pop the world

Welcome to "How to Avoid Saman", a quick tutorial based on techniques shared by fellow Malaysians. We basically apply the donation method. Below, you will acquire tips on negotiating. However, you are advised not to commit any offence whenever possible.

Note: This method is not useful in neighbouring countries such as:

Singapore - You will receive added punishment for attempting to donate.
Indonesia - You are forced to donate in most situations. There’s nothing to learn.

There are various techniques, depending on your situation. Here are 2 common situations you will often encounter:

A. Getting caught committing an offence behind the wheel

Technique
1. Quickly remove excess cash from your wallet before the officer arrives. Express a regretful face posture. Remain calm and polite at all times.
2. When the officer states your offence and the amount of fine, apologise repeatedly and ask for forgiveness "bagi chance laahh encik, kali pertama ini, maaf laaa".
3. He will intimidate you by stating your offence and fine again. Apologise again and ask for help "tolong la encik" x 100.
4. He will then proceed to ask you "macam mana sekarang?" or ask you if you’re working or a student. If you’re already working, try to state a low income occupation such as "saya assistant saja.. gaji rendah. Ini boss punya kereta. tolong la"
5. When negotiating on sum of donation, always open at 15% of the actual fine. If the officer opens first, offer to give 30% of that. Nothing should ever exceed RM350. If you have wealth written all over you, expect to donate a max of RM600.
6. Helpful lines when negotiating: "saya respect dengan encik. saya tahu salah, lain kali tak buat lagi. betul punya. bagi chance lah. tengok.. (open your wallet wide) ada ini saja"
7. Thank the officer and be grateful you’re in Malaysia, where symbiosis prevails.

B. Getting caught while you are not attending your vehicle

Technique
1. Try to acquire a sticker as seen in video.

Omg.. Ssheeet..  hahahaha.. Let me figure this out..

Greed
I know what’s good for me and I want it. ALL. (Greed is not kiasuism, that’s envy. Greed is simply satisfying one’s own desire on a massive scale - having more wants than needs)

Gluttony
Yep, I don’t know where all the food went to either.. Here’s my typical dinner set at Murni SS2:  1x Spaghetti Meatball (has 6 giant meatballs, 15% bigger than the ones at Ikea), 1x Roti Pisang Kaya, 2x Teh O’ Ais Limau. Watch them vanish before your eyes, and you’ll feel like puking hahahaaa!!

Wrath
I hate my enemies to death. My method is cheap, efficient and guaranteed to make the front page. Try me.

Sloth
I loathe redundancy. It makes me lazy. And unfortunately, I get bored quickly.

Envy
Why envy? We only envy what we lack in ourselves. Just work on it and everything will be fine. I’m working on it.

Lust
Action speaks louder than words. sshhh!!! XD

Pride
No one should ever feel bad about themselves. Well, unless you did something really shitty. Pride is good!

The results are quite accurate I guess.. Though I can’t really explain the high score on lust..  I guess life is one big booby trap. Do you know your Seven Deadly Sins?

Finally, wind came this weekend! After waiting for almost 2 months, my kite took to the sky at the Kota Kemuning lakeside. I got myself a Rainbow 8 foot Delta produced by Go Fly A Kite at One Utama. It’s made out of ripstop nylon, a super durable and ultra light material. This kite is designed for winds of 10-32kph.

[01] [02] [03]
[04] [05] [06]

01> I’m a big big boy with a big big kite…

02> I was so so happy.. that moment brought back childhood memories.

03> I’m planning to pimp my kite soon.

04> Pui Fun having fun.

05> Wind losing speed. Time to pack.

06> Pui Fun: "I like it big." "It’s light and easy."

[07] [08]
[09] [10]

07> Pui Fun launching Rainbow 8 Delta away. Look at the size of that thing!

08> Quality time.

09> Rayken dropped by to chill.

10> What a perfect Saturday evening =P

T is short for tarantula. Today, I bumped into Mark (fellow member of Malaysian Tarantula Society /MTS) at Zara’s Pet Haven, Summit USJ. He was trading some slings (spiderlings) with Jeff, owner of Zara’s.

