Ahad, 20 April 2014

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

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The Malaysian Insider :: Food

Danish website turns homes into take-away restaurants

Posted: 20 Apr 2014 06:16 PM PDT

April 21, 2014

Anne Sofie Udklit Soerensen from Aarhus in Denmark prepares a meal in her kitchen on April 4, 2014. She is a part of the DinnerSurfer-community and will put a part of the meal up for sale on the DinnerSurfer website. – AFP pic, April 21, 2014.A Danish website is turning private homes into take-away restaurants by letting users advertise what they are cooking, when and for what price.

"Sometimes I only put one serving up for sale, sometimes up to 20. It depends on what I'm making and how much time I have," said Ana Teresa Salas, a 32-year-old consultant from Copenhagen.

The website, Dinnersurfer.dk, is sometimes described as a restaurant version of the popular lodging site Airbnb, on which homeowners make their spare rooms or unoccupied dwellings available to paying lodgers for a fee.

And just like on Airbnb, the cost to consumers is often considerably less than if they had used a professional service – with the added benefit that many of the homemade dishes may be healthier than the greasy fare typically available at take-out counters.

"It sounded exciting. I make food for my family every day anyway, and I always make too much," said Salas, who sells her food on the website two to three times a week.

"On weekdays I try to make food that's healthy, without too much starch and fat," she added.

On most days she makes food inspired by her father's Argentinian background, which she sells for 35 kroner (RM21) per serving to her customers, most of whom are young and single.

"When I make healthy dishes it's mostly women, and when it's pasta and so on it's mostly men," she said.

Since being launched in February, the website has attracted 2,900 members, of whom 460 are registered as cooks, meaning they sell food.

Nearly all of them live in Denmark, where the website is especially popular in the trendy Copenhagen neighbourhoods of Noerrebro and Vesterbro, but the site's founders are hoping it will go global after recently launching an English-language version.

Earlier this month, another Danish take-away website, Just-eat.com, which allows users to order food from 36,000 restaurants in 13 countries, was valued at £1.47 billion (RM8 billion) when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange 13 years after being founded.

However, feeling peckish one night, the team behind Dinnersurfer -- made up of two business students and a computer programmer – felt that regular take-away wasn't what they were looking for.

"We were working quite late on another project and we were eating a lot of fast food, which we were getting really tired of," said co-founder Kasper Kraegpoeth.

"Where we were working, we could see a lot of other people cooking their own food and we thought: 'Why can't we just buy some of their food?'

"We thought it could be a fun idea if there could be a service that allowed people who want to sell food to find people who want to buy food. That's how we came up with Dinnersurfer," he said.

Kraegpoeth's last order was a chicken tikka masala for 30 kroner. "And that was with rice and naan bread," he noted.

The site recently added a function that allows cooks to register a signature dish which they are good at making, and the possibility for members to register their interest so that they know when it will be available.

Otherwise, the only way of knowing what is on the menu is to check the website in real-time. A mobile app is currently being developed to facilitate ordering on the go.

But not everyone is convinced that ordering food from strangers online is a good idea.

While the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries regularly publishes inspection reports from the country's restaurants, Dinnersurfer's cooks operate without any supervision.

On one Danish Internet forum, users questioned how buyers could know whether hygiene standards were being upheld and how the origin of the food could be verified.

"We don't supervise the cooks, but through our ratings system you can see if they have received good or bad reviews," Kraegpoeth said.

"So far we haven't heard of anyone getting sick," he added.

On its Frequently Asked Questions page, the website has a mere two lines on tax regulation, telling users to check with the tax authority's website if they have any further questions.

"It's up to the individual user to pay the right amount of tax," Kraegpoeth said.

So far, most sellers appear to be amateurs with little interest in turning their hobby into a full-time profession.

"I relax and I feel creative," said Salas, the consultant.

