Making A Dirty Word Work....

CALORIES!!!

That's a dirty word by many people's standard and invites scorned look from those who are gastronomically inclined to those who scoff at the very thought of some OCD behavior displayed by others in reaction to this word and its implications.

But as I have promised to do a short write-up regarding it, I shall keep it sweet (no pun intended)... (yeah right)

So basically what we're trying to do is MAKE the calories work for you...yeah make it work!! Calories per se is not a bad word....its a measurement of energy pretty much the same as how we would equate how powerful an air-conditioning unit or vacuum is based on the amount of Watts is displayed.

So here's the low down simple stuff.....

1. Use MORE calories than you CONSUME....... = weight loss
OR
2. Consume LESS calories than is required to MAINTAIN your present self = weight loss

So to calculate how much of calories you need to consume, reduce or refuse....we use the BMR calculator. Few factors come into play, namely the height, weight, age and activity lifestyle. Below I have embedded a calculator for your disposal (yeah, so nice of me). BMR or basal metabolic rate, in a nutshell, means the amount of calories you would burn per day if you slept a full 24 hours. Yeah sitting on the couch to watch TV takes effort too you know, especially when it comes to using the tip of fingers to channel surf....

Alterations of activity, and even the most sedentary lifestyle would require to use some form of energy, so when a BMR is stated, you would usually need a little more calories than the BMR to merely MAINTAIN the current weight.

Simple exercise if John Doe is 30 years old, 170cm and currently weight 80kg and has a sedentary life, he would have a BMR of 1808 calories (he can sleep the whole day and burn that much), but because of he has a sedentary life (which is a small level above dead sleep for 24 hours), he would require 2169 calories to just MAINTAIN his weight of 80kg.

So if dear John wants to lose weight with MINIMAL effort in 1 year....we simply recalculate his BMR based on the new details, such as....31 years old, 170cm and achieve weight of 70kg with a sedentary lifestyle. He would attain a BMR of 1664 calories.....

In other words...if John cut his intake by 500 calories a day, and do it everyday for a year.....he would have dropped that 10kg without going to the gym!!!

If you think about it, that just means don't eat that roti canai with teh tarik.....pretty cool eh.

Cheers and happy calculating

Electoral Performs....

Part of my job scope at the moment requires me to be present at the House of Parliament, not as a representative, but to be on standby to receive any ad-hoc questions that may be posed to the minister during the parliamentary sitting that requires an immediate answer. Across all ages, I find only two types of speakers would draw the best attention (not the most), which are those who can articulate the loudest, and those who can answer swiftly.

My colleagues and I were present from 230pm and it was only at 930pm that our services were called upon as it was our ministry's turn for presentation and rebuttal.....7 freaking hours of waiting!!!

And why did we have to wait??? Because 6 other ministries could not keep their points concise and other speakers had to make a circus of the parliament but getting emotional, rude, and many times demanding statistics that is nice to know, but in essence contributes nothing in value to improve the country.

While I had brought work and reading material along to kill the hours away, 7 hours seem ridiculously long to wait upon while elected representatives from the country trash it out with sometimes very childish mannerism. At those very moments I wonder....who elected those people into power....and I realised it was the people themselves..... And perhaps it was because to garner votes and popularity, a politician would be in the best behaviour under the public limelight, while in parliament is where their true self surfaces....

Maybe the people are getting short changed....

So here's an idea....to curb time wastage and for people to get to know their elected representatives better so that citizens would have a better idea if their representative really have the people's best interest at heart....

I propose during parliamentary sitting, all TV channels including satelite TV and subscription TV only show the parliamentary sitting live.... News can be a scrolling marquee at the ottom of the TV.... There will be no shows, no dramas, no Star channel, no ESPN....NOTHING but the parliamentary sitting so people will see just what kind of business transpires in the great hall by our elected representatives.....

Who knows, it may breed a future generation of well mannered, learned, concise, and transparent representative and leadership that this country is starving for.

My Brotherly Advise

This past month has been somewhat of a challenge...

My poor car has been hit 3 times and it is no longer funny....resulting in a dent back mudguard and door, a scratched front bumper and a cracked wind screen.... I feel the pain just looking at my car and the hidden pain of an upcoming repair bill makes it worse....

I will be starting a new job and adventure soon and the remaining days of my current workplace has been wrought with never ending issues and ad hoc matters that seems almost comical that it should happen in such swift succession bar the fact that the pain and mental anguish reminds me it is neither comical or a dream. Compounded by the fact that the future endearvor will not be an easy one with alot of uncertainties but I feel I should be up for it. Quoting Prof Carlton, "Do not promote someone into a role of incompetency". I shall deny any incompetency of the future task, just alot of room for improvement.

Yesterday marked the first day back to school after a long hiatus.

It has been a long time target to enrol for a Masters of Business Admin or MBA for short. Dad had his done while working, and though back then I couldn't see the significance of it, it was through working life that I saw perhaps this could aid me in my long journey of a career path.

