Hello! Please continue sending
fascinating questions like this to
journalcomic at gmail dot com
and I shall do my best to answer them
and also to amuse at the same time!

(do not worry: today's look for the comic is not permanent.
I am working on my tiny laptop,
and this is the best I can do under the circumstances.
Still, not bad though, eh?)

If you like raspberry cobbler, you'll love my elderberry pie!

I have made more beautiful pies before, but you will have to forgive me, it was almost two am and I was tired when I put it together.  Either way, no matter how it looks, it tastes awesome!

~LMH

true love.

To get started, sign up for free accounts at the following sites. For quick and concise explanations of each of the services, see Common Craft's "In Plain English" series.

• Facebook: social networking (Social Networking in Plain English)
• WordPress: blogging (Blogs in Plain English)
• Twitter: microblogging (Twitter in Plain English)
• Delicious: social bookmarking (Social Bookmarking in Plain English)
• Google Reader: organizing and managing online content (Google Reader in Plain English)
• Utterz: podcasting (Podcasting in Plain English)
• Flickr: photo sharing (Online Photo Sharing in Plain English)
• LinkedIn: professional social networking (LinkedIn in Plain English)

A couple of notes:

• If you already have an account at one of the sites, there's no need to obtain another one just for this class.
• If possible, use the same username for all the sites. I tend to use my real name as my username; if you are uncomfortable using your real name, feel free to use a professional-sounding username of your choice.

Please be sure to sign up for all the accounts by September 12.

Photo Credit: http://thegoldguys.blogspot.com/

Remember when you were a kid? One of the greatest things in the world was to climb up on the kitchen counter and sneak one of those delicious little treats your parents hid on the top shelf of the cupboard. Twinkies were your caviar and Spaghetti-Os your filet mignon. Well, Joe Posnanski invites you to take a step back in time and reevaluate those childhood tastes.

If you’re anything like us, those wondrous treats of youth probably don’t hold the same appeal they once did. Of course, one can only expect dirt and paste to age so well.

At any rate, we were reminded of an article we read a while ago about a so-called “miracle fruit” from West Africa that alters your taste buds and makes acidic foods taste sweet. It's not the same effect the aging process has, but it's an interesting experience nonetheless. Lemons taste like candy, a beer becomes a chocolate milkshake and sulfuric acid tastes just like burning.

What's out point? Well, now that we're all grown up and realize that the things children like eating aren't necessarily the most nutritious treats, we can just have our kids pop one of these in their mouths and presto, the garbage taste of Brussels sprouts becomes the sweet garbage taste of Brussels sprouts.

It's pretty interesting that our sense of taste can be so completely deceived by anything from age to a simple fruit. Overall though, good news for companies with products that some find less than desirable.

In other news, I've been trying to learn about Drupal which I think will end up being lumped into the same category as Greenstone, Linux, Delicious and Koha.  That category being the one that is "I'd like to try it, download it, learn more about it, finally implement it or become somewhat decent at understanding and using it but I've got shit to do and I know there are people way better at it then me, so they can have at it and help me out in a pinch".

In een vorige post werd delicious al even toegelicht. Kort samengevat : online social bookmarking. Huh ? De mogelijkheid om op het net een verzameling te maken van alle links die jou interesseren, met telkens passende trefwoorden (tags) erbij, zodat ze doorzoekbaar zijn. De sociale factor is de mogelijkheid om links te delen, je in te schrijven op links van anderen (subscriptions), ...

Deze zomer onderging de site een "make over". Behalve de nieuwe layout, zijn er een paar extra functies mogelijk. Wat is nieuw ?

1. Je kan bij elke link kiezen of je deze publiek zichtbaar wil maken, of liever tot uw private collectie bewaart.

2. Langere beschrijvingen zijn mogelijk.

3. De URL is veel simpeler  http://delicious.com , ipv de gesplitste URL van voorheen (die wel nog werkt).

4. De snelheid om een link te bookmarken is aanzienlijk verhoogd. Rapper werken willen we allemaal :)

5. Het bundelen van de trefwoorden is overzichtelijker, al helpt enige eigen classificatie ook wel.

6. Een betere navigatie

Uiteraard is het migreren naar de nieuwe URL automatisch gebeurd, en blijven alle reeds verzamelde linken netjes waar we ze willen hebben.

Meer weten ? Even een overzichtje.

Curbing Communication Breakdowns

by John Kreiss

The most common reason employees give for changing jobs is a breakdown in their relationship with their boss.  More often than not, these communication breakdowns lead to unnecessary and costly turnover. 

