Livi's 501

I must admit I'm a big fan of Levi Strauss 501 button fly jeans.

In celebration of the annual Levi’s 501 Day on May 1st, Levi’s is launching a special edition eco-friendly jean inspired by its classic and definitive 1947 design and made from 100% organic cotton. Organic cotton starts with seeds that are not genetically modified or treated with fungicides or pesticides. Weed and pest control is taken care of with the use of natural predators, by hand hoeing, trap crops and biological practices., The whole process from growth through harvesting is monitored by The Organic Trade Association. This special edition instead of its usual red tab it will carry a white tab with green Levi’s sign off to mark its exclusivity.




Today go green, go organic and environment protection is not only big in the fashion industry but in our CCTV surveillance industry as well. If you are aware of the importance of coexisting with the environment for sustained growth and development, look out for the RoHS compliance sticker on the CCTV gear.

RoHS stands for Restriction on Hazardous Substances. The RoHS directive aims to restrict certain dangerous substances commonly used in electronic and electronic equipment. Any RoHS compliant component is tested for the presence of Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), Hexavalent chromium (Hex-Cr), Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). For Cadmium and Hexavalent chromium, there must be less than 0.01% of the substance by weight at raw homogeneous materials level. For Lead, PBB, and PBDE, there must be no more than 0.1% of the material, when calculated by weight at raw homogeneous materials. Any RoHS compliant component must have 100 ppm or less of mercury and the mercury must not have been intentionally added to the component.

Well, that is that. Oh yes, I'm going to get this pair of jeans.

Oscar Pistorius

Most of the time when I introduce myself as a CCTV guy to a perfect stranger, the reaction is rather negative. I found out later they often associate CCTV with negative thought like crime, burglary, shoplifting, vandalism, paranoid, pervert, peeping tom, control freak etc.

Before I continue I would like to share with you a story.



All the while living with prosthetic legs was seen as a huge impediment, but Oscar Pistorius, a young man from South African has turned this perception upside down. At age 1 his lower legs were amputated and at 20, this talented sprinter began to close in on an Olympic-qualifying time for the 400m. Experts said that his times were so good that he must have been getting an unfair advantage from his blade like prosthetics and eventually The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had bared him from competing against able-bodied athletes at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

The point is Pistorius had actually gave the world a shocking paradigm shifting in which disability becomes ability, disadvantage becomes advantage.

Perception is a very funny thing, it make you see what you want to see, hear what you want to hear and it is very dangerous too as it shun you from seeing or hearing other possibilities. Now please allow me to introduce you to a few positive thought about CCTV. CCTV is for monitor productivity, improve efficiency, reduce losses and eventually to improve your bottom line. The ultimate purpose of deploying a surveillance system is to set yourself free!

H1N1

Last Friday our land lord had issued a circular “Guidelines for Tenants: Business Continuity During a Pandemic” to all Low Yat Plaza tenants to raise awareness, alertness and cautionary measures in tackling the eventualities and possibilities in view of the global pandemic of swine flu H1N1.

To date the health authorities had confirmed two Malaysian with the Influenza A virus.
Both patients were on the same Malaysia Airlines flight MH091 from Newark, New Jersey, to KLIA via Sweden on May 13. The first case involved a 21 years old male who has been admitted to Sungai Buloh Hospital while the 2nd female patent is now warded at the Penang Hospital.

The Malaysian health authorities had put 117 passengers on MH091 who disembarked at KLIA, both Malaysians and foreigners under home quarantine. The 15 crew members are also under home quarantine. At the same time all 102 passengers on AirAsia Flight AK5358 from the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang to Penang last Wednesday have also been ordered to undergo home quarantine.

Despite this gloomy development a joker, a cctv installer told me that H1N1 actually sounded very much like Star Wars's R2D2 wife. Sigh... during this trying time we indeed need all the jokes in the world to keep our spirit high.

Cheer!

Digi vs. Celcom

There is a very unhealthy practice in our CCTV industry; bad-mouthing each other.

It is very bad for the image of our entire industry As much as we would like to win, sometimes our product or service may not a fit for the needs of the prospect. To me, it is always more desirable to show respect and to speak highly about your competitors. If you engaged a negative approach in a situation where you are not successful, you are actually pushing yourself and your business further away from this prospect and the potential of working with them in the future.

I have personally found that it is in fact to my advantage to team up and work with 'competitors' in our industry. Many 'competitors' are now my closest friends.

Lighten up my dear 'competitors', check out this Digi vs Celcom video;

Pukau

Yesterday a prospect came to our outlet to look for a CCTV solution. He said his neighbor's house was broken into and his neighbor told him that they were `pukau' ( a form of hypnotism). The prospect said he does not believe in `pukau' but to be on the safe side he would like to put up a very big and obvious outdoor CCTV camera to deter burglars from picking his house.

I am no believer of hypnotism neither but last night on Animal Planet TV channel sharkman Michael Rutzen is on a quest to hypnotize great white shark in open water. He actually managed to put sharks into a sleep-like state called tonic immobility. I find it amazing, it totally changed my perspective of hypnotism.

Check out this amazing photo of Michael Rutzen with a hypnotized shark!

IQeye

Megapixel network IP camera is getting vary popular.

Please check out this recent video footage taken with IQeye IQ511NLNPNE 1.3MP Wide Dynamic with V3 megapixel 1/2” lens.

Kentucky Grilled Chicken

Kentucky Fried Chicken fast-food chain recently is introducing grilled chicken at its 5,100 American outlets in an effort to present a healthier image to diners. Described as "packed with flavour", the chain's grilled chicken pieces will be marinated and seasoned with six "secret" herbs and spices. It's a momentous move for KFC which has spent 69 years promoting Colonel Sanders' finger lickin', artery-clogging original recipe.

The grilled chicken pieces contain 70 to 80 calories and four to nine grams of fat. That's an improvement on KFC's fried chicken which come in at 110 to 370 calories, with between 7 and 21 grams of fat. KFC has been edging in a healthier direction for some time. As far back as 1990, the company began emphasizing its initials rather than marketing itself as Kentucky Fried Chicken, partly because the word "fried" was considered a turn-off. More recently, KFC became one of the earliest fast-food companies to scrap trans-fats in its cooking.

Some CCTV installers keep saying that their business is getting worse since early this year but unlike KFC they refuse to change their business practice like working on Sunday and public holiday and keeping their mobile phone on after working hours. To me if we want to continue eating cheese we must put in extra effort to look for new cheese, if a 69 years old company can change their business practice so can we all.