Yahoo! Answers Blog Malaysia

We may not have four seasons in our tropical countries, but we have seasons too! Sunny or Rainy. LOL! Luckily enough, it’s bright and sunny these few days (with occasional showers, what’s wrong with you, sky!?). I don’t know about you, but when I see the bright sun and blue sky, I start to daydream about a nice beach holiday.

(Photo by samuel lee)

But don’t just zoom to the nearest beach in your car (remember to bring extra cash to pay for the petrol. Ha!). With the ozone layer becoming thinner as we speak, watch out for those harmful rays! Remember to buy sunscreen that shields our skin from both UVA and UVB (say NO to skin cancer, premature ageing of the skin and sunburn!). Get one with at least SPF15 for better protection against UVB rays. Those with “PA++” signs mean that they have higher protection against UVA rays. Do apply sunscreen after make-up if not it’ll degrade when mixed with water-based foundations and moisturisers. This next step is a little troublesome but do remember to reapply sunscreen every two hours and make sure you put it on at least 30 minutes before you leave sheltered areas so that it can be fully absorbed into your skin. I used to think that I wouldn’t need sunscreen on any normal days since the journey to work and the office itself are completely “sheltered”! But guess what, UVA rays can also penetrate glass and windows, so slap them on! If not you’ll end up perpetually tanned like me. Sob.

(Photo by Gaetan Lee)

I do think you need to slather on more lotion than that guy above though. ;)  So how many of you actually remember to put on some sunscreen before you leave your house for the day?

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I grew up watching “Yan Can Cook” and was always amazed at the speed he chopped chives and various other food stuff. It was as fast as lightning! Ever since those first few episodes, I’ve been hooked on different cooking shows (Aha! Caught you! You thought I’d take up cooking and whip up a storm right? Well, my friends would rather buy back than have me cook for them. Sob. They said they didn’t want to wash the dishes. Yah, right!). It’s just so much fun watching them chop, fry, bake and create a totally yummy looking dish.

(Photo by SqueakyMarmot)

Cookbooks? Oh ya, my mom has plenty. I even bought a few when they were on sale! But sometimes I feel that it’s more fun just to use your imagination and create a totally new dish. But of course, don’t take my word for it.

Well for those who feel “safer” with a cookbook in their hands, or just interested in new recipes, Kylie will be giving her new cookbook: My China to 10 chosen winners (it’s autographed!) in Malaysia. All you have to do is to answer her question, and don’t forget to register before answering as well!

So which recipe will you try out first once you get it? Happy cooking!

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There are tons of different charitable Runs out there, but what makes this so special, is that when you run, the whole world runs with you!

If you’ve not heard about it yet, Nike is holding the first “World’s Largest One-day Running Event”, Nike+ Human Race 10K, on Sunday, 31 August 2008 in Singapore. Everyone is welcome to register, not just Singaporeans.

(All Photos: Nike+ 10k Run Press event by Suzz.com, on Flickr)

This run will be held on the same day in 24 cities across the globe, and Singapore is the only country selected in Southeast Asia. Go Southeast Asia! Taipei will kick off the race and Los Angeles will be the final touchdown. But in Singapore, get ready to run at 4:30pm at the Esplanade Bridge!

Yahoo! Answers will also welcome onboard Joanne Peh (Singapore MediaCorp Artiste and triathlon enthusiast) and Victoria Cambell (Singapore’s top female triathlete), both Nike+ Human Race participants, to be our celebrity users.

It’s not all going to be about running of course (thank goodness!). There’s gonna be a music concert too at the end of the race! Woot! You can expect to see (and hear) American rock band Boys Like Girls, local rock-indie group Great Spy Experiment, EIC band and DJs such as Ko Flow and hp-hop artist MC Vandal.

You can register at the www.nikeplus.com.sg website, and don’t forget, a percentage of the registration fees will go towards three global charities: The World Wild Fund for Nature, The Lance Armstrong Foundation, The United Nations High Commissioners for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Singapore Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s…

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Hey folks,

A quick news flash this morning!

