5 pm
Wisma Denmark
86 Jalan Ampang
50450 KUALA LUMPUR
Tuesday, October 19, 2004 (to be confirmed)
11 am to 5 pm
Malakoff Berhad
Level 13, Block 3B
Plaza Sentral
Jalan Stesen Sentral 5
50470 KUALA LUMPUR
Wednesday, October 20
6 pm to 11 pm
Klinik Zahida
Kg Tunku, PJ
Monday, October 25
11 am to 4 pm
Tanglin Community Polyclinic Cafeteria & Kantin Kelab Kesihatan
Ministry of Health
Jalan Cenderasari, KL
Tuesday, October 26
11 am to 4 pm
Tanglin Community Polyclinic Cafeteria & Kantin Kelab Kesihatan
Ministry of Health
Jalan Cenderasari, KL
Tuesday, November 2, 2004 (tentative)
11 am to 5 pm
Menara Maxis
KLCC, off Jalan Ampang
50088 KUALA LUMPUR
Wednesday, November 10, 2004 (tentative)
11 am to 5 pm
Balai Berita
31 Jalan Riong
Bangsar
59100 KUALA LUMPUR
If you would like to make suggestions as to where I should conduct roadshows,
do let me know. Of course, I don't pay rental (can't afford-lah!)
warm regards
Azlan Adnan
012-383 1324
Edifying Stuff from Singapore
TRUST is a very important factor for all relationships. When trust is
broken, it is the end of the relationship. Lack of trust leads to
suspicion, suspicion generates anger, anger causes enmity and
enmity may result in separation.
A telephone operator told me that one day she received a phone call.
She answered, "Public Utilities Board." There was silence. She
repeated, "PUB."
There was still no answer. When she was going to cut off the line,
she Heard a lady's voice, "Oh, so this is PUB. Sorry, I got the
number from my husband's pocket but I do not know whose number it
is." Without mutual trust, just imagine what will happen to the
couple if the telephone operator answered with just "hello" instead
of "PUB."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
NO POINTING FINGERS
A man asked his father-in-law, "Many people praised you for a
successful marriage. Could you please share with me your secret?" The
father-in-law answered in a smile, "Never criticise your wife for her
shortcomings or when she does something wrong. Always bear in mind
that because of her shortcomings and weaknesses, she could not find a
better husband than you."
We all look forward to being loved and respected. Many people are
afraid of losing face. Generally, when a person makes a mistake, he
would look around to find a scapegoat to point the finger at.
This is the start of a war. We should always remember that when we
point one finger at a person, the other four fingers are pointing at
ourselves.
If we forgive others, others will ignore our mistake too.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CREATING PERFECT RELATIONSHIPS?
A person visited the government matchmaker for marriage,
Social Development Unit (SDU), and requested
"I am looking for a spouse. Please help me to find a
suitable one."
The SDU officer said, "Your requirements, please." "Oh, good looking,
polite, humorous, sporty, knowledgeable, good in singing and dancing.
Willing to accompany me the whole day at home during my leisure hour,
if I don't go out. Telling me interesting stories when I need
companion for conversation and be silent when I want to rest."
The officer listened carefully and replied, "I understand you need
television."
There is a saying that a perfect match can only be found between a
blind wife and a deaf husband, because the blind wife cannot see the
faults of the husband and the deaf husband cannot hear the nagging of
the wife.
Many couples are blind and deaf at the courting stage and dream of
perpetual perfect relationship. Unfortunately, when the excitement of
love wears off, they wake up and discover that marriage is not a bed
of roses.
The nightmare begins.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
NO OVERPOWERING
Many relationships fail because one party tries to overpower another,
or demands too much. People in love tend to think that love will
conquer all and their spouses will change the bad habits after
marriage.
Actually, this is not the case. There is a Chinese saying which
carries the meaning that "It is easier to reshape a mountain or a
river than a person's character."
It is not easy to change. Thus, having high expectation on changing
the spouse character will cause disappointment and unpleasantness.
It would be less painful to change ourselves and lower our
expectations...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
RIGHT SPEECH
There is a Chinese saying which carries the meaning that "a speech
will either prosper or ruin a nation." Many relationships break off
because of wrong speech. When a couple is too close with each other,
we always forget mutual respect and courtesy. We may say anything
without considering if it would hurt the other party.
A friend and her millionaire husband visited their construction site.
A worker who wore a helmet saw her and shouted, "Hi, Emily! Remember
me? We used to date in the secondary school." On the way home, her
millionaire husband teased her, "Luckily you married me. Otherwise
you will be the wife of a construction worker." She answered, "You
should appreciate that you married me. Otherwise, he will be the
millionaire and not you."
Frequently exchanging these remarks plants the seed for a bad
relationship.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PERSONAL PERCEPTION
Different people have different perception. One man's meat could be
another man's poison. A couple bought a donkey from the market. On
the way home, a boy commented, "Very stupid. Why neither of them ride
on the donkey?"
Upon hearing that, the husband let the wife ride on the donkey.
He walked besides them. Later, an old man saw it and commented, "The
husband is the head of family.
How can the wife ride on the donkey while the husband is on foot?"
Hearing this, the wife quickly got down and let the husband ride on
the donkey.
Further on the way home, they met an old Lady. She commented, "How
can the man ride on the donkey but let the wife walk. He is no
gentleman."
The husband thus quickly asked the wife to join him on the donkey.
Then, they met a young man. He commented, "Poor donkey, how can you
hold up the weight of two persons. They are cruel to you."
Hearing that, the husband and wife immediately climbed down from the
donkey and carried it on their shoulders. It seems to be the only
choice left.
Later, on a narrow bridge, the donkey was frightened and struggled.
They lost their balance and fell into the river.
You can never have everyone praise you, nor will everyone condemn
you.
Never in the past, not at present, and never will be in the future.
Thus, do not be too bothered by others words if our conscience is
clear...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
BE PATIENT
This is a true story which happened in the States.
A man came out of his home to admire his new truck. To his
puzzlement, his three-year-old son was happily hammering dents into
the shiny paint of the truck.
The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy's
hands into pulp as punishment.
When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital.
Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he
finally had to amputate the fingers from both the boy's hands.
When the boy woke up from the surgery & saw his bandaged stubs, he
innocently said, " Daddy, I'm sorry about your truck." Then he asked,
"but when are my fingers going to grow back?"
The father went home & committed suicide. Think about this story the
next time someone steps on your feet or u wish to take revenge. Think
first before u lose your patience with someone u love. Trucks can be
repaired.. Broken bones & hurt feelings often can't.
Too often we fail to recognise the difference between the person and
the performance. We forget that forgiveness is greater than revenge.
People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the
actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Pause and ponder. Think before you act. Be patient. Forgive & forget.
Love one and all.
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Thank you for your time reading this.
This email, including any attachments, is confidential and for use only by
intended recipient(s) for the purpose for which it has been sent. Its
contents may be privileged and if you are not the intended recipient of this
email, you must not use, disseminate, print or copy this email or any part
of it or take any action in reliance on it. If you have received this email
in error, please contact the sender immediately by return email or telephone
and delete/destroy the message.
We do not accept liability for any corruption, delay, interception or
unauthorized amendment of the e-mail or their consequences.
broken, it is the end of the relationship. Lack of trust leads to
suspicion, suspicion generates anger, anger causes enmity and
enmity may result in separation.
A telephone operator told me that one day she received a phone call.
She answered, "Public Utilities Board." There was silence. She
repeated, "PUB."
There was still no answer. When she was going to cut off the line,
she Heard a lady's voice, "Oh, so this is PUB. Sorry, I got the
number from my husband's pocket but I do not know whose number it
is." Without mutual trust, just imagine what will happen to the
couple if the telephone operator answered with just "hello" instead
of "PUB."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
NO POINTING FINGERS
A man asked his father-in-law, "Many people praised you for a
successful marriage. Could you please share with me your secret?" The
father-in-law answered in a smile, "Never criticise your wife for her
shortcomings or when she does something wrong. Always bear in mind
that because of her shortcomings and weaknesses, she could not find a
better husband than you."
We all look forward to being loved and respected. Many people are
afraid of losing face. Generally, when a person makes a mistake, he
would look around to find a scapegoat to point the finger at.
This is the start of a war. We should always remember that when we
point one finger at a person, the other four fingers are pointing at
ourselves.
If we forgive others, others will ignore our mistake too.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CREATING PERFECT RELATIONSHIPS?
A person visited the government matchmaker for marriage,
Social Development Unit (SDU), and requested
"I am looking for a spouse. Please help me to find a
suitable one."
The SDU officer said, "Your requirements, please." "Oh, good looking,
polite, humorous, sporty, knowledgeable, good in singing and dancing.
Willing to accompany me the whole day at home during my leisure hour,
if I don't go out. Telling me interesting stories when I need
companion for conversation and be silent when I want to rest."
The officer listened carefully and replied, "I understand you need
television."
There is a saying that a perfect match can only be found between a
blind wife and a deaf husband, because the blind wife cannot see the
faults of the husband and the deaf husband cannot hear the nagging of
the wife.
Many couples are blind and deaf at the courting stage and dream of
perpetual perfect relationship. Unfortunately, when the excitement of
love wears off, they wake up and discover that marriage is not a bed
of roses.
The nightmare begins.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
NO OVERPOWERING
Many relationships fail because one party tries to overpower another,
or demands too much. People in love tend to think that love will
conquer all and their spouses will change the bad habits after
marriage.
Actually, this is not the case. There is a Chinese saying which
carries the meaning that "It is easier to reshape a mountain or a
river than a person's character."
It is not easy to change. Thus, having high expectation on changing
the spouse character will cause disappointment and unpleasantness.
It would be less painful to change ourselves and lower our
expectations...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
RIGHT SPEECH
There is a Chinese saying which carries the meaning that "a speech
will either prosper or ruin a nation." Many relationships break off
because of wrong speech. When a couple is too close with each other,
we always forget mutual respect and courtesy. We may say anything
without considering if it would hurt the other party.
A friend and her millionaire husband visited their construction site.
A worker who wore a helmet saw her and shouted, "Hi, Emily! Remember
me? We used to date in the secondary school." On the way home, her
millionaire husband teased her, "Luckily you married me. Otherwise
you will be the wife of a construction worker." She answered, "You
should appreciate that you married me. Otherwise, he will be the
millionaire and not you."
