YANGON (AFP) - - Even after the twin catastrophes of the cyclone here and the earthquake in China, the outlook for Myanmar, and the rest of Asia, is not good for the remainder of this year, Yangon's revered astrologers agree.

Across from Yangon's golden Shwedagon Pagoda, Khin Myint Myat sits under her newly repaired roof and sketches a star chart that she says explains both the cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China.

"This is the year with the combination of three bad factors — the dangerous planet Mars, the dark planet Kotu, and the watery side," she said, drawing a diagram of the stars while thumbing through an astrology book.

"There will be another wave of natural disasters — either powerful storms or devastating earthquakes — in the region again before the end of this year," Khin Myint Myat said, amid the din of hammers working to repair the home next door.

Khin Myint Myat's own roof was blown off when Cyclone Nargis ripped through Myanmar on May 2 and 3, but she retrieved the tin sheets and hammered them back on.

Less fortunate victims of the storm have been trekking to visit astrologers like her in the desperate hope of learning the fate of loved ones who were swept away in the storm, which left more than 66,000 dead or missing.

Numerology plays an important role in the daily life of this devoutly Buddhist country, where people turn to astrologers to determine the most auspicious times for weddings, travelling or making business deals.

Faced with the incomprehensible destruction of the cyclone, many people are now turning to astrologers to help start rebuilding their lives.

In the town of Hmawby, north of Yangon, 70-year-old astrologer Min Theinkha receives at least 200 visitors a day at his "Full of Blessings" compound, including many who made the long journey from the hardest-hit regions of the Irrawaddy Delta.

Min Theinkha has little comfort to offer them. He says the cyclone was part of the universe's karmic balance, a tragedy written into the nation's fate.

"Disasters are unavoidable in astrology. All we can do is pray for the victims," he said.

"Disasters like this can happen when numbers in the year add up to 10," he said, adding that after 2008, the next dangerous year is 2017.

"There could be another storm this year, but it will not be a big disaster like this," Min Theinkha said.

In Myanmar, years ending with an eight are particularly significant.

In the year 888, ancient Burmese texts say that three kings died, ushering in a 20-year reign by a tyrant despised by the people for executing a group of Buddhist monks.

Thailand-based Myanmar analyst Aung Naing Oo says many inside the country believe this ancient history has parallels with the current political crisis.

Myanmar's previous dictator Ne Win was toppled during a pro-democracy uprising that began on August 8, 1988 — a date now remembered as 8-8-88.

The ruling junta, including the current leader Than Shwe, seized power during the bloody unrest that followed.

Last September, Buddhist monks led new anti-government marches, which were again suppressed by the military as security forces fired on and beat the protesters.

The historical similarities have raised cosmic concerns of new turmoil as August 8 approaches this year.

"The year 888 symbolises the death of kings, the installation of bad kings," Aung Naing Oo said. "Than Shwe has been in power for about 20 years now, he has killed monks, he has been a bad king."

Buddhist teaching lays out 10 rules for monarchs, including values such as compassion and impartiality, he said.

"When a natural disaster like Cyclone Nargis hits Burma, or when there's an outbreak of disease, the Burmese blame it on the rulers," he said, referring to Myanmar by its previous name.

"People always say the king or the rulers have not adhered to their principles of governance."

D'coconut Lagoon - I will be heading there in September.

YEAH!!!!!

When translated from Bahasa Malaysia, Pulau Lang Tengah means an "Eagle resting on the middle island". Pulau Lang Tengah is between Pulau Perhentian and Pulau Redang.

D'Coconut Lagoon has procured two isolated and idyllic stretches of pristine white sandy beaches. It offers tranquil ambience and at the same time delivers a unique destination for marine life and nature lovers.

There are about 12 dive sites around Pulau Lang Tengah and together with nearby Pulau Redang, Pulau Perhentian and Pulau Bidong, there are more than 30 dive sites for divers: at shallow to medium depths, always enjoyable, never risky or fatiguing.

Encounters with turtles, resident schools of jacks and barracudas and leopard sharks are almost assured around the tiny coral island.

