Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by malayantiger

Malaysians second numerous foreign workforce

malayantiger — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 17:39:31 +0800

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The latest statistics of foreign professionals in Taiwan released on Thursday (April 30) by the Ministry of Labor (MOL) showed that Malaysians have overtaken Americans as the second largest foreign professional workforce in Taiwan.

According to the statistics, a total of 31,124 foreign professionals were legally hired in Taiwan at the end of 2019, the report said. In the past, Japanese usually accounted for the largest expatriate group in Taiwan, followed by Americans. The data showed that Malaysians have taken Americans’ place for the first time as the second largest foreign professional workforce in Taiwan, according to CNA.

The MOL attributed the phenomenon to the increase of Malaysian students who stayed in Taiwan to work after completing their studies, according to the report.

Of the 31,124 foreign professionals working in Taiwan, 74.2 percent were male and 25.8 percent were female. In terms of nationality, Japanese led the pack, accounting for 23.5 percent of the foreign workforce, followed by Malaysians, who represented 13.5 percent, and finally, Americans, who made up 11.8 percent, the statistics showed.

Professionals from the top three countries combined to make up almost half (49 percent) of the total foreign professional workforce in Taiwan.

According to the statistics, the manufacturing industry employed 21.7 percent of foreign professionals, followed by the wholesale and retail industry, hiring 18.1 percent, and the education industry recruiting 16.5 percent.

Most foreign professionals worked in metropolitan areas, notably Taipei city, Taichung City and New Taipei City. The three cities combined to hire 65 percent of them, according to the report.

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3925830

Nearly half of global workforce risk losing

malayantiger — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 22:34:35 +0800

GENEVA (Reuters) - Some 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy, representing nearly half of the global labour force, are in immediate danger of losing their livelihoods due to the coronavirus pandemic, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday.

The U.N. agency’s latest report sharply raised its forecast for the devastating impact on jobs and incomes of the COVID-19 disease, which has infected more than 3.1 million people globally, killed nearly 220,000 and shut down economies.

“It shows I think in the starkest possible terms that the jobs employment crisis and all of its consequences is deepening by comparison with our estimates of 3 weeks ago,” ILO Director-General Guy Ryder told a briefing, foreseeing a “massive” poverty impact.

Already, wages of the world’s 2 billion informal workers plunged by an estimated global average of 60% in the first month that the crisis unfolded in each region, the ILO said.

Informal workers are the most vulnerable of the 3.3 billion global workforce, lacking welfare protection, access to good healthcare, or the means to work from home, it stressed.

“For millions of workers, no income means no food, no security and no future. Millions of businesses around the world are barely breathing,” said Ryder. “They have no savings or access to credit. These are the real faces of the world of work. If we don’t help them now, they will simply perish.”

“PROTECT THE VULNERABLE”
The ILO said prolonged lockdowns and office and plant closures are now expected to lead to an “even” worse fall in total working hours worldwide in the second quarter than what was forecast just three weeks ago.

Worst-hit sectors are manufacturing, accommodation and food services, wholesale and retail trade, and real estate and business activities.

Total working hours in the second quarter are expected to be 10.5 per cent lower, equivalent to 305 million full-time jobs, than the last pre-crisis quarter, the ILO said, with biggest declines forecast for the Americas, Europe and Central Asia.

The previous ILO estimate on April 7 was that disruptions would wipe out labour equivalent to the effort of 195 million workers, or 6.7% of hours clocked worldwide.

About 436 million enterprises - businesses or self-employed - face “high risks” of disruption, the agency added.

The long-term panorama was unclear.

“The eventual increase in global unemployment over 2020 will depend substantially on how the world economy fares in the second half of the year and how effectively policy measures will preserve existing jobs and boost labour demand once the recovery phase begins,” it said.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-co...o-idUKKBN22B1LO

That's roughly 1.6 Billion people out of work
The poor will get much poorer
Just very very sad, all round

Uncle Kim is NOT Dead..lah

malayantiger — Sun, 26 Apr 2020 22:53:08 +0800

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11483558/kim-...nd-well-wonsan/

'KIM'S ALIVE' Kim Jong-un is ‘alive and well’ according to South Korean official who claims dictator staying in Wonsan resort
LATEST

THE mystery surrounding the health of Kim Jong-un took a new twist today after neighbouring South Korea insisted the missing despot is "alive and well."

