Season greetings and welcoming 2011

F1 Singapore Night Race

The one and only night race in the 2010 F1 calender for round 15 of 19 races begins today at the Singtel Singapore Grand Prix. What's new this weekend is the new livery that will be spotted on the circuit is not any of the F1teams but on the safety cars with the announcement of the new engagement details by Allianz. Check it out here for full details.

As it is in any F1 race, the momentum picks up on Friday when practices 1 and 2  and Saturday practice 3 sessions are held. Unless we are at the track venue, the only updates we get are from the tweets and F1 blogs. Today, I want to share a live streaming website that I stumble upon, some of you might have known about it, nevertheless, here's the link to web live stream (by the way, this site live stream other sports as well and do donate to it for free live streaming) that I am talking about. But please make sure to check your local time for the exact time of streaming here.

Anyway, here are some facts to the 2010 Formula 1 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix courtesy from the official Formula 1 website. 

The Marina Bay Street Circuit will be roaring to the engines of 22 F1 cars on Sept 26 where all the cars will do a 309.316 km run over the 5.073km circuit for a total of 61 laps.

Have a happy F1 weekend folks.

Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri

Wishing all Muslims, friends and blog visitors alike, Selamat Idul Fitri.

And to those who are traveling to their hometown, have a safe journey.

Round 13 - F1 action is back this weekend, Aug 29, 2010

After 4 weeks break from the roar of the F1 engines, we're back again this weekend for the 2010 F1 Belgian Grand Prix.

It will be yet another exciting race with new developments in terms of technical upgrades for the cars given the long break. On the title chase, both the drivers championship and constructor's title are still in early days to tell with the new point scoring system introduced this year.

The race this Sunday, Aug 29, 2010 will cover a total distance of 308.052 km where all the drivers will have to drive the 7.004km circuit for 44 laps at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

The lap record for Spa of 1:45.108 was set iway back n 2004 by Kimi Raikkonen.

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Formula 1™ - The Official F1™ Website via kwout

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Putting it in accounting terms - Balance sheet of life

A friend emailed this to me and I thought it might as well be shared. Some may have read it before but due credit is given to whoever wrote this.


BALANCE SHEET OF  LIFE


Our Birth is our Opening Balance!

Our Death is our Closing Balance!

Our Prejudiced Views are our Liabilities

Our Creative Ideas are our Assets

Heart is our Current Asset

Soul is our Fixed Asset

Brain is our Fixed Deposit

Thinking is our Current Account

Achievements are our Capital

Character & Morals, our Stock-in-Trade

Friends are our General Reserves

Values & Behaviour are our Goodwill

Patience is our Interest Earned

Love is our Dividend

Children are our Bonus Issues

Education is Brands / Patents

Knowledge is our Investment

Experience is our Premium Account

The Aim is to Tally the Balance Sheet Accurately.

The Goal is to get the Best Presented Accounts Award.


Some very Good and Very bad things ...

The most destructive habit.......................Worry

The greatest Joy...............................Giving

The greatest loss.......Loss of self-respect

The most satisfying work................Helping others

The ugliest personality trait.............Selfishness

The most endangered species.........Dedicated leaders

Our greatest natural resource...........Our youth

The greatest 'shot in the arm'...Encouragement

The greatest problem to overcome........Fear

The most effective sleeping pill...Peace of mind

The most crippling failure disease........Excuses

The most powerful force in life.............Love

The most dangerous pariah........A gossip

The world's most incredible computer..........The brain

The worst thing to be without................... Hope

The deadliest weapon..................The tongue

The two most power-filled words.........'I Can'

The greatest asset.. ..............................Faith

The most worthless emotion..............Self-pity

The most beautiful attire......................SMILE!

The most prized possession.................Integrity

The most powerful channel of communication....Prayer

The most contagious spirit..............Enthusiasm


Life ends; when you stop Dreaming,
Hope ends; when you stop Believing,
Love ends; when you stop Caring,
And Friendship ends; when you stop Sharing..!!!

Zaid Ibrahim - CHANGE

I am most impressed with this speech from Zaid Ibrahim and became a fan of his the minute he walk his talk during his time in Pak Lah's administration.

As Malaysian, reading the political news and development in Malaysia is actually very energy consuming. So much so that after reading, one would feel a sense of helplessness without any recourse given the abuses, the absurdity of how the various law enforcement agencies handled law and order and silly statements made by the Ministers and politicians alike. Worst of all are the Little Napoleons and the civil servants who do not know where their places.

