The Exodus Continues

An recent article in Petrominer, an Indonesian mining and oil industry magazine published in English language, reviewed current phenomenon about the exodus of several hundreds of Indonesia's oil workers to several countries particularly Malaysia. The same magazine also published a comment made by the head of BPMigas, on 2,444 workforce shortage in the industry during a stage where the government have planned to increase oil and gas production in Indonesia by 30%.

Funnily, oil companies operating in Indonesia are bound by the rules set up by the government/BPMigas themselves. The remuneration and benefit packages offered to Indonesian nationals are peanuts compared to that of the regional standard, not to mention international standard. For someone of a similar amount of experience and skill, an Indonesia who works abroad in a foreign country can earn nearly 2x or even 3x (with benefits) as much as what being offered to an Indonesian who works in Jakarta or somewhere else in Indonesia.

Living in Jakarta is expensive, even for someone with the earning power of an oil company worker. House rental is high, there are some cheaper options but the living environment is not that great, namely not safe or we have to be prepared for annual flood. Food is relatively cheap, however transportation cost is high because the public transport system is a chaos. If we want to be comfortable when using public transport, then we have to hire a taxi.

This is not to mention the quality of living in Jakarta, which is famous for its busy hour traffic jam and high Carbon content in the air. It is understandable if people who have opportunities to work abroad will jump to a different company straightaway. If I were given this opportunity, I will grab it with both hands, too. Very easy to choose...

DELL Monitor For Sale

I have this DELL CRT monitor that I wanted to sell since many months ago. Its model is e770s, Beige colour, still in good working condition, but it looks like it is difficult to sell it. The pic is shown above. Anybody out there wants to buy it? Give me you price :)

Don't Worry About the Change

"Hi!"

"Oh, hi!"

"Here is your money, don't worry about the change!"

"Oh okay, thanks, you're very generous!"

"No worries!"

Those were my conversation with someone who paid me back some amount of money the person owed me.

At first, I really thought, "Wow! This person is really generous." And then when I saw the money, I was given $17. And the amount I should get from this person was $16.80.

So, I was told not to worry about $0.20 change, 20 cents ladies and gentlemen. I thought the person wanted to show some generosity, but obviously I expected too much too soon. The person who gave me money was right, I should not worry about searching a 20 cents coin for the change :)

Hillarious! :D

The Away Goal Rule

The away goal rule in the European continental competitions such as the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup make the way managers and teams approach the second game differently. The rule, which doubles up the value of an away goal when the aggregate goal is equal among the two teams over two ties, means that the team who scores an away goal should be pretty much in the driving seat of the ties. However, this is not always the case because the away goal in the first tie means nothing if the home team in the second leg could not score a single goal. So, what score is most desired by managers and how do they approach the second tie based on the result from the first tie?

First Leg Results
0-0: This score is good enough for the home team as long as they can score an away goal in the 2^nd leg, then any draw (1-1, 2-2) or any win bigger than 1-0 away will do. In this case, both teams in the 2^nd leg should play a counterattacking gameplan and be very cautious. Whoever got the first goal in the 2^nd leg will dictate the game.

1-1, 2-2, 3-3: These scores are pretty bad for the 1^st leg home team because the 2^nd leg home team can afford to play a very defensive gameplan to grind out a 0-0 score or a counterattacking game because the 2^nd leg away team has to attack to get a win with any score or a draw with more away goals.

1-0, 2-0 (Home team win): This is very good because in the 2^nd leg they can afford to lose with a single goal margin (1-2, 2-3, and so on) and any draw is obviously enough, as long as they do not lose out with more goal margin than the 1^st leg win. In the 2^nd leg the away team should be playing defensive or counterattacking game while the home team should be playing an attacking game to score 2 or more clear goals.

2-1 (Home team win): This is a bit tricky for the 1^st leg home team, but it is not necessary an advantage for the 2^nd leg home team because in the second leg, any draw will be enough for the 2^nd leg away team. So the 2^nd leg away team should be playing a defensive gameplan or counterattacking to nick 1 away goal, while the 2^nd leg home game should be playing counterattacking gameplan and prevent the away team to score a goal in the 2^nd leg.

3-2 (Home team win): This is a disadvantage for the 1^st leg home team because when they are playing away in the 2^nd leg, they have to be very-very defensive. The fact that the 1^st leg away team can score 2 goals means they have very dangerous forwarders and they are capable of scoring goal. Any away win or a draw in the 2^nd leg will be enough for the winner of the 1^st tie to progress however the main idea actually is to prevent the dangerous attackers of the 2^nd leg home team to score goal. Once the home team got the first goal in the 2^nd leg, it means the away team has to score 2 clear goals to progress. A 1-0 or 2-1 win in the 2^nd leg for the home team is still enough for them to progress.

