DanielYKL

The report “Two fall for million-ringgit lucky draw” (The Star, June 28) only reconfirms that there are people who still believe that “money does fall from the sky.” 

Apart from money, many also lost their jewellery. In some cases, the weaker ones surrendered their possessions obediently to so-called “religious experts” who took advantage of their predicament and sorrow. 

All these cases indicate there are people who do not understand that money and good fortune do not come by easily without sweat and tears.  It is too good to be true when someone out of the blue appears and says, “You have won a price” or “Today is your lucky day as your name was selected in our special lucky draw” or “You have won a million ringgit in our lucky draw.”  The exchange of a couple of hundred or thousand ringgit for the so-called “million-ringgit prize” you won is certainly one of the most unbelievable “Believe it or not” scams. 

Still, we do have people believing they can lay hands on a couple of millions in US notes just by remitting a few thousand ringgit as “service fees” for the millions stored somewhere in a bank under a name linked to a high office in Africa.

Also, it is absolute nonsense, and unthinkable, that one has to sleep with a “religious expert” or undergo a “naked religious cleansing bath” to ward off an evil spirit. 

While it may be difficult to differentiate a conman from a decent guy, the fact is that good things or good fortune do not come by without a cost. In most cases, greed and wanting more without sweat brought about the victims’ misery and a lifetime of regret and sorrow, especially when their life savings were involved. 

It is wise not to be excited over the “good news” but to check and verify the “good fortune” with loved ones and friends before embarking on the next course of action.

In our borderless world today, conmen can make their appearance and disappear the next moment after getting their spoils. They leave their victims dry and empty. And the thought of having been so naive and stupid is certainly most demoralising.

 DR TAN ENG BEE,
Kajang, Selangor. 

Just recently i wrote about people been conned. And here is another story from the Star newspaper. So is it greed or idiocy?

Two fall for million-ringgit ‘lucky draw’
PENANG: A clerk and a contractor were cheated of more than RM50,000 after being told that they had won RM4.8mil in a lucky draw.
      The first incident occurred in Air Itam on June 16 when the 31-year-old clerk received a call from a man informing her that she had won RM1mil in a contest. But in order to collect the winnings, she must deposit a processing fee of RM12,000. After paying that amount, she was told that she had won a further RM3.7mil. The clerk was then told to bank in another RM28,000 if she wanted the winnings.  She did as instructed and the man later asked for even more money.  She told him that she had no more money and the phone calls stopped. She realised that she had been cheated and made a report at the Patani Road police station on June 20.
      The contractor, 28, was cheated of RM10,600 in a similar manner on June 22.  He only realised he had been cheated after depositing the money. Police are finding it hard to locate the suspects said to be Chinese nationals as they used bank accounts which are “rented” from individuals whom they had befriended. It was learnt that these individuals are paid between RM200 and RM300 a month so that their bank accounts could be used to accept the deposits from the victims. A police spokesman said people kept falling for these scams despite cases such as there being reported by the media.  “The local police are working closely with their counterparts in Johor, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor where such scams have also been reported,” said the spokesman. 

By BERNARD SEE – The Star Newspaper – 28th June 2007

Here some photos of the worms in my compost bin. You have to really squint your eyes to be able to see the worms - sorry!

See No Evil
Speak No Evil
Hear No Evil

                   This is a familiar saying for someone who does not want to know or get involved with a conflict or trouble. They just want to wash their hands clean. The less they know the better it is. But then if you think about it, what it would really be like if you really can’t see, speak or hear? Have you ever thought about it? Now, since I can’t speak - I have been thinking a lot about it. Which would be worst?
                 All my life I have been talking and all of a sudden a great part of me has been taken away. If I was born with it, maybe it might not be so bad and would be easier to accept.  I would never know what talking is all about and I would have learned how to communicate through sign language or other means. Sometimes I just can’t believe that I can never talk again. And it is a great effort for me to have to adapt to this new lifestyle. Yes, there is only one word to describe it all – FRUSTRATING!
                          But then I was thinking what would happen if I can’t see. Just imagine all of a sudden sight has been taken away from you. Your world will be in total darkness. The light in your life has been shut off. You will never see the colours and beauty of the day or the moon and the stars in the night. Just imagine you have to live without sight. How are you going to find you way through life?  Once you could drive and now you can’t, you have to rely on people to get you around. No more TV, video, cinema, and computer. You will never know what the colours of your clothes are. Or the how your hair looks like. And what about coping with your daily routine at home? Like I said if you are born blind, that’s another matter all together. But you are not! You have seen the colours of the rainbow. The sea waves, trees, mountains, and birds in the sky. You enjoyed watching football, F1 racing, badminton, etc…and suddenly you can never see all those things again. Just imagine! It will be devastating!
                               And how about not being able to hear? You be living in a silent world. A world without sound.  If you watch a movie, you have to rely and read the subtitles- if they are correctly translated. No more music. And you won’t be able to hear your own voice when you speak – in other words you will not be able to control the pitch or tone of your voice. You would not know how loud or soft your voice is. You have to either learn how to read lips or people have to write to communicate to you. Just like I have to write to communicate to people or they can read my lips if they know how.
                           You can think of hundreds of difficulties or setbacks apart from some of the things I mentioned above. Well, as for me I guess not being able to talk is not so bad compared with not being able to see or hear. The only setback is you can’t talk. Of course it’s difficult but still it’s easier to get on with life – I think.

Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough
No one has ever been able to tame the tongue.  Ecc 1:8, Jam 3:8 
 

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”
(Hebrews 2:9)
Death. It’s not a popular topic–even among believers. In fact, a great many are just plain scared of it. Oh yes, they talk about having eternal life. Yet when the devil tries to threaten their earthly survival with sickness or calamity, they panic.

Why? Because they haven’t learned to look at death through God’s eyes. Even though their spirit has been made immortal, they haven’t renewed their minds to include that truth. If they had, when the devil tried to push their panic button, they’d just laugh and say, “You can’t scare me, devil. I’ve done all the dying I’m ever going to do!”

That’s true, you know. The Word of God says that you, as a born-again believer, are never going to see death (John 8:51). Jesus has been your substitute. He suffered death, so you wouldn’t have to. And when He was raised, Hebrews 2:14-15 says, “He destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

If you’ve made Jesus the Lord of your life, the only death you’ll ever experience is behind you now. It occurred the instant you received Christ. At that moment, your old self–the one whose nature was to sin and rebel against God–died. Your body didn’t die, but your spirit man–the real you– died to Satan and all of his works. You became “a new creature” (2 Cor. 5:17), immortal and absolutely incapable of death!

When you’re finished with your work on the earth, you’re not going to die. You’ll simply shed your earthly shell and relocate to a far more glorious place.

Go to the Word and get God’s perspective on death. Make a study of it. Once the reality of your immortality begins to dawn on you, the devil will never be able to threaten you with it again.
Scripture Study: Hebrews 2:9-15
Gloria Copeland

We read in the newspaper that people are getting con into giving away their money or savings. They were told that they have won a lottery – which they did not buy or join. The lottery is usually from a in a foreign country like China, Hong Kong , Taiwan or even as far as England. And these people were asked to deposit a certain amount of money into a certain bank account in a foreign land. And sometimes, it’s more than just one deposit. They were usually asked to deposit a few thousand dollars for processing fee or legal matters. And when you do that, they will then ask for more. And strangely some people do deposit more money into the account. Then when they realized they have been conned, they seek the help of a political party service or police, hoping to get back their money.
 One thing I can’t understand is why these people just bank in money to people they don’t even know. And further more to believe that they have won a lottery they did not buy or join. Is it greed or stupidity? Don’t tell me they are ignorant of such scam! We read them in the newspapers almost every week. Even if they don’t read the newspaper, I’m sure common sense will tell you that it’s too good to be true.
 Even if you are really win the lottery, why can’t they just send the money to you. And if they need any processing fee or legal fee – they could have just deducted it from your winnings. Every time when I read that these people has been conned – I wonder, should we sympathize with them or think that they deserved it.
      A friend always reminds me that ‘nothing is free in this world.’  And yet you go to a shopping mall and you find credit card representatives asking you to join – and always use this catch phrase, “ Free for life!” And my friend will tell them who is going to pay for all my transactions. Nothing is free,  apart from the love of God.
      Recently, two guys hacked into my Skype chat room without me inviting them. Their names sound like African or Middle Eastern.  This is roughly how the conversation goes:

A:  How are you?
B:  I’m well. How about you?
A: I’m ok, just bored.
B:  What do you mean bored? You are a rich boy.
A:  Yea I know. Even though my father left me USD 2.5 million, I’m still bored.
B:  Hey, you are a rich boy, man! How can you be bored. Where are you now?
A:  Oh, I’m studying in Ghana, and I don’t like it here.
B:  And where are you staying in Ghana?
A:  I’m staying in a hotel. It is more convenient for me.
B:  Yea., you can afford cos you are rich.
A:  Anyway, I’m looking for a beneficiary to handle my money till I’m of age legally. Hey maybe you can be my beneficiary. My lawyer can get in touch with you and will tell you what to do.
B:  I cannot. I don’t think I’m capable of handling so much money. Maybe you should look for someone else. I’m sure there are people who are willing help you
.
And all this while I just listened to the conversation – after all I know they want me to listen and hopefully join in.  Yes I did join in. This is what I wrote.

Me:  You guys are sick! You think I’m an idiot to fall for your stupid con. You should be arrested and put behind bars!

And as soon as they read that statement, they both sign off.

I’m sure they must have hacked in to other people’s chat room and used the same conversation to con them. Be wise! Do not fall prey to these conmen.