President Moon Jae-in's foreign policy advisor poured cold water on reports Kim had died by claiming he is actually staying at his holiday palace on the North Korean coast.
"Our government position is firm.....Kim Jong-un is alive and well, " Chung-in Moon told Fox News.

"He has been staying in the Wonsan area since April 13. No suspicious movements have so far been detected."

His claims came as a train was was spotted at Kim's private railway station near to his holiday home in the resort.

A US-based project which monitors the rogue state has released satellite images of the locomotive parked in the resort town of Wonsan.

38 North said the train was parked at the "leadership station" between April 21 and April 23.

The station is reserved solely for the use of the Kim family, it added.

etc, etc....as per link. Lazy to copy pasta

Millions of coronavirus infections left undetected

malayantiger — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 21:49:36 +0800

Researchers from a German university have said countries have only found on average about 6% of coronavirus infections. The real number of infected people globally may have already reached tens of millions of people.

The total number of coronavirus infections is likely to be drastically higher than the figures officially registered by health authorities worldwide, according to a new study.

Christian Bommer and Sebastian Vollmer from Göttingen University in central Germany analyzed data from a recent study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases monthly journal.

The researchers looked at the estimates of coronavirus mortality and the time from infection until death to assess the quality of official case records.

According to the German researchers, the data showed that countries have only discovered on average about 6% of all coronavirus infections. They claimed that the true total number of people infected with coronavirus may already have reached some tens of millions of people worldwide.

"These results mean that governments and policy-makers need to exercise extreme caution when interpreting case numbers for planning purposes," said Vollmer, a Professor of Development Economics at the university.

"Such extreme differences in the amount and quality of testing carried out in different countries mean that official case records are largely uninformative and do not provide helpful information," he warned.

'Tens of millions'

Bommer and Vollmer estimated that on 31 March 2020, Germany was likely to have actually had 460,000 infections. Based on the same method, they calculate that the US probably had more than 10 million, Spain more than 5 million, Italy around 3 million and the UK about 2 million coronavirus infections.

On the same day, the Johns Hopkins University was reporting around 900,000 formally diagnosed and confirmed cases worldwide.

"While the Johns Hopkins data report less than a million confirmed cases globally at the moment this correspondence is written, we estimate the number of infections to be a few tens of millions," the study said.

According to the authors, inadequate and delayed testing may be the reason why some European countries, including Italy and Spain, are experiencing much higher casualty rates (relative to reported confirmed cases) than Germany.

They estimate that Germany has identified around 15.6% of all its cases, compared to only 3.5% in Italy or 1.7% in Spain. Detection rates were thought to be even lower in the US (1.6%) and the UK (1.2%).

'Just a matter of time'

The researchers called for major improvements in the the ability of countries to detect new infections and then adopt measures for isolating infected patients and tracing contact persons.

If countries failed to do so, "the virus might remain undetected again for an extended period of time and a new outbreak is likely in just a matter of time," the authors warned.

https://www.dw.com/en/millions-of-coronavir...tudy/a-53066134

Video shows Chinese worker rubbing shoes

malayantiger — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 00:09:46 +0800

Chinese factory worker filmed mocking foreign customers by rubbing face masks on shoes

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As the world struggles to cope with the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a video surfaced on Monday (March 30) showing a Chinese factory worker rubbing his shoes on surgical face masks allegedly bound for export.

While China continues its propaganda campaign to paint itself as the savior of the world during the pandemic, a number of reports have surfaced alleging that the test kits, face masks, and other medical supplies it is donating and selling to countries in need are defective. At the same time, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is seeking to shift blame for its bungled handling of the disaster by fostering conspiracy theories such as the U.S. military being behind the outbreak, leading to a spike anti-foreigner sentiment in China.

In the latest incident, a video posted on Twitter appears to show a Chinese factory worker soiling face masks meant for foreign clients. The man, who is not properly wearing his own mask, can be seen laughing with glee as he grabs surgical masks by the handful and rubs them on his shoes.

The video was uploaded at 10:14 a.m. Monday morning by a Chinese coronavirus vlogger from Wuhan who goes by the pseudonym Harry Chen PhD. Before being suspended by Twitter in late February, Chen's Twitter account had gained 35,000 followers for his frequent insider videos of the outbreak in Wuhan and CCP abuses.

Chen later created a new account through which he has defiantly continued to post videos his trusted sources in China sent him through encrypted channels. Chen told Taiwan News that the video had been filmed on Monday by workers in a factory converted to produce surgical face masks.

Chen said that the factory workers first posted it on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok and that the factory is located in the Jiangsu province city of Zhenjiang. In the video, the worker can be heard asking the cameraman in a thick Zhenjiang accent "Is this good enough? Are these the masks for export?"

The vlogger then questioned if it is wise for the West to trust China to do all of its manufacturing. Chen said the original video was wiped from Douyin's servers by government minders within minutes after being uploaded.

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3907216

KNNBCCB Commie

Legal action against British COVID-19 patient

malayantiger — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 19:46:35 +0800

Suwon warns of legal action against British COVID-19 patient

A British national who tested positive for the new coronavirus here may face penalties for not observing quarantine rules.

The resident of Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, got tested for COVID-19 on the afternoon of March 23, five days after he returned from a trip to Thailand.

Although he was required to self-isolate until the results were out, he traveled to another city by bike that evening and the next morning he visited an indoor golf range.

He was notified of his positive test results that afternoon and was taken to a hospital.

Suwon authorities said the patient developed symptoms while in Thailand but still had not worn a face mask upon returning to South Korea.

A total of 23 people in Suwon, Yongin, Gwacheon and Seoul were identified as contacts. All tested negative but were placed under a 14-day quarantine.

Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young said on Facebook that the city would hold the person responsible for violating quarantine rules. “The city will deal with this sternly,” he said.

Under recently revised laws, those violating quarantine rules or obstructing quarantine efforts may face up to 1 year in prison and fines of up to 10 million won. Additionally, foreign violators could face deportation, authorities said.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200329000160

Offer sex and threesome, police also don't want

malayantiger — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 20:06:21 +0800

Instagram star 'who offered two traffic officers threesome' to get out of driving offence and road rage attack is jailed

Russian model Kira Mayer, 24, has been jailed for 18 months after the officers refused her offer and booked her for the attack and driving without a licence

www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/instagram-star-offers-two-traffic-13200051.amp

http://metro.co.uk/2018/09/06/model-jailed...nce-7918675/amp

Roger Bannister...the man who broke the 4 minute

malayantiger — Sun, 04 Mar 2018 23:24:32 +0800

On a blustery spring evening in Oxford in the 1950s, Roger Bannister, who has died aged 88, became an athlete of world renown, establishing himself as the most celebrated British sportsman of the period following the second world war. He never won an Olympic title, he set only one individual world record (which he relinquished after barely six weeks) and he retired from running at the height of his powers when he was only 25. But on 6 May 1954, on the Iffley Road cinder track that he had helped to lay as an undergraduate a few years earlier, he ran a mile in under four minutes, a target that had begun to assume almost superhuman proportions in the eyes of the public, the media and many athletes, too.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/mar/...nister-obituary

https://www.eurosport.co.uk/athletics/coe-c...314/story.shtml

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2018/...sible-possible/

RIP Bannister.

So, I'm Learning Basic Japanese so Google

malayantiger — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 22:31:40 +0800

So I Google for this Romanji "Kore wa yoku hi ga tootte imasen", this site came up among others....since K/ are Jav fans, I guess it will be good for "research purposes". All the best!

SOS

Meanwhile in Wales...

malayantiger — Mon, 01 Jan 2018 22:04:31 +0800

A house fire was caused by a dog turning on a cooker, according to South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
A crew was sent to the callout at Trecynon, in Rhondda Cynon Taff, at 23:40 GMT on New Year's Eve.
The blaze was out on arrival but Aberdare-based firefighters wearing breathing apparatus had to use equipment
to ventilate the property.
Nobody was injured.

Sos BBC

Shares sink at South Korean shipbuilding giant

malayantiger — Wed, 27 Dec 2017 19:40:59 +0800

Drop a massive 29%! The end of South Korea Boom Times?

Shares in South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries fell by more than a quarter on Wednesday, after investors reacted badly to plans to raise fresh funds.
Hyundai, the world's top shipbuilder by sales, aims to raise about $1.2bn (£895m) by issuing new shares, diluting the value of existing stakes.
It said the cash would mainly be used to bolster its ailing finances.
Hyundai has struggled during an industry-wide slump brought on by slowing global demand and overcapacity.
The crisis, which has been exacerbated by competition from China, led to South Korea's shipping giant Hanjin filing for bankruptcy last year.
Earlier this week, Hyundai issued grim predictions for its profits in both 2017 and 2018. It forecast an operating profit of 46.9bn won ($43.6m/£32.6m) this year - down by more than two-thirds on 2016's figure.
On Wednesday the firm said it also planned to list its refining unit, Hyundai Oilbank, on a local stock market next year.
The announcements pushed shares down 29% in Seoul.

Sos

"he had a fetish for watching women urinate"

malayantiger — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 02:46:51 +0800

Office worker who spied on Starbucks customers with a hidden camera spared jail

[attachmentid=9409242]

An office worker who spied on Starbucks customers with a hidden camera to satisfy a sexual "fetish" was today spared jail.

Antony Dines, 31, hid a spycam in an air vent at the coffee shop in Vauxhall, leaving it to film unsuspecting women for up to a month in November last year.

He had also used the matchbox-sized camera to secretly record colleagues on the toilet at the office where he worked in New Malden.

Dines accidentally filmed himself installing the camera at Starbucks, but remained on the loose until police published the image.

Several of his shocked colleagues then called police to say they believed Dines was the wanted man in the picture. The court heard he had set up the camera in the third floor of his office because more women worked there.

Dines, a graduate in human resources management from Kingston-upon-Thames who was also a preacher and administrator at a local church, pleaded guilty to four counts of voyeurism last month.

He was sentenced to a community order of at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court today.

Chairman of the Magistrates' bench Edward Gold said: "Recording a private act, this offence is serious. There will be a community order which will last 12 months."

He said the order will include 200 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £85 and prosecution costs of £85. Dines was also ordered to spend 30 days working on his rehabilitation with the probation service.

He will also have to sign the Sex Offenders' Register.

In mitigation Dines' solicitor Gethin Payne had told the court said he had no previous convictions and read a statement from the church he had worked for saying they were "devastated and appalled" by the allegations and had contacted the police when they saw his picture circulated.

However they added that the incident was "totally out of character" and that Dines, who has lost his job as an assistant with a legal firm, had helped many people through his church work.

When he was arrested, Dines had a rucksack stashed under his desk at work containing camera equipment, electrical tape, memory cards, a screwdriver, and nine pairs of women's underwear.

Quizzed by police, he admitted "he had a fetish for watching women urinate", prosecutor George Crivelli told Camberwell Green magistrates court heard at an earlier hearing.

Mr Crivelli added: "The defendant stated he had placed the camera in his own workplace before taking it to Starbucks, he had done this to film women using the toilet."

Sos for More

Shashi Kapoor, Bollywood legend, dies at 79

malayantiger — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 02:00:58 +0800

[attachmentid=9401201]
[attachmentid=9401212]
Veteran Bollywood actor and producer Shashi Kapoor has died aged 79.
Kapoor, who acted in huge hits like Deewar and Kabhie Kabhie, had been ill for some time and was in hospital.
He was a member of the Kapoor dynasty, which has dominated the Hindi film industry for decades.
He won several national film awards and was awarded the Padma Bhushan civilian honour by the Indian government in 2011. He also acted in a number of British and American films.

