Western Governors University (WGU) was founded in 1997. It is a nonprofit, privately-funded distance learning university based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Currently with more than 15,000 students, everything is conducted online except for exams, where students have to personally be at the campus.

Sounds like a worthwhile place to consider doing one’s online degree, but only individuals living in the USA and some parts of Canada may enrol, with some special exceptions for US military personnel.

Courses offered are up to master’s level in IT, business, teacher education and health, so if you’re eligible you can consider getting your masters degree online.

Popularity: 2% [?]

UPDATE 19th December 2009

Will be launched just before Christmas Eve mass (around 7pm?) at St John’s Church, Tuaran.

I was told that:
- the launch had to be delayed due to delays in the CD printing process in KL.
- 1,000 copies will be prepared.

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For its first major project since its launching in July 2009, Papier Mache Music House and Education will be releasing a Christmas Album on the second week of December 2009.

Vocalists include local celebrities Raphiel Pinus, Ateng, Kuak (lead vocalist of Papier Mache).

Others include Jefferson “Taker”, Ezbon Godomon, Clario Charles, Velario Bingku, Rudolf Japarat, Joan Moo, Jovenea Jim Lajim, Didie Gloria Moo, Roslinah Imran, Emiliana & Petronilansia.

Done for the Tuaran Catholic Church Parish, proceeds from the sale of the album will be donated to the Church.

Price: RM17 only.

The musical concept/arrangement is “classical with orchestra and multi.”

Details

Title: Change Your Heart Christmas Album

Songlist:

1. Silent Night
2. The First Noel
3. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
4. O Holy Night (Classical vs Rock Versions)
5. We Three Kings
6. Hark The Herald Angel Sing
7. Joy To The World
8. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
9. What Child Is This
10. Jingle Bells Rock

A preview

Popularity: 5% [?]

Role model for other young Sabahans.

Dr Kevin Ng, 34 is a Sabahan who graduated from local university Universiti Malaysia Sabah in 1999.

He obtained his PhD in Forest Genetics from Universiti Malaya aged 30 in 2005.

Since graduation, he’s been attached to the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Biotechnology Division Genetics Laboratory in Selangor.

Recently he won the Japan International Award 2009 for Young Agricultural Researchers at University of Tokyo, Japan for “exemplary performance and innovative research achievements in the field of spatial structure and impact on logging on genetic diversity of selected tropical tree species.”

People like him should be treated like the state’s diamonds. Congratulations Dr Ng!

Source
Daily Express, 5th Nov 2009
FRIM website

Popularity: 4% [?]

As if we needed any more reminder that blogging has truly gone mainstream (industrial computer not needed), Tan Sri Bernard Dompok is now a blogger. Dompok, the President of Upko, Member of Parliament for Penampang and Minister of Plantation Industries has launched his blog, through which he will share his thoughts and opinions.

[via SMS]

The first entry touched on the triennial, 12th Upko Congress 10-12th October 2009, and already there’s a “hot button” question there.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Ching Chi Vui (Daily Express said the surname is Tsang) a.k.a Ivan, 37 of Tawau was the leader/prophet of a cult named Benevolent Missionary Association, Sabah branch presumably. It’s believed to be linked to a Philippines-rooted movement.

Another report said he belonged to a “Church Without Walls.”

Before he died 13 months ago, he told his followers not to bury him, but instead pray for him, as he would “come back to life.”

Upon his death, his followers wrapped his body in 13 layers of plastic and a blanket, put it in the middle of the living room of a house in Taman Kobusak Villa, Penampang, then started praying.

Ching had rented the house from a Tawau-based doctor for RM1,000 a month (another report said he rented it from a businessman who bought the house from a doctor). Now there’s RM20K rent outstanding and the house had no electricity or water.

They would’ve kept at it if police did not visit the house on Friday the 25th of September 2009.

They had received a report from a neighbour of weird chanting late into the night in total darkness.

There, police found:
- 3 women from Tawau, including twin sisters praying in another room. One of the women was a Ms Chu, 44. The twin sisters are aged 26.
- Ching’s dried-up, decomposed body clad only in shorts.
- walls plastered with Chinese-written religious words, at least one of them bearing an image of a cross.

The Daily Express said the women told police not to move the body or they would die. Ms Chu chanted prayers before the police took the body away.

Strangely, neighbours had not detect any foul smell all this time.

The cause of death is yet to be determined, but police did not detect any visible signs of injury to the body.

After the police recorded their statements, the women were released.

I think this piece of news should be listed in ghoulish web directories of the intarwebs.

By the way, is this the same Ivan Tsang who was charged with criminal intimidation in 2004?

Regarding the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA), apparently it is a pseudo-Christian cult founded by Ruben Ecleo, Sr. (1934-1987) in 1965 on Dinagat, an island off Mindanao. Upon his death, he was succeeded by son Ruben Ecleo, Jr, whose followers consider him to be “a reincarnation of Jesus Christ,” and has a million-strong following in central and southern Philippines.

Someone wrote that the organisation has a “horrible reputation of being a murderous cult.”

Ching’s case draws a parallel to another PBMA related case, when the leader of a PBMA splinter group Tomas Eugenio died on 26th September 2004 asked that he not be buried but rather to pray for his resurrection. He was earlier arrested for illegally having in his possession high-power guns and bullets.

And as Quirina Flores said quoted to have said in 2003, it’s possible to be a Roman Catholic and member of the PBMA at the same time.

