Want to get rich? Do spam!

from www.computerweekly.com

Spammers are making profit even though they are only getting one response for every 12.5 million e-mails they send, researchers who hacked into the infamous Storm spam network have found.

The spam study was carried out by computer scientists from University of California Berkeley and University of California San Diego.

For the month-long study the computer scientists infiltrated the Storm network, which uses hijacked home computers as relays for junk mail.

At its height, Storm is believed to have had more than one million machines under its control.

The researchers created several "proxy bots" on the Storm network to send out their own spam.

The team used these machines to control a total of 75,869 hijacked machines on the network and routed their own fake spam campaigns through them.

Linked to the spam e-mails they sent out, the team created a legitimate looking pharmacy site selling "male enhancement herbal remedies".

The fake pharmacy site was made to resemble those run by Storm's real owners, but it always returned an error message when potential buyers clicked a button to submit their credit card details.

The researchers sent about 350 million email messages over 26 days, which resulted in only 28 sales.

The response rate for the campaign was less than 0.00001%. Direct mail campaigns aim for 2.15%.

Even though the experiment saw a poor conversion rate, the researchers said that by sending out many more messages, the owners of the Storm network could be earning £4,500 a day, or £1.6m a year.

Why yoga? Choose solat instead

Wikipedia refers to yoga as traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India; to the goal achieved by those disciplines; and to one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy.
It is intimately connected to the religious beliefs and practices of the Indian religions. The influence of yoga is also visible in Buddhism.
Practising yoga won’t cause a Muslim to deviate and become a Hindu but copying or adding elements which are clearly from other religions is not acceptable in Islam. The reminder was given in Surah Al Kafirun.
By practising the act which is endorsed by the Hindu and Buddhism religions, one indirectly permits these religions although the faith in the heart remains unchanged.
Muslims who feel offended need to take this issue seriously. In Islam, there are so many healthy activities well known to be good for the health, physically and mentally.
One such activity is Solat, which is to be performed five times a day. Solat dictates a sequence of movements which is good for the body.
There are some health benefits in performing the prayer as it has been proven to increase concentration and refine memory, provide a calming effect and regulate stress, and make the body healthy and active.
Studies have shown that the act of sujud, or prostrating, in solat, encourages blood circulation to several nerves in the brain which do not receive regular blood flow in normal positions. The hearts and spines of pious Muslims are healthy as they receive constant stimulation.

So why look far for such stuff for a healthy lifestyle when you can find alternatives so close to you?
I AGREE!

TENGKU AZLAN SULAIMAN,
Sri Kembangan.

Non-obvious alcoholic drinks in supermarket

 

KUALA LUMPUR: The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry has ordered a leading hypermarket to immediately remove all alcoholic drinks in its soft drinks section.

The alcoholic drinks should be placed in the liquor section of the hypermarket and not with the soft drinks as this could mislead shoppers, especially minors, the ministry's secretary-general Datuk Mohd Zain Mohd Dom told the New Straits Times yesterday

The Petaling Jaya branch of the hypermarket was discovered recently to be selling 14 varieties of alcoholic pop drinks as well as popular brands of beer in its soft drinks section.

The alcoholic pop drinks come in colourful 275ml glass bottles and have an alcoholic content of between five and eight per cent .

They are priced between RM6.50 and RM12.


The labels on some of the bottles state that the alcoholic drinks contain Vitamin C.

Tidak halal labels were displayed near the price tags.

But, some of the tidak halal labels were partially hidden by the price tags.

Complaints have been pouring in from consumer groups on the sale of the alcoholic drinks and the ministry said it was investigating all these cases.

The Consumers Association of Penang had called for an immediate ban on the sale of alcoholic soft drinks. It said they posed a serious danger to youngsters.

CAP president S.M. Mohamed Idris said the association had received complaints from parents stating that their children had been consuming these alcoholic soft drinks.

"These parents have expressed fears about the chances of these youth being hooked to alcohol in future due to their exposure to these alcoholic soft drinks at a young age."

Melayu Bodoh?

It happened at a petrol kiosk somewhere in Petaling Jaya
A young couple, parked their turbo-exhaust-Satria car at the outside cash counter, thus blocking other cars to pass through. The man waited inside the car, with windows rolled down, and smoked while the girl went inside.

Later on, he finished up his red bull drink, and threw the empty can on the road. Off they go...
And they are Malay. Are you angry if I say Malay is stupid?

I'm dissapointed....and ashamed to belong to the same race as this Malay punk

I'm fueled by anger

1 US barrel = 159 liter
current oil price USD 130/barrel or USD 130/159 liter

equals to USD 0.818/liter or RM 2.62/liter

We pay RM2.70/liter. Eh, biar betul?

and they said they're still giving out 30 cents per liter discount from market price..Other neighboring countries pay higher price than us, and we agree...(Oo..betul la tu, our gomen is caring)

But, compare that to the price of cars in Thailand.

For example, the most expensive line (1.5S Limited) of Toyota Vios is 699k baht = RM 68, 374
ours? RM 88,100 for the same line

We're struggling to pay off 9 years loan, being the first year or more just to pay off the interest. Plus ever increasing tolls which don't necessarily mean that you get smooth journey (think of LDP tolls, you pay RM1.60 whether it's jam or not)

I'm not done yet. We compare with Singapore pulak. They pay RM5.20/liter. But they have a choice to use public transport, efficient public transport. On top of that, how much they earn?

We're not paying the market price of cars like Thais do..and we don't have efficient public transport to depend on like Singaporeans do.

I feel both of my hands being tied, and blindfolded, and forced to say, "It's okay, we're good. We're going to change our lifestyle."

When they increased the petrol from RM1.62 to RM1.92 few years back, the savings was said to be used to improved public transportations system. I didn't see that.

When they ban Thais from filling up at country borders, the excuse was so that the subsidy could be enjoyed only to Malaysians. Merely 2 days later, the ban is off so much so that the ban to Singaporeans didn't even take place! So much for long term plan...

To our government, please provides us with choice

excel file on how much extra you spend on petrol based on new price

Exhaust buluh

Haha....classic!

"Nak kasi tak bunyi pon boleh! Ha ni longgarkan sikit, ni apa ketat-ketat sangat tak boleh. Wayar berserabut banyak sedara tak boleh ini macam. Ini mesti ambik dua-dua kasi jadi satu sotkan dekat body ya, baru datang api jadi itu plag boleh hidup"

"Ooo dia pakai ekzos besi rupanya patutla bunyi pong pong kuat sangat. Apa tak gantikan dengan ekzos buluh?"

Ha a kan...tak perasan pulak!

copied verbatim from RockyBru

Umno equals Sarkis (circus)? Like you (most probably), I am a big fan of P. Ramlee, both his movies and his songs. But there was this scene from the movie Bujkang Lapuk, in which P. Ramlee and S. Shamsuddin are making fun of Umno, which had escaped me until I watch it on You Tube just now.



For context, you have to read the posting by OpEd, P. Ramlee - Umno = Circus!

How did P. Ramlee and S. Shamsuddin get away with it? Can you imagine what will happen to anyone who tries this kind of joke in a movie these days?

p/s I found the clip after discovering OpEd, a blog by a journo. Great stuff. And good to know more and more journalists are blogging these days.

Motsy trying to walk

Motsy trying to walk
Originally uploaded by swisscobalt.

with his small legs and big belly...

April Fool comes late?

The Star article 11 April 2008.

I captured this online edition right away before the newspaper editor rectify it. This dude/dudette journalist V.P. Sujata must be in trouble for putting the wrong picture :)
I'm going to assume this is an honest mistake, or somebody up there knows something that we, average people don't know..I'll go with the first one :)

Sufiah Yusof : Conspiracy Theory

updated 10 April 2008

Jangan perbesar kisah Sufiah - Mufti (Utusan Malaysia)

As the news about Sufiah Yusof (aka Shilpa Lee) unfold on the internet regarding her downfall from math prodigy who entered Oxford at the age of 13 to an escort valued at 130 GBP per hour (maybe she chose her own rate 130 to match her historic age at 13? Maybe not...)

She came from a Muslim family with both her parents and siblings are all brainy lots. It’s a rare occasion where genius Muslim family being elevated to media spotlight in the Western world. So when something like this happens, ‘they’ (whoever you want to refer at) started to get scared. What if someday this family produces more Muslim geniuses?

To stop this phenomenon from happening, they plan something to disgrace this fella, and her whole family. Also, to know that prostitution is one of the worst jobs known to mankind, they took this opportunity to offer this innocent girl money...and sex...

She was working as an administrative assistant earning £16,000 (RM102,400) a year in Manchester when, about four months ago in a bar, she was asked by an “immaculate lady in a designer suit” to become an escort.

She herself admits that she has regular clients attending to her needs; maybe all these regulars are part of the plot to take her further down the hole? (no pun intended).

And who is that 'immaculate lady in a designer suit'? Why of all other girls in the bar, she was picked? Did she had 'pick me! pick me! written all over her forehead?

As for me, her story has more than meets the eye.

That’s what they do to Lady Diana when she was about to marry a Muslim dude….(also one of the conspiracy theory)

I’m still working out on other possibilities, as my story isn’t yet complete…I've been watching too many Hollywood movies lately...

Cool Honda advertisement

I've found this cool Honda advertisement on the Youtube..Really cool stuff...
It was said that it took approximately 600 times to get right, none of it is computer animated.

AirAsia to charge check in luggages

BUDGET airline AirAsia Bhd will charge a fee for handling checked baggage for flights booked from April 21 onwards.

Group chief executive officer Datuk Tony Fernandes said the fee was only applicable for bookings made after April 21 and would be implemented across AirAsia’s network.

“One of the major causes is obviously fuel ... You use more fuel when the aircraft is heavier...(more)

Soon, it's going to be like this. Watch video below :)

Damn it, Google!

Can't believe I fall for it! If that wasn't bad enough, read this one..They got me too! :P

Look into your heart and see why...

Munajat Perdana ‘Memohon Kemenangan Kerajaan Islam di Kelantan' di Kota Bharu 7/2/2008

"Semua kerja buat kita di dunia ini ibarat mencari duit untuk bekalan di akhirat. Seperti kita bekerja untuk mendapat duit mencari makan di muka dunia ini, samalah juga kita di akhirat nanti. Duit di akhirat inilah yang dipanggil pahala. Duit RM, dollar, yen tidak akan laku di akhirat. Dan duit yang kita cari untuk bekalan di akhirat bukan setakat sembahyang, puasa, zakat, haji sahaja. Malah kalau kena caranya, berpolitik dan mentadbir negara pun dapat pahala juga.

Jadi tak ada sebab kenapa orang Islam sendiri nak tolak Islam melainkan dia terlalu amat jahil. Islam datangnya dari Allah. Takkanlah Allah tak tahu apa yang terbaik untuk makhluk yang Dia buat, sampai kita pandai-pandai nak buat undang-undang sendiri? Cina, India, Melayu semua Allah buat, pandailah Allah uruskan."