I've tried to reduce my various RSS feeds and have even told my Malaysian friends here in Jakarta that I might want to stop reading and follow the stories altogether save for my favorite being Malaysia Today. However, I was still drawn to it despite trying and I don't really know why. Perhaps it is the easy sharing tools available and my interest in social media.

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Zaid Untuk Rakyat - Updates via kwout

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Having said this, I suppose in order to effect CHANGE for a better Malaysia and a better tomorrow for ordinary folks like you and me, Malaysians must have the basic ingredients to change and that is the capabilities and willingness. This 2 basic words applies to all, from the people who cast their votes to the political parties and candidates selected as the people's representatives.

This is followed by what Zaid Ibrahim mentioned in the quote above, 25% of the parliament seats in the August house. Another key ingredients will be from the rural and kampungs folks in the Peninsula whereby 1 parliament ticket is allocated to constituencies with less than 20,000 voters.

And the most crucial ingredients comes from Malaysian Malays themselves. However one may cut the cake, there is no way Malaysian Chinese, Indians and the "Yang Lain Lain" (actually, I hate to use this term) can capture Putrajaya even they group together as 1unified unit, no two ways about this as seen in the many analysis done by RPK. Obviously, there are many more factors than this and if only Malaysia can find a true leader who has vision and is most inspiring in breaking all the differences, then Malaysians can stand tall and be proud.

With this, one can do is probably pray very hard for a better Malaysia for our future generations to come.

3rd. force watch! this is a darn good idea from Haris Ibrahim

Enabling the people to choose their candidates for an MP post is absolutely a brilliant idea. Reading the walk through from the link to the clip below, I now have a clear idea what this all about.

1) It enable the people to select the right candidate instead of political parties to represent them in parliament. Afterall, they are supposed to be the law makers and whenever they vote to pass a bill, it will affect the people.

2) It enable the people to really decide who they want and not who the political parties want. As it is now, we have no choice but to tick on the ballot paper based on the candidates selected by the political parties.

3) This initiative enable the people to be the boss and not the other way as it is now. As opposed to the current practice, the people are at the mercy of the politicians, worst of the lot are MP from BN.

4) A fit and proper test for the candidates is a very sound idea. Any politician who aspire to hold office have to pass this test before they can be nominated. I am sure we do not want anymore whores, frogs and free rider politicians Go for quality.

5) It enables the ordinary folks to have the power to check and balance the politicians who can only talk but not work for the people, to weed out the weak and to put in the right people fit for the job. Afterall, this is what they swear to do and uphold in the first place

Overall, this idea sounds sexy and workable. At the end of the day, what we the people want is a better Malaysia and a better tomorrow where we can live in harmony and peace and be proud to be known just as MALAYSIANS.

Well done and kudos to Pak Haris. I will certainly support this initiative.
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Do we go with a third force? Let me walk you through this « The People’s Parliament via kwout

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F1 Hungary GP weekend

The Budapest GP is set to be another thrilling and exciting race. Looking at the performance of the cars in the practice runs on Friday, it looks like Red Bull and Ferrari will be competing for pole in qualifying today and podium tomorrow.

It was not so lucky for McLaren Mercedes and Mercedes Petronas teams as they struggled for pace. And this is a window of opportunity for Red Bull and Ferrari to close the gap for the constructor's championship.

As for the drivers, Alonso and Massa will need to deliver some magical drive in order to negate the bad press over the Hockenheim team order incident. My bet for the pole and podium will be on Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull car.

Let's stay tune to watch the live telecast of the FORMULA 1 ENI MAGYAR NAGYDIJ 2010. The entire race distance is 306.630 km of which the F1 cars will do 70 laps each over the 4.381 km race track.

clipped from www.f1fanatic.co.uk At the end of the second practice session in Hungary it was the four cars running the much-discussed flexi-wings that headed the times. Red Bull look like the team to beat and it remains to be seen whether Ferrari can get close enough to the RB6s to to threaten the near-monopoly on pole position they have enjoyed this year. As expected, Ferrari were closer to Red Bull in the second practice session, though only they know how much fuel they had on board. In the tell-tale middle sector, Fernando Alonso was just over three-tenths slower than Vettel, much closer than he was this morning.

Ferrari is Back! but fined $100K

Finally, Ferrari is back with a 1 and 2 podium finished at the 2010 F1 Germany GP. It was a remarkable drive by Massa leading the race from the start overtaking both Vettel and Alonso in lap 1 before the first turn until lap 49. Follow the in-depth race analysis in the clip below.