How many of you have seen the news about Yahoo! mail offering 2 more new domains? Well, it’s just been launched so besides having your email address ending with a “@yahoo.com”, you can now create one with “@ymail.com” and “@rocketmail.com”.

You know how irritating it is when the Yahoo! ID you want for your email has already been taken and you’re forced to add numbers at the end? Well, now that there’s 2 more choices, you can finally get the name that you want So what are you waiting for? I’m gonna register for one now!

Update: ReiShin12345 -> reishin[at]ymail.com! Woot!

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How often do you get dinner cooked by a celebrity chef, for free?

Well, 3 lucky Yahoo! Answers winners (and their partners) were invited to wine and dine at Mandarin Oriental Hotel in KL on 10th June 2008. All they did was to answer Kylie’s question on where she could find the best seafood in Malaysia and why is it so special to them. The 3 best answers were chosen by Kylie and in return, a mouth-watering meal for the three users!

Here are some of their comments about the dinner that night.

Tigeripoh4301 -That was a truly wonderful evening on the 10th June. Ms. Kylie Kwong’s elaborations on her many trips to China in preparation for this really great book and some details she gave on the conservation aspects of fish / mussel / squid farming, I hope, were well noted by the audience. An impressive evening and great organisation. Thank you and please convey my best wishes to her and to all who made this a success.

Adrian - Dinner was great. I was actually quite surprised at the turnout and never actually realised that Kylie had such a huge following. I was actually seated with other contest winners and they were all very excited to be able to meet Kylie in person. The coffee table book was also quite a pleasant surprise as I did not expect to receive such a nice gift. All in all, a lovely nite. Thank you guys.

(Photo by contest winner, LEE C)

(Photo by Discovery Communications, LLC)

Kylie sharing her experiences in China with the audience.

(Photo by Discovery Communications, LLC)

Kylie demonstrating the Stir-Fried Lotus Root with Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms, Ginger and Carrot, a recipe from her cookbook, My China: A Feast For All The Senses.

(Photo by Discovery Communications, LLC)

Kylie plating the Stir-Fried Rice Noodles with Black Beans, Chillies and Corriander, a recipe from her cookbook, My China: A Feast For All The Senses.

Watch out for Kylie’s next question on Friday!

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Latest Update, 19 June, 9.30am:

Maintenance will be performed today instead at 2pm! It’s just one hour. Promise.
~~~~~

Latest Update, 18 June, 10.30am:

Hiya, looks like the scheduled maintenance would not be performed… as scheduled! Will let you all know again if there are any further changes Thanks a lot!

~~~~~

Hi folks,Our engineers will be performing regular maintenance on Yahoo! Answers on Wednesday, 18 June, at 2pm.

We expect the work to last about 1 hour and Yahoo! Answers will be totally inaccessible during this time, except for the blog of course.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused! We’ll keep you posted if there are any changes to the schedule.

If you are looking for something else to do during this time, why not check out some of our sites such as:

• Flickr (now with video)
• Groups - Connect with people who share the same passion
• Avatars - Play around with your avatars and give him/her a new outfit

…. or maybe you can check out what is showing in the cinemas near you!

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It was Father’s day on Sunday, how did you celebrate it?

Many people say that these special “days” are just a way for shops and restaurants to rip us off. But to me, I think that it’s good to have special days set aside for the different people in our lives. How often do we thank our mothers? How often do we tell our fathers that we appreciate them? Not often enough I think. I don’t think a big elaborate gesture is what our parents ask for. Just spending some time with them over a simple meal will make them happy.

I used to always have headaches over what I should buy for my dad on Father’s day. I used to believe that each year’s present has to be more expensive than the last! But then I found out that the tie I bought for him has been hanging in his closet collecting dust (granted it had bright red chilies all over it. But it was cute!), and the book I bought was still in its plastic wrapper. Hence this year, I brought both my parents out for a simple Italian lunch where we could really talk and enjoy the food and company. I guess as we grow older, we become more busy with work and more occupied with our friends and other parts of our lives. But if I may quote from Kungfu Panda’s Oogway, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” So do remember to set some time aside to enjoy the present with your loved ones as well Hope you have a great start to the week!