Kapoor died at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in the western city of Mumbai.
"Yes he has passed away. He had kidney problem since several years. He was on dialysis for several years," his nephew, actor Randhir Kapoor, told Press Trust of India. The funeral will be held on Tuesday morning, he said.
The actor was married to late English actress Jennifer Kendal, with whom he set up Mumbai's iconic Prithvi Theatre in 1978. His sister-in-law is British actress Felicity Kendal.

Kapoor began his career as a child actor and appeared in more than 150 films, including a dozen in English. He became known internationally for his roles in Merchant Ivory productions like "Shakespeare-wallah" and "Heat and Dust".
In 2015, he was given the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest honour in Indian cinema.
Kapoor was known for his charming smile and was often described by his fans as the "handsomest star ever". He had a huge fan following among women.

He was cast alongside superstar Amitabh Bachchan in some of the biggest Bollywood blockbusters of the 1970s and 1980s, and the two actors played brothers, best friends or rivals.
His comment in Deewar - "Mere paas maa hai" (But I have mother's support) - during a tense confrontation with screen-sibling Bachchan tops the list of best Bollywood lines for millions of fans around the globe.
More at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-42225524

Mr Bean to be a father again at 62!

malayantiger — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 02:53:10 +0800

Rowan Atkinson, the Blackadder and Mr Bean actor, is to become a father again at the age of 62, it has been reported.

The star, who has two grown up children from his first marriage, is expecting his first child with actress Louise Ford, who is 29-years his junior.

The couple have been together for three years and are said to be delighted and excited about the news.

Miss Ford, 33, who is the daughter of a gas-fitter, grew up in south-east London where she attended a local grammar school.

After studying English at Southampton University she gained a place at RADA, studying alongside Tom Hiddlestone and Gemma Arterton.

She got her big break in the Channel 4 comedy, Crashing, about a group of 20 somethings living in a disused hospital to avoid expensive rents, but is best known for playing Kate Middleton in television hit, The Windsors.

She first met Atkinson when they appeared in a play together in 2013, called The Quartermaine’s Terms at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London.

Atkinson, who is worth an estimated £70 million, has become one for the country’s most successful and best loved comedy actors with a string of hits to his name.

After studying at Oxford University in the 1970s he appeared in Not The Nine O’Clock News before going on to star in Blackadder, Mr Bean and Johnny English.

Sos Telegraph
As Mr Bean
[attachmentid=9328258]
Mr Atkinson aka Mr Bean, Jonny English, etc.
[attachmentid=9328259]

Well done, Sir Bean!

Whatlah, this British Gambling Company

malayantiger — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 19:12:09 +0800

Malaysian gambling crackdown forces Playtech to issue profit warning

Problems in Asia and a troublesome bingo contract have forced gaming and spread-betting company Playtech to issue a profit warning sending the shares plunging by a fifth.

Management at the Isle of Man-based business, which was founded by billionaire Teddy Sagi, said it expected annual profits to be 5pc lower than the bottom end of market expectations, prompting analysts to wipe about €20m (£17.8m) off their full-year earnings forecasts and sending Playtech shares down 218.5p to 768p.

A key problem for the company is understood to be Malaysia, which is presently an unregulated market and has seen its government move to prevent citizens from accessing online gambling sites and mobile apps.

The country’s leaders are considering changes to its Common Gaming House Act 1953 to plug loopholes which enable citizens to gamble online.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is quoted as saying that the government hasn’t decided on whether the change of the law will be in the form of an amendment or if the parliament will craft a new preventive law that will specifically target online gambling activities.

See more at:
SOS Telegraph

Anyways they are losing money now.

Even dog can lose her job: (

malayantiger — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 17:22:03 +0800

sos

Bomb-sniffing dog fired from CIA after she loses interest in finding explosives

A bomb-sniffing dog has been fired from the CIA after she lost interest in finding explosives.