PACKAGE INCLUDES:

• Welcome drink
• Accommodation in air-conditioned rooms
• Boat transfer (Merang/P.Lang Tengah/Merang)
• Meals: (3D2N: 2B/2L/2D) & each extension night entitles 1B/1L/1D
• Free flow of hot beverages (Excld alcoholic & carbonated drinks)
• 2 Snorkelling trips around Lang Tengah (excluding equipment)

BATAM, anyone?

I seriously need a short getaway, especially after my boss' Japan trip. Not only that, 1 more to go. Macau trip? I will be on a one-man-show for that couple of days again. Also, "part time" AAIS (if you buy travel insurance, you will know) stations in Singapore. But for that few days, we will not answer "unknown" calls, which are calls from overseas. LOLx…….

In fact, I am looking for drinking and smoking kakis to go.

I so wanna go spa and massage.

I so wanna go to Hypermart and grab all the cheap scrubs.

I so wanna drink like nobody's business.

I so wanna smoke cheaper cigar.

I so wanna get away from job.

I so wanna get away from Singapore.

I so wanna zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz for now. 

Stock market turmoil swept around the world again Tuesday, with Asian shares pummeled by fears of a US recession before hopes of international action helped Europe put up resistance. Oil, gold and other key commodities were also hit by the spreading worries that troubles in the United States could drag down the global economy.

After what one British newspaper called "Manic Monday", European shares rode a roller-coaster as sharp losses at the open gave way to modest rises in London and Paris, amid talk of coordinated interest rate cuts by global central banks, dealers said. Asian equities slumped earlier, with Japanese share prices hitting a 28-month low and Hong Kong closing down almost nine percent.

Traders were nervously waiting for Wall Street to reopen after a long holiday weekend. "We are hearing rumours of a coordinated rate cut by the US, UK and ECB which has helped the (London) market to move back into positive territory," said Mark Priest, head of equity sales at Tradindex.

Near midday, the London FTSE 100 index was up 0.77 percent at 5,621.10 points having opened 2.6 percent lower. In Paris the CAC 40 was up 0.85 percent at 4,784.97 points following an opening loss of 2.57 percent, while in Frankfurt the DAX showed a drop of 0.65 percent at 6,745.92 after falling 5.44 percent at one point. European exchanges on Monday suffered their biggest one-day falls since September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Because of the Wall Street holiday, dealers initially said they had no fresh lead to halt the global rout set off by disappointment in President George W. Bush's economic stimulus package unveiled Friday. The US market was expected to fall heavily when it reopens after Japanese share prices tumbled 5.65 percent to a 28-month low on Tuesday. "The biggest two-day rout in 17 years for the Nikkei 225 (in Tokyo) suggests another large-scale sell-off for global equity markets today with the US equity indices potentially surpassing the one-day plunge recorded on the first trading day after 11th September 2001," said Derek Halpenny of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in London.

Dealers said Bush's announcement last Friday of 140 billion dollars (97 billion euros) in temporary tax cuts and other measures to ward off a recession in the world's biggest economy was not good enough. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Bush must do more to explain how he will inject the funds into the US economy. "For the moment, it is a bit vague," she told French radio. "He has to explain a lot better where all this is going and at what speed," she told Europe 1. In Brussels, the European Union's top economics official insisted that the global economy did not face a recession. "It's not about a global recession. It's about the risk of a US recession," Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said as he arrived for talks with EU finance ministers. "The question is how the US will avoid a recession," Almunia said. "I hope that they will be able to avoid a recession and in this case I think calm will come back."

Trading was briefly suspended in South Korea and India on Tuesday and Hong Kong share prices suffered their biggest ever one-day fall, closing down 8.7 percent, as investors dumped stocks on fears of a US recession. China's main index shed 7.22 percent, Sydney plunged 7.1 percent, and Indian share prices closed down 4.97 percent. "Although there are few economic indicators this week, the market is expecting US authorities to say or do something to tackle this problem — other than rate cuts — that would calm down markets," said Toshihiro Matsuno, market research head at SMBC Friend Securities.

