Wall-E Movie Meme Contest I'm doing this cos a friend asked......... From THB's blog (as she is the originator) The craziest thing I have done for love is believing it is love when it actually was a booty call… Catch Wall-E in cinemas from 28 August 2008 (ORIGINATOR BLOG: http://the-hb-diaries.blogspot.com/) Well for me....... The craziest thing I have done for love......... is to sit in a 3 hour Philosophy lecture ( Just for laughs - M.A.H.A.T.H.I.R When Dr. Mahathir was Prime Minister of Malaysia... One lousy day in the middle of the economic crisis, PM Mahathir was feeling extremely frustrated and wondering how a neighboring country can be doing better than Malaysia. One of his aides said, I heard that the leaders consult Feng Shui masters to ensure prosperity for the country. Dr Mahathir thought if that was the case, Malaysia Bomoh How to have your cake and eat it Let's talk about how to raise the cost of car ownership, and at the same time raise public transport fares, AND how to make the public swallow the bitter pill. Impossible in other countries? Not in Singapore - adidas' famous (or infamous) slogan applies - impossible...... is nothing. ------------- The ERP (Electronic Road Pricing) system is an ingenious idea. Whoever came up with this idea Drink, don't drive...... .... or so my friend's MSN nick read. Nothing different from the Traffic Police's message to drivers, but it had a slight twist to it. The next sentence read, "Beer is cheaper than Petrol". Haha, how apt, I thought. The rising cost per barrel of fuel has baffled even economists. Theories of demand shocks and stuff have so far not proven to be right, and last week, oil went into further northbound Do you feel the pinch? I got this from a colleague over email and I think it's good to share this... Disclaimer: the list and the dates have not been verified, and is for reference only. 2007 and the list of price increases Jan: All diesel-driven vehicles to undergo smoke test. Jan: NUH's A&E fee raised from $70 to $80. Jan: Skilled Foreign workers levy raised by $50, from $100 to $150, for all sectors. Jan 26: SMU SMRT and the woes I've been wanting to do this post for the longest time, but never got around to doing this. Now that I've some time to rant, here I am again. The Singapore government is advocating public transport for all in Singapore (presumably except for those who can afford to drive cars and pay the exorbitant ERP tolls and parking fees). Public transport is good, as it will help save the world from global Dolphin massacre Disclaimer: the below link contains scenes of extreme gore and should only be viewed by unsqueamish people who do not faint on the sight of blood. Oh for those who only have disgust for human blood, it's dolphin blood ("thankfully"). I condemn such acts of cruelty, when we all know that dolphins are peaceful creatures. Man may be the "king of beasts", but that does not mean we have to lord it Back in SG and some thoughts...... In case any goon doesn't know I'm back in SG yet, this serves as a notice ;) Anyways, after coming back, I realized that Singapore on the whole has a risk-adverse environment and low tolerance for making mistakes. The price of efficiency and having the whole machinery oiled so well is that the people and government lose their heart, their feelings, their everything - all to become a unit of Back in SG! OK this is old news but I only had time to post it up now. came back on 31st Dec. Been busy meeting up with friends and family. Haven't seen u all guys for 6 mths! :) gimme a shoutout or something. Oh, I changed companies and recently got a job offer! Wheeeeee! Hiatus Hi people, been taking a hiatus from blogging for a while (as u can already see from the previous date when I last blogged), not even blogging on my personal site. Sorry about that. Will give a shoutout/comment when I next come alive on the blogging scene, probably at the end of the year. Just too busy with work/fun in SZ/GZ/Macau/HK now. Cheers! A Child's Understanding of Politics A little boy goes to his dad and asks, "What is Politics?" Dad says, "Well son, let me try to explain it this way. I am the head of the family, so call me The President. Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her the Government. We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People. The nanny, we will consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, Excerpts of LKY's interview with IHT This is a good read, to understand the ideas in the guy who made Singapore what it is. That's not to say I totally agree with him, but some salient points are made, and I guess that it's good to know how our government (and our Prime Minister's father) thinks. One thing that has been dissed around in the blogosphere for the longest time yet and one that I take issue with is, why China and Expats and the rising cost of living Mr Brown highlighted the rising costs of living in SG in a recent article, which can be linked from above. My heart goes out to expats working in Singapuraaaaa oh Singapuraaaaaaaa now, since I know that rent can be the most headache part of living in another country now, having experienced it for myself. But one of the forum posts that he highlighted struck a chord with me. not a dollar chaser: The modern allegory of teaching a man how to fish Straits Times Online: Help the poor to start businesses: Nobel winner Grameen Bank's business model is being copied all over the world. I think it's an excellent idea and there is no doubt that the founder of this bank deserves his Nobel Prize. Wonderful stuff. Poverty, a thing of the past in Singapore? A masterful piece by Martyn See... of the poor and the old. A must-watch, especially for the people at the top who are trapped in their cotton-candy world that poverty is history in Singapore. Imagine yourself at that age, collecting cans and cardboard. I would do it so as to recycle stuff in the environment, but not cos I need to eke out a living out of it. This film is moving, to say the least Happy National Day Singapore On this very joyous occasion, I am not in Singapore. Before I launch into an endless tirade about nothing in particular, three simple words: Happy National Day! Yes, it's once again, 9th August. This is probably the first National Day I'm not on home soil, but I'm guessing it won't be the last. Strangely enough, I am missing home as I write this. More on this later on (or not, we'll see...) I Funny blog Of satire and laughter... and not to be taken seriously!! Presenting to you, Singapore Donkey. Definitely takes the Monday blues away! Thoughts and reality This is an interesting post by Mr Wang. In it, a scientist (Emoto) theorizes that thoughts can affect the formation of water crystals if they are directed at the water before it is frozen. Woah... I think this is just the tip of the iceberg as to what thoughts can do for the self. As I keep stressing, positivity also helps. And it especially helps when you're in a new environment and everything Constitutional amendment Looks like the ruling government are making even more dubious decisions after their last pay raise issue (click on the above link to read Molly's take on it - a rather good one I must say). This post is not meant to be a commentary, but rather as a record for myself to come back and look at after some time. After being out of the country for some time, I've more or less lost touch with the Right-of-way Like everywhere else, one has to learn to quickly adapt or become redundant. Luckily for me, it is an inborn thing to want to ACT like the locals from the area I am in (whilst not necessarily accepting their values as mine). So, this post is about right-of-way. In China, at least