Construction is a people business that requires multi-level communication to achieve success in the building process.  Owners, construction managers, architects, engineers, general contractors, and subcontractors come from different backgrounds and have different priorities.  Given that people operate based on their own perceptions, it is no surprise that breakdowns in communication occur, especially between employees and supervisors.

Project deadlines, combined with a seemingly endless list of day-to-day responsibilities, lead to workplace stress that often results in an atmosphere where managers and employees focus on their own tasks and don't talk with each other.  In this environment, email and phone messages can easily be misinterpreted.

Managers give directives to other managers who, because of indirect communication, process the information from their viewpoint and, in turn, pass it on to others who then do the same.  Often, the final message differs from the one originally sent.

Potentially costly outcomes-misunderstandings, hurt feelings, unrealistic expectations and inaccurate perceptions-may lead employees to leave companies because they feel that promises aren't kept or career paths are stagnant.  These types of decisions often take supervisors by surprise. 

Here are a few tools managers can use to avoid misunderstandings:

• Practice listening. Managers who want to be good communicators can master most of this challenge through good listening.  Simple techniques include eye contact, paraphrasing, and conveying understanding.  Often people make assumptions and interrupt others before a message is delivered.  Good listening prevents misinterpretations. 
• Schedule individual monthly breakfast or lunch meetings with each direct report. These informal meetings present opportunities for employees and managers to build relationships and trust. Employees who feel more comfortable with their manager often become loyal employees.
• Give each employee a regular performance review.  Employees like to be told how they're doing, even if they need to improve. However, managers and sometimes lose sight of this due to other day-to-day activities consuming their time. Review sessions are great opportunities for managers to set expectations, talk with employees and promote constructive dialogue.
• Conduct confidential employee surveys. Employees are often reluctant to be completely honest for fear of jeopardizing their position or relationship with their direct supervisor.  Confidential surveys encourage employees to offer more objective comments, which can help identify areas in the company where communication breakdowns occur. 
• Discipline the screamers. Some people resort to screaming when confronted with stress. To prevent unnecessary turnover, the company should discipline employees who raise their voices.
• Align employees with the company vision.  Employees frequently complain their firm has kept them "in the dark" regarding the firm's goals and their role in realizing those goals.  Communication regarding the strategic plan and its progress should be frequent and routine. This also will impact succession planning, as budding executives need to absorb the firm's philosophy to successfully take over the reins when the time comes.

In addition to formal venues of communication, such as internal newsletters and staff meetings, managers should impart the firm's vision and employees' roles in achieving it in their day-to-day staff interactions.  Let employees know the value of their work in terms of the firm's vision.  Framing employee feedback according to the firm's strategic plan strenthens supervisor/employee relations and reinforces the firm's goals. 

• Pick up the phone when emails appear to be misinterpreted.  Even better, go to the person directly if they're nearby.  Although effective, email also can be problematic.  Messages are easy to misinterprest and lack the emotion that typically accompanies face-to-face interactions.  Voice tone and body language are absent in email, increasing opportunities for miscommunications.  Managers who make the effort to meet in person or at least connect over the phone can defuse situations resulting from electronic miscommunications.

Although it may seem like common sense, it's easy to forget the importance of communication in the frenzy of daily business activity.  Good communication is contagious, and construction companies that instill quality practices are likely to reap widespread benefits. 

Digg This:

And its not even that they seem really difficult of fiddly, its more that they are just the kind of thing that if you were going ot eat it, you would want it to be an occasion or at some fantastic over pirced restaurant. There are some things I just do not want to cook or eat in my own house when it is just another night at home.

I've chosen to cook my way through the pages of '5 night a week' by Valli Little. What caught me first was that it is a cook book that has stemmed form the ABC food magazine 'delicious'. I am die hard fan of the ABC so that gave the book bonus points from me. The deciding factor though was that while I was standing in the book store flicking through the books by big names like Jamie Oliver, this was the only book where the recipes were at least normal (though I do like Jamie i'm just not willing to cook everything in his books).

They are recipes that you would want to cook and want to try and want to eat at your own dinner table.

I couldn't give you an exact number, perhaps one day if I am searching for something bland to do i'll actually count, but I think there is about 119 recipes. The layout is typically the photo on one page the recipe on the other so I came to my result by halving the number of pages.

I'll have to start the cooking tomorrow because there's still left overs to eat.