Oil prices accelerated their plunge on deepening worries about a potential drop in energy demand. In Singapore, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for February delivery, was 3.87 dollars lower at 86.70 dollars per barrel from its close of 90.57 dollars a barrel Friday. Gold prices were lower at about 850 dollars an ounce in Hong Kong against 861 on Monday.

Recession soon? Oh well, US weakened dollars = threatening economy = not a good time to jump ship! You guys heard it? 

Unlike the cultures of the Valley of Mexico, the only period in which the urban centers were important to the Mayas was during the Classic period from 300 to 900 AD. The culture of the Mayas, however, has little changed from the classic period to the modern period, for Maya culture was largely tribal and rural all throughout the Classic period. What distinguishes Classic from post-Classic Maya culture was the importance of urban centers and their structures in the religious life of the Mayas and the extent of literate culture.

   The Mayas were never a "true" urban culture; the urban centers were almost entirely used as religious centers for the rural population surrounding them. Therfore, the decline of the urban centers after 900 AD did not involve titanic social change so much as religious change; it is believed by some scholars that the abandonment of the cities was primarily due to religious proselytizing from the north. Nevertheless, the Classic period saw an explosion of cultural creativity all throughout the region populated by the tribes we call "Mayan." They derived many cultural forms from the north, but also devised many cultural innovations that profoundly influenced all subsequent cultures throughout Mesoamerica. Much of Maya culture, particularly the religious reckoning of time, is still a vital aspect of Native American life in Guatemala and Honduras.

Classic Maya culture developed in three regions in Mesoamerica. By far the most important and most complete urban developments occurred in the lowlands in the "central region" of southern Guatemala. This region is a drainage basin about sixty miles long and twenty miles wide and is covered by tropical rain forest; the Mayas, in fact, are only one of two peoples to develop an urban culture in a tropical rainforest. The principal city in this region was Tikal, but the spread of urbanization extended south to Honduras; the southernmost Mayan city was Copan in northern Honduras. In the Guatemalan highlands to the north, Mayan culture developed less fully. The highlands are more temperate and seem to have been the main suppliers of raw materials to the central urban centers. The largest and most complete urban center was Palenque. The other major region of Mayan development was the Yucatan peninsula making up the southern and eastern portions of modern-day Mexico. This is a dry region and, although urban centers were built in this region, including Chichen Itza and Uxmal (pronounced "Oosh-mal"), most scholars believe that this was a culturally marginal area. After the abandonment of the Classic Mayan cities, the Yucatán peninsula became the principal region of a new, synthetic culture called Toltec-Mayan which was formed when Toltecs migrating from the north integrated with indigenous Maya peoples.

Almost all the urban centers were built in tropical rain forest. This is the singularly most important fact of Mayan cultural development and probably the most significant reason why the Mayans never developed a fully urban culture. For tropical rain forest is extremely difficult to live in; despite its lushness and moisture, tropical rain forest can only support small human populations. While plant and animal growth seems almost out of control and the rains never stop, tropical rain forest makes extremely poor agricultural land. As a consequence, a greater amount of area is required to support each person—this encourages population dispersal rather than the concentration necessary to do things like build cities and temples and such. It has been estimated that there were never more than 30 people per square mile during the classic period. So the Mayan accomplishment is truly awe-inspiring! With a difficult life, with heat and humidity that would melt the hardiest North American, and with a very sparse population, the Mayans built incredibly sophisticated urban centers, an astronomical science and mathematics among the most sophisticated in the pre-modern world, and the most developed and complex system of writing in the Americas.

The Mayans enter history with the diffusion of certain architectural styles throughout the Mayan cultural area. The early diffusion of this architecture, which includes stelae (stone, flat columns) and corbelled vaults, and culture is called the Early Classic Period (292-593). The Late Classic Period (593-889) is characterized by the efflorescence of Maya culture in over ninety cities and the widespread use of writing.

   The cities the Mayas built were ceremonial centers. A priestly class lived in the cities, but for the most part the Maya population lived in small farming villages. The priestly class would carry out daily religious duties, particularly sacrifices, and the peasants would periodically gather for religious ceremonies and festivals. For reasons that we don't understand, the Mayas, abandoned their cities around 900 AD. There is evidence of invasion from the outside and its possible that economic difficulties led them to abandon the cities. The greatest change seems to be the disappearance of the priestly class; with this disappearance, the Mayas stopped working on their cities. The peasans seem to have continued to use their cities for a time, but that eventually came to a halt as well. Life for the Mayas did not really change drastically after the decline of their cities, for the cities were central only in their ceremonial life.