Source
The Star, 27 Sep 2009
The Star, 28th Sep 2009
Daily Express, 27th Sept 2009

Popularity: 5% [?]

Gary Cao (also known as Gary Chaw or Cao Ge), 30 was born in Kota Belud, Sabah. He’s based in Taiwan and has achieved success as a singer-songwriter in Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

In 2008, he won the Best Male Mandarin Singer award at the prestigious 19th Golden Melody Awards, which has been called the Chinese-language Grammys.

Then, on 23 September 2009 he made the headlines for the wrong reasons: being involved in a roadside brawl with best friend and Hong Kong artiste Justin Lo after drinks at a pub there, in full view of the public.

Of course the paparazzi had a field day:

“Round 1″

“Round 2″

Of course, there’s the possiblity that it’s all staged. Anyhow, Asian pop stars are expected to be squeaky clean, and this kind of behaviour could cause Mr Chaw to move out and launch a Las Vegas Job Search instead. That is, unless he manages to pull off an Edision Chen.

More photos and discussion.

Source
The Star, 25 Sep 2009

Popularity: 5% [?]

Malaysia’s first submarine arrived at Sepanggar Bay, the nation’s only submarine base at 9am today, after a 54-day, 8,000-mile journey from France, of which 32 days were underwater.

Among the 32-member crew [some reports say 35], there’s chief petty officer Jerry Koyoh, 34, a Dusun from Kampung Mandap, Kota Belud. He’s a safety diving officer: assists with the diving and stabilising of the sub, rotates shift with 2 other crew members every 4 hours.

There’s another Dusun, Luis from Kg Tombongon, Kiulu who’s a crew member of the second submarine, KD Tun Razak that’s due April 2010.

Submarines are no place for chubbies, if one is interested to be a crew, there’s a need to embark on a lose belly fat program first!

About the sub:

Cost: reputedly RM1.7 billion, hence 2 submarines = RM3.4 billion.
Cost of submarine base: RM320 million.
Class: Scorpene
Name: KD Tunku Abdul Rahman
Commanding Officer: Captain Zulhelmy Ithnain
Builders: French DCNS & Spanish Navantia
Place of assembly: Cherbourg, France.
Runs on: diesel-electric [i.e. not nuclear]
Length: 67.5m
Range: 45 days
Dive depth: up to 200m
Port calls before reaching Sabah: Jeddah, Djibouti, Cochin (India), Lumut, Port Klang

A video of the moment the sub arrived at Port Klang:

Popularity: 5% [?]

This could open the floodgates and make top lawyers go out of business.

If you are a defendant in a court case with all probabilities pointing to you being convicted, instead of hiring people like Karpal Singh and Sugumar Balakrishnan as your defense counsel, go for totally incompetent lawyers instead.

Well, that seems to be the message being sent out by a landmark ruling by the Malaysian Federal Court today, which consisted of a 3-man panel led by the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, with the 2 others being Justices Datuk Hashim Yusoff and Datuk Gopal Sri Ram.

The lawyer must be so bad that it was “flagrant in the circumstances of the case, and had deprived the accused of a fair trial, thus occassioning a miscarriage of justice, and must also have regard to the conduct of a counsel as a whole, and not merely to his or her failure in one or two departments.”

So, as you can see, hiring bad lawyers could, instead of landing you in jail, enable you to send photo holiday cards instead!

Source
Bernama, 15th Sep 2009

Popularity: 4% [?]

On 29th November 2006, someone wrote to the The Star regarding a lady friend of his that had her handbag stolen while watching a movie at Cineleisure Mutiara Damansara, Kuala Lumpur. The male thief was caught by security who was revealed to be a disabled holding an OKU (Orang Kurang Upaya) card [a card which verifies his disability].

Apparently, the disabled-status thief was also “mentally challenged”, but still could go, by himself, to the cinema, buy a discounted ticket using his OKU card, waited while everybody was engrossed by the movie being shown, then proceeded to quietly steal from the unsuspecting woman.

At the police station, the police officer in charge tried to talk her out of pressing charges, instead to “take pity on the thief because he was a disabled person.”

Then today, it was reported that a 27-year old wheelchair-bound man in George Town, Penang was caught red-handed using a rock to smash the side windows of two cars and stealing items inside them.

The single man, who receives a RM150 monthly allowance from the Social Welfare Department also has two previous thefts to his name.

What do you think? Is disability a ticket for symphathy which can encourage disabled criminals to repeat their deeds? Everybody wants to make ends meet, disabled or not, and it’s not as if they’re aiming to finance their orlando vacations this way.

Popularity: 4% [?]

After Manny Pacquiao and Liu Xiang proved that Asians can be the best in the world at sports than their West African-descent counterparts, now it’s the turn of Adelina Raisa Sufian, 21 to show that non-native English speakers can indeed be better at the language than the English themselves.

Recently, she became the top student in English at the University of London’s Queen Mary College.

She obtained a BA (English) degree with 1st class honours and won the coveted 2009 Westfield Trust Prize.

In her own words, she succeeded because:

I set a target throughout my study. Most importantly, we must have the determination and confidence to succeed.

Some people might argue that this could make her more English than the English, more comfortable in tuxedo pants than a sarong. What do you think?

Anyhow, I think she’s truly an inspiration to fellow Malaysians, especially students of the English language.

Source
The Star, 8 Sep 2009

Popularity: 4% [?]