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Ad Network Lookup

Gat — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:49:55 +0000

Right, so I’ve been tasked with actually looking up other ad and affiliate networks besides Google Adsense. No doubt, I have my work cut out for me. Not to mention the nonsensical fact that I’m not getting paid for doing any of this. Sheesh. For all I know, this could possible end up turning into a huge waste of time on my part. Nonetheless, I’ve already accepted the proposal to actually start researching about most of these sites.

Listing of ad/affiliate networks out there (obtained off other sources):
List off John Chow dot com
List off browsing from hubpages.com

Right. Altogether, there are over 150 different networks from these two lists alone. No doubt there are even more than just these two around, I know because I was just lazy and decided to just pull up whatever it is that Google was able to offer. I’m pretty sure I can get some help with this, especially since it’s such a pain that I’m the only bloody one assigned to this. I’ll probably be updating this post from time to time, depending on what I can dig up (or what else other people can actually provide).

Where to start, where to start…

The Cleanest Place In Malaysia

Gat — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:46:27 +0000

Yes, for once, it’s the cleanest place in the whole of Malaysia. Thank goodness for the best signage to keep it clean.

For all those who don’t understand Malay / Indonesian, the sign reads “I’m an ingrate that likes to litter everywhere”. Guess it would work better if more signs like this were placed around to keep Malaysia clean, eh?

The Benefits of Insurance

Gat — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:03:33 +0000

Right, it’s been a couple of days since my last update, and I’m rather busy of late, so I think I might try making this as short as possible.

So here’s the thing; insurance. But before I go on, a reminder: Our dear 5th granduncle passed away peacefully last night. He was 88. A prosperous number to pass on, in my opinion. On one hand, it’s a little sad that I won’t be seeing him around anymore (Mum still refers to him and our 8th grandaunt as the “old people”. Funny how that works, since Mum’s approaching her 60th birthday next year). On the other hand, in retrospect, Dad’s side of the family hasn’t exactly been much of importance to Mum, hence all her griping and the like. She went on to whine about the terms of burial, the entire cost of the funeral, etc. May he rest well until his next life.

Anyway, back to the point, insurance. Our 5th granduncle, nor our 8th grandaunt for that matter, possessed any insurance of any sort. Sure, bank account balances are there, but how much of a bank balance would one need to actually pay off one’s hospital bills, especially those which cost tens of thousands, eh? I guess, unless one has the amount worthy of calling himself or herself a millionaire, nobody is ever free of the rising cost of health care these days (though in retrospect, the medical industry should actually stop charging a few hundred percent extra for their damn drugs just because they probably mixed up some cocktail with a bunch of placebos and other nonsense that claims to “keep at bay”. Whatever.

Again, I’m ranting off sideways again. So, I recently purchased some insurance under Great Eastern through my cousin’s husband (and funnily enough, I never recalled actually being asked about whether I actually DO need it. Great, there goes Mum and her wild assumptions again). So, after a 30-minute session, with him explaining all the intricate little details and the like, we got to the purchasing part.

Well, being a guy in the insurance sales line, he bragged on about how great his policy was, that covered him up till almost a million (lifetime payout though, of course). As with most people my age, unfortunately, we rarely see the importance of insurance until we’re in our 30s or 40s, when we start having all sorts of ailments and diseases that we could barely afford to treat, aside from our car installments, our house mortgage / installments, credit card bills, utilities, and so on. Right, I guess in the long run, insurance policies really are a good investment, that is, if you can afford it, of course.

On one hand, it was a little relieving, not having to undergo the entire process of having to meet up with some other agent and going through the whole “eye-contact-I-stare-at-you-and-your-mouth-while-you-blab-the-whole-nine-yards” situation, and just cutting to the chase to get my insurance. On the other hand, it’s RM150 a month. That’s a whole bloody RM1,800 a year. Okay, okay, so it’s not such a small issue to some, yet… I was actually hoping to get my insurance a little later, when I’m actually, individually, financially stable at last.

Long story short, I’m covered by my insurance should I ever end up wanting to break a leg. Or an arm. Or my neck. At the least, covered until I run out of money. As with most annoying situations, it usually concerns the monetary value in some way or another. Great. Just. Effing. Great.

How To Forward E-mail (Properly)

Gat — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:13:18 +0000

Right, do people really know how to forward e-mails? Most of us are rather clueless about it. Wonder why we get viruses or junk mail?

Every time we forward an e-mail, there is information left over from the people who got the message before we did; namely their e-mail addresses & names. As they get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every email address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. People would do anything for money these days, no?