Only after 11 races, the red prancing horse are now showing more pace in their cars to otherwise a Red Bull and McLaren duel thus far. Ferrari has certainly geared up their game by one notch for a 3 way fight for the constructor’s title. McLaren is still leading the pack with 300 points, Red Bull with 272 points and Ferrari with this 1 and 2 win is at 208 points.

With the new point scoring system and 8 more races to go this year, it is still too early to call who will take the world championship title. I have a feeling it can only be determined during the final race of the year in the Abu Dubai GP, 12 to 14 November.

clipped from www.formula1.com Felipe Massa handed Ferrari team mate Fernando Alonso a controversial victory in Sunday's German Grand Prix as the red team scored their second one-two of the season and the win they were under so much pressure to achieve before the summer break, beating Sebastian Vettel’s pole-winning Red Bull into third place. Lewis Hamilton held on to his championship lead as fourth place brought him to 157 points ahead of McLaren team mate Jenson Button, who moved to 143 points after finishing fifth. Red Bull’s Mark Webber was sixth after a race in which he was held back by an engine problem. He and Vettel are now joint third with 136 points, as Alonso closed up on 123 and Massa climbed to 85.

Personal interest for this blog

In one of my earlier posting on what to do with this blog when I opened a Wordpress account, I was undecided whether to close or maintain this blog. After much self deliberation, I have finally decided to keep this blog to 'kongkor' about personal interest and thoughts.

From now on, this blog will ‘kongkor’ about Malaysia, Indonesia, Sports/Other Interest, F&B and other miscellaneous stuffs that I happened to come across. It will basically be my opinion piece of which I enjoy sharing and connecting with other people.

While my WP blog http://kongkor.com will be related more to my work about advertising, branding, communication media, creative ideas/concepts and social media.

Will it be a Red Bull or Ferarri on P1 today?

It was an amazing qualifying session yesterday at the 2010 F1 Germany GP. Check out the pictures in the clip below for more awesome snapshots at Hockenheim, Germany.

And finally all F1 fans especially Ferrari fans have something to rejoice as the pace of the red prancing horse are now back in the front row with both the drivers in the top 3 line-up for the race today. Alonso on P2 and Massa on P3.

It was a huge disappointment for the Mercedes Petronas GP home team where the 7 time former world champion can't even qualify for Q3 in the qualifying round. Should Schumi retire for good?

The race today will be most interesting and the rain factor may just throw in some major surprises for the other teams. So, get ready to watch the live telecast tonight.

My bet is on Alonso with his Ferrari showing very strong pace throughout the weekend.

clipped from www.f1fanatic.co.uk Red Bull scored their tenth pole positions from 11 attempts in 2010 at the Hockenheimring. Take a look back at pictures from the session below in which home hero Sebastian Vettel came out on top with the Ferraris in close pursuit.

Not new but clever advertising

Although this execution is not new, but the idea of using it with a product and in this case a fixed deposit account, one can see movement and it is used in relations to the interest earn over time.

What better way to describe something visually that is fix, but the longer you stare, it moves slowly and gradually as depicted in the 3 print ads below.

Simple as it may seems, you have to put 1 and 1 together. And trust me, this is NOT easy. Some clients can appreciate simple and creative idea, but more often that ever, clients find it hard to accept after the concept idea have been presented due to it’s straight forwardness.

And in most cases, the client would debate on what seems to be a superb idea only to end up by rejecting the painstaking work at the end of the presentation. And to add insult to injury for the creative souls out there, some nasty clients will even say things like “even my 3 years old child can come out with this idea”.

Then again from the famous words of Ian Batey “when a good creative work cannot be sold, it boils down to just poor salesmanship on our part”.

clipped from www.ibelieveinadv.com “It’s fixed but it moves. Double Effect Diposit. A fixed rate of interest that goes up if interest rates do.” Advertising Agency: TBWA\Barcelona, Spain Creative Directors: Ramon Sala, Fer Garcia Art Director: Fer García Copywriter: Ramon Sala Illustrator: David Teixidor Published: June 2010

Great work from Publicis, Indonesia

This is one of the best work I've seen in Indonesia so far using the outdoor media. If I could vividly recall, there were so much brouhaha over the A-Mild billboard using glow-in-the-dark ink a few years back at Jl Asia Afrika. But this, I must say is compelling without having to even mention anything about the brand or product with no HARD SELL copy.