Frequently exchanging these remarks plants the seed for a bad
relationship.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PERSONAL PERCEPTION
Different people have different perception. One man's meat could be
another man's poison. A couple bought a donkey from the market. On
the way home, a boy commented, "Very stupid. Why neither of them ride
on the donkey?"
Upon hearing that, the husband let the wife ride on the donkey.
He walked besides them. Later, an old man saw it and commented, "The
husband is the head of family.
How can the wife ride on the donkey while the husband is on foot?"
Hearing this, the wife quickly got down and let the husband ride on
the donkey.
Further on the way home, they met an old Lady. She commented, "How
can the man ride on the donkey but let the wife walk. He is no
gentleman."
The husband thus quickly asked the wife to join him on the donkey.
Then, they met a young man. He commented, "Poor donkey, how can you
hold up the weight of two persons. They are cruel to you."
Hearing that, the husband and wife immediately climbed down from the
donkey and carried it on their shoulders. It seems to be the only
choice left.
Later, on a narrow bridge, the donkey was frightened and struggled.
They lost their balance and fell into the river.
You can never have everyone praise you, nor will everyone condemn
you.
Never in the past, not at present, and never will be in the future.
Thus, do not be too bothered by others words if our conscience is
clear...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
BE PATIENT
This is a true story which happened in the States.
A man came out of his home to admire his new truck. To his
puzzlement, his three-year-old son was happily hammering dents into
the shiny paint of the truck.
The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy's
hands into pulp as punishment.
When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital.
Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he
finally had to amputate the fingers from both the boy's hands.
When the boy woke up from the surgery & saw his bandaged stubs, he
innocently said, " Daddy, I'm sorry about your truck." Then he asked,
"but when are my fingers going to grow back?"
The father went home & committed suicide. Think about this story the
next time someone steps on your feet or u wish to take revenge. Think
first before u lose your patience with someone u love. Trucks can be
repaired.. Broken bones & hurt feelings often can't.
Too often we fail to recognise the difference between the person and
the performance. We forget that forgiveness is greater than revenge.
People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the
actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Pause and ponder. Think before you act. Be patient. Forgive & forget.
Love one and all.
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Thank you for your time reading this.
This email, including any attachments, is confidential and for use only by
intended recipient(s) for the purpose for which it has been sent. Its
contents may be privileged and if you are not the intended recipient of this
email, you must not use, disseminate, print or copy this email or any part
of it or take any action in reliance on it. If you have received this email
in error, please contact the sender immediately by return email or telephone
and delete/destroy the message.
We do not accept liability for any corruption, delay, interception or
unauthorized amendment of the e-mail or their consequences.
Monday, September 20, 2004
Patience has its Rewards!
(",)azlan::~~~
The Absolutely Hilarious, Fabulously Wonderful Guy!
VIRGO
September 20, 2004
One thing follows another. You know the drill, although you may have questions about the current process. Stay the course no matter how rough the ride. Instead of calling this a race, your objective should be arranging it so that everybody wins. Avoid possible distractions and false impressions from spectators -- much of it is just background noise. Cope with this instead of making it go away. If you need quiet time now, you're out of luck.
If you're patient, you'll find some peace later.
~~~ (",) ~~~
LIBRA
September 20, 2004
Nudge an ongoing project a little closer to completion. With the end in sight at last, it would be a shame to stop now. You feel good about yourself in many areas of your life. You're not afraid to announce yourself to the world at large. Whether through language skills or calculated movements, you're unusually expressive when it comes to getting your point across. Your partner is willing to give in on certain issues that have been a sore point between you. Understand that this is about equality, not victory.
Everything you do is destined to bring you closer together.
Copyright 2003-2004 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Introduction to Insurance and Takaful
This is an introductory guide to help you understand insurance and takaful. It gives you some information on the types of insurance and takaful business, the basic principles of insurance and takaful, what to do in the event of loss and avenues for complaints.
What is insurance?
Insurance is the transfer of risk by an individual or organisation, known as the policy owner, to the insurance company. In return, the insurance company receives payment in the form of premium. In the event of loss suffered by the policy owner, the insurance company will compensate for the loss or damage.
Types of insurance
There are two main types of insurance i.e. life and general insurance:
Table 1
Basic principles of insurance
The four main principles of insurance are:
1) Insurable interest
You would have an interest in the insured item or life such that, a loss or damage to the item or life insured, would result in a financial loss to you. For example, if you have sold your car, you should also stop insuring it because you no longer have any insurable interest. If you continue to insure it, the insurance company will not pay you in the event of loss or damage to the car.
2) Utmost good faith (Uberrimae fides)
An insurance contract is a contract of utmost good faith. You, as the policy owner, must disclose all material facts when buying a policy. If you fail to disclose any material fact, the policy may become invalid.
3) Indemnity
Only applies to the physical damage to a property (e.g. damage to a building or motor vehicle) where the loss can be quantified in monetary terms. You cannot 'profit' from an insurance policy. In the event that you suffer a loss, the insurance company will pay or 'indemnify' you to the position you were in before the loss.
4) Contribution
It is not necessary to buy more than one policy to protect a particular property. If you do buy more than one, in the event of loss or damage to the property, you can only make one claim. The amount payable will then be contributed by the insurance companies involved. However, if you wish to cover your life, you can buy more than one policy.
What is takaful?
Takaful is a protection plan based on Shariah principles. You contribute a sum of money to a common takaful fund in the form of participative contribution (tabarru'). You undertake a contract (aqad) to become one of the participants by agreeing to mutually help each other, should any of the participants suffer a defined loss.
Sharing of surplus
. One unique feature of a takaful plan is the sharing of surplus of the fund between you and the takaful operation based on a pre-agreed ratio.
. The surplus is arrived at after deducting expenses such as claims, re-takaful, technical reserves and management expenses.
. You are entitled to this surplus if you had not made a claim during the period of takaful.
. For example, a takaful operator has total surplus (S) of RM4 million and total general contribution (GC) of RM10 million. Your contribution (C) for the year is RM1,000 and surplus will be shared between you and the takaful operator at a pre-agreed sharing ratio (PSR) of 50:50. The share of surplus that you will receive is calculated as follows:
Equation 1
Shariah Supervisory Council
To ensure compliance with Shariah principles:
. Takaful operators are required to set up Shariah Supervisory Councils, which advise management and ensure that their activities comply with Shariah principles.
. The National Shariah Advisory Council on Islamic Banking and Takaful has been set up at Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to advise BNM on the Shariah aspects of the operations of Islamic banking institutions and takaful operators, as well as of their products and services.
Takaful products and services
There are two types of takaful business:
Table 2
Basic principles of takaful
. You must have a legitimate financial interest in the subject matter to participate in a takaful plan.
. A takaful contract is based on the principle of utmost good faith (trust), whereby you need to disclose all material information required.
. You can only recover your financial loss and not gain any profit as a result of a quantifiable loss.
. In determining the compensation, the takaful operator will identify the actual most important cause that brought about the loss.
. After you have been compensated for your loss, the takaful operator has the right to claim from any third party responsible for your loss.
. If a loss is covered by more than one takaful plans or insurance policies, the takaful operator that has made payment to you may call upon other takaful operators or insurance companies to contribute proportionately to the payment.
Where can I get an insurance or takaful product?
You can buy an insurance policy or participate in a takaful plan:
. directly from insurance companies or takaful operators;
. through registered agents or licensed brokers;
. from banking institutions having bancassurance arrangements with insurance companies or takaful operators; and
. via the internet.
Useful pointers when buying an insurance policy or participating in a takaful plan
. Understand the policy or plan including product features, conditions, benefits limitations and exclusions.
. Ensure that the premium or contribution payable is affordable.
. Ensure that the amount of coverage taken is adequate and suits your needs.
. Ensure that all material facts are fully disclosed.
. Deal only with registered agents/licensed brokers or directly with an insurance company or takaful operator.
. Monitor the period of coverage and time for payment of premium or contribution.
How to make a claim?
. Check your policy or certificate
. Check whether the loss or damage is covered.
- Check on items excluded or any proportion of loss that you will have to bear (excess).
- If you are in doubt about the proper procedures you should seek advice from your insurance company or takaful operator, your agent or broker.
. Notify your insurance company or takaful operator
. Notify your insurance company or takaful operator about the accident as soon as possible.
- Request for a claim form and seek advice on the documents required to support your claim.
- In some cases, a police report may be required. For motor accident, a police report must be made within 24 hours.
. Provide complete and correct information
- Be cooperative and give all the information requested by your insurance company or takaful operator or its representative (usually an adjuster).
- Incorrect or incomplete information will cause delay in processing your claim.
. Keep copies of all documents
- Keep copies and records of all documents such as bills, reports and correspondences.
. Communicate frequently
- The insurance company or takaful operator should acknowledge receipt of your claim within seven days.
- Keep in regular contact with your insurance company or takaful operator until the claim is resolved.
- If the offer made does not meet with your expectation, you may negotiate with your insurance company or takaful operator. Both parties should undertake negotiations in good faith.
How to make a complaint?
If you are unhappy with your insurance company or takaful operator, or you feel that you have been unfairly treated, you have several avenues for redress before going to court.
Avenues for resolving complaints
Complaints Unit of the insurance company or takaful operator
. You should first submit your complaint to the Complaints Unit.
. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the complaint resolution, you can submit your complaint either to the Insurance Mediation Bureau (IMB) or BNM. The Complaints Unit should advise you on the next proper avenue to deal with your complaint.
. When forwarding your complaint to either IMB or BNM, attach a copy of the decision letter of the insurance company or takaful operator.
. To allow your complaint to be handled effectively you need to:
- make your complaint in writing;
- state essential information of your case clearly such as the name of the insurance company or takaful operator;
- relay your complaint in a sensible order and include relevant dates and reference numbers, e.g. the policy or certificate number and vehicle registration number, if relevant;
- give your contact address and telephone numbers;
- attach copies of relevant documents and retain the originals; and
- retain a copy of your complaint letter for reference.