Any loss at home in the first tie is a big trouble for the 1^st leg home team that needs to travel in the 2^nd leg. Barcelona FC has been a victim of this situation when they lost 1-2 to Liverpool FC in the Last 16 of the 2006/2007 UEFA Champions League.

Bush Fire Causing Power Outages

The latest bush fire in the north-eastern Victoria has caused a major problem for Melbourne this afternoon/evening. The bush fire apparently burnt power transmission line that connects Victoria with the national power grid. It caused mass power outages around metropolitan Melbourne, resulting in havoc during the peak hours of people commuting home from work.

For Melbourne and it modern life style that rely heavily on electricity, mass power outages mean trams, traffic lights and trains are functioning properly. Furthermore, electricity that supplies lifts of many office buildings and apartments is also likely to be cut off. People were trapped in the lifts. Air Conditioners do not work properly, meaning problems for people who have respiratory problems because of no air circulations.

It was quite bad especially because today was quite hot, about 40 degrees Celcius around Melbourne. Several road accidents immediately straight after the power outages, ambulances were seen traveling fast along the main highway near Monash campus. It is quite a problem here, unlike it was in my home town, where power outage is "normal". It is normal because most of the time we don't have power supply at all. :)

Probationary License

It is official!
I am now a legal car driver, but it is only on Probationary License, which means I still have to tell other road users to be aware of my driving skill, by displaying a P plate, with white P letter on red background.

The road to get a P-License for driving a car in Victoria is quite long. It started with taking computer-based exam to get a Learner Permit. The L permit holder can only proceed to take P-License test if they have hold the L permit for at least 3 months. It will be longer for someone who is under 21 years old, at least 6 months.

A minimum 120 hours of supervised driving is suggested to all L permit holders before they proceed to P License. The minimum 120 hours will be mandatory starting in July 2008, and evidence to show this requirement has been fulfilled will be requested by the licensing office.

To get the P License, a driver has to take two exams, including computer-based Hazard Perception Test and Practical Driving Test. The Hazard Perception Test must be taken first and Practical Driving Test can be taken only when the applicant has passed the Hazard Perception Test.

The P-License will expiry in 3 years time, and assuming the driver shows a good behaviour, he/she can get the full license after 3 years. By then, no more P plate on the front and back screen of the car.

Media - Blatant Lie & Spin

Friday Evening, on the 8th of December 2006, Melbourne Victory FC played Sydney FC in the 2006/2007 Australian League competition. The game was one of the most important games for both clubs. A win for Melbourne means they were virtually winning the Premiership. A loss for Sydney means, not only were they beaten by their main rival, but also possible drop of their position in the league. The game eventually finished with a 0-0, and the crowds, 50,333 people, were a new milestone for football club competition in Australia, the highest ever in a regular season.

Once the game finished, a group of Melbourne Victory FC fans gathered outside gate 7, taunting a small group of Sydney FC fans. Police ordered both sets of fans to move on peacefully but the two groups failed to obey the police. When situation became a bit heat up, police released pepper spray and arrested 3 Melbourne fans for showing anti social behaviour, failing to move on when ordered by police. So the story started.

The next morning, Channel Nine broadcasted the "riots" after the game in one of their morning news. A bloke was interviewed by the station. The bloke admited that he was one of the "fans" and he talked about the "riots" and describe how he felt "unsafe" while watching soccer. He then displayed a footage of his mobile phone video, showing people who were chanting "Come on Melbourne, Come on Melbourne" as being rioting. Funnily, I was in the game and went home safely without any fear of riot whatsoever and do did 50,000 other people.


The pic above is taken when he was being interviewed. Apparently he is Sean Sowerby. So who is Sean Sowerby?

Sean Sowerby is one of the producers of the 3AW radio station. He was voted the Best Newcomer Off Air in the 2006 Australian Commercial Radio Awards (see page 2 of the link). His programme, "3AWSport" is famous for broadcasting the AFL Games. 3AW is also well-known for "not liking" football (soccer) and they never broadcast any news on the A-League. Eventhough they are based in Melbourne and Melbourne Victory FC has been playing very well this season, they don't think it is worthy of a news for them.

So, let's pause for a moment and think of this situation, a producer of a sport programme in a radio station that never want to touch anything about football (soccer), then suddenly he said he went to the stadium and watched the game, but then he told people "he is one of the fans" and talked about riot in football game and how he felt unsafe, isn't something fishy going on here?

I am pretty sure this was a blatant lie and spin by a major media to undermine the image of football (soccer) in Australia. A lie like this is mostly like not the only case. May be it happens on other issues around us too and we don't realise it at all. Beware!

More coverage of this blatant lie can be found here:
http://rankandvile.dailyflute.com/