(Photo by ChadScott)

Yes, I’m going to buy the Kungfu Panda dvd for my dad when it comes out

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The recent petrol price hikes have been scandalous! Nobody expected the price to ever go beyond US$100 (and counting) but the unexpected, happened. Now even the government is cutting down the subsidies, how do they expect us to get around without our metal ‘kaki’s?

I love to visit my grandparents at Kota Kinabalu (KK), Sabah, at least once a year. But the only thing I gripe about? I’m heavily dependent on my uncle to drive me around as the only public transport there are taxis and buses. Taxis in KK are impossible to flag down on the side of the road, as you can only find them hiding away at taxi stands near shopping malls (Hello! We will only flag you down IF we can even get there in the first place!). Buses, well, let’s just say I’d rather walk :p

(Photo thanks to Matt Watts)

Guess the best thing to do then besides walking (or siphoning petrol from other people’s vehicles, haha!), is to find a car that consumes less petrol. Well, me being me, I like tiny cars which are easy to park. Yup, you guessed it right, I’m a TERROR at parking! Terror for other people lah because of the way I park, haha! Forward, reverse, forward, reverse, repeat 3 times (Maybe I should be reading this for tips: “How do I park a car?“).

One of my friends has a super small car, the Mitsubishi I, which is only 660cc and consumes half of what a normal family sedan requires. Small and not greedy, what more do you want? But lagi better? A hybrid car (”When was the first “hybrid” car ever made?“)! Petrol plus battery, and less emissions too.

(Photo thanks to exo_duz)

Let’s save the Earth (and our wallets)!

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I love the internet, I really do. But when I become greedy and wanna read all the blogs (Kenny Sia! Mr Brown!), news and various articles on the internet, I get bogged down by the big headache called “Information Overload”. Don’t you sometimes feel that there are just too much information out there and you don’t have enough time to read them all (even though you really wanna)? I think just the time taken to click on all the links to the webpages can take up the whole morning (Shh! Don’t tell my boss!).

But I thank the creator of RSS (”What does RSS mean?“) for small mercies! If you look closely, we’ve added RSS feed links on the sidebar and at the end of each post. So just click on “Subscribe” and after you’re taken to a separate page, click on “Subscribe now”. It’s pretty easy.

If you’re a My Yahoo! user, just do the following:

For My Yahoo! users:

1) Click on the “Subscribe” button
2) Copy the URL
3) Go to My Yahoo!
4) In the top middle of the page, click on the Tab called “Personalise this page” and then on “Add an RSS link”
5) Paste the URL
6) Done! A box will appear, and you’ll now be automatically informed as soon as any new article is published.

Ta-dah! If you have any problems, just leave me a note and I’ll get back to you

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… to me!

Hiya folks ~

As you can guess, I’m the new Yahoo! Community Manager for Singapore and Malaysia. Having been a fan of Yahoo! and its many products for nearly a decade, it’s so exciting to finally be a part of Yahoo! Woot!

I’ve always been curious about anything and everything. A friend of mine was even annoyed enough to warn me one day that “curiousity killed the cat”. But how did curiosity kill the cat? How did this phrase even come to be? Why…? I think he must have regretted even telling me that, lol! (And guess what? This is what some of us said in reply to Mustang Sally’s “Why did curiosity kill the cat?“)

Well, I always believed that humans are innately curious. And with questions, come answers, which in turn changes to knowledge. And what do people say about knowledge? Yep, it’s power! Muahaha! Time to take over the world! Just kidding. But isn’t it a pleasure to share what we know with each other? It’s like a Q&A Wikipedia

So let’s make this community vibrant and fun together! Leave me a comment or email me if you have any feedback, suggestions, or just general opinions. I don’t bite. Really. (Not unless you’re a gingerbread man or chocolate. Heh.)

Till the next post!

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