Insurance Mediation Bureau
. IMB is an independent body established by the insurance industry with the support of BNM to resolve disputes arising from an insurance policy or takaful certificate.
. If IMB makes a decision in your favour, the insurance company or takaful operator must abide by the decision. The insurance company or takaful operator will pay the mediated settlement sum directly to you within 30 days.
. If you are not satisfied with the IMB's decision, you may take the case to court.
Types of complaints handled by IMB
. Disputes/claims involving amounts up to RM100,000.
. Disputes on claims involving terms and conditions of policy or certificate.
. Cases referred must be within six months after receiving the final decision of the insurance company or takaful operator.
Types of complaints not handled by IMB
. Cases involving claims above RM100,000.
. Complaints involving third party claims.
. Complaints involving underwriting issues.
. Complaints that have been referred to a court of law (or arbitration).
Address:
Insurance Mediation Bureau
4th Floor, Wisma Harwant
106, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman
50100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2693 9419/2693 9623
Fax: 03-2693 6816
Bank Negara Malaysia
You may forward your complaint to BNM if it is not under the jurisdiction of IMB or the complaint cannot be resolved by the Complaints Unit of the insurance company or takaful operator.
Types of complaints not handled by BNM
. Complaints that have been referred to IMB.
. Complaints that have been mediated and decided by IMB.
. The case has been referred to your solicitors or legal actions have been instituted.
. The case pertains to institutions not under BNM's supervision, such as repair workshops and managed care organisations.
. The complaint is made by agents against their principals or on employer/employee relationships or other matters not related to insurance or takaful.
Address:
For insurance matters
Customer Service Bureau
Insurance Regulation Department
Bank Negara Malaysia
P.O. Box 10922
50929 KUALA LUMPUR
Tel: 03-2698 8044
Fax: 03-2694 5986
For takaful matters
Islamic Banking and Takaful Department
Bank Negara Malaysia
P.O. Box 10922
50929 KUALA LUMPUR
Tel: 03-2698 8044
Fax: 03-2693 3826
Table 3
Other Complaint Bureaus
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Azlan Adnan has sent you an interesting Page from RichDad.com
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Rich Dad, Poor Dad: Chapter One
That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
Chapter One
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
As narrated by Robert Kiyosaki
I had two fathers, a rich one and a poor one. One was highly educated and
intelligent; he had a Ph.D. and completed four years of undergraduate work in
less than two years. He then went on to Stanford University, the University of
Chicago, and Northwestern University to do his advanced studies, all on full
financial scholarships. The other father never finished the eighth grade.
Both men were successful in their careers, working hard all their lives. Both
earned substantial incomes. Yet one struggled financially all his life. The
other would become one of the richest men in Hawaii. One died leaving tens of
millions of dollars to his family, charities and his church. The other left
bills to be paid.
Both men were strong, charismatic and influential. Both men offered me advice,
but they did not advise the same things. Both men believed strongly in
education but did not recommend the same course of study.
If I had had only one dad, I would have had to accept or reject his advice.
Having two dads advising me offered me the choice of contrasting points of
view; one of a rich man and one of a poor man.
Instead of simply accepting or rejecting one or the other, I found myself
thinking more, comparing and then choosing for myself.
The problem was, the rich man was not rich yet and the poor man not yet poor.
Both were just starting out on their careers, and both were struggling with
money and families. But they had very different points of view about the
subject of money.
For example, one dad would say, “The love of money is the root of all evil.�
The other, “The lack of money is the root of all evil.�
As a young boy, having two strong fathers influencing me was difficult. I
wanted to be a good son and listen, but the two fathers did not say the same
things. The contrast in their points of view, particularly where money was
concerned, was so extreme that I grew curious and intrigued. I began to start
thinking for long periods of time about what each was saying.
Much of my private time was spent reflecting, asking myself questions such as,
“Why does he say that?� and then asking the same question of the other dad’s
statement. It would have been much easier to simply say, “Yeah, he’s right. I
agree with that.� Or to simply reject the point of view by saying, “The old man
doesn’t know what he’s talking about.� Instead, having two dads whom I loved
forced me to think and ultimately choose a way of thinking for myself. As a
process, choosing for myself turned out to be much more valuable in the long
run, rather than simply accepting or rejecting a single point of view.
One of the reasons the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle
class struggles in debt is because the subject of money is taught at home, not
in school. Most of us learn about money from our parents. So what can a poor
parent tell their child about money? They simply say “Stay in school and study
hard.� The child may graduate with excellent grades but with a poor person’s
financial programming and mind-set. It was learned while the child was young.
Money is not taught in schools. Schools focus on scholastic and professional
skills, but not on financial skills. This explains how smart bankers, doctors
and accountants who earned excellent grades in school may still struggle
financially all of their lives. Our staggering national debt is due in large
part to highly educated politicians and government officials making financial
decisions with little or no training on the subject of money.
I often look ahead to the new millennium and wonder what will happen when we
have millions of people who will need financial and medical assistance. They
will be dependent on their families or the government for financial support.
What will happen when Medicare and Social Security run out of money? How will a
nation survive if teaching children about money continues to left to parents –
most of whom will be, or already are, poor?
Because I had two influential fathers, I learned from both of them. I had to
think about each dad’s advice, and in doing so, I gained valuable insight into
the power and effect of one’s thoughts on one’s life. For example, one dad had
a habit of saying, “I can’t afford it.� The other dad forbade those words to be
used. He insisted I say, “How can I afford it?� Once is a statement, and the
other is a question. One lets you off the hook, and the other forces you to
think. My soon-to-be-rich dad would explain that by automatically saying the
words “I can’t afford it,� your brain stops working. By asking the question
“How can I afford it?� your brain is put to work. He did not mean buy
everything you wanted. He was fanatical about exercising your mind, the most
powerful computer in the world. “My brain gets stronger every day because I
exercise it. The stronger it gets, the more money I can make.� He believed that
automatically saying “I can’t afford it� was a sign of mental laziness.
Although both dads worked hard, I noticed that one dad had a habit of putting
his brain to sleep when it came to money matters, and the other had a habit of
exercising his brain. The long-term result was that one dad grew stronger
financially and the other grew weaker. It is not much different from a person
who goes to the gym to exercise on a regular basis versus someone who sits on
the couch watching television. Proper physical exercise increases your chances
for health, and proper mental exercise increases your chances for wealth.
My two dads had opposing attitudes in though. One dad thought that the rich
should pay more in taxes to take care of those less fortunate. The other said,
“Taxes punish those who produce and reward those who don’t produce.�
One dad recommended, “Study hard so you can find a good company to work for.�
The other recommended, “Study hard so you can find a good company to buy.�
One dad said, “The reason I’m not rich is because I have you kids.� The other
said, “The reason I must be rich is because I have you kids.�
One encouraged talking about money and business at the dinner table. The other
forbade the subject of money to be discussed over a meal.
One said, “When it comes to money, play it safe, don’t take risks.� The other
said, “Learn to manage risk.�
One believed, “Our home is our largest investment and our greatest asset.� The
other believed, “My house is a liability, and if your house is your largest
investment, you’re in trouble.�
Both dads paid their bills on time, yet one paid his bills first while the
other paid his bills last.
One dad believed in a company or the government taking care of you and your
needs. He was always concerned about pay raises, retirement plans, medical
benefits, sick leave, vacation days and other perks. He was impressed with two
of his uncles who joined the military are earned a retirement and entitlement
package for life after twenty years of service. He loved the idea of medical
benefits and PX privileges the military provided its retirees. He also loved
the tenure life and job benefits seemed more important, at times, than the job.
He would often say, “I’ve worked hard for the government, and I’m entitled to
these benefits.�
The other believed in total financial self-reliance. He spoke out against the
“entitlement� mentality and how it was creating weak and financially needy
people. He was emphatic about being financially competent.
One dad struggled to save a few dollars. The other simply created investments.
One dad taught me how to write an impressive resume so I could find a good job.
The other taught me how to write strong business and financial plans so I could
create jobs.
Being a product of two strong dads allowed me the luxury of observing the
effects different thoughts have on one’s life. I noticed that people really do
shape their life through their thoughts.
For example, my poor dad always said, “I’ll never be rich.� And that prophesy
became reality. My rich dad, on the other hand, always referred to himself as
rich. He would say things like, “I’m a rich man, and rich people don’t do
this.� Even when he was flat broke after a major financial setback, he
continued to refer to himself as a rich man. He would cover himself by saying,
“There is a difference between being poor and being broke. Broke is temporary,
and poor is eternal.�
My poor dad would also say, “I’m not interest in money,� or Money doesn’t
matter.� My rich dad always said, “Money is power.�
The power of our thoughts may never be measured or appreciated, but it became
obvious to me as a young boy to be aware of my thoughts and how I expressed
myself. I noticed that my poor dad was poor not because of the amount of money
he earned, which was significant, but because of his thoughts and actions. As a
young boy, having two fathers, I became acutely aware of being careful which
thoughts I chose to adopt as my own. Whom should I listen to – my rich dad or
my poor dad?
Although both men had tremendous respect for education and learning, they
disagreed in what they thought was important to learn. One wanted me to study
hard, earn a degree and get a good job to work for money. He wanted me to study
to become a profession, an attorney or an accountant or to go to business
school for my MBA. The other encouraged me to study to be rich, to understand
how money works and to learn how to have it work for me. “I don’t work money!�
were words he would repeat over and over, “Money works for me!�
At the age of 9, I decided to listen to and learn from my rich dad about money.
In doing so, I chose not to listen to my poor dad, even though he was the one
with all the college degrees.
A Lesson From Robert Frost
Robert Frost is my favorite poet. Although I love many of his poems, my
favorite is The Road Not Taken. I use its lessons almost daily:
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads onto way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence;
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.Robert Frost [1916]
And that made all the difference. Over the years, I have often reflected upon
Robert Frost’s poem. Choosing not to listen to my highly educated dad’s advice
and attitude about money was a painful decision, but it was a decision that
shaped the rest of my life.
Once I made up my mind whom to listen to, my education about money began. My
rich dad taught me over a period of 30 years, until I was age 39. He stopped
once he realized that I knew and fully understood what he had been trying to
drum into my often thick skull.
Money is one form of power. But what is more powerful is financial education.
