Another word for Retrenchment discovered

Interesting News today:

30 March 2009: CIMB Group is offering its 36,000 staff extended unpaid leave under the "Staff Rejuvenation Programme" from next month. Group chief executive, Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, emphasised that the programme was not to lay off workers but to give them an option to take extended unpaid leave of between one and six months.

On whether the programme would reduce costs, he said: "We don't have a target but there will be cost savings. It's a positive move and a win-win situation. Under the current economic situation, it is fully understood that there is spare capacity."

It is understood that the workers who take up the group's offer will start their leave from 1 April, but this will not affect the bank's operations.

Definitely an April Fools joke on the employees of this bloated organization. Ever since CIMB forcefully acquired the profitable SBB, they have been steadily reducing the under-performing staff from BCB. Now, this round of so-called "Rejuvenation Programme" is probably aimed at making the subsequent redundancy programme look more legit.

Whatever it is, CIMB should not have been allowed to buy SBB and we all know why it was allowed.

It would be interesting to see what other banks will do - will they use the same word?

Technorati Tags: CIMB, Malaysia, Banks

Mat Rempit Menace

Mat Rempit menace is more than on the road.
They are attacking with parangs and they are attacking your house.
This happened in Taman Maluri, Cheras.
See how switch they operate and how fierce they are.
A second too slow at closing of the gate, cost the owners.
My advice: Get autogate, don't live in Cheras, and dont trust your maid.


Technorati Tags: crime watch, mat rempits, malaysia,

If sharks can do it, why can't God?

This has to be a contender for the headline of the year.

Virgin shark got pregnant in Virginia aquarium

Scientists using DNA testing have confirmed the second-known instance of "virgin birth" in a shark -- a female Atlantic blacktip shark named Tidbit that produced a baby without a male shark.

The shark came to the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Centre in Virginia Beach not long after being born in the wild and lived there for eight years with no males of the same species, said Beth Firchau, the aquarium's curator of fishes.

The 5-foot (1.5-metre) shark died after being removed from the tank for a veterinary examination, and a subsequent necropsy revealed that Tidbit was carrying a fully developed shark pup nearly ready to be born, Firchau said.

Demian Chapman, a shark scientist with the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University in New York state, performed DNA testing that showed the pup had no father. Virgin birth such as this is known as parthenogenesis.

A year ago, Chapman used genetic testing to confirm that a hammerhead shark at a zoo in Omaha gave birth to a pup in 2002, also after parthenogenesis.

"It tells us that the original case we documented last year was not some fluke of nature. This is something that might be more common than we think it is, and widespread among sharks," Chapman said in a telephone interview.

Parthenogenesis also has been documented in Komodo dragons, snakes, birds, fish and amphibians, Chapman said. It occurs when a baby is conceived without male sperm fertilizing the female's eggs. In the type of parthenogenesis seen in sharks, the mother's chromosomes split during egg development.

How the sharks do it is unclear. Chapman said they may use a hormone to trigger eggs to develop in this manner in the absence of males. Or perhaps if eggs remain unfertilized with no males around, a certain fraction develop into embryos.

"It's a finding that kind of rewrites the textbooks a little," Chapman said. "It just goes to show how the ocean keeps its secrets very well. And the sharks in particular."

"Of course, sharks are being killed at such a rate that unless we do something to stop that, we're not even going to learn all their secrets before they're gone," Chapman added.

The findings appear in the Journal of Fish Biology.

So, you call it parthenogenesis; I just call it Virgin Birth. Hello?

Japanese Banking Crisis

Following the problems in the sub-prime lending market in America and the run on Northern Rock in the UK, uncertainty has now hit Japan.

In the last 7 days Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches.

Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will likely go for a song, while today shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived.

While Samurai Bank fell on its sword, Ninja Bank is reported to have taken a hit, but they remain in the black.

Furthermore, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal.

Even Miso Bank is in the soup, and an audit of the Tofu Bank is turning up questions about it's REAL assets.

The only ray of light in all this is the arrival of a new bank rising out of the ashes of the others. Its name - Hiroshima Savings - and their slogan - "we've survived worse than this!".

Its merger with the Teppanyaki Bank is still hot and on the table.

The Plastic Coding System

It is a fallacy that many believe if the plastic number is higher it is a better plastic. The different number code indicates the different uses for each type of plastic.

So if you want to carry water, PET 1 or PVC 3 should be good enough.