Now, here are a few easy methods to stop all that crap from coming our way:

When forwarding an e-mail, delete all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top). Remember to click on the ‘Forward’ button first and then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message.
When sending an e-mail to more than one person, never use the ‘To:’ or ‘Cc:’ fields for adding e-mail addresses. Always use the ‘BCC:’ (blind carbon copy) field for listing the e-mail addresses. This is the way the people you send to will only see their own e-mail address. If ‘BCC:’ option is unavailable, click on where it says To: and the address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose ‘BCC:’. When sending e-mails using ‘BCC:’, the message will automatically say ‘Undisclosed Recipients’ in ‘TO:’ field when the recipients read said e-mail.
Remove any ‘FW:’ in the subject line. It’s recommended to even re-name the subject at own discretion.
Always hit the ‘Forward’ button from the actual e-mail being read. By forwarding from the actual page that was meant to be viewed, it stops recipients from having to open many e-mails just to see what was sent. These are the ones that often end up having picked up a virus from someone else.
Forget forwarding e-mails that look like they’re petitions. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses. The completed petition is actually worth a some money to some monkey spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein.
Before forwarding an amber alert, or a virus alert, or some of the other ones floating around nowadays, check them out before forwarding them. Most of them are junk mail that’s been circling the net for years on end. Just about everything you receive in an email that is in question can be checked out at Snopes or at Hoax Slayer.

Right, so it’s time to forward funny/naked pics to all my friends.

The Red Book

Gat — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:25:23 +0000

Okay, so here’s the deal. It seems that most of us are still pretty ignorant regarding our rights in Malaysia, particularly when it involves dealing with the police. Here’s your chance to know it all. Sure, you COULD visit the Malaysian BAR Council site to get your very own copy of it. Or, you can download it here. :)

Here’s the link: The Little Red Book of Rights

And the Malay version of it, if you want: Buku Merah Mengenai Hak Anda

Personally, I believe that it’s prerogative for everyone to understand their have rights, and they should exercise them. Don’t be afraid of the cops. It’s rather unfortunate when people are ignorant of their basic human rights, and permit the police to abuse their authoritative powers.

Don’t let the bloody cops have their way. You’re a human being. You have human rights. USE THEM TO YOUR BEST KNOWLEDGE!

How To Cook Instant Noodles (Properly)

Gat — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:41:30 +0000

Normally, we cook the instant noodles by putting the noodles into a pot with water, throw in the powder and let it cook for 3 minutes. Allegedly, this is the wrong method of cooking the instant noodles.

By doing this, when we actually boil the ingredients in the powder, normally with MSG, it will change the molecular structures of the MSG
causing it to be toxic. The other thing that you may or may not realized is that, the noodles are coated with wax and it will take around 4 to 5 days for the body to excrete the wax after you have taken the noodles.

So the correct method, which you may or may not know, is to cook the noodles this way:

Boil the noodles in a pot with water.

Once the noodles are cooked, take out the noodles, and throw away the water which contains wax.

Boil another pot of water till it’s boiling and put the noodles into the hot boiling water and shut the fire.

At this stage; when the fire is off, and while the water is very hot, put the ingredients into the water, to make
noodle soup.

However, if you’re making a dry dish instead, take out the noodles and add the ingredients and toss it to get your dry instant noodles.

Hope this piece of information is of importance to your health in relation to eating instant noodles.

Cheers. :)

Cotton Bud Ear Cleaner

Gat — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:38:09 +0000

Right, so we all know that using cotton buds to clean our ears out is perfectly fine, right? Not really. If used just a couple of times, it’s fine. But in the long run, it could actually cause deafness. After prolonged use of cotton buds, otologists; or rather, otolaryngologist, may have to use special equipment to remove any dirt whatsoever that remains very deep in the ear as a result of using cotton buds.

To summarize long articles into a simple one, doctors advise that cotton buds were never invented to clean ear canals, but to clean superficial items or just surface wounds and to apply medicine. Small pieces or particles on the cotton bud tend to remain in the ear canal and that gives opportunity for bacteria to breed and by using a cotton bud, the dirt in the ear is actually being thrust further into the ear canal, hindering its self-clearing process. Some people tend to thrust the cotton bud very deep into the ear and this may result in the damage of the ear drum and a operation may be needed to correct the problem.

Doctors advise to use olive oil, just one or two drops into the ear once a month and the ear will actually cleanse itself, thereafter to use a tissue paper to clean just the outermost part of the ear.

Last but not least, as proof that this happens a lot not only globally, but also back home here in Malaysia, an abstract from a medical journal.

Therefore, today you have learned, just because you have an itch in your ear, or have some excuse for doing it,

This. Is. BAD.

Even if you get a lot of this.