Money comes and goes, but if you have the education about how money works, you
gain power over it and can begin building wealth. The reason positive thinking
alone does not work is because most people went to school and never learned how
money works, so they spend their lives working for money.
Because I was only 9 years old when I started, the lessons my rich dad taught
me were simple. And when it was all said and done, there were only six main
lessons, repeated over 30 years. This book is about those six lessons, put as
simply as possible as my rich dad put forth those lessons to me. The lessons
are not meant to be answers by guideposts. Guideposts that will assist you and
your children to grow wealthier no matter what happens in a world of increasing
change and uncertainty.
Lesson #1 The Rich Don’t Work for Money
Lesson #2 Why Teach Financial Literacy?
Lesson #3 Mind Your Own Business
Lesson #4 The History of Taxes and the Power of Corporations
Lessons #5 The Rich Invent Money
Lesson #6 Work to Learn – Don’t Work for Money
Pollution Causes Cancer in China
September 12, 2004
THE GREAT DIVIDE | RURAL WASTELANDS
Rivers Run Black, and Chinese Die of Cancer
By JIM YARDLEY
HUANGMENGYING, China - Wang Lincheng began his accounting at the brick
hut of a farmer. Dead of cancer, he said flatly, his dress shoes
sinking in the mud. Dead of cancer, he repeated, glancing at another
vacant house.
Mr. Wang, head of the Communist Party in this village, ignored a June
rain and trudged past mud-brick houses, ticking off other deaths,
other empty homes. He did not seem to notice a small cornfield where
someone had dug a burial mound of fresh red dirt.
Finally, he stopped at the door of a sickened young mother. Her home
was beside a stream turned greenish-black from dumping by nearby
factories - polluted water that had contaminated drinking wells.
Cancer had been rare when the stream was clear, but last year cancer
accounted for 13 of the 17 deaths in the village.
"All the water we drink around here is polluted," Mr. Wang said. "You
can taste it. It's acrid and bitter. Now the victims are starting to
come out, people dying of cancer and tumors and unusual causes."
The stream in Huangmengying is one tiny canal in the Huai River basin,
a vast system that has become a grossly polluted waste outlet for
thousands of factories in central China. There are 150 million people
in the Huai basin, many of them poor farmers now threatened by water
too toxic to touch, much less drink.
Pollution is pervasive in China, as anyone who has visited the
smog-choked cities can attest. On the World Bank's list of 20 cities
with the worst air, 16 are Chinese. But leaders are now starting to
clean up major cities, partly because urbanites with rising incomes
are demanding better air and water. In Beijing and Shanghai, officials
are forcing out the dirtiest polluters to prepare for the 2008
Olympics.
By contrast, the countryside, home to two-thirds of China's
population, is increasingly becoming a dumping ground. Local
officials, desperate to generate jobs and tax revenues, protect
factories that have polluted for years. Refineries and smelters forced
out of cities have moved to rural areas. So have some foreign
companies, to escape regulation at home.
The losers are hundreds of millions of peasants already at the bottom
of a society now sharply divided between rich and poor. They are
farmers and fishermen who depend on land and water for their basic
existence.
In July and August, officials measured an 82-mile band of polluted
water moving through the Huai basin. China rates its waterways on a
scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being too toxic even to touch. This water was
rated 5. For fishermen, it may as well have been poison. "If I had
wanted to, I could have gone on the river and filled a boat with dead
fish," said Song Dexi, 64, a fisherman in Yumin. "It was smelly, like
toilet water. All our fish and shrimp died. We don't have anything to
live on now."
The Huai was supposed to be a Communist Party success story. Ten years
ago, the central government vowed to clean up the basin after a
pollution tide killed fish and sickened thousands of people. Three
years ago, a top Chinese official called the cleanup a success. But
the Huai is now a symbol of the failure of environmental regulation in
China. The central government promotes big solutions but gives
regulators little power to enforce them. Local officials have few
incentives to crack down on polluters because their promotion system
is based primarily on economic growth, not public health.
It is a game that leaves poorer, rural regions clinging to the worst polluters.
"No doubt there is an economic food chain, and the lower you are, the
worse off your environmental problems are likely to be," said
Elizabeth C. Economy, author of "The River Runs Black" (Cornell
University Press, 2004), a study of China's environment. "One city
after the next is offloading its polluting industries outside its city
limits, and polluting industries themselves are seeking poorer areas."
China is facing an ecological and health crisis. Heavy air pollution
contributes to respiratory illnesses that kill up to 300,000 people a
year, many in cities but also in rural areas, the World Bank
estimates. Liver and stomach cancer, linked in some studies to water
pollution, are among the leading causes of death in the countryside.
"Over the past 20 years in China, there has been a single-minded focus
on economic growth with the belief that economic growth can solve all
problems," said Pan Yue, the outspoken deputy director of China's
State Environmental Protection Administration. "But this has left
environmental protection badly behind."
Too Poor to Flee, or to Get Well
Few places bear that out more than eastern Henan Province, which
includes Huangmengying. The isolated region has tanneries, paper mills
and other high-polluting industries dumping directly into the rivers.
One of the biggest polluters is the Lianhua Gourmet Powder Company,
China's largest producer of monosodium glutamate, or MSG, the flavor
enhancer. But the company's political influence is so vast that
environmental regulators who have tried to challenge the company have
done so in vain.
The Huai River basin has neither the history of the Yellow River nor
the mystique of the Yangtze. Yet the Huai, with its spider's web of
canals and broad tributaries, irrigates a huge swath of China's
agricultural heartland.
Farmers once spent lifetimes tilling the same plot of corn or wheat.
But in the past decade, millions of farmers, unable to earn a living
from the land, have left Henan for migrant work in cities, leaving
behind villages of old people and young mothers.
One of those mothers is Kong Heqin, 30, who was the last stop on Mr.
Wang's cancer tour in June. She stumbled into her dirt courtyard,
disheveled and groggy from an afternoon nap. Her face was bloated and
her legs were swollen. She had already had three operations for
cancer, and new tumors were growing in her large intestine.
Earlier in the year, doctors had prescribed chemotherapy. But
treatments cost $500 a series, nearly a year's income. She had
borrowed $250 to pay spring school fees for her two sons, and she
worried that chemotherapy would drain the family's meager resources
away from her children.
So she stopped chemotherapy.
"We've wasted so much money on medical treatment," she said. "I think
the best thing would be to give up on it."
Her rising medical bills were one reason her husband left a few years
ago for construction work in a northern metropolis, Tianjin. He
returns twice a year to plant or harvest crops. On good months, he
sends home $60, but Ms. Kong says months go by with nothing in the
mail.
Her illness shapes family life. Her elderly mother tends her husband's
fields because she is too weak. Her sons wash the clothes. She grows a
ragged garden in her courtyard because the pesticides coating
vegetables at local markets make her sick. The plate of boiled eggs on
her dresser was a gift from sympathetic relatives.
Asked about pollution, she seemed confused, as if unaware of the
concept. But she has noticed that her well water smells bad and has
changed in taste. She knows that others are sick, too. "There's a
family next door with a case of cancer," she said. "But they don't
like to talk about it. People here are scared to talk about these
things."
Epidemiological research for cancer in the Huai basin is scant. None
has been done in Huangmengying. Nor does any scientific evidence prove
that pollution is causing the rising cancer rate. What is clear is the
wide range of pollutants, from fertilizer runoff to the dumping of
factory wastes.
But Dr. Zhao Meiqin, chief of radiology at the county hospital, said
cancer cases in the area rose sharply after heavy industry arrived in
the 1980's and 90's. Before, the area had about 10 cases a year. "Now,
in a year, there are hundreds of cases," she said, putting the number
as high as 400, mostly stomach and intestinal tumors. "Originally,
most of the patients were in their 50's and 60's. But now it tends to
strike earlier. I've even treated one patient who is only 7."
Dr. Zhao said most cancer patients came from villages close to the
factories along the Shaying River, a major tributary in the Huai
basin. Mr. Wang, the village party chief, also said the highest
concentrations of cancer were found in the homes closest to the
village stream, which draws its water directly from the Shaying.
Polluters Hiding in Plain Sight
Health problems began appearing slowly in the early 1990's. Mr. Wang
said he learned that the water was severely polluted after an
environmental official came on a personal visit. Farmers also began
complaining that their fields were producing less grain because of
polluted irrigation water.
Today, pollution corrodes daily life here. Farmers too poor to buy
bottled water instead drink well water that curdles with scum when it
is boiled.
Xiao Junhai is 57 but looks two decades older. In June, he shivered
under a quilt in a dark room, summer flies flitting at his head,
cancer knotting his stomach. He could not lift himself from his crude
bed.
"I grew up drinking the water here, and I still drink it," he said. "I
don't know what pollution is, but I do know it means the water is
bad."
His daughter, Xiao Li, 24, anguished over the dilemma that her
father's illness had thrust upon her. She says her father takes
traditional Chinese remedies and eats rice porridge because the family
cannot afford treatment. If she returned to her migrant job on the
coast, in Hangzhou, she might earn enough money to pay for it. But no
one else can care for him. So she has stayed.
"The water in the river used to be clean, but now it's black and
changing colors all the time," she said. "The water is being
destroyed."
The Lianhua Gourmet Powder Company is based in Xiangcheng, upstream
from Huangmengying. It is the area's largest employer, with more than
8,000 workers, and the largest taxpayer in Xiangcheng.
For Henan Province, Lianhua Gourmet is a signature company, the
biggest producer of MSG in China. An analysis by a Chinese credit
rating service, Xinhua Far East, found that in 2001 the factory
produced more than 133,000 tons of MSG and has plans to raise
production to 200,000 tons.
Under any circumstances, the company's sheer size would translate into
significant political clout. But Lianhua, basically, is the
government. Lianhua is traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, but
according to the credit analysis, its majority stockholder is a
holding company owned by the Xiangcheng city government.
This type of government-controlled enterprise is not unusual in China,
but the potential for a conflict of interest is glaring. The
production of MSG leaves potentially harmful byproducts, including
ammonia nitrate and other pollutants that are supposed to be treated
to meet environmental standards.