Nothing is free in this world except for the love of God.  But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all. It is the LORD who gives wisdom; from him come knowledge and understanding.  Wisdom offers you long life, as well as wealth and honor.
(James 1:5; Proverbs 2:6; 3;16)

So how do I communicate with people? Or how do people communicate with me? My only means of communication now at the moment is in writing. I have a small note pad and a pen always in my car. I bring it along when I visit the doctors for my check up, or when I know I’m supposed to me someone. If these people know my condition that’s fine, they know how to respond. If not then some of them will take my note book and write back to me. I have to tell them that I am not deaf, I only can’t talk but I can hear. And they feel so embarrassed. I think some people feel uncomfortable with me because they don’t know how to react to me.  I don’t blame them. Or some of them even though they know I can, they try to talk to me with signs, until I have to remind them that I can HEAR! But the best was this old friend who was at a birthday party. We were all talking and me writing as usual. Then she looked at me and was amazed that I could learn to read lips so well in such a short time. I have to tell that I can hear – I don’t have to read lips! Then she laughed and said “Aiyah, I forgot that you cannot talk but can hear lah!” Even until today, even though some of them know I can hear they still forget and communicate with me with signs.
 And also most of the time when I go to a shop to buy something, I have to point to what I want or talk, hoping they can read my lips. Normally they have no problem understanding me. But the problem is they answered me by pointing to what I want or show some kind of signs. Most people think just because you can’t talk, you can’t hear too. Then I have to point to my ears to tell them that I can hear. Yea I put people in an uncomfortable position. Sorry guys!!!

You don’t have to be a college graduate to know that worms, which devour organic matter and deposit “castings” that aerate and enrich soil, are good critters to have in a garden. So it makes sense that a college dropout and his partner used this common horticultural wisdom to develop TerraCycle, an organic liquid plant food derived from what the company affectionately refers to as “worm poop.”
      Tom Szaky(the dropout), 25, and Jon Beyer(who graduated in 2005), 24, were freshmen at Princeton University when they founded TerraCycle, Inc., in 2001. Today, the company cooks up close to 200 tons of worm poop a year in a 20,000-square-foot industrial building in Trenton, New Jersey. The result of this brewing process – similar to the methods a home gardener might use to create compost or manure tea – is an organic, nutrient-rich liquid fertilizer that, according to studies by Rutgers University, performs as well or better than more-popular commercial brands. Roughly a million bottles of TerraCycle fertilizer were shipped last year to store across North America.
      The seeds of TerraCycle were planted when Szaky, now chief executive officer, saw how well a friend’s houseplants flowered after they were fertilized with worm castings. Excited by the possibility of growing a business out of such prosaic raw material, he teamed up with Beyer, now chief information officer, to develop the initial product line and write a business plan. Their plan won several contests and prize money. With addition capital from “angel” investors, manufacturing and marketing of the product began in a Princeton basement.
      Growth for the company has been phenomenal – about 400 percent a year for several years running. In 2004, they abandoned the basement and moved into the Trenton factory. By 2008 they plan to expand into another building five times as large. But this is more than just another story of young entrepreneurs barely out of sneakers hitting the big time. TerraCycle bills itself as a new style of business: an “eco-capitalist” that makes money while having little or no negative impact on the environment.
      At the top of the long list of the company’s eco-friendly practices is packaging its products in reused soda bottles. The idea came of necessity: Before they attracted investors, Szaky and Beyer couldn’t afford to buy new bottles for their product, so they took empties from neighbours’ recycling bins and accepted donations of bottles from local organizations. Now the company purchases 20-ounce soda bottles from recycling centres for 2 cents each(compared to 5 cents for a new bottle, and 10 cents for those made of 100-percent recycled materials). Even after the bottles are cleaned, using a special washer loaded with eco-friendly detergent, Szaky says the cost is still less than buying them new. The company also buys bottles from school and charitable groups, using its Bottle Brigade program to both promote the products and encourage participants to learn more about the benefits of recycling.
      Besides the bottles, TerraCycle uses other materials usually considered candidates for the landfill. In the beginning, they fed their worms with waste from the Princeton dining halls. Now millions of worms, in four worm composting locations around the country, are fed waste from large-scale food-production processes, including the spent hops from beer-makers. The resulting worm castings are shipped tp Trenton for processing. The company tops its bottles with spray nozzles that other manufacturers have rejected, and most of its shipping boxes are rejects from other businesses as well. The company’s Trenton facility – which boasts a workforce of 50 during the peak bottling season – had been an abandoned newspaper distribution warehouse.
      This year the company will start marketing a potting soil mix ( package in recycled gallon-size milk jug) that incorporates the solid worm castings strained out after the fertilizer brewing process. Plans are also in the works to reuse the bottle cap in some way, perhaps as small packages for garden seeds.
       “One of the really exciting thing about TerraCycle is that we can save the world and make lots of money and make great products at the same time,” Szaky says. We’ve created a viable business by doing not just the right thing, but the best thing we cab possibly do.”