Mark generously gave me 1 of his 70 Pinktoe slings! This will be my first T ever. Coincidently, the Pinktoe was the first T I handled back at the MTS Arachnid Exhibition (16th Dec, 2006) held in Sunway University:

^handling a pinktoe at the mts arachnid exhibition

^learning how to sex a tarantula from sifu dennis (middle), and workmate bryan

The Pinktoe (Avicularia avicularia) was the first tarantula ever to be documented. They can be most commonly found in Tobago,
Guyana, Brazil, Venezuela, and Trinidad (throughout South America).

^someday my pinky be this beautiful. notice the pink ends on its legs? pinktoe!

If you’re interested in keeping Ts, the Pinktoe is highly recommended for its beauty, docile temperament, active nature, and affordable price. It’s an ideal beginner’s T. Here’s a Pinktoe caresheet.

Thanks again for the wonderful gift, Mark. I’m calling my Pinktoe "Pinky"!

[01] [02]

01> Little pinky, only a few weeks old.

02> 3 moults later and having enough guts to take on a live mealworm (11/07/07).

^just slide and shoot

^minimal buttons. thanks to touch screen!

Construction   
Features         
Image Quality 
Ease Of Use    
Value For $$$ 
Overall            

PROS
Large 3" Touch Screen Display
Intuitive Menu
Excellent Movie Mode
Good AF & Zoom
Super Macro Mode (1cm)

CONS
Red Eye Effect

DETAILS

Construction - The built is pretty solid. My initial fear was the sliding lens cover. It felt fragile but I’ve never had anyone report of a malfunction so far. The large 3" touch screen display is impressive and fun to use. Battery life lasts well too.

Features - The touch screen won me over. And it’s something the other brands don’t have at all (for now, at least). It also has a doodling feature that lets you have fun with your pictures in preview mode. The slideshow is cool too, you can download music into ur camera from your pc.

There are about 8 preset modes. Pretty standard compared to Olympus which has… I don’t know, I lost count. The super macro mode called "Magnifying Glass" is awesome. You can take pictures clearly as close as 1cm!

Click here for more info on features.

Image Quality - Quality is generally all right. The only thing I noticed is the Red Eye Effect which occured in almost every flash shot. I wonder why they don’t just make the Red Eye Reduction as a default function. I’ll try to find out.

Ease Of Use - Everything’s straight forward here. Minimal buttons on the camera, and everything is on-screen. The T50 comes with a touch pen, which lets you avoid having fingerprints all over the display. Pretty much works like a PDA. Cool no?

Value For $$$ - I grabbed this yesterday at Mid Valley, from Foto Shangrilla’s promo booths, featuring Nikon, Canon, Sony and Olympus. It was the last day of a 5-day promo. The T50 package came with a free Sony case, USB pendrive memory card reader, mini tripod, LCD display protective layer and 1Gig memory card. How much? RM1,550. Usual price is about RM1,699.

Overall - Very satisfied! Come come…take pictures with me!

OTHER CAMERAS CONSIDERED

Nikon S series (S7, S8, S9) - Being a proud owner of the Nikon Coolpix E4300, I naturally checked out the Nikon booth first. Unfortunately, the S series has its zoom button located at the top, right beside the shoot button, which dampens the ease of use. Zooming and shooting with the index finger just seem forced and unnatural. The jog dial is also too sensitive. You tend to jog it unintentionally while your thumb is operating the other buttons. Sorry Nikon, not this time.

Olympus Stylus 700 (mju Digital 700) - This camera is neat. I would have gotten this if the T50 lacked the touch screen feature. Going at RM1,149 with a free additional battery and 1Gig card, it’s a steal. The only thing bad about it is the slow capture-processing speed after every shot.

Olympus Stylus 720 SW (mju Digital 720 SW) - Waterproof up to 3 metres, and shockproof up to 1.5 metres, this is the perfect outdoor cam. But I had only snorkled once in my life and party every week instead. I need party cam. Anyway, you rock Olympus.

SAMPLES
I immediately took some shots with the beautiful Xmas deco in Mid Valley after getting my T50. Have a look at http://fotologue.jp/huojin.