How to play iso files easily

If you borrow movie discs from your friend, he or she might want them back as soon as possible. I have a way to help you return him or her the discs yet you can take your time to watch the movies. Here are the steps to accomplish this.

First, copy the discs one by one using any iso maker such as Xilosoft Isomaker to your hard disc.
Next go to this site to get your free VLC Media Player: http://vlc-media-player.en.softonic.com/download
Return the discs to your friend.

Whenever you feel like watching any of the movies you have copied to your hard disc as iso files, use the VLC Media Player to play it.

It is as simple as that.

Happy copying movie discs to your hard disc as iso files and playing them with VLC Media Player.

How to use 'most of' correctly

In today’s post, I will deal with ‘most of’ used in sentences. Let us look at the following sentences. Tell me which one is wrong.

1 Most of the boys are interested in football.

2 Most of the cake was eaten by my brother.

Actually both sentences are correct. Let me explain.

When ‘most of’ is followed by a countable noun, it takes a plural verb. For instance, you can write a sentence such as the one below.

Most of the apples sold here are fresh. [As apples are plural, the verb that follows it is plural, that is ‘are’]

On the other hand, if ‘most of’ is followed by an uncountable noun, then a singular verb is used. Look at the following example.

Most of the palm oil in Malaysia is exported to China. [ As palm oil which follows ‘most of’ is uncountable, it is considered singular and hence a singular verb ‘is’ is used]

These are other examples when ‘most of’ is used in tenses.

1 Most of the girls in the school play netball.

2 Most of the activities here require skills and patience.

3 Most of the work was done by my mother.

4 Most of the fun comes from knowing that one has achieved something.

5 Most of the rubbish is not disposed of properly.

I hope readers of this blog are able to use ‘most of’ in sentences properly after reading my post.

Today is Qing Ming or Chinese All Souls Day

Today the Chinese will go to the graves of their relatives who had passed away to show respect to them as well as remember their good deeds. Usually, food will be offered when they pray in front of the grave.

As a regular practice, the Chinese will clean up the graves before doing the praying. This can be done 10 days before or 10 days after Qing Ming. If the inscriptions on the grave have become blur, the words will be repainted with red or gold powder.

I went to my late father's grave with my sister last Saturday to do the cleaning-up and resurfacing of soil on the grave. We had to buy RM60 for 6 bags of soil for the job. The man skilfully carried 6 bags of the stuff on his Honda C70 bike from somewhere to where my late father's grave was and helped do the topping up of soil. Then we put the yellow paper on the surface and use pebbles to press them down in case the wind blew them away, at least for the period when we pray. Then it is time to place food and fruits in front of the grave before we start to pray. The burning of paper money, paper shoes and clothes were done after tossing two coins to get consent. If head and tail shows up, we can start the burning job.

Although burning such paper items will not benefit anyone, it is the custom of the Chinese and a way to show their respect to the dead.

What we did in front of my late father's grave will be almost the same for the other visitors to the same graveyard.

Relatives of new graves have to come to clean up and do the pray on Qing Ming Day. On the fourth year, they can come 10 days before or after Qing Ming to do the task.

That's all for Qing Ming for today's post.

Weight loss

Weight loss is the concern of most obese people. By this I mean those whose BMI or Body Mass Index is beyond the normal range. BMI is calculated by diving the body weight in kg by height (in metre) squared. For example, I am 1.60 metre and 60 kg in weight. My BMI is 60 / 1.6X1.6 which is 60/2.56 and my final BMI is 23.43. I am normal in weight and height because the normal range is 18.5 to 24.9.

Those with BMI exceeding 24.9 is overweight and those below 18.5 is underweight.

The former group will think of ways to effect weight loss so as to fall within the normal BMI range.

You can achieve your weight loss through dieting, that is cutting down on the intake of fat, starch and sugar. Exercising regularly will also enable you to cause weight loss in your body.

My friend tells me of a way to bring about weight loss. According to him, when you have your lunch or dinner, start by eating the vegetables and meat first because by then your stomach will have been filled with food and fluid and you will eat less of rice.

If your state of being overweight is due to hormonal causes, you will have to see your doctor to rectify it so that weight loss will be rendered possible.

Proper diet and exercising are the best ways to solve the problem of having to think of ways to effect weight loss to your body.

How to remote control your computer at home

I have learnt of a way to remote control your computer at home and I would like to share this knowledge with readers of this blog.

Suppose you need to do something using the computer at home. It may be to transfer a file, to download a file and others.

There is a free software for non-c0mmercial use which you can use to do the above task. It is called teamviewer. You can download it at http://www.teamviewer.com free of charge. With this software you can manipulate the computer at home even if you are at your office. However, you have to install the software in the computer at home and the one in your office or somewhere such as in your friend's house. After doing that, you just need to key in the ID generated by the software and the password for the computer at home. In this case, you can set a fixed password which you can create by clicking the extras folder and create the password which you can use when you are at your office. Once the software connects you to the computer at home, you can manipulate your home computer as if you were sitting right in front of it. How wonderful!