A damning report last year by the State Environmental Protection
Administration blamed local officials for lax enforcement. The report
said Lianhua had dumped 124,000 tons of untreated water every day
through secret channels connected to the Xiangcheng city sewage
system. The water eventually flowed into the Shaying River, almost
quadrupling pollution levels.
"This constitutes a grave threat to the lives and livelihoods of
people downstream," the report stated.
Officials at Lianhua did not respond to repeated written and telephone
requests for interviews. Neither did officials in Xiangcheng nor with
Henan Province.
But one retired local Communist Party official said party cadres had
always protected Lianhua. He said a son-in-law of a Lianhua chief
executive once even headed the city's environmental protection bureau.
"There are a lot of officials who don't care about pollution," said
the official, who asked not to be identified. "Some leaders are just
interested in making money."
He said the company often broke promises about cleaning up. "What they
said and what they did were different things," he said. "They even
said they would stop production if they weren't able to meet pollution
standards. But they never did that."
A Stream of Black Water
This June, a reporter saw a noxious liquid flowing from a waste outlet
into a stream near a Lianhua factory on the outskirts of Xiangcheng. A
sign above the outlet said, "Lianhua Company, No. 3 Waste Outlet.''
Another sign said the outlet was under the oversight of the city
environmental bureau. The acrid smell was so strong that it was
difficult to stand nearby.
Less than a mile downstream from the waste outlet, Wang Haiqing
watched his seven goats chew on weeds. Mr. Wang lived on the other
side of the stream, in Wangguo, and said several neighbors had
contracted cancer or other intestinal ailments. He said his goats
vomited if they drank from the blackened water.
To reach clean drinking water, he said villagers must dig wells 130
feet deep. Most cannot afford to do so.
"It's been so polluted by the MSG factory," said Mr. Wang, 60. "It
tastes metallic even after you boil it and skim the stuff off it. But
it's the only water we have to drink and to use for cooking."
The rains of June in Huangmengying had given way to boiling humidity
by the middle of August. Mr. Wang, the village chief, wore shorts and
sandals as he again walked beside the village stream. He said four
more people had died since June, two of cancer.
But much had also changed in the two months.
The 10th anniversary of the government's promise to clean up the Huai
had become a major embarrassment for the Communist Party. Roughly $8
billion had been spent to improve the basin, but the State
Environmental Protection Administration concluded this year that some
areas were more polluted than before.
China's press, often given freer rein on environmental issues,
published critical articles over the summer. The newspaper operated by
the State Environmental Protection Administration blamed local
officials for allowing powerful companies, including Lianhua, to
continue polluting. Even tiny Huangmengying got attention: a crew from
state television visited in July. Officials, fearing a humiliating
exposé, hurriedly started digging a deeper well for the village.
But the gesture was dwarfed by what Henan officials did for Lianhua.
For more than a year, the company had been in financial trouble,
suffering from bad investments and a slowdown in the MSG market. For
months, banks pressured it for roughly $217 million in unpaid loans.
The Henan Province government stepped into the breach. The Henan
governor, Li Chengyu, organized a meeting at Lianhua headquarters in
July to devise a plan to save the company. The Henan government also
gave the company more than $25 million.
"The government is confident and the business is confident that
Lianhua Gourmet can be brought around," Mr. Li said, according to the
Chinese financial press. "The banks should support Lianhua Gourmet."
The signal was clear. Henan's government would make certain Lianhua survived.
In Huangmengying, Mr. Wang again visited Ms. Kong, the young mother
with cancer, who was also struggling to survive. Her resolve in June
to forego chemotherapy had withered with her health by August. She was
pale and coughing as she explained that she had again borrowed money
for more treatment. She would leave in a few days.
But it meant that she could not pay her sons' school fees for the fall
semester. Her husband could not find work and had no money to send.
And the friends who had loaned her money said they could loan her no
more. "I'm scared," she said.
Only an hour earlier, Mr. Wang had been walking to visit Ms. Kong when
a woman rushed toward him and knelt in a formal kowtow, touching her
lips against the dirt. Her husband had dropped dead. Doctors had
examined the body and discovered a tumor. She needed Mr. Wang to help
with funeral arrangements. He asked where she and her husband lived.
In a small brick hut, about 50 yards from the village stream, answered
the woman, Liu Sumei.
Ms. Liu, 50, led Mr. Wang to a friend's home, where her husband's body
lay in a coffin under a large poster of Mao Zedong.
Ms. Liu had not known her husband had cancer, only that he was in poor
health. But in Huangmengying, she said, poor health is not unusual.
"Every family has someone who is sick," she said. "All the neighbors."
Chris Buckley contributed reporting for this article.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/12/international/asia/12china.html
THE GREAT DIVIDE | RURAL WASTELANDS
Rivers Run Black, and Chinese Die of Cancer
By JIM YARDLEY
HUANGMENGYING, China - Wang Lincheng began his accounting at the brick
hut of a farmer. Dead of cancer, he said flatly, his dress shoes
sinking in the mud. Dead of cancer, he repeated, glancing at another
vacant house.
Mr. Wang, head of the Communist Party in this village, ignored a June
rain and trudged past mud-brick houses, ticking off other deaths,
other empty homes. He did not seem to notice a small cornfield where
someone had dug a burial mound of fresh red dirt.
Finally, he stopped at the door of a sickened young mother. Her home
was beside a stream turned greenish-black from dumping by nearby
factories - polluted water that had contaminated drinking wells.
Cancer had been rare when the stream was clear, but last year cancer
accounted for 13 of the 17 deaths in the village.
"All the water we drink around here is polluted," Mr. Wang said. "You
can taste it. It's acrid and bitter. Now the victims are starting to
come out, people dying of cancer and tumors and unusual causes."
The stream in Huangmengying is one tiny canal in the Huai River basin,
a vast system that has become a grossly polluted waste outlet for
thousands of factories in central China. There are 150 million people
in the Huai basin, many of them poor farmers now threatened by water
too toxic to touch, much less drink.
Pollution is pervasive in China, as anyone who has visited the
smog-choked cities can attest. On the World Bank's list of 20 cities
with the worst air, 16 are Chinese. But leaders are now starting to
clean up major cities, partly because urbanites with rising incomes
are demanding better air and water. In Beijing and Shanghai, officials
are forcing out the dirtiest polluters to prepare for the 2008
Olympics.
By contrast, the countryside, home to two-thirds of China's
population, is increasingly becoming a dumping ground. Local
officials, desperate to generate jobs and tax revenues, protect
factories that have polluted for years. Refineries and smelters forced
out of cities have moved to rural areas. So have some foreign
companies, to escape regulation at home.
The losers are hundreds of millions of peasants already at the bottom
of a society now sharply divided between rich and poor. They are
farmers and fishermen who depend on land and water for their basic
existence.
In July and August, officials measured an 82-mile band of polluted
water moving through the Huai basin. China rates its waterways on a
scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being too toxic even to touch. This water was
rated 5. For fishermen, it may as well have been poison. "If I had
wanted to, I could have gone on the river and filled a boat with dead
fish," said Song Dexi, 64, a fisherman in Yumin. "It was smelly, like
toilet water. All our fish and shrimp died. We don't have anything to
live on now."
The Huai was supposed to be a Communist Party success story. Ten years
ago, the central government vowed to clean up the basin after a
pollution tide killed fish and sickened thousands of people. Three
years ago, a top Chinese official called the cleanup a success. But
the Huai is now a symbol of the failure of environmental regulation in
China. The central government promotes big solutions but gives
regulators little power to enforce them. Local officials have few
incentives to crack down on polluters because their promotion system
is based primarily on economic growth, not public health.
It is a game that leaves poorer, rural regions clinging to the worst polluters.
"No doubt there is an economic food chain, and the lower you are, the
worse off your environmental problems are likely to be," said
Elizabeth C. Economy, author of "The River Runs Black" (Cornell
University Press, 2004), a study of China's environment. "One city
after the next is offloading its polluting industries outside its city
limits, and polluting industries themselves are seeking poorer areas."
China is facing an ecological and health crisis. Heavy air pollution
contributes to respiratory illnesses that kill up to 300,000 people a
year, many in cities but also in rural areas, the World Bank
estimates. Liver and stomach cancer, linked in some studies to water
pollution, are among the leading causes of death in the countryside.
"Over the past 20 years in China, there has been a single-minded focus
on economic growth with the belief that economic growth can solve all
problems," said Pan Yue, the outspoken deputy director of China's
State Environmental Protection Administration. "But this has left
environmental protection badly behind."
Too Poor to Flee, or to Get Well
Few places bear that out more than eastern Henan Province, which
includes Huangmengying. The isolated region has tanneries, paper mills
and other high-polluting industries dumping directly into the rivers.
One of the biggest polluters is the Lianhua Gourmet Powder Company,
China's largest producer of monosodium glutamate, or MSG, the flavor
enhancer. But the company's political influence is so vast that
environmental regulators who have tried to challenge the company have
done so in vain.
The Huai River basin has neither the history of the Yellow River nor
the mystique of the Yangtze. Yet the Huai, with its spider's web of
canals and broad tributaries, irrigates a huge swath of China's
agricultural heartland.
Farmers once spent lifetimes tilling the same plot of corn or wheat.
But in the past decade, millions of farmers, unable to earn a living
from the land, have left Henan for migrant work in cities, leaving
behind villages of old people and young mothers.
One of those mothers is Kong Heqin, 30, who was the last stop on Mr.
Wang's cancer tour in June. She stumbled into her dirt courtyard,
disheveled and groggy from an afternoon nap. Her face was bloated and
her legs were swollen. She had already had three operations for
cancer, and new tumors were growing in her large intestine.
Earlier in the year, doctors had prescribed chemotherapy. But
treatments cost $500 a series, nearly a year's income. She had
borrowed $250 to pay spring school fees for her two sons, and she
worried that chemotherapy would drain the family's meager resources
away from her children.
So she stopped chemotherapy.
"We've wasted so much money on medical treatment," she said. "I think
the best thing would be to give up on it."
Her rising medical bills were one reason her husband left a few years
ago for construction work in a northern metropolis, Tianjin. He
returns twice a year to plant or harvest crops. On good months, he
sends home $60, but Ms. Kong says months go by with nothing in the
mail.
