World Vision [Change A Life, Change Your Own] Campaign

There is a line from a well-known pop song which declares: "I've seen and met angels wearing the disguise of ordinary people living ordinary lives." How true, indeed!

For many of us, life is all the more meaningful because of some kind act, word or touch from people we come across daily, some of whom are complete strangers to us. Indeed, history is full of extraordinary events created when ordinary people act.

World Vision Malaysia's latest campaign Change A Life, Change Your Own is a tribute to the 32,000 and more Malaysians who have acted and are bringing hope and joy to children and communities in need. More importantly, this campaign is about the journey of these individuals - how their respective lives were changed (and still are!) even as they seek to change the lives of those whom they are reaching out to help.

Change A Life, Change Your Own is about ordinary Malaysians from diverse backgrounds living extraordinary lives. Truly, it only takes a spark to get a fire going.

Campaign Kick-Off Roadshow
Date: 28-31 October 2010
Time: 10am - 10pm
Venue: 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Ground Floor, Promenade (in front of T.G.I. FRIDAY's restaurant)

Sharing sessions by child sponsors:

• 28/10 8pm: Mei Sim (云美鑫) - "More than raising my own children"
• 29/10 8pm: William Yap (叶伟良) - "There is no law in the joy of sharing lives"
• 30/10 2pm: Owen Yap (叶剑锋) - "People matter"
• 30/10 8pm: Niki Cheong - "Never too young to start changing lives"
• 31/10 12pm: Danell Lee (李桀汉) & William Lee (李威廷) - "A simple kind of happiness"
• 31/10 4pm: Roshan & Yise (罗忆诗) - "Changing 101 + 1 lives"

Click here to download the Child Sponsorship Flyer

You might probably be interested to also read about:

• I started sponsoring a child in Laos through World Vision

What are the 300 products have import duty abolished in 2011 National Budget

The 2011 National Budget speech by Najib on 15 October 2010 evening proposed that the import duty of approximately 300 goods preferred by tourists and locals be abolished with immediate effect.

Those items are:

• Handbags, wallets, suitcases, briefcases, apparel, suits, children's apparel, shirts, undergarments, lingerie, nightwear, footwear, shoes and hats (duty between 5%-20%)
• Jewellery, costume jewellery and ornaments (duty between 5%-20%)
• Golf balls, toys such as dolls and small scale recreational models (duty between 5%-20%)
• Talcum powder, face powder, shampoo, hair colourants and perfume (duty between 10%-20%)
• Bedspreads, blankets, bed sheets, curtains, table cloth and mosquito nettings (duty between 10%-20%)

The detail listis said to be available in a so-called Appendix A, which I still can't find downloadabale in any government websites now.

Click here to download the speech of 2011 National Budget

Click here to download the 16 appendixes of 2011 National Budget (but without the Appendix A)

27 winners in Oracle Magazine Editors Choice Awards 2010

It has come to the 9th year for the editors of Oracle Magazine to present the Editors’ Choice Awards to people who exemplify leadership, vision, and dedication in working with and managing Oracle technology.

And the winners for year 2010 are:

• Alexandre Vasconcellos from Grupo Pão de Açúcar, Brazil - CIO of the Year, Latin America
• PeiHui Wang from China Resources (Holdings) Co., Ltd., Hong Kong - CIO of the Year, Asia Pacific
• Yasutomo Fukui from Panasonic, Japan - CIO of the Year, Japan
• Rob James from Novartis, Switzerland - CIO of the Year, Europe, Middle East, and Africa
• Fjeldheim from Qualcomm, California - CIO of the Year, North America
• Ipolani Tano from VeriFone, Hawaii - CTO of the Year
• Vinod Haval from Bank of America, North Carolina - DBA of the Year
• Francisco Munoz Alvarez from Database Integrated Solutions, New Zealand - Oracle ACE Director of the Year
• Roxanne Shelton from AT&T, Texas - Oracle Applications Implementer of the Year
• Rodrigo Benzaquen from MercadoLibre, Argentina - Virtualization Architect of the Year
• Jim Duffy from BNP Paribas, France - Data Warehouse Architect of the Year
• Theresa Enebo and Aaron Seabaugh from TeleTech Holdings, Colorado - Cloud Architects of the Year
• Keiichiro Shimizu from SoftBank Mobile, Japan - IT Manager of the Year
• Rajeev Agrawal, Brian Deegan, Kathy Josephson, and Ajay Yelne from General Dynamics Information Technology, Virginia - Enterprise Performance Management / Business Intelligence Architects of the Year
• Yekesa Kosuru from Nokia, Massachusetts - MySQL Developer of the Year
• Adam Bien from adam-bien.com, Germany - Java Developer of the Year
• Gary Clark, Gregory Hansen, Ali Pasham, Sean Shilton, and Alex Whitehurst from Liberty AV Solutions, Colorado - Oracle Database Developers of the Year
• John O’Donnell from Deutsche Bank, New York - Security Architect of the Year
• Yamil Ahuatzin from Grupo Actinver, Mexico - Oracle Fusion Middleware Architect of the Year