The idea is simple but most relevant with the product They are trying to sell. I suppose it takes a very convincing creative and account team to get the client to sign-off for the production. This is what I like most using the term "SIMPLICITY IN ADVERTISING"

Well done, Publicis.

clipped from www.ibelieveinadv.com Advertising Agency: Publicis, Jakarta, Indonesia Executive Creative Director: Randy Rinaldi Creative Director: Roy Sagala Art Director: Yohannes Chayadi / Eddu Enoary / Randy Rinaldi Copywriter: Dono Yuniarto / Roy Sagala Agency Producer: Ungky Widyoastono Typographer: Yohannes Chayadi Senior Account Director: Iwana Frederika Country: Indonesia

Round 10 - Great Britain GP at Silverstone

Fairuz is now given an opportunity to drive the Lotus F1 this weekend. I am not too sure how this Malaysian will fare in his first drive in an F1 car but I am not too optimistic either.

clipped from www.f1fanatic.co.uk Fauzy to drive Lotus at Silverstone 5 July 2010 by Keith Collantine Lotus reserve driver Fairuz Fauzy will drive in the first practice session at this weekend’s British Grand Prix. Fauzy will also get behind the wheel of a T127 in practice in Hungary, Singapore and Abu Dhabi later this year. He has driven in practice once this year, in his home event in Malaysia. Lotus say Fauzy’s track time will be split evenly between Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli’s cars. He drove Kovalainen’s car in Sepang. Read more: Fairuz Fauzy biography

F1 - European GP @ Valencia

Round 9 of the 2010 F1 calender and so far, the analysis sounds interesting from what seems to be rated as a 'not-so-interesting race circuit' and practice runs until the qualifying yesterday.

Some facts about the race for 2010 FORMULA 1 TELEFÓNICA GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE

Race Date: 27 Jun 2010
Circuit Name: Valencia Street Circuit
Number of Laps: 57
Circuit Length: 5.419 km
Race Distance: 308.883 km
Lap Record: 1:38.683 - T Glock (2009)

Top 10 starting grid for the race at Valencia:
1. Vettel - 1m 37.587s
2. Webber - 1m 37.662s
3. Hamilton - 1m 37.969s
4. Alonso - 1m 38.075s
5. Massa - 1m 38.127s
6. Kubica - 1m 38.137s
7. Button - 1m 38.210s
8. Hulkenberg - 1m 38.428s
9. Barrichello - 1m 38.428s
10. Petrov - 1m 38.523s

What is interesting about this qualifying is that we have both the Williams and Renault cars in the top 10 to compete with McLaren Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari. What happened to Mercedes despite the upgrades to their cars?

clipped from www.f1fanatic.co.uk Wondering whether we might see our first decent race in Valencia this year I wrote this in the European Grand Prix preview: The best we can hope for is a similar situation to what happened in Turkey, with the faster McLarens and probably Ferraris starting behind the Red Bulls and a battle for the lead developing on-track that way. Well, we’re halfway there. Red Bull have locked out the front row of the grid. But can McLaren and Ferrari take the fight to them in the race? With the clean, inside line Sebastian Vettel will have to do something silly to be anywhere other than first at the end of lap one. Mark Webber is more vulnerable in second place, on the dustier side of the grid and with Lewis Hamilton poised to dive up the inside on the run to the first corner.

Police Gangsterism of the Penan Bumiputra

I read with sadness that the Penan in Sarawak are being abused by the police and the timber tycoons. Isn't the Penan bumiputera of the land in Sarawak? And guess what, the Malaysian police are now playing the judge and the jury by way of gangsterism.

Whatever it is, this is their ancestral land and the Penans have their rights to the way of life they have been told for generations before there is any government.

Please, do highlight their plight in your blog, Facebook pages and twitter to mount an international outcry on the abuse of power aimed at the helpless. Shameful, really shameful.

clipped from sarawakreport.org Police Gangsters The once proud, well-trained Sarawak police force are now mere lackeys of the timber companies, as events yesterday make only too obvious. The Penan, who have been erecting peaceful jungle blockades in protest at the savage destruction of their hereditory lands,  were yesterday confronted in Long Sebayang,  Limbang by gun-waving policemen.  They were acting on behalf of Lee Ling Timber, the other party to the dispute. According to the respected Swiss Charity the Bruno Manser Foundation, the unprofessional, threatening and downright illegal episode came in the wake of an attack the previous day by a logging company employee on one of the Penan.  The tribesman (and rightful owner of the land, according to Native Customary Rights recently upheld in the Federal Malay Court) had been viciously hit in the face.