Click here to read this post: 

Digg This: 

Jerk is a popular preperation for Chicken, Pork, Goat, and Fish in the Islands, it goes back many years to a time before refridgeration when Jamaican locals would store there meats with salt and spicy peppers to prevent spoiling. The unique Island flavors combine to make a sweet, savory, and spicy blend that has to be tasted and experienced.

There are some store brand premade Jerk seasonings. Some of these are quite good, while others do not have as much flavor. Below is a recipe to make your own from scratch.

To make the spice rub combine the following ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

2 parts dried onion
2 parts ground allspice
2 parts dried thyme
1/2 part ground cinnamon
1 part cayenne pepper or scotch bonnet pepper
2 parts Brown Sugar 
1 part salt
2 parts FRESH ground black pepper
4 parts vegetable oil

After mixing alow spice blend to sit in the refridgerator for at least an hour to allow the oils and flavors to mingle.

Rub generously on the top (meat) side of WILD Sockeye, King, or Coho Salmon filets. Farmed atlantic salmon is disgusting, inferior, and an ecological disaster. Promise me you will NEVER buy farmed salmon.

Place on a hot oiled grill, preferably with wood chips for smoke, skin side down and close the lid.

Grill with indirect heat and smoke, on low, until meat is just cooked thoroughly. DO NOT overcook the salmon.

As you pull the salmon off the grill you can seperate the meat from the skin. Let it rest on a plate for a few mins before serving it.

Possible side items include rice, vegetables, hard bread rolls, and a cool crisp salad.

Enjoy

So I've recently become a Senior Manager of Social Media for a huge company that is a world leader in the digital storage space. I've set us up on blogs, on FriendFeed, on Del.icio.us, on Digg, on Facebook, on MySpace, on Twitter...etc...

Now then....

The evolution of connecting C2C started with creating the best social network technology or platform. Then once the best most popular platforms were established, micro blogging came out. Then we got to the point where people had an account on multiple sites social/networking/bookmarking/micro-blogging, etc. Now it seems like everyone has these standard accounts on places and we're kind of stumped at the FriendFeed level. FriendFreed is awesome, conceptually and for the most part the actual current offering but I still see the challenge existing for people who are trying to figure out how to tie all their marketing and social efforts, personal and/or business, to one easy-to-use, centralized location. FriendFeed is the closest that it has come but I don't think it's the end all.

Personally I've been using Flock for a browser at work so that I have a Firefox based browser with emphasis on Social/Feeds/Blogs and it's the best thing I can have right now for what it is I do. I guess I'm just wondering when and at what point the one and only true portal will arrive for everything that is nice, fast, easy-to-use, customizable, etc. to integrate our entire online lives so that we never have to look again. We need a Google or Microsoft of Social portals to come lay the land for this and set it in stone and continue to develop for it and improve on it.

With all the widgets and platforms and accounts and audiences and generations of 13 year olds that are essentially penetrating, and will permanently be a part of, the tech C2C audience as a lifestyle and way of humanity.....how will we consolidate and fully harness all of it for online business?

adapted from Bangkok Post

I have always said Dr Mahathir is a menace to his own people. Now only you can see the effects of his foolishness when the ringgit has halved its value overnight and your economy goes kaput. Single handedly you have caused hardship to millions of your own people. You have built useless mega projects at tremendous cost to the country.

The telecoms tower in Kuala Lumpur and the highest building in the world show how stupid you are. Not only does it cause massive traffic jam, it has totally no purpose. If you need high ground for telecoms antennae a nearby mountain is there for free. This tower has no purpose from the ground up to 300 metres. The satelites make this totally unneccesary.

A fool and his money are soon parted. The only thing is you are the fool and the money belongs to Malaysians. You make 20% in evey project, you have real estate in Japan and billions of shares corruptly acquired. Your 3 sons are worth 8 billion US$. Where do they get this money? Of course, corruption. You are known as the Marcos of Malaysia, having enriched yourself to the tune of billions.

You dare to shed crocodile tears during UMNO delegates meeting about the ills of corruption. Yet you are the most corrupt of all the prime ministers before you. A thief is crying thief and hopes people look the other way. Who dares to say anything when the chief is caught with his hands in the candy jar?

You said wisdom is not the monopoly of the West. So is foolishness.

You have more foolishness than most people would believe. Billions are used to build two high rise Petronas buildings that benefit nobody. It now stand tall, a symbol of stupidity and irresponsibility Instead they just add on to traffic jam. What is this reclamation of 10 islands off Kedah? Totally absurb and stupid. Of course your benefit is 20%. And the bridge across from Malacca to Sumatra across international waters? Why not build a bridge to the moon? I am sure you still can get your 20%.