"It's not my goal to make money from this. I think it's fun, and at best it will make my own food a bit cheaper," she added. – AFP, April 21, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Ramsey and 2-goal Podolski shine in Arsenal stroll

Posted: 20 Apr 2014 08:32 AM PDT

April 20, 2014

Arsenal's Lucas Podolski (left) scores a second goal against Hull City during their English Premier League match at the KC Stadium in Hull. – April 20, 2014.Lukas Podolski scored twice as Arsenal claimed an important 3-0 victory at Hull City on Sunday in his side's quest for a top-four finish and FA Cup success.

In a preview of next month's FA Cup final at Wembley, Arsenal scored an important psychological edge over Steve Bruce's team after Aaron Ramsey shot them in front.

German forward Podolski then added two goals in the space of eight minutes, either side of half-time.

Following on from his two-goal display against West Ham United in mid-week, it meant that in the space of five days, he has doubled his tally of league goals for the season to eight.

Ramsey, playing his fourth game in two weeks after a three-month lay-off with a thigh injury, made a telling impact with a goal and an assist as Arsenal scored twice in the final 15 minutes of the opening half to take a strong grip on the game.

The second goal was spectacular, if contentious, as Hull claimed that they should have been awarded a free-kick deep in Arsenal territory after Nikica Jelavic went down under pressure from Mikel Arteta.

Referee Jon Moss disagreed, however, and allowed the Gunners to launch a devastating counter-attack.

It ended with Olivier Giroud lofting over a cross that Ramsey chested into the path of Podolski, who buried a superb left-foot volley in the back of the Hull goal from 15 yards.

The opening goal, after 31 minutes, had been almost as impressive and featured a characteristic flowing move from Arsene Wenger's side.

The move started on the halfway line and saw Ramsey spray the ball wide to Mesut Ozil; another Arsenal player who is fit again after injury.

His pass to Santi Cazorla was helped on to Ramsey, who steered his ninth league goal of the season past Steve Harper in the Hull goal.

The opening goal had been coming, with Harper called upon to keep out Podolski's 18-yard strike a few minutes earlier, although Hull had enjoyed more possession until that point.

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was forced to show good handling in the 14th minute, diving smartly to keep out a first-time strike from Jelavic.

A goal behind, Hull had their best chance yet when David Meyler set up Jake Livermore for an 18-yard strike that beat Szczesny, but rebounded to safety via the foot of the goalkeeper's right-hand post.

Just before the second Arsenal goal, Shane Long should have done better with a mistimed header from a Liam Rosenior cross that Szczesny saved with ease.

Hull substitute Matty Fryatt, on for the injured Long, had an early opportunity soon after the restart, but Tom Huddlestone's pass took an unkind bounce as he aimed to head past Szczesny.

Any lingering uncertainty about the destiny of the three points was removed after 54 minutes when Podolski claimed his second goal, and Arsenal's third.

Once again the build-up was intricate, culminating in Cazorla picking out Ramsey from the left-hand byline.

The Welsh international's 15-yard shot was well saved by the outstretched boot of goalkeeper Harper, but the rebound fell kindly for Podolski to convert from close range.

Arsenal should have scored a bizarre fourth goal after 64 minutes when Harper misjudged a back-pass, gifting the ball to Giroud, who struck the underside of the bar from the byline.

Arsenal centre-back Per Mertesacker headed over from a Cazorla free-kick in the 76th minute, while Ramsey, Huddlestone and Fryatt all saw late efforts well handled by their respective opposition goalkeepers. – AFP, April 20, 2014.

Czechs beat defending champs Italy to reach Fed Cup final

Posted: 20 Apr 2014 07:52 AM PDT

April 20, 2014

The Czech Republic advanced to their third Fed Cup finals in four years after beating defending champions Italy 4-0 in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava on Sunday.

Petra Kvitova (pic), the world number six and a former Wimbledon champion, first saw off 20th-ranked Roberta Vinci 6-3, 7-5 in an hour-and-a-half to hand the Czechs an unassailable 3-0 lead.

Klara Koukalova and Andrea Hlavackova then earned the fourth point for the hosts after beating Camila Giorgi and Karin Knapp 6-2, 5-7, 11/9 in a dead doubles rubber on the hard court of Ostrava's CEZ Arena.

The Czechs, who lifted the trophy in 2011 and 2012, will host Germany in the Fed Cup final on November 8-9.

"I'm happy we've made it and it will be a pleasure for the country to host the finals again," said Kvitova, praising her fellow players on "a superb team".

In the first set on Sunday, Kvitova took advantage of Vinci's two straight double faults to take a 5-3 lead before winning 6-3.

In the second set, the fast-serving Czech broke Vinci's serve to take a 4-3 lead, but failed to confirm the break in the next game.

But Kvitova did the same thing for a 6-5 lead and converted her second match point to take the set 7-5.

"The tactic was difficult. Her chops are unpleasant on the hardcourt, so I had to move my feet fast and play returns to her forehand side," Kvitova said.

"I have improved my movement, so now it's more pleasant to play longer exchanges."

"I have also improved my serve, which is a mental advantage," Kvitova said.

On Saturday, Lucie Safarova first beat Italy's number-one player Sara Errani 6-4, 6-1 and Kvitova then breezed past Giorgi 6-4, 6-2.

The Czech Republic and Italy have been taking turns as Fed Cup champions for the last five years, with Italy lifting the trophy in 2009, 2010 and 2013. – AFP, April 20, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

Researchers use Twitter to predict crime

Posted: 19 Apr 2014 06:40 PM PDT

April 20, 2014

According to researchers, tweets may have information that can predict 19 to 25 types of crimes. – The Malaysian Insider pic, April 20, 2014Hidden in the Twittersphere are nuggets of information that could prove useful to crime fighters – even before a crime has been committed.

Researchers at the University of Virginia demonstrated tweets could predict certain kinds of crimes if the correct analysis is applied.

A research paper published in the scientific journal Decision Support Systems last month said the analysis of geo-tagged tweets can be useful in predicting 19 to 25 kinds of crimes, especially for offenses such as stalking, thefts and certain kinds of assault.

The results are surprising, especially when one considers that people rarely tweet about crimes directly, said lead researcher Matthew Gerber of the university's Predictive Technology Lab.

Gerber said even tweets that have no direct link to crimes may contain information about activities often associated with them.

"What people are tweeting about are their routine activities," Gerber told AFP. "Those routine activities take them into environments where crime is likely to happen.

"So if I tweet about getting drunk tonight, and a lot of people are talking about getting drunk, we know there are certain crimes associated with those things that produce crimes. It's indirect."

For the study, Gerber and his colleagues analysed tweets from the city of Chicago tagged to certain neighbourhoods – measured by individual square kilometres – and the city's crime database.

They then looked forward and were able to make useful predictions about areas where certain crimes were likely to occur – something which could be helpful in deployment of police resources.

"This approach allows the analyst to rapidly visualize and identify areas with historically high crime concentrations," said the study.

"Future crimes often occur in the vicinity of past crimes, making hot-spot maps a valuable crime prediction tool."

In recent years, the idea of "predictive policing" has gained momentum, with police departments relying on "big data" analytics from companies such as IBM.

This research comes on the heels of other studies showing how tweets can be analysed to predict elections, disease outbreaks and other important events.

'I send our algorithms'

Gerber said Twitter data can be relatively easy to use because tweets are publicly available, and many of them are tagged with location information.

In addition, researchers, themselves, do not need to go into the high-crime areas to study the information.

Instead, "I send our algorithms to these locations and see what people are talking about," Gerber said.

"The computer algorithm learns the pattern and produces a prediction."

The study was funded by the US Army, which Gerber said uses similar techniques to determine threats in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

There are limitations, Gerber notes. Adequate historical data is needed, and some kinds of crimes, such as kidnapping and arson, may not fall into the same patterns of predictability, for reasons the researchers could not explain.

Still, he said the New York police department has already contacted him, and he has begun to review data from that city to determine if the results from Chicago can be replicated.

He hopes to be able to draw on information from other social media to see if they can help improve the predictions.

An important goal, ultimately, is to figure out if the technique can be used in a very practical way.

"We did not address whether this reduces crime," he said. "That's one of the next steps." – AFP, April 20, 2014

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The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

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The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

Miss America defends student suspended for asking her to prom

Posted: 19 Apr 2014 04:58 PM PDT

April 20, 2014

Miss America Nina Davuluri (left) was asked by a high school senior to be his prom date. – The Malaysian Insider pic, April 20, 2014Miss America has suggested officials at a Pennsylvania high school reconsider their decision to suspend a student for approaching her at a school assembly and asking her to be his prom date, the beauty queen said yesterday.

The disciplinary action taken by school administrators in York against the 18-year-old senior made national headlines, and generated sympathy for the young man on social media.

A video of Central York High School senior Patrick Farves approaching 2014 Miss America Nina Davuluri (pic) on Thursday at a school assembly was posted on a local newspaper's website.

It shows Farves walking up to Davuluri bearing a plastic flower and ask her to his prom, as the crowd of students erupts in laughter and cheers.

"I was flattered by the gesture, although I am unfortunately unable to attend due to my travel schedule," Davuluri said in a statement posted to the pageant's Facebook page.

"I later learned of the disciplinary action taken and reached out to the school in hopes that they will reconsider their decision," she said.

Administrators had heard rumors Farves was planning to make the bold gesture of approaching Davuluri and warned him not to do so, Farves said in a phone interview yesterday.

"By that time, my mind was already set," he said. "I was already in the zone."

Farves was given a three-day in-school suspension, which requires him to sit in a classroom and work alone. He said he now feels bad his stunt overshadowed efforts by Davuluri – the first-ever Indian-American Miss America pageant winner – to promote diversity.

"She was trying to get across a very strong message – about how it's not about your beliefs or the colour of your skin, but who you are," he said.

Farves, who said his mother is white and his father is black, also said he regretted his action because school officials worked hard to organize the event.

While he has scores of new Twitter followers and Facebook friend requests, Farves said he remains without a date for his school's May 10 prom.

School officials issued a statement on Central York High's Facebook page, defending the decision to suspend Farves.

"It is not our practice to discipline a student for asking someone – even Miss America – to a school dance," the statement said. "However, it is our practice to set expectations for student behaviour, to communicate those expectations and rules to students and families and to ensure those rules are followed within our schools."

A school spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Davuluri's statement. – Reuters, April 20, 2014

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

Perjalanan terakhir Karpal Singh

Posted: 19 Apr 2014 04:08 PM PDT

April 20, 2014

Amin Iskandar adalah penerima anugerah zamalah Asian Public Intellectuals (API) bagi sesi 2009-2010. Kini merupakan Pengarang Berita bagi The Malaysian Insider. Beliau "berkicau" di www.twitter.com/aminiskandar.

Antara kalungan bunga dan mesej yang diletakkan di kawasan rumah mendiang Karpal Singh di Pulau Pinang sebagai tanda memperingati 'Harimau Jelutong' itu. – Gambar The Malaysian Insider oleh Hasnoor Hussain, 20 April, 2014.Hujan yang turun semalam tidak menghalang orang ramai untuk memberikan penghormatan terakhir kepada "Harimau Jelutong" yang meninggal dunia dalam satu kemalangan ngeri baru-baru ini.

Kebanyakan yang hadir kelihatan sedih dan sayu namun bersemangat untuk melihat wajah pemimpin veteran DAP, Karpal Singh yang tidak pernah menyerah kalah dalam perjuangan menegakkan keadilan di Malaysia tanpa mengira kaum dan agama.

Karpal mengajar rakyat Malaysia untuk tidak tunduk kepada penindasan dan melawan sehingga ke akhirnya.

Selain itu, pengajaran besar disampaikan Karpal adalah bagaimana untuk komited dengan tugas apabila beliau sendiri terlibat dalam kemalangan ketika sedang dalam perjalanan ke Pulau Pinang untuk menghadiri satu kes mahkamah.

Saya bersama tiga lagi teman tidak mahu terlepas ke Pulau Pinang untuk bersama-sama ribuan rakyat melihatnya buat kali terakhir.

Sebaik saja berhampiran dengan kawasan rumahnya, jalan mulai sesak.

Kelihatan banyak kenderaan yang diletak di tepi jalan, walaupun terdapat tempat letak kereta rasmi disediakan oleh DAP bagi hadirin.

Semakin hampir dengan rumahnya kelihatan ramai orang berkumpul di luar rumahnya.

Kami terpaksa beratur panjang sebelum dapat melihat wajah Karpal buat kali terakhir.

Yang beratur bersama-sama kami kebanyakannya orang biasa yang mengenali Karpal kerana ketokohannya dan bukan sebagai ahli politik DAP atau Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

Namun, kelihatan juga wajah pimpinan parti DAP, PAS dan PKR yang hadir memberikan penghormatan terakhir.

Gobind Singh Deo, salah seorang anak lelaki Karpal mewakili keluarganya untuk bersalam dengan orang ramai.

Ketika bersalam dengannya, saya memperkenalkan diri dan bertanya tentang apakah komen beliau tentang penghinaan terhadap mayat bapanya oleh seorang ahli Parlimen.

"Biarkanlah dia, kami ada banyak perkara yang perlu diuruskan. Lain kali saya akan komen," kata Gobind dengan tenang, tidak seperti wataknya yang agresif seperti dikenali ramai.

Beban di bahu Gobind dan adik-beradiknya yang lain besar. Bapanya meninggalkan dua bidang yang beliau kuasai sejak sekian lama.

Poster mendiang Karpal Singh yang turut diedarkan sempena majlis pengebumiannya di Pulau Pinang.Bidang guaman dan politik yang tidak pernah sunyi daripada nama Karpal.

Beliau dihormati kawan dan lawan.

Terlihat juga wajah Lim Kit Siang dan Lim Guan Eng yang begitu sedih.

Apa lagi Kit Siang yang sudah bersama-sama berjuang dengan Karpal selama lebih 40 tahun.

Bagaimanapun, kematian Karpal mendedahkan sisi-sisi buruk sesetengah umat Islam yang tidak matang dan jahil.

Lebih menyedihkan lagi apabila terdapat wakil rakyat yang mengeluarkan kenyataan yang bukan sahaja menyinggung perasaan keluarga mendiang tetapi menunjukkan betapa tidak layaknya mereka untuk menjadi pemimpin.

Tindakan memperlekehkan mayat Karpal dan menyerang Karpal yang sudah mati merupakan satu tindakan hina yang boleh dikeluarkan oleh seseorang umat Islam.

Facebook juga mendedahkan terdapat umat Islam yang membuat "kerja-kerja tuhan" dengan menulis ayat seperti: "Apa pun kebaikan dilakukan Karpal, oleh kerana beliau bukan Islam beliau akan tetap masuk neraka."

Tindakan pertama saya lakukan jika melihat seseorang dalam garis masa Facebook saya menulis sesuatu seperti ini ialah menyingkirkan mereka daripada senarai kawan saya.

Saya menghormati kebebasan bersuara tetapi saya tidak akan berkompromi dengan kebodohan.

Hari ini upacara pengebumian dengan penghormatan negeri, diberikan oleh kerajaan negeri Pulau Pinang.

Semakin ramai yang memasuki Pulau Mutiara itu. Sementara saya dan teman-teman akan meninggalkan Pulau Pinang selepas sarapan pagi.

Selamat jalan Karpal. Damailah kau di sana. Rest In Peace (RIP). – 20 April, 2014.

* Ini adalah pendapat peribadi penulis dan tidak semestinya mewakili pandangan The Malaysian Insider.