Brand Owners Beware

BP is an international brand and when the brand owners think that they are big and ignore the warning signs and did nothing, disaster will strike. And when it did, it came gushing just like the oil spill at Deepwater Horizon.

How would the PR agency for BP counter the bad press and manage this crisis at hand? What will be their next move to engage the swelling anti-movement? What policies will be adopted and who will be responsible? What will be the communications strategy of the brand after this? Or, will the brand recover from this major disaster?

No sir, definitely not a walk in the park. What will you do?

clipped from mootee.typepad.com This BP mess is definitely an ecological disaster as well as a brand disaster of the century and it will take us decades to see the real impact. BP has lost half of its market value and there are even considerations for shareholder lawsuits on behalf of BP investors who have lost money because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Evidence is mounting that BP's directors, officers and executives missed or ignored numerous 'red flags', which had they been addressed, may have prevented the disaster. These actions also exposed BP to criminal and tort liability, and subjected the company to adverse publicity. Years of investment in the brand equity is pretty much gone overnight.

Amnesty International

The visual in this ad says it all without having to try too hard to get the point across. Strong visuals, nice photography and excellent execution.

clipped from www.ibelieveinadv.com “In Sudan, Nigeria, Uganda, Myanmar, Iran and Saudi Arabia children are still being executed. Join the fight at amnesty.org.tr” Advertising Agency: TBWA\Istanbul, Turkey Executive Creative Director: Ilkay Gurpinar Creative Director: Volkan Karakasoglu Art Director: Burak Kunduracioglu Copywriter: Volkan Karakasoglu Photographer: Serhat Bayram Account Manager: Ozlem Hanoglu

What's on the NEM?

A supposedly growth plan for the nation that has all the rhetoric but where is the substance?

The 'rent seeking' culture is perhaps too entrenched and within the system and it seems that this has become a 'right' for those who are well connected.

Where to next, Malaysia?

clipped from english.cpiasia.net Where is the NEM in the 10th Plan? The 10th  Malaysia Plan was heavily advertised as the plan that would usher in a new economic era for all Malaysians built on a New Economic Model. The key features of the NEM were: * Merit and excellence criteria for all implementation decisions and processes,     * Transparency, accountability and integrity as part of normal business practice,     * Dismantling of quotas, preferences, APs, closed tenders and other non-competitive processes.   Now that it is out, I search in vain for all these criteria and for signs of the major policy reforms that were supposed to be in the pipeline. Some of the rhetoric remains in the document. There has been a tweaking of strategy here and there. But at the heart of the 10th Plan is still the same model of state-dominated development, and ethnic and crony preference that has driven all the other Malaysia Plans.

iPhone 4 Pre Orders Numbers

When Apple and AT&T open the pre-orders, both their systems were down due to the overwhelming demand with a whopping 600K plus units sold. Now that you've managed to booked the iPhone4, you will have to wait until July 14th for the shipment. Comes launch day, there will be a lot of disappointed die-hard Apple supporters yearning to get their hands on the devise.

While this is all playing out in the USA, what about the fans in Asia? With all the hype surrounding the launch, the brand itself has certainly gain tons of publicity and goodwill. On the other hand, I suppose managing and engaging the disappointed fans will be as hectic as the pre-orders for Apple as well.

clipped from mashable.com New iPhone 4 Pre-Orders Not Shipping Until July 14 More than 600,000 iPhone 4 units have been pre-ordered by customers over the last 24 hours, leaving both AT&T and Apple sold out of initial shipments. While units will be available in retail stores on June 24, users looking to have the latest iPhone shipped to their homes from Apple.com may wind up waiting until July 14 for their devices to arrive.

iPhone 4 - it's HOT

Such a hot item, pre-orders sold out before it even hit the stores. I wonder will it be as hot as the iPad?

clipped from mashable.com iPhone 4 Pre-Orders Sold Out? Yesterday was both a very good and a very bad day for Apple and AT&T. The iPhone 4 became available for pre-order, but Apple and AT&T’s servers were so overwhelmed that many users weren’t able to actually complete the pre-order process. On the other hand, and despite these issues, it seems that the iPhone 4 was selling so well that the first batch of devices available for pre-order is now sold out. In Apple’s online store, the shipping date next to the iPhone 4 has changed to July 2nd, which is a week after the device will become available in stores. Furthermore, Gizmodo has a statement from AT&T, confirming the iPhone 4 has been sold out there as well: