MAKSAK Games

I was out of school for about a week to prepare and play in the MAKSAK games held from 17-19th of July 2009. For a teacher, a week's absence is quite a while in terms of teaching sessions and classes. However, representing your state (or country) is also considered part of the job, and surely there has to be some leave that can be taken by teachers in this situation. Fortunately for me, there is a circular on this. It stated that the person involved can take up to 30 days of Unrecorded Leave. Thus, I can calmly train and play and as a result, we did well in the MAKSAK games held recently in Kota Bharu. Kelantan managed to get 4th placing in the chess event (the team consisted of 6 teachers from all over Kelantan). You can read all about it in my other blog.

PPSMI is No More

Finally, the jury is out. The defendant, PPSMI, is sentenced to slow death starting from 2012 until 2014. Malay and vernacular languages will again be used to teach Mathematics and Science, both in primary and secondary schools. However, the changes won't include Form Six and Matriculation. Since its inception, PPSMI has received negative views from all over Malaysia, especially from those from the rural areas. Several reasons were given, including the ever widening gap between rural and urban students and the low percentage of teachers' proficiency in English for those teaching these two subjects. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin said that there will be changes in teaching English. Subjects on literature, composition and grammar will be re-introduced and the number of English teachers will be sufficiently increased.

Read more about it in The Star Online and Malaysia Kini.

Anti Virus Rankings 2009

I am now using Kaspersky Internet Security 8.0.0.506, but I am anxious as what's best for my laptop. So I browse the Internet for the rankings and found several websites showing the latest rankings, but I don't know which one is better because the rankings are contradicting. There is also a wonderful website with reviews for the top 10. Here is the ranking (as given by this website):

1. Bit Defender (there is a website giving free BD license for one year)
2. Kaspersky
3. Webroot
4. G DATA
5. ESET Nod32
6. ParetoLogic
7. AVG
8. Vipre
9. F-Secure
10. Trend Micro
11. McAfee
12. CyberDefender
13. Norton
14. CA
15. Norman
16. Panda
17. AVAST!
18. PC Tools
19. F-Prot
20. ViRobot

I am perplexed as where is Avira in the ranking?

Stuck in Raub

For the first time in my life as a car owner, my car broke down. When I was steering it in Raub town, I could not change the gear. Luckily, I was in town area, and I stopped in front of the Tabung Haji building. Fortunately also, I have a cousin living nearby, and she helped me to contact her friend, who is a mechanic. He told me that the clutch was probably broken and had to be changed. However, because it was already late in the evening, nothing could be done and had to be postponed the next day. I hope my boss will not be mad at me for I have to take a leave tomorrow, for sure!

How to Change 8Pax Contacts

8Pax is one of the features from Celcom which gives its users the opportunity to get a great discount on 8 selected contact numbers, which includes all Celcom numbers 019/013/0148 and also TM PSTN.

The 8pax users will only be charged RM0.15/min and RM0.01/SMS for those 8 special contact numbers. However, the TM PSTN will only include the call package only, not SMS.

Here is how to use the 8pax. All SMSes must be send to 28882. The first 8 contact numbers are free, but subsequent changes will be charged RM1/SMS.

8pax ON - to activate the numbers.
8pax LIST - to see the list of contact numbers.
8pax ADD - to add to the list.
8pax DEL - to delete from the list.