Happy downloading teamviewer and start remote controlling your home computer from your office or your friend's house.

How to use 'berjaja' and 'menjajakan' correctly

In Malaysia, we have the chance to see 'hawkers' or vendors who sell things from place to place everywhere we go. Sometimes, they call out the names of the items or food sold. In the Malay language, they are known as 'penjaja'.

In reference books written by writers who do not pay attention to standard usage or for that matter the grammatical aspect of the language, the following sentence often appears in their books:
Mak Minah menjaja kuih-muih di tepi jalan. [wrong]

The above sentence should have been: 'Mak Minah menjajakan kuih-muih di tepi jalan.' [Mak Minah is selling various 'kuih' (something like cakes in English) by the road through hawking.']

The word 'menjaja' is not in the dictionary and hence non-existent. However, you can use 'berjaja' the intransitive verb for 'to hawk'. A sentence such as the one below can be constructed to show its correct usage:

Ahmad berjaja untuk menyara keluarganya. [Ahmad sells things by hawking to support his family.]

I hope by now readers and students of the Malay language are clear about the usage of 'berjaja' and 'menjajakan'. Remember not to use 'menjaja' anymore as it is non-existent.

Pick up my mandarin orange and be my Mr Right

Today is Yuan Xiao Jie or Chap Goh Meh in Hokkien. It is the 15th day and last day of Chinese New Year.

Yuan Xiao Jie is the equivalent of Valentine's Day - a day lovers will meet. In ancient China, maidens will be allowed to come out on this night, hoping to find a good husband. Once she takes a liking to someone, the parents will send people to negotiate for a proper wedding.

There is also the custom of throwing mandarin oranges into the river in the hope of getting a good husband as the saying goes 'Tim Kam, cuai ho ang' (Throwing mandarin oranges to get good husbands). In modern time, the unmarried ladies will write their names and mobile phone numbers on the fruits before hurling them into the water or river. Young men will then pick them up, ring the numbers to strike up a relationship.

Happy throwing mandarin oranges on Chap Goh Meh.

Making a beeline for the canteen

My eyes caught sight of the sentence below 'Champion hawkers riding high' which reads
'Customers are making a beeline to the stalls of the newly crowned 'kings'.

The above captions appeared in a local newspaper which I read this morning.

In the second sentence, 'making a beeline to' is wrong usage. It should be 'making a beeline for'.

Let me construct a sentence to illustrate the correct usage:

As soon the bell for recess was rung, the pupils made a beeline for the canteen.

It means they headed straight to the canteen to satisfy their hunger.

I hope the newspaper will be more careful so as to avoid grammatical errors such as the one mentioned in this post.

It is 'T'neah Kong Seah' again

When the clock strikes twelve zero one at midnight, the sound of firecrackers will be heard.

Yes, it is T'neah Kong Sneah (The Birthday of the Jade Emperor) again.

Legend has it that the Hokkien people were saved from being slaughtered by their enemies when they hid among the leaves of the sugarcane when they passed by a sugarcane plantation. Hence, on T'neah Kong Sneah, the main item is a pair of sugarcane plants with all its leaves and roots intact tied to the legs of the altar used to pray to the Jade Emperor of the Heavenly Realm. It is a way the Hokkien people say thank you to this plant for saving their lives.

Other items for prayer include 'ong lai' (pineapple) to bring in good luck, 'nian gao' to symbolises getting promotion year after year.

Happy praying to the Jade Emperor to all Chinese, especially the Hokkiens.

The three-day rental scam

If you have a house for rent, watch out for people who offer to pay you very attractive rental.

There is evil intention behind their act. Read the following true account of the rental scam.

A man, Mr X wanted to rent a house on a daily basis after having seen the telephone number of the house owner somewhere.

He offered to pay RM200 per day for three days that he would stay in the house. This transpired only through the phone. Being a busy man, the house owner had no time to see this tenant and he would come to collect the RM600 on the third day. Meanwhile he asked the tenant to collect the keys from the guardhouse as he left them with the guard.

On the third day, the house owner telephoned the tenant because he wanted to collect the rental from the man. However, the telephone was not opened. He tried several times and lt went dead all the time. Feeling suspicious he went to his flat unit and sure enough the man had esconded. Hence he locked his house with a new lock.

On the next day, a group of Banglashis came to the flat, telling the guard they were renting a house there. The guard took them to the unit mentioned earlier. They could not open the door of the flat unit. The guard then telephoned the house owner. He told them that he was not renting out the unit at that moment.

Only then did the foreign workers realise that the earlier temporary tenant had cheated them. He collected RM1900 from them, that is RM800 for deposit, RM800 for one month's rent and RM300 as utility bill deposit. He had produced an agreement with fake name and IC number on his part.

In conclusion, the unscrupulous tenant had cashed in on his deal with the house owner, milking money out of the Bangladeshis who worked in a nasi kandar eatery.

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