The Parable of the Lost Wallet

In Jesus' parables of the lost coin, lost sheep and prodigal son, there is a common theme: despite an initial loss, they all end in celebration.

And so my preoccupation about how to cope with the fallout of my lost wallet has been replaced by a thought of how to celebrate the resurrection of my lost wallet.

Grimly, I listed the contents of my wallet at the police station. I calculated a net loss of about $400 in cash and kind, excluding those of priceless sentimental value. I chided myself for being so careless. Ruminating on the erstwhile contents of my wallet, I was rather embarrassed at the things that were found there, especially all the membership cards from F&B outlets! We really are such foodies.

I traversed Sengkang in search of it: looked at home, in school and even painstakingly retraced my route from home to school that morning - nothing. I was in despair and had given up hope. I remarked to the police officer as I signed the report, "What are the odds, eh?" He had said that they would call me if someone returned it.

Eventually, I found out this morning from my colleague Jennifer that I had left it in my class cabinet. I still don't remember how it ended up there.

Long story short, to quote Counting Crows and Vanessa Carlton in Big Yellow Taxi: "You don't know what you've got till it's gone."

So, c'mon - let's celebrate! But maybe after SA2 lah.

Chris Rock - How not to get your ass kicked by the police!

Y'know, when I hear him talk, I just see Marty the Zebra...

Parliament: Cops scared of crooks, so base closed! by Royce Cheah, The Star Online

The stupidity and incompetence of the reply is really quite chocking, but then again, little shocks you about Malaysia anymore.
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KUALA LUMPUR: A police beat base in the Chow Kit area of downtown Kuala Lumpur was closed down because it was in a location that was considered unsafe, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar.

In a written reply to Dr Lo’ Lo’ Mohamad Ghazali (PAS-Titiwangsa), Syed Hamid said the beat base was located in a dirty area where there was a possibility of being exposed to contagious diseases.

The presence of criminals also posed a threat to the safety of police officers, he said.

Lo’ Lo’ had asked why the beat base on Jalan Haji Taib was closed considering the high number of vice-related activities in the area, as well as what kind action had been taken by the police to curb such activities.

Syed Hamid said that the police were looking for a new location to build a police beat base that would be able to give “guaranteed and continued service to the public.”

Lo’ Lo’s was the 30th question in the Order Paper and hence did not get a mention in the House during the daily one-hour Question Time. However, Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli (PAS-Kuala Krai) managed to raise it when he interjected during Azmin Ali’s (PKR-Gombak) speech during the debate on Budget 2009.

Dr Mohd Hatta said that if the police themselves felt unsafe in a beat base, then it would be even worse for the public.

“The minister has to resign if he is worried about the safety of police in that area. Maybe it would be better to put the beat base in army barracks,” he said.

Dr Mohd Hatta then managed to raise the issue again during his own debate on Budget 2009 saying that Syed Ali’s response was not rational.

“The police are there to make a place safe. If they themselves are scared and run away, then how can we hope for others to want to be there?

“It is embarassing and that is why the criminals will always be there,” he said.

Dr Mohd Hatta said if the place is dirty, then it is up to the police to organise gotong-royong activities to clean it up or if they did not want to then they should move to Putrajaya or Parliament.

“And what is this about contagious diseases on Jalan Haji Taib? The only kind of contagious diseases that are present there are sexually-transmitted ones.

“Is the minister scared that his charges will contract such diseases? That kind of thing is a matter of choice. In any case, if this is what he is worried about then we are worried that the police are not above this.”

Dr Mohd Hatta added that the police had to be brave people and that they were a different breed altogether when facing demonstrators. He said he hoped that the minister would clarify his written answer in the House as this is not the kind of police that the people want.

Why do donuts have holes?

The question as to why doughnuts have holes has been raised by dozens of bakers over the years, but most agree that the answer to this sticky question lies in the fact that the interior of these fried cakes would not cook fully without a hole in the center. In short, the consistency of a doughnut lacking a hole would be, quite simply, doughy.

Another riveting theory as to the origin of the bulls eye in the doughnut holds that a sea captain named Hanson Gregory, while manning his post one stormy night, found it impossible both to steer his vessel and to eat his fried cake. Out of sheer frustration, and probably out of hunger, he impaled his cake over one of the spokes of the ship's wheel, thereby creating a finger hold with which to grip the cake. Quite pleased with his ingenuity, Mr. Gregory ordered the galley's cook to fry the cakes in that manner henceforth.

Whatever the reason for the hole in the doughnut, this fried cake, with or without a hole, has been incorporated into the diets of people throughout the world for centuries. In fact, archaeologists found petrified fried cakes with holes amongst the artifacts of a primitive Indian tribe.

Many credit Dutch settlers to America with introducing the non-holed olykoeks, or "oily cakes," to this continent, and with their subsequent popularity.

There is no disputing the fact that the fried cake became the rage in New York and in New England, and that before long, it became the specialty of coffee shops. Fried cakes came into their own in 1673, when a self-made New York marketing guru, Anna Joralemon, made their purchase at the market possible.

To this day, doughnuts, in any shape or form, remain married in our minds to coffee and police officers, and are here to stay.
Source: http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/doughnuts.asp