You called me a Moron. How can a Moron make so much money. By allowing short selling and borrowing millions of shares from your banks we fund managers made millions out of your inexperience and poor regulations. You lose all Malaysians money, therefore you are the Moron. Now you know too late and start crying over split milk. In Australia you are known as the recalcitrant ego maniac; in UK the corrupt bastard because of your stupid purchase of our movie studio and the 290 million ringgit Lotus racing car plant and the shady Pergau dam loans from the UK. They are useless to us and you still want to buy them. What about buying British reject submarines through your agent, of course. The agent/ broker is designed to make millions out of Malaysian government. Your purchase of our battleships is at least 50% more than others are paying. Your purchase of 9 hospitals from UK lock, stock and barrel does not support your local architects or your industry and the British send you obsolete medical equipment.

The design is atrocious, one end to the other is half a kilometer and there is no CT-scan, an absolute necessity. In the Uk your face appears in no less than 17 newspapers as a corrupt dictator. In Malaysia you are known as the (IBM) International Big Mouth. In Japan they call him the ’smallest one’ (brain size). In Pacific island the Santa Claus (giving advice left and right). In south America they call him the parrot (he talks a lot but does not know what it is about).
In Manila the living Marcos.

In Malaysia they are spending millions to lure tourists and you talk rubbish scaring every foreigner away. “When he is dumb he is doubted a fool, when he opens his mouth it removes all doubt.”

While I agree the West does not have the monopoly to wisdom, your actions are not the wisest either. Your EAEC has totally no support even in Asean. Your South-South dialogue mets with the same fate and what is this I hear of the Bridge from Malaysia to Indonesia covering 20 miles across International shipping lanes? How crazy can one get?

Even the Japanese don’t have the money. This world’s stupidity seems to be concerntrated in one man’s mind - yours.

The multimedia super corridor - MSC -. Well in USA its most stupid concept because we Americans, would have thought of it light years before. Even if it makes money, we can copy this concept can’t we? Why do you want to spend your hard-earned money doing questionable projects? It will be like the Bakun project. Abandoned fund wasted and another white elephant. I always say politicians should not be involved in business. Your ministers are also businessmen and almost every official is enriching himself. Look at Rafidah Aziz, selling thousands of Approved Permit for cars each worth 20-30 thousand Malaysian dollars. Why not your government sell them and make the money?She has acquired millions of shares meant for bumis for free before she agrees to list them. Look at your Selangor Chief Minister collecting millions for approving high rise buildings from businessman. He is worth a few billions. Unfortunately he was caught with a few millions pocket money in Australia.Every Chief minister is awarding useless projects to his cronies then collecting secret pay offs on the side.The Land development Boards and the Economic Development Boards are used to bailout any loses suffered by politicians.The profits they keep, the loses they force the Government bodies to absorb.How can your poor ever close the gap when every good deal is snatched by your politicians?How can your country get out of poverty if all the billions of corruption money is taken out of the country?

Look at the Sarawak Chief Minister selling billions worth of timber concessions under the table; selling every piece of state land to businessman without tender; using his own companies to obtain lucrative government contracts; selling approval signatures for a fee ‘you pay I approve’. He has 8 billion US stashes overseas. Thousands of acres of land are given to one or two companies while thousands of poor people still live in cardboard makeshift homes; have no water and shit into the river. Thousands of acres of land are sold to companies for plantations while the native don’t have even one acre to their name. He is selling sand near the beaches to one company for earth filling and then ask the government to spend millions to protect the coastline when erosion occurs. He lost 300 millions of the sarawak government money trying to make computer chips. He has built a port in Northern sarawak town in water so shallow it needs dredging every year.

The Prime Minister built highways without tender, your cronies get the deal and the price double. Your Langkawi airport runway is built is double the cost by your own company Ekran.

The Malaysian nation has lost at least 30 billions during your last 10 years of corrupt rule. One billions lost from the purchase of phantom skyhawk war planes nobody has ever seen (are they still in the Nevada desert USA?). 3 billion lost from the London tin scandal (you thought you could corner the London tin market without knowing the Americans have a stockpile! Stupidity at its best. 6 billion Perwaja steel mill where nobody even know where the money goes, 3 billion bank Bumiputra scandal where George Tan bribed all the bank officials to lend him the money. 6 billion forex lost by Bank Negara (the fool and his money are soon parted) and 6 billion to build three of the worlds tallest buildings (built by Japanese and Koreans and furniture imported from France - not Malaysia) and 1 billion lost from purchase of British warship including fees paid to the broker and under the table. Add the 10 billion you stole and 5 billion taken by Ministers.