While being a once reverred certificate and title to have, the MBA has since taken a back seat perspective in the eyes of many as it has now been regarded as a misnomer Masters degree as it is a "Jack of all trades, but master of none" Masters programme. But heck, a Masters is a masters, and its better to be a jack of all trades than just a jack-ass i reckon.

So here begins a new chapter.... As dad puts it a general overview to business admin. the syllabus is rather interesting as it deals alot with day to day management issues and the perspective of different individuals from different industries provides an interesting learning sessions to see how one issue or problem can be tackled differently. Though a word of caution, that traditionally an MBA entrance requirement was between 5 to 7 years of working experience, which is good because it gives a person time to mature in a workplace before they bring their perspective into the class. These days with more lax entrance requirements, some opinions which may border between fun to hear to just down right annoying.

So here's to a course thats a misnomer Masters programme and journey on with the impression that the MBA is a wayfor professors and gurus to dispense "My Brotherly Advice" (sisterly too but then it would be MBSA or MSA....not cool)

Don't Bet On It

One day I'm gonna lose all my loyal readers with the way I update this blog as and when I can haha..... For those of you who stuck by me, I have no idea why you do it.....but I appreciate it ;)

Yeah....so I'm a little way behind on my book review....FYI I have finished one....for Feb but I haven't written it (Maybe the next entry....so for those who dont like book review, come back in another 2 months) And I am one behind for March...ick...

Anyway....my grouse for the combined entry of March and early April comes from my daily morning drive to work.....Radio adverts.....50% have got the customary fake laughter that seems odd and out of place to end a commercial (I mean seriously....who ends a general conversation with laughter without a real joke to precede it?? I wonder where these advertisers get their input from). 10% of commercial time lands on some air conditioner advertisement that sounds a little like "We've got YUCK....have you?" Grammatical erroneous, cheap production, and makes me not want to get it anyway. But lately the one that really ticks me off is some bank advertisement where the 2 kids seem to out smart their dad in ALL the bank promotions and now even entice dad to start an account with the bank so that they will win prizes from the periodic draw....

Now it's not so much the advert that I'm gonna give my 2 cents worth but the content of it....

Here is a bank.....that encourages you to save (that's a good thing), by giving you an entry ticket to a lucky draw for every RM100 saved. So there more you save the more tickets you have for the draw. No need to fill up any other forms. No need to answer any questions or make a creative slogan. No need to collect multiple coupons. No effort needed.....just put in the money and wait for the bank to announce your name as a winner. Probability in winning? No odds stated, but the more you deposit, the higher your chances.

Here's some snippet...

I love the line......"who knows, you could be our next winner"

So we have an element of randomness.....so all the tickets from the RM100 a person invests is still not guaranteed even a participation prize.....just a "who knows" chance.....cool....

Wait...there's more

How does it benefit you? Why...by enjoying the PROBABILITY of receiving valuable cash prizes....

Kind of like playing Russian roulette..... how does Russian Roulette benefit you, one might ask....why, you may ENJOY the PROBABILITY of living...... :)

And yet....there's more....

I abhor likes like these "subject to change at discretion". It's really likened to the children's song... "If you're happy and you know it....make a draw...". Even the frequency of a draw falls into a probability....

Yes.....I'm on a roll....

I admit.....perhaps I'm ignorant and can't see the relevance of the verse in context of allowing a randomized, not everyone wins draw to take place and lead people to believe it is not a form of gambling. From some reading, verse 44 seems to talk about having faith to believe in the miracle of the unseen and to believe in it even if one plays no part in the decision or outcome. So the bank's lucky draw is like a miracle of the unseen, where one is to accept the outcome or lack of outcome.....HUH???? Please someone help me through comments section....

And the icing of the cake....

Yes....the list of winners....Full names are published because it is the right of everyone to know who won it. Transparent. FYI....did you know winner no. 4 stays in Mersing, Johor. Sells Cosway with a published address, phone number and operating hours. And that's just on a simple Google search for his name and not an in depth search yet....Good thing he won RM1,000 and not the RM200,000. Otherwise he would have alot of new friends and relatives......and be subjected to have his kids taken from him.....

Only one good thing about this.....its a money back gamble.....in case your RM100 per ticket doesn't win you anything, you can withdraw the money and wait for the next promo.....

Otherwise, one would be better off going to the punters like Magnum4D (Disclaimer: No I am not condoning gambling) whereby
1. Your ticket starts at RM1.00 only
2. Your chances of winning are 1:9999 (That's better than 1 in 10,000)
3. Magnum doesn't simply reduce their frequency of draw
4. The prize has been fixed at a known quantum
5. They don't justify gambling.....they just tell you to play the game
6. Your identity is not known to everyone.....only the numbers to your winning ticket

scoff.....at least there is a chance for people to be exposed to islamic gambling bank draws *scoff* *scoff*