Her illness shapes family life. Her elderly mother tends her husband's
fields because she is too weak. Her sons wash the clothes. She grows a
ragged garden in her courtyard because the pesticides coating
vegetables at local markets make her sick. The plate of boiled eggs on
her dresser was a gift from sympathetic relatives.
Asked about pollution, she seemed confused, as if unaware of the
concept. But she has noticed that her well water smells bad and has
changed in taste. She knows that others are sick, too. "There's a
family next door with a case of cancer," she said. "But they don't
like to talk about it. People here are scared to talk about these
things."
Epidemiological research for cancer in the Huai basin is scant. None
has been done in Huangmengying. Nor does any scientific evidence prove
that pollution is causing the rising cancer rate. What is clear is the
wide range of pollutants, from fertilizer runoff to the dumping of
factory wastes.
But Dr. Zhao Meiqin, chief of radiology at the county hospital, said
cancer cases in the area rose sharply after heavy industry arrived in
the 1980's and 90's. Before, the area had about 10 cases a year. "Now,
in a year, there are hundreds of cases," she said, putting the number
as high as 400, mostly stomach and intestinal tumors. "Originally,
most of the patients were in their 50's and 60's. But now it tends to
strike earlier. I've even treated one patient who is only 7."
Dr. Zhao said most cancer patients came from villages close to the
factories along the Shaying River, a major tributary in the Huai
basin. Mr. Wang, the village party chief, also said the highest
concentrations of cancer were found in the homes closest to the
village stream, which draws its water directly from the Shaying.
Polluters Hiding in Plain Sight
Health problems began appearing slowly in the early 1990's. Mr. Wang
said he learned that the water was severely polluted after an
environmental official came on a personal visit. Farmers also began
complaining that their fields were producing less grain because of
polluted irrigation water.
Today, pollution corrodes daily life here. Farmers too poor to buy
bottled water instead drink well water that curdles with scum when it
is boiled.
Xiao Junhai is 57 but looks two decades older. In June, he shivered
under a quilt in a dark room, summer flies flitting at his head,
cancer knotting his stomach. He could not lift himself from his crude
bed.
"I grew up drinking the water here, and I still drink it," he said. "I
don't know what pollution is, but I do know it means the water is
bad."
His daughter, Xiao Li, 24, anguished over the dilemma that her
father's illness had thrust upon her. She says her father takes
traditional Chinese remedies and eats rice porridge because the family
cannot afford treatment. If she returned to her migrant job on the
coast, in Hangzhou, she might earn enough money to pay for it. But no
one else can care for him. So she has stayed.
"The water in the river used to be clean, but now it's black and
changing colors all the time," she said. "The water is being
destroyed."
The Lianhua Gourmet Powder Company is based in Xiangcheng, upstream
from Huangmengying. It is the area's largest employer, with more than
8,000 workers, and the largest taxpayer in Xiangcheng.
For Henan Province, Lianhua Gourmet is a signature company, the
biggest producer of MSG in China. An analysis by a Chinese credit
rating service, Xinhua Far East, found that in 2001 the factory
produced more than 133,000 tons of MSG and has plans to raise
production to 200,000 tons.
Under any circumstances, the company's sheer size would translate into
significant political clout. But Lianhua, basically, is the
government. Lianhua is traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, but
according to the credit analysis, its majority stockholder is a
holding company owned by the Xiangcheng city government.
This type of government-controlled enterprise is not unusual in China,
but the potential for a conflict of interest is glaring. The
production of MSG leaves potentially harmful byproducts, including
ammonia nitrate and other pollutants that are supposed to be treated
to meet environmental standards.
A damning report last year by the State Environmental Protection
Administration blamed local officials for lax enforcement. The report
said Lianhua had dumped 124,000 tons of untreated water every day
through secret channels connected to the Xiangcheng city sewage
system. The water eventually flowed into the Shaying River, almost
quadrupling pollution levels.
"This constitutes a grave threat to the lives and livelihoods of
people downstream," the report stated.
Officials at Lianhua did not respond to repeated written and telephone
requests for interviews. Neither did officials in Xiangcheng nor with
Henan Province.
But one retired local Communist Party official said party cadres had
always protected Lianhua. He said a son-in-law of a Lianhua chief
executive once even headed the city's environmental protection bureau.
"There are a lot of officials who don't care about pollution," said
the official, who asked not to be identified. "Some leaders are just
interested in making money."
He said the company often broke promises about cleaning up. "What they
said and what they did were different things," he said. "They even
said they would stop production if they weren't able to meet pollution
standards. But they never did that."
A Stream of Black Water
This June, a reporter saw a noxious liquid flowing from a waste outlet
into a stream near a Lianhua factory on the outskirts of Xiangcheng. A
sign above the outlet said, "Lianhua Company, No. 3 Waste Outlet.''
Another sign said the outlet was under the oversight of the city
environmental bureau. The acrid smell was so strong that it was
difficult to stand nearby.
Less than a mile downstream from the waste outlet, Wang Haiqing
watched his seven goats chew on weeds. Mr. Wang lived on the other
side of the stream, in Wangguo, and said several neighbors had
contracted cancer or other intestinal ailments. He said his goats
vomited if they drank from the blackened water.
To reach clean drinking water, he said villagers must dig wells 130
feet deep. Most cannot afford to do so.
"It's been so polluted by the MSG factory," said Mr. Wang, 60. "It
tastes metallic even after you boil it and skim the stuff off it. But
it's the only water we have to drink and to use for cooking."
The rains of June in Huangmengying had given way to boiling humidity
by the middle of August. Mr. Wang, the village chief, wore shorts and
sandals as he again walked beside the village stream. He said four
more people had died since June, two of cancer.
But much had also changed in the two months.
The 10th anniversary of the government's promise to clean up the Huai
had become a major embarrassment for the Communist Party. Roughly $8
billion had been spent to improve the basin, but the State
Environmental Protection Administration concluded this year that some
areas were more polluted than before.
China's press, often given freer rein on environmental issues,
published critical articles over the summer. The newspaper operated by
the State Environmental Protection Administration blamed local
officials for allowing powerful companies, including Lianhua, to
continue polluting. Even tiny Huangmengying got attention: a crew from
state television visited in July. Officials, fearing a humiliating
exposé, hurriedly started digging a deeper well for the village.
But the gesture was dwarfed by what Henan officials did for Lianhua.
For more than a year, the company had been in financial trouble,
suffering from bad investments and a slowdown in the MSG market. For
months, banks pressured it for roughly $217 million in unpaid loans.
The Henan Province government stepped into the breach. The Henan
governor, Li Chengyu, organized a meeting at Lianhua headquarters in
July to devise a plan to save the company. The Henan government also
gave the company more than $25 million.
"The government is confident and the business is confident that
Lianhua Gourmet can be brought around," Mr. Li said, according to the
Chinese financial press. "The banks should support Lianhua Gourmet."
The signal was clear. Henan's government would make certain Lianhua survived.
In Huangmengying, Mr. Wang again visited Ms. Kong, the young mother
with cancer, who was also struggling to survive. Her resolve in June
to forego chemotherapy had withered with her health by August. She was
pale and coughing as she explained that she had again borrowed money
for more treatment. She would leave in a few days.
But it meant that she could not pay her sons' school fees for the fall
semester. Her husband could not find work and had no money to send.
And the friends who had loaned her money said they could loan her no
more. "I'm scared," she said.
Only an hour earlier, Mr. Wang had been walking to visit Ms. Kong when
a woman rushed toward him and knelt in a formal kowtow, touching her
lips against the dirt. Her husband had dropped dead. Doctors had
examined the body and discovered a tumor. She needed Mr. Wang to help
with funeral arrangements. He asked where she and her husband lived.
In a small brick hut, about 50 yards from the village stream, answered
the woman, Liu Sumei.
Ms. Liu, 50, led Mr. Wang to a friend's home, where her husband's body
lay in a coffin under a large poster of Mao Zedong.
Ms. Liu had not known her husband had cancer, only that he was in poor
health. But in Huangmengying, she said, poor health is not unusual.
"Every family has someone who is sick," she said. "All the neighbors."
Chris Buckley contributed reporting for this article.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/12/international/asia/12china.html
FDA Links Drugs to Being Suicidal
September 14, 2004
FDA Links Drugs to Being Suicidal
By GARDINER HARRIS, NY TIMES
BETHESDA, Md., Sept. 13 - Top officials of the Food and Drug
Administration acknowledged for the first time on Monday that
antidepressants appeared to lead some children and teenagers to become
suicidal.
Dr Robert Temple, director of the F.D.A.'s office of medical policy,
said after an emotional public hearing here that analyses of 15
clinical trials, some of which were hidden for years from the public
by the drug companies that sponsored them, showed a consistent link
with suicidal behavior.
"I think that we now all believe that there is an increase in suicidal
thinking and action that is consistent across all the drugs," Dr
Temple said, summarizing the agency's presentation to a special
advisory committee. "This looks like it's a true bill.''
The acknowledgement, made after the hearing, comes a year after the
agency suppressed the conclusions of its own drug-safety analyst, Dr
Andrew Mosholder, who first found a link between the drugs and suicide
in teenagers and children. Agency officials wrote in internal
memorandums that Dr Mosholder's analysis was unreliable, and they
hired researchers at Columbia University to re-analyze the same data.
That study recently reached conclusions nearly identical to Dr
Mosholder's.
The testimony came before an advisory committee of 31 independent
experts that the F.D.A. has charged with making a recommendation about
the labeling and use of antidepressants in children and teenagers.
Family members of suicide victims at the hearing angrily denounced
agency officials for the delay in admitting the risk of
antidepressants in children. The British health authorities decided in
December to ban the use of most antidepressants in children and
teenagers.
Mathy Milling Downing of Laytonsville, Md., whose 12-year-old daughter
hanged herself in January, said: "Candace's death was entirely
avoidable had we been given the appropriate warnings. The blood of
these children is on your hands."
Agency officials said that they had no regrets about the months of
study. "I don't think the data were at that time reliable," Dr Temple
said. "Scaring people needlessly" or overdoing a warning is
worrisome," he added.
The most popular pills are Zoloft, made by Pfizer; Paxil, made by
GlaxoSmithKline; and Prozac, made by Eli Lilly & Company. In 2002,
nearly 11 million children and teenagers were prescribed
antidepressants.