In the 1997 the World Journalists meeting voted Dr Mahathir the Prime Minister of the Decade. It sounded strange to everybody until it was revealed those who voted against are threatened by IRD officers and with losing their jobs. In New York the United Nations 1997 meeting,

the most corrupt Prime Minister of the decade is President Suharto and second Dr Mahathir (Actually Dr Mahathir should take first place but bribed the Indonesian to take honour of Number One.

There are Fifty thousand of your university students are not given places in Malaysia but are good enough for places overseas resulting in billion of dollars lost.The British and the Australians are thinking how stupid.Your best students are sent overseas raising their standards while as in most countries the best are kept in local universities and the rejects sent overseas. A university student in Hong Kong is much more prestigeous than any Australian counterpart.

You have been colonised by the British so long you cannot even educate your own people. Look at Hong Kong or Singapore less than 5% study overseas. All the money saved. Your country could save billions if every student overseas is recalled to a local university, and at the same time raising your own standards.

Your people are still without shoes, without land to farm, without homes, bathing in rivers shitting in hole in the ground, without water and electricity. Your cities are concrete jungles without greenery and open spaces. Your KL is jammed with traffic. Yet you still keep on building high rises. You should come down from the clouds and stop daydreaming and firmly plant your feet in the ground. Your schools are cramped 500 students to an acre and thousands of acres are given free to some politician who leaves them idle. Your parks are being taken by politicians to build shophouses and every cabinet minister is a landgrabbing businessman who build roads only to their cronies’ land.

The Malaysians’ prayer

“Ya Allah, we thank you for your gifts of timber, oil and grain. But then the devil sent us corrupt Mahathir without a Brain And look we are back to square one again So just take Dr Mahathir back to Hell And we will be alive and well.”

In China people have been shot for embezzling one thousand dollars. With 8 billions you have stolen therefore you would be shot 80 thousand times.

Now you are leading an anti-corruption campaign. We all know what you should do. Look yourself in the mirror. You see the crook there? Then use your left hand and handcuff your right hand.

You have put the opposition leader and his son in jail when they said in parliament you are the richest PM in the world. And his colleague

Mr Karpal Singh too for 2 years. So I get a reward or bribe if I now say you are the poorest PM in this world?

Your 3 sons are sitting in the board of directors of more than 200 companies. They must have been educated in Harvard school of business and obtained distintions? Or is it “you don’t know me you don’t do business in Malaysia” law that applies. Billions of ringgit of Employee’s Provident Funds and public Petonas funds are used to bail out your sons who make losses investing in every venture you thought you could make money. How unethical and corrupt.

Every one of your politicians are sitting on the boards of tens of companies making thousands without any effort, lending their VIP names to borrow millions from local banks without collateral. Now these have become non performing loans. Now you want 20 millions Malaysian to sacrifice for the folly of ONE man? Why not the fool resign and admit he wasted and took most of the money. I could teach you how to put your economy on tract but first you must apologize to the Jews and the Malaysian people as well.

‘SOROS’

今天晚上來到剛剛試賣中的華興園用餐，店面液晶電視播放著漂亮又美味的一道道中華料理，有創意。

聽說創始店在南勢角興南路的小巷內...因地點不好...因此至永和這邊開分店囉...

以下就由戰友(左)和我(右)為大家進行該餐廳菜色及價位之調查...

下面花生是招待的，不用錢...之後陸續上菜的是...左宗棠雞...要求店家特別炒辣一點...還算不錯，

因為，雞肉還蠻有咬勁的...外皮炸過...有點酥脆...裡面的雞肉則柔軟多汁...。

接下來這道是炒山蘇...和破布子一起炒...味道還有點跟一般快炒店不同ㄌㄟ...

右邊這道菜則是什錦豆腐...絕對不是我點的"香椿豆腐"...不是他寫錯菜就是他出錯菜...

三菜一湯的湯出來囉...是戰友所點的酸菜肚片湯...因為酸菜不夠酸...肚片不夠軟爛...列為非常普通...XD...

右邊則是餐廳附送的甜點...應該是椰香紅豆芋泥糕...非常自然...不加糖...但不錯吃喔...(被戰友先吃掉一塊)

以上...三菜一湯...加上茶水...花生...甜點...三碗白飯...不超過700元...因為開幕試賣中...打8折...530元

非常便宜吧...以這種價錢來說...晚上這餐算便宜囉...大家可以去吃吃看...老闆娘人也都很客氣喔...