Maya population was in general very small, and very few of the Mayas permanently lived in the urban centers. The central reason for this is the nature of agriculture in tropical rain forest. The Mayas, like others forced to cultivate tropical rain forest, practiced slash and burn agriculture. Because growth is so rapid in tropical rain forests, the nutrients provided by dead plants and animal feces gets used up very quickly. Rain forest soil, surprisingly, is remarkably unfertile for agriculture. In slash and burn agriculture, the Mayans would cut down a swath of forest, burn the felled trees and plants for fertilizer, and then cultivate the plot. Now as then the Mayans did not employ sophisticated fertilization techniques, so the plot of land would be exhausted in two to four years (some archaeologists estimate that it may have taken as long as seven years if the Mayans weeded by hand rather than using tools). What all this means is that it takes an immense amount of land to support a family—among the Maya, it probably required at least seventy acres for every five people. The population, then, throughout the Classic Period was very small.

   Mayas had a sense of physical beauty very different from other peoples in Mesoamerica. They prized a long, backward sloping forehead; in order to attain this look, infants would have their skulls bound with boards. Crossed-eyes were an important item of physical beauty; infants would have objects dangled in front of their eyes in order to permanently cross their eyes (this is still practiced today).

For this reason, Mayan religion is obsessed with time. In order to correctly orient oneself to the cycles of time, one must be able to calculate these cycles with great accuracy. To this end, the Mayas developed a number of calendrical systems. At the center was the tzolkin , or sacred calendar, which consisted of 260 days; this calendar worked on two cycles, a cycle of 13 numbered days and a cycle of 20 named days. These two cycles would repeat themselves every 260 days. In addition, they had the tun , or ceremonial calendar, which was 360 days long plus five concluding, unlucky days. Another calendar was the katun , which was a cycle of 20 tuns . They also used a Venus calendar (584 days), a half-year lunar calendar, and cycles of the sky gods. In combination, these calendars made the Mayans the most accurate reckoners of time before the modern period reaching an accuracy of being one day off every 6000 years (which is far more accurate than our calendar). All the days of these calendars in their incredible complexity served as astronomical almanacs that rigidly controlled behavior and religious ceremony. It is not unfair to say that Mayan life was one long continuous cycle of religious ceremonies.

The Destruction of the World, from the Dresden Codex

Religious ceremonies involved several aspects: dancing, competition, dramatic performances, prayer, and sacrifice. The gods required nourishment from human beings in order to work. While sacrifice often involved foodstuffs, the bulk of sacrifice involved some form of human sacrifice. The majority of this human sacrifice was blood-letting, in which a victim, usually a priest, voluntarily pierces a part (or parts) of their body&$151;usually their tongue, ears, lips, or penis—and "gives" blood to the gods. The higher one's position in the hierarchy, the more blood was expected. Some ceremonies demanded the living heart of a victim, in which case the victim was held down by the four chacs at the top of a pyramid or raised platform while the nacon made an incision below the rib cage and ripped out the heart with his hands. The heart was then burned in order to nourish the gods.    The Mayas believed that the world had been created five times and destroyed four times; this eschatology became the fundamental basis of Mesoamerican religion from 900 AD onwards when it was adopted by the Toltecs. Most of the Mayan gods were reptilian and they all had dual aspects, that is, each god had a benevolent aspect and a malevolent aspect. The Mayas believed in an elaborate afterlife, but heaven was reserved for those who had been hanged, sacrificed, or died in childbirth. Everyone else went to xibal , or hell, which was ruled over by the Lords of Death.

It is now even easier to get into the recycling act - the National Environment Agency plans to have one recycling station within every five blocks of flats by year's end.

There are already 1,120 such stations installed at HDB estates.

Another 480 will be installed by the end of the year.

