Gateway to Malaysia : Best of Federal Territories - Three Places, Different Attractions

THIS is a tale of three cities - Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya. They are all in different parts of the country, but they have two things in common - same title and same birthday. Kuala Lumpur was the first to be declared as Federal Territory on Feb 1, 1972, followed by Labuan in 1982 and the youngest is Putrajaya in 2001. They are all brightly lit up at night and beautifully landscaped in many parts.

KUALA LUMPUR

THOUGH the Federal Government administration offices have been moved to her younger sister, Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, or KL as it's fondly referred to, will always have her place of prominence. KL is likely to be the most important city in Malaysia and an increasingly important international city for a long time to come.

GOING BACK TO OLD KL

Follow the city's heritage trail that will take you back to the very confluence of the two rivers - Gombak and Kelang - that gave KL its name.

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Got genius?

By Anushia Kandasivam

A GENIUS is a person that possesses an exceptional ability. This is usually intellectual ability, together with creativity, originality and insight. Nowadays, the most common indicator of genius is a person's IQ - the intelligence quotient, or measure of intellect. But a person may very well be a genius in her own right without possessing an astoundingly high IQ.

There is no precise definition of genius, though there have been many theories over the years of what a genius is. Some researchers believed sensory acuity and reaction time were a measure of neurophysical efficiency, some saw it as a genetic trait - a larger number of close kin with `eminent' qualities may predict a genius.

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Do You have the Guts to be Healthy?

By Gerald Chuah

PROBIOTICS are a must if you want to remain healthy. A probiotic is an organism, also known as `friendly' or `healthy' bacteria. A probiotic helps to balance the intestinal tract by killing the unhealthy bacteria. Ideally, the microflora colony in the digestive tract should be made up of 85 percent friendly bacteria to 15 percent harmful bacteria.

Taking a probiotic supplement maintains a healthy intestine by helping our body's naturally occurring gut flora to reestablish themselves, thus preventing illness and disease. It also helps buffer our stomach acid and intestinal bile, increasing the chance of good bacteria surviving.

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CSI Malaysian Style

By Aniza Damis

If you have watched the popular television series Crime Scene Investigation (CSI), you will have learnt that if a person even so much as sneezes, spits, urinates or puts his sweaty hands against a wall, he will have left enough evidence for forensic investigators to identify him.

Provided that they can match the left-behind sample with a sample obtained from that person.

The science that takes these seemingly inconsequential discards of human activity and scrutinises them in a forensics laboratory, singling the samples out to one genetic identity is known as DNA profiling.

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What You Should Know about Drinking Water

WATER is essential for life. Therefore, a healthy adult needs to consume eight glasses of water daily. The water consumed must be clean and safe.

Natural Mineral Water (NMW) is defined as ground water obtained for human consumption from subterranean water-bearing strata through a spring, well, bore or any other way with or without addition carbon dioxide, for human consumption.

The Source: Only underground water. All natural mineral water must comply to the standard as prescribed in Schedule 26 (Regulation 360A (7)). Food Regulation 1985. Natural mineral water contains various minerals such as Magnesium, Calcium, Fluoride. Sodium, etc.

Packaged Drinking Water (PDW) is treated potable water other than natural mineral water, that is hermetically sealed in bottles or other packages and is intended for human consumption.

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The Vandals Must be Kept Out of Our Streets

By Roger Tan

I WAS driving past the Pelangi Utama Apartments in Petaling Jaya two weeks ago when something caught my eye.

It was not this newly completed high-density condominium project but rather a row of young trees along Jalan Masjid PJU 6A opposite the apartments.

Nailed to these trees were posters and other hoardings advertising various goods and services ranging from food catering, sale and leasing of the apartment units, and plumbing services to moneylending.

I also noticed that some of these trees had been damaged with the bark ripped out and long metal nails protruding.

Fortunately, these trees were not the trees in The Lord of The Rings; otherwise they would come alive and exact vengeance on us humans.

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Improving Energy Utilisationing

ENERGY efficiency has been a by-word of environmentalists and Malaysian politicians for a while now, though effective promotion has taken a long time. The government is strongly advocating the switch to energy-saving appliances and overall 'green' lifestyles.

Malaysians are slowly coming to terms with the fact that energy cost will increase and adopting energy efficiency must become a way of life and not just a different way of doing things. But is this new idea too slow in taking hold?

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