Lulu the labrador started out as a promising recruit in the latest intake of puppies for the US intelligence agency's training programme.

Then, according to the agency, a few weeks later she started showing signs she was no longer interested in “detecting explosive odours”.

Lulu's handlers tried to work out what was affecting her, as puppies can go through periods where they lose focus in their training.

Lulu lost interest in her training to sniff out explosives
Lulu lost interest in her training to sniff out explosives CREDIT: CIA
In a blogpost, the CIA said: “There can be a million reasons why a particular dog has a bad day, and the trainers become doggy psychologists trying to figure out what will help the dog come out of its funk.

“Sometimes the pup is bored and just needs extra playtime or more challenges, sometimes the dog need a little break, and sometimes it’s a minor medical condition like a food allergy requiring switching to a different kibble.

“After a few days, the trainers work the pup through whatever issue has arisen, and the dog is back eagerly and happily ready to continue training.”

However, for Lulu there seemed to be no solving her disinterest and the CIA decided to retire her.

Singapore will soon house the world’s biggest

malayantiger — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 21:15:17 +0800

Private investment firm Marvelstone Group plans to build an artificial intelligence hub in Singapore, which is just beginning to lay the foundation for an AI ecosystem

Singapore will next year be home to the world’s biggest artificial intelligence (AI) hub – if private investment firm Marvelstone Group gets its way.
The company said on Monday (16 October) that it plans to use the AI hub, to be located in Singapore’s central business district, to incubate AI startups, develop AI-related intellectual property, grow ideas and organise community events.

Marvelstone said that through the hub, startups would be able to commercialise their products in a more systematic and organised way, while reaching out to corporate customers. The AI hub follows Lattice80, a 30,000ft2 facility launched by Marvelstone in November 2016 to speed up the growth of Singapore’s burgeoning financial technology space.

“There is a clear need for a big playground for startups, entrepreneurs and even corporates in the field of AI,” said Joel Ko, president of Marvelstone Group. “Considering the high interest and demand for AI globally, there are still relatively few places to test these new technologies. Our goal is to build 100 AI startups a year and attract global AI talent to Singapore to incubate their own applications and collaborate with our local teams.”

In May this year, Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF) said would be investing up to S$150m (US$107m) over five years in a national programme, called AI.SG, to enhance adoption of AI, not only to solve business problems, but also to address major challenges facing society and industry, such as the greater healthcare demands from Singapore’s rapidly ageing population.

NRF said the programme would harness the capabilities of startups and corporate laboratories alike. It would also offer AI.SG software tools and frameworks released under appropriate open source licences, anonymised datasets and high-performance computing resources.

SOS

It was suppose to be Malaysia that takes the lead way back 1995/6. All the grand plans. Mhathir's dream...anyway, where MSC Cyberjaya fails, Singapore now takes the lead.

What is k/ Age Range?

malayantiger — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 14:54:32 +0800

Ok, don't laff, I am 56
Next!

Caring policewoman breastfeeds suspect's

malayantiger — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 21:58:02 +0800

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/28...y-baby-outside/
[attachmentid=9184713]

[attachmentid=9184714]
Chinese policewoman has touched the hearts of many worldwide after stepping in to breastfeed a suspect’s hungry baby outside a courtroom.

Touching photos show kind-hearted officer Hao Lina breastfeeding a four-month-old baby as her mother stood trial in northern China’s Shanxi Province.

Officer Lina got permission from the baby’s mother when the child began crying in the courtroom, Chinese media reports.

Chaos at Airports around the world

malayantiger — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 19:00:36 +0800

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/28...-systems-crash/

Air passengers are suffering major disruption at airports around the world after computer check-in systems crashed.

Travellers have reported problems at airports including London's Heathrow and Gatwick, Charles de Gaulle in Paris, Changi in Singapore, Johannesburg, Zurich, Melbourne and Washington DC's Reagan Airport.

Passengers have been enduring long waits at check-in desks after the outage from about 10.30am on Thursday....