The risk of suicide among patients given the pills is very small. If
100 children and teenagers are given antidepressants, 2 or 3 will
become suicidal who otherwise would not have had they been given
placebos, agency officials said. None of the children in the trials
committed suicide, but some thought about or attempted suicide,
researchers found.
In March, the agency required antidepressant manufacturers to include
on labels a warning that therapy with antidepressants could lead some
patients, both adults and children, to become suicidal. The committee
must decide whether this warning is strong enough or whether the drugs
should be banned for children. The advisory committee is expected to
make a decision on Tuesday. The F.D.A. normally follows
recommendations of its advisory committees.
It is a complex task. Most studies of the drugs have failed to show
that they have any effect on depression in children and teenagers. But
the drugs have proven effective in adults, and studies suggest that
teenage suicide rates have dropped in countries where use of
antidepressants is widespread. A large study of depressed teenagers
conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health recently found
that Prozac was far more effective in treating depression in children
and teenagers than was talk therapy.
Several speakers noted that clinicians would have almost nothing to
offer depressed teenagers and children if antidepressants were banned.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers, trailing
only homicide and accidents. Without treatment, many more teenagers
will die, several experts said. If the committee suggests an even
stronger warning, some patients will resist therapy and could perhaps
die, some speakers said.
The issue has roiled the agency and is likely to transform the way the
drug industry markets its products. Committees in both the House and
Senate have begun investigations following disclosures that Dr
Mosholder's analysis had been suppressed.
The New York State attorney general Eliot Spitzer, filed suit against
GlaxoSmithKline, charging the drug maker with fraud for failing to
disclose the results of clinical trials of Paxil that found no benefit
while promoting the drug to physicians. The company settled the suit
this summer by promising to disclose the results of all of its
clinical trials of its marketed products dating back to 2000.
Editors of the nation's top medical journals have said they will not
to accept for publication trials that have not been publicly
registered, and legislation is expected to be offered in both the
House and the Senate requiring the disclosure of the results of all
major drug tests on humans.
For some bereaved parents, Monday's hearing was a chance to take drug
makers and the F.D.A. to task.
Mark and Cheryl Miller of Overland Park, Kan.,, told the committee
that their 13-year-old son, Matthew, had committed suicide seven
months ago while taking Zoloft.
"Why haven't parents like Cheryl and myself and countless others been
told the truth?" Mr Miller asked.
But others said that antidepressants had helped millions. Dr Suzanne
Vogel-Sibilia of Beaver, Pa., said that she had brought her
15-year-old son, Tony, to the hearing to represent what she said were
the vast majority of patients who had been helped by the drugs.
"Please help me preserve my future," Tony told the committee. "Don't
take away my medication."
Claims that antidepressants cause patients to become acutely suicidal
have been made since 1991, just three years after Prozac was
introduced. But drug makers and regulators long dismissed these
claims, saying they were anecdotal reports without any basis in
rigorous clinical trials.
Then last year, GlaxoSmithKline announced that tests of Paxil had
found that teenagers and children who took the pill were more likely
to become suicidal than those given placebos. The announcement was
quickly followed by a similar one from Wyeth, the maker of Effexor,
another antidepressant. Suddenly, the anecdotal reports were being
confirmed by clinical trials.
Still, just how the drugs may lead some people to become suicidal
remains the subject of fierce debate. Many of those at the hearing
said that the pills had brought a change in the personalities of their
friends and relatives. Alice Erber said that Paxil caused her
21-year-old son, Jake Steinberg, to throw himself in June from the
24th floor of a Manhattan office building.
"If he had not taken Paxil, he would be alive today," Ms Erber said.
But Dr Temple speculated that some people taking the pills become
suicidal because they are actually getting better. As their depression
improves, he said, they gain the energy to act on suicidal thoughts
that their illness had suppressed.
"I think the work is cut out for us tomorrow," Dr Wayne Goodman,
chairman of the advisory committee, said at the end of Monday's
hearing.
FDA Links Drugs to Being Suicidal
By GARDINER HARRIS, NY TIMES
BETHESDA, Md., Sept. 13 - Top officials of the Food and Drug
Administration acknowledged for the first time on Monday that
antidepressants appeared to lead some children and teenagers to become
suicidal.
Dr Robert Temple, director of the F.D.A.'s office of medical policy,
said after an emotional public hearing here that analyses of 15
clinical trials, some of which were hidden for years from the public
by the drug companies that sponsored them, showed a consistent link
with suicidal behavior.
"I think that we now all believe that there is an increase in suicidal
thinking and action that is consistent across all the drugs," Dr
Temple said, summarizing the agency's presentation to a special
advisory committee. "This looks like it's a true bill.''
The acknowledgement, made after the hearing, comes a year after the
agency suppressed the conclusions of its own drug-safety analyst, Dr
Andrew Mosholder, who first found a link between the drugs and suicide
in teenagers and children. Agency officials wrote in internal
memorandums that Dr Mosholder's analysis was unreliable, and they
hired researchers at Columbia University to re-analyze the same data.
That study recently reached conclusions nearly identical to Dr
Mosholder's.
The testimony came before an advisory committee of 31 independent
experts that the F.D.A. has charged with making a recommendation about
the labeling and use of antidepressants in children and teenagers.
Family members of suicide victims at the hearing angrily denounced
agency officials for the delay in admitting the risk of
antidepressants in children. The British health authorities decided in
December to ban the use of most antidepressants in children and
teenagers.
Mathy Milling Downing of Laytonsville, Md., whose 12-year-old daughter
hanged herself in January, said: "Candace's death was entirely
avoidable had we been given the appropriate warnings. The blood of
these children is on your hands."
Agency officials said that they had no regrets about the months of
study. "I don't think the data were at that time reliable," Dr Temple
said. "Scaring people needlessly" or overdoing a warning is
worrisome," he added.
The most popular pills are Zoloft, made by Pfizer; Paxil, made by
GlaxoSmithKline; and Prozac, made by Eli Lilly & Company. In 2002,
nearly 11 million children and teenagers were prescribed
antidepressants.
The risk of suicide among patients given the pills is very small. If
100 children and teenagers are given antidepressants, 2 or 3 will
become suicidal who otherwise would not have had they been given
placebos, agency officials said. None of the children in the trials
committed suicide, but some thought about or attempted suicide,
researchers found.
In March, the agency required antidepressant manufacturers to include
on labels a warning that therapy with antidepressants could lead some
patients, both adults and children, to become suicidal. The committee
must decide whether this warning is strong enough or whether the drugs
should be banned for children. The advisory committee is expected to
make a decision on Tuesday. The F.D.A. normally follows
recommendations of its advisory committees.
It is a complex task. Most studies of the drugs have failed to show
that they have any effect on depression in children and teenagers. But
the drugs have proven effective in adults, and studies suggest that
teenage suicide rates have dropped in countries where use of
antidepressants is widespread. A large study of depressed teenagers
conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health recently found
that Prozac was far more effective in treating depression in children
and teenagers than was talk therapy.
Several speakers noted that clinicians would have almost nothing to
offer depressed teenagers and children if antidepressants were banned.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers, trailing
only homicide and accidents. Without treatment, many more teenagers
will die, several experts said. If the committee suggests an even
stronger warning, some patients will resist therapy and could perhaps
die, some speakers said.
The issue has roiled the agency and is likely to transform the way the
drug industry markets its products. Committees in both the House and
Senate have begun investigations following disclosures that Dr
Mosholder's analysis had been suppressed.
The New York State attorney general Eliot Spitzer, filed suit against
GlaxoSmithKline, charging the drug maker with fraud for failing to
disclose the results of clinical trials of Paxil that found no benefit
while promoting the drug to physicians. The company settled the suit
this summer by promising to disclose the results of all of its
clinical trials of its marketed products dating back to 2000.
Editors of the nation's top medical journals have said they will not
to accept for publication trials that have not been publicly
registered, and legislation is expected to be offered in both the
House and the Senate requiring the disclosure of the results of all
major drug tests on humans.
For some bereaved parents, Monday's hearing was a chance to take drug
makers and the F.D.A. to task.
Mark and Cheryl Miller of Overland Park, Kan.,, told the committee
that their 13-year-old son, Matthew, had committed suicide seven
months ago while taking Zoloft.
"Why haven't parents like Cheryl and myself and countless others been
told the truth?" Mr Miller asked.
But others said that antidepressants had helped millions. Dr Suzanne
Vogel-Sibilia of Beaver, Pa., said that she had brought her
15-year-old son, Tony, to the hearing to represent what she said were
the vast majority of patients who had been helped by the drugs.
"Please help me preserve my future," Tony told the committee. "Don't
take away my medication."
Claims that antidepressants cause patients to become acutely suicidal
have been made since 1991, just three years after Prozac was
introduced. But drug makers and regulators long dismissed these
claims, saying they were anecdotal reports without any basis in
rigorous clinical trials.
Then last year, GlaxoSmithKline announced that tests of Paxil had
found that teenagers and children who took the pill were more likely
to become suicidal than those given placebos. The announcement was
quickly followed by a similar one from Wyeth, the maker of Effexor,
another antidepressant. Suddenly, the anecdotal reports were being
confirmed by clinical trials.
Still, just how the drugs may lead some people to become suicidal
remains the subject of fierce debate. Many of those at the hearing
said that the pills had brought a change in the personalities of their
friends and relatives. Alice Erber said that Paxil caused her
21-year-old son, Jake Steinberg, to throw himself in June from the
24th floor of a Manhattan office building.
"If he had not taken Paxil, he would be alive today," Ms Erber said.
But Dr Temple speculated that some people taking the pills become
suicidal because they are actually getting better. As their depression
improves, he said, they gain the energy to act on suicidal thoughts
that their illness had suppressed.
"I think the work is cut out for us tomorrow," Dr Wayne Goodman,
chairman of the advisory committee, said at the end of Monday's
hearing.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
HUMOUR: Religious Jokes of the Day
Some friends were on vacation in Maine, and while watching fireworks heard their small son say, "Oh, God!"
The father quickly cautioned his son, "Please don't speak the Lord's name in vain."
