Ready for PhD

I checked my application status at the USM Institute of Postgraduate Studies website and it shows that my PhD student application has been accepted.

Great! So, it's about time for me to go over to USM to register myself as a PhD student in Organisational Behaviour.

Also, I have read through a few dozen journals and I have come up with a new theoretical framework which is different from the one I sent in together with my application earlier. I hope my supervisor will agree on this framework or else, I have to come up with a new framework again. That's a usual thing. The framework will keep changing until it is robust.

Ok, it is time to sift more journals.

Constantly taunted stray dogs will turn aggressive

Yay, it was published!

In my previous post, I mentioned that I sent an article to The Star. Hence, it was published today.

You can read it here.

Stray dogs menace or human menace?

I wrote in to The Star again and let's see if they would publish it in a few days time. The last time I wrote in to The Star was last year March. You can read it here.

This time I am writing about stray dogs. Yes, stray dogs again.

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Referring to a few numbers of recent write-ups about the stray dogs menace in Batu Ferringhi, I am compelled to voice out the other side of the story.

If you had a chance to visit Penang, please take a stroll along the Batu Ferringhi beach and chances are that you might encounter mischievous children and even adults taunting or even pelting the stray dogs unprovoked. Yes, there are even adults who behaved childishly by provoking those dogs.

So, it seems that all these stray dog abuse incidents are never reported in the press and it gave the impression that those stray dogs have to take full blame for their aggression. No, I am not saying that the victims are the one provoking the stray dogs. What I meant is that all these abuses have been ongoing for years unreported and common sense tells me that when a stray dog has been abused continuously, it has the tendency to turn aggressive and might attack unprovoked.

Thanks to us, human beings ourselves, we had moulded those stray dogs into a killer pack by continually taunting, pelting or even walloping them.

I agree that the population of stray dogs should be controlled, at least in an ethical manner but at the same time, everyone should be educated to respect animals. I just don’t’ understand why some people have to taunt the stray dogs even if those dogs are just lying down quietly. Let sleeping dogs lie, shall we?

Singapore: Increase in new TB cases

Thinking of moving to Singapore? Think again...

According to Reuters, Singapore is the 2nd most crowded country in the world. That explained the headline above.

Yes, new TB cases in Singapore are rising. You can read the news at The Star.

Some of the highlights are:

The Health Ministry was alerted to 2,791 new cases last year, a figure 10.9% higher than the 2,517 in 2009.

Last year, TB affected 39.2 individuals for every 100,000 residents here; the year before, it was 38.6 for every 100,000.

As I have blogged before, TB is different from H1N1 or the common cold. The mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes TB can linger in the air for up to four hours after an infected individual coughs, sneezes, laughs, sings, or talks. This is unlike H1N1 (or any influenza/common cold virus) where the virus dropped to the ground after an infected individual coughs or sneezes.

H1N1 (or any influenza/common cold virus) is spread via respiratory droplets while TB is spread airborne. Both are highly contagious and one should not be infected.

Being infected with TB is not nice at all. You have to undergo an antibiotic therapy for 9 months (or even more) just to cure it. You have to eat antibiotics every single day for 9 months. You must not missed a day or you will be in serious trouble (meaning you can't be cured). And these antibiotics are not the ordinary antibiotics you see in the clinic. The side effects are awful.

And again, no Chinese sinseh is able to cure a person from TB. Probably, that's why TB cases are rising. Some infected people keep going to the Chinese sinseh hoping to find a cure but instead they spread their infection to others because they keep coughing and they can't be cured by the sinseh!

So, stop the spread, go to a proper medical clinic, and observe cough/sneeze etiquette!

I came face to face with a burglar just now.

I looked at him and he looked at me. Both of us pretended that nothing has happened.

It was about 7.30pm on Dec 26, 2011 when I heard someone was trying to open the back window. So, I peeked through the backdoor and I saw him. A scumbag was trying to steal something from my house.

I looked at him and he looked at me and he pretended that he was just loitering on the backlane. I pretended that nothing has happened too because I don't know what weapon he has. He was just a foot away from me. I guessed he was pretty surprised to see me standing there looking at him.

So, I watched him walked away and then only I shouted "PENCURI!!!!"

And he scolded something vulgar.... "pkm", and he started to run.

And I shouted even louder "PENCURI!!!!!!"

My neighbour who stayed behind came out and looked too.

And the scumbag ran away.

Phishing scam alert

Look at what CIMB sent me below...

Looks like CIMB has sent me an email requesting me to update my details at cimbclicks.com.my

Hmmm....but it looks fishy to me.

It is because a bank will never never never never send any emails to its customers! So, remember that!

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Dear Customer,

Greetings from CIMB Clicks!

Your online banking will expire soon. To avoid any interruption to your service,please log in to your CIMB Clicks account using our website below to updateyour internet banking profile.
http://www.cimbclicks.com.my/

Sincerely,CIMB Bank

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I rolled my mouse over the link and it shows as www.moolah.asia/phpthumb/cache/source/file/activate/Logon.html.

Don't be fooled by such emails.

If you want to go the CIMBClicks website, go to google and type it down the full link yourself.

Also, check the URL address at the top of your browser to ensure it is indeed www.cimbclicks.com.my after you have entered into that website.

By the way, what is moolah.asia?

How to survive in an ODL environment?

Many of us have gone through the conventional learning environment of attending face-to-face lectures and tutorials at universities or colleges.

Many would then ask how is it like learning in an ODL (Open and Distance Learning) environment when hours of classes attended are limited or it doesn't exist at all!

For me, I don't like the idea of attending classes to learn something. I rather read a book on my own and learn it by myself. I prefer reading a book by myself rather than sitting in a classroom listening to some unnecessary dreadful painful lectures. Anyway, lecturers are humans as well just like you and I. If they can master the subject matter, so can you.

The key to success in an ODL environment is self-discipline!

You have to study on your own, practice exercises on your own, and revise everything on your own. If you have questions, just post your questions online and your lecturers/tutors will answer you. That's what I like about ODL.

If you had been attending tuition classes when you were in primary and secondary schools, the ODL environment will definitely give you a culture shock because classes are limited. The tuition classes you had attended when you were in school have made you very reliant on the teachers. Attending tuition classes does not encourage you to do your own reading and to do your own research. The tuition teachers are just spoon feeding all of the students by teaching, teaching, and teaching every single detail of the syllabus.

The ODL environment inculcates independent learning because you won't be given any lectures. For those who are lazy and for those who refuses to read on their own, they won't survive the ODL environment.

To survive in an ODL environment, you must be independent and you must have strong self-discipline!