"The NEA is already putting in place plans to ensure that there are recycling bins within five blocks of HDB estates so that it is convenient for people to recycle," said Dr Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Environment & Water Resources Ministry.

"The recycling bins will be within walking distance and they are actually implementing this already. And of course in the landed estates, we will make sure there are recycling bins, as far as possible," she added.

Some of the areas where recycling bins have been installed include Bishan, Ang Mo Kio and Bukit Merah.

Recycling bins are placed at strategic locations such as playgrounds and walkways, where they are highly visible to the public and easily accessible.

Household recycling in Singapore has been steadily gaining momentum.

In 2005, the number of households recycling was 56 per cent, up from 15 per cent in 2001.

Singapore hopes to achieve a recycling rate of 60 per cent by 2012.

Dr Khor, who was at an event on climate change, also commented on the "bring your own bag" project launched earlier this week, which aims to reduce the number of plastic bags used.

She said, "Of course because it is a new scheme, we see some negative comments. There are people who don't understand why they have to pay for the bags. But I think that it will take time.

"This is really an education process. We have to explain to them this is not really about the cost. It is more about adopting environmentally friendly habits, protecting and conserving the environment.

"One of the ways that an individual can do this… would be through not overusing plastic bags and through using recyclable bags. If they can do that, that would be even better."

She added that for now, the scheme would not be extended to include the wet markets

Shoppers should be given discounts for bringing their own bags on any shopping day, so as to encourage more people to use their own bags when out shopping - this is the opinion of almost 80 percent of over 1,000 people who took part in a channelnewsasia.com poll in relation to BYOBD (Bring Your Own Bag Day).

A contributor to channelnewsasia.com's forum also thought discounts would be a good move, describing it as a win-win situation since the shops could transfer the savings from not giving plastic bags away back to the shoppers.

Another forum writer going by the name Haiyaya2 suggested that shoppers be allowed to carry home the shopping baskets, and be refunded a dollar or more when they return the baskets, much like how shopping carts are managed.

The BYOBD campaign kicked off on Wednesday, 18th April, which was Earth Day, and will see the first Wednesday of every month being BYOBD. The public response to the effort saw 100,000 plastic bags saved and just as much debate.

The week-long poll on channelnewsasia.com saw people equally divided on the option that retailers should remove all plastic bags (11 percent), and for reusable bags to be sent to each household (11 percent).

One forum poster who didn't support BYOBD said, "They presume that we will bring our own plastic bag to go shopping at their super mart, but very often I go to shop just after my work. Am I expected to bring along shopping bags to the office?"

Many also commented that plastic bags taken were often recycled anyway; being used to wrap rubbish before throwing them down the chute, thus these bags were not being wasted directly.

However, not everyone was opposed to the idea of BYOB day. Said Bbmars on the forum, "When I was in Korea a few years back, they were already paying for plastic bags… Our country is already behind in implementing this. It is a matter of getting used to bringing a bag with you."

Others called for a wider implementation of BYOB day to extend to wet markets as well, since the plastic bags used there are seldom recycled because they hold wet products.

Another suggestion on improving the BYOBD initiative was given by Alvin Nadal, who wrote into the forum with a suggestion for a wider selection of reuseable bags, as the current bag is not big enough for one week of grocery.

For those that did buy and use the reusable bags, there were no regrets taking the plunge. "I felt good about myself. Yes, it cost me 80 cents, but with this 80 cents… I did a good thing yesterday for this beautiful earth that we lived on, that supports and feed us," said Ms Chusan Koh.

Ya ya, I am a "mountain tortoise" but I am just being honest. Throughout my 27th year, this is my 1st trip to Genting. Oh well, go ahead and laugh at me. Duh….

Nothing fantastic about Genting cos I know nuts about gambling. Stood at a particular table to see DD gamble for about 2 hours and yet, till now, I still cannot figure out how to play. Am I a gambling bimbo?

BUT, I love the weather there! It is so damn cooling! Can I move there to stay? Yeah, just for the weather.

 See the cloud? They really don't look like cloud. They look like haze. LOL….

I don't mind going again cos I know how to play jackpot. Just press the buttons. Hee…