The boy nodded but obviously mis-heard, because he asked quietly, "Is it OK if I speak his name back in Minnesota?"
The Pope's Surprise
Many years ago, a beloved Pope died and went to heaven. Saint Peter greeted him in a firm embrace. "Welcome your holiness, your dedication and unselfishness in serving your fellow man during your life has earned you great stature in heaven. You may pass through the gates without delay and are granted free access to all parts of heaven."
St Peter continued: "You are also granted an open-door policy and may, at your own discretion, meet with any heavenly leader including the Father, without prior appointment. Is there anything which your holiness desires?"
"Well, yes," the Pope replied. "I have often pondered some of the mysteries which have puzzled and confounded theologians through the ages. Are there perhaps any transcripts which recorded the actual conversations between God and the prophets of old? I would love to see what was actually said, without the dimming of memories over time."
St Peter immediately ushered the Pope to the heavenly library and explained how to retrieve the various documents. The Pope was thrilled and settled down to review the history of humanity's relationship with God. Two years later, a scream of anguish pierced the quiet of the library. Immediately several of the saints and angels came running.
They found the Pope pointing to a single word on a parchment, repeating over and over: "There's an 'R'. There's an 'R.' There's an 'R'... It's CELEBRATE, not celibate!"
Good Question!
And Moses looked upon the Lord and said: "We are your chosen people and you want us to cut the tips off of our WHAT?"
A Yogi Walked into a Pizza Parlour...
What did the Yogi say when he walked into the Zen Pizza Parlour?
"Make me one with everything."
When the Yogi got the pizza, he gave the proprietor a $20 note. The proprietor pocketed the note.
The Yogi said "Don't I get change?"
The proprietor said, "Change must come from within."
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Looks Pretty Cool, Doesn't It?
Mercedes's Baby SL Builds Up Its Muscles
By KEITH MARTIN, NY Times
TESTED: 2005 Mercedes-Benz SLK350
WHAT IS IT? Sporty two-seater with a retractable hardtop.
HOW MUCH? Starts at US$46,220.
WHAT'S DIFFERENT? Guy-friendly styling; a new 268-horsepower dual-cam V-6.
HOW QUICK? Zero-to-60 m.p.h. in 5.4 seconds (manufacturer's estimate).
ALTERNATIVES: Audi TT 3.2, BMW Z4 3.0i, Porsche Boxster
FIFTY years ago, Mercedes-Benz gave birth to its first baby SL, which looked like a scaled-down version of its awe-inspiring 300SL sports car. While the resemblance was notable and the price attractive, enthusiasts regarded the little 190SL as a harmless, underpowered car.
From 1963 to 1997 Mercedes produced a single SL model, which evolved from the petite 230SL to the ponderous celebrity-mobile cars of the 1990's. But with the debut of the 1998 SLK230 Kompressor, the company reinstated its practice of offering a smaller version of its flagship roadster.
The SLK was relatively peppy, thanks to its supercharged engine, and its retractable hardtop set it apart, but its styling was rather tame. It was rarely mistaken for a serious sports car.
That car's replacement, the SLK350, which goes on sale this month, is a different story. It has a very aggressive stance and an attention-grabbing appearance, with design cues that hint at the US$450,000 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren supercar. The lines of the new SLK sweep upward from front to rear, somewhat reminiscent of the short-lived Lotus Elan of the early 1990's. The car still has a retractable hardtop, which provides a choice between open air and an enclosed weatherproof cabin.
The all-new 3.5-liter V-6 engine has four valves per cylinder and dual overhead camshafts, in contrast to the V-6 of the 2004 model, which is a three-valve, single-cam design. Horsepower is rated at 268 (up from 215 for the SLK320). A new six-speed manual transmission is standard, and a seven-speed automatic - Mercedes says it is the world's first - is an option.
Despite the improved performance, the base price is just US$450 more than that of the previous V-6 model (no 4-cylinder model will be offered in the United States), although some equipment that was standard, like power seats, is now optional.
I drove the SLK350 on winding roads through the Columbia Gorge in Oregon, on freeways and at Portland International Raceway. On the road, it is a winner, a cut above the previous SLK. The handling is predictable, with negligible body lean in turns, and even with the optional sport suspension the ride was comfortable.
The seven-speed automatic was superb, always finding the right gear and shifting quickly, and the new manual transmission is vastly superior to the one previously offered. My only complaint is that its ratios are widely spaced, causing the engine speed to drop out of its ideal range on gear changes.
The cup holders are good for a German car, which is to say they are mediocre by American or Japanese standards. They pop out from the dashboard above the navigation system, ensuring that the air-conditioning will cool your hot drink.
Mercedes did a better job of positioning a new option it calls the air scarf, a heating system built into the seat that blows warm air onto the base of your neck. Odd as it may sound, it proved effective on chilly mornings when the top was down.
While the current SLK has a reputation as a sports car for those who don't quite know what a sports car is - the commonly heard but impolite term is "chick car" - the new SLK350 can be considered alongside the Audi TT, BMW Z4 and Porsche Boxster in performance and appearance. But the retractable hardtop gives it an edge over all its competitors.
2005 Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class Compact Convertible
Available: September 2004
Preview
What Edmunds.com Says: With the release of BMW's new Z4, Mercedes has some catching up to do and this new SLK looks like it has the performance and features that will close the gap.
First Drive: 2005 Mercedes-Benz SLK
Roadster Reborn
By Ed Hellwig, NY Times
Date posted: 03-15-2004
When the original SLK debuted in 1998, it was hardly your typical Mercedes. With its convertible hardtop, reasonable price tag and pint-size dimensions, it looked like it left a factory in Japan not Germany. It was often labeled as "cute," a moniker that no doubt inspired fits of frustration among Mercedes' more traditional designers. "It is not cute, just smaller," they probably lamented.
As shocking and unexpected as it may have seemed at the time, it proved to be a successful combination of personality and performance, selling well against rival roadsters like the BMW Z3 and Audi's TT. But like any breakthrough design, the time comes when the originality wears thin and the quirks of old age start to wear through. After seven years on the market, the SLK was beginning to show such symptoms, so in an effort to keep it relevant in a cutthroat market Mercedes gave its entry-level roadster a full redesign for 2005.
With a dramatic new design inspired by Mercedes' Formula One race cars, the second-generation SLK is every bit as eye-catching as the original. It's also slightly larger and more powerful than its predecessor, two traits that will likely earn it a little more respect from serious roadster enthusiasts. It still has the fun-to-drive character that made it so likable in the first place, but as we found out during a brief introductory test-drive, this SLK is more than just a cute convertible with a luxury badge.
With a body that's nearly three inches longer and two and a half inches wider, the second-generation SLK gained just enough size to make the interior livable without distorting the compact design of the exterior. While the previous version had the feel of a leather-lined bobsled, the larger cabin of the '05 version gives you plenty of room to move about. Even taller drivers can stretch out without using up all the available seat travel, and having a passenger aboard no longer entails getting up close and personal with every turn.
Even more impressive than the added room is the redesigned dashboard with its more cohesive layout, cleaner gauge cluster and higher-quality materials, the latter constituting a real plus given the fact that Mercedes has been criticized in recent years for skimping on its interiors. Good-looking soft-touch material covers the top of the dash, glovebox and doors while plastics of similar quality fill in the rest. The climate control layout varies depending on whether you add a navigation system (now DVD-based), but both arrangements use easy-to-decipher dials that are usable at a glance. Taken together, the long list of improvements creates a more upscale, tasteful-looking cabin that far exceeds the previous model's.
In addition to looking good, the SLK feels good as well with soft and supportive seats that remain comfortable even after several hours of continuous driving. Keep the windows up while the top is down and there's minimal wind buffeting. If that's not enough, consider the new Airscarf system that channels warm air to your neck and shoulders via dedicated registers in the headrests. It actually works quite well, and when combined with traditional seat heaters the SLK becomes one of the most useful all-weather convertibles on the market.
If the improvements to the interior aren't enough to convince you that this SLK is indeed a step above its predecessor, one full-fledged stomp on the throttle should be enough to seal the deal. With 268 horsepower on tap courtesy of an all-new 3.5-liter V6, the SLK can sprint to 60 miles per hour in just 5.6 seconds, according to Mercedes-Benz. Repeated floggings on wide-open back roads inspired little doubt in M-B's numbers. The power kicks in early and remains solid throughout thanks to variable camshafts and a two-stage intake manifold. As an added bonus, the stout V6 pours out a satisfying wail that inspires flat-footed runs to the redline at every opportunity.
Complementing the impressive new power plant is a pair of transmissions that offers excellent flexibility and performance whether you go with the standard six-speed manual or new seven-speed automatic. Last year's manual gearbox suffered from a vague, hollow shifter that inspired little confidence through the gears, but the reworked linkage in this year's model delivers a solid feel and smooth action that transforms the six-speed into a gearbox worthy of consideration. Then there's the seven-speed automatic that offers up serious performance (Mercedes claims that the automatic-equipped SLK is a tenth-of-a-second quicker to 60 than the manual) along with the everyday drivability of a traditional automatic.
Other notable improvements under the skin include a new rack-and-pinion steering system and more powerful brakes. The recirculating-ball steering system used in the previous model was often chastised for its heavy feel and inconsistent feedback, but the new setup is not only lighter to the touch, it returns enough road feel to maintain the car's sporting demeanor during aggressive driving. The revised brakes could still use a better feel through the pedal, but their ability to bring the SLK to a halt in a hurry is never an issue.
If you get the sense that Mercedes adequately addressed nearly every fault in the previous model, you wouldn't be far from the truth. The SLK now has the power to go head-to-head with a Porsche Boxster and the handling to keep pace with a BMW Z4. It may not be as wholly satisfying in terms of pure performance, but it's no longer a distant third either. Its revamped interior is arguably better than both the Boxster and the Z4 while its unique hardtop configuration gives it an edge when it comes to safety and security. It's not a perfect car by any means, but in the thinly populated world of entry-level luxury roadsters, the SLK now offers one of the most compelling combinations of style, performance and comfort available anywhere. It's still not your typical Mercedes, but that's the way the boys in Stuttgart like it, cuteness and all.
Click here for photos of the New 2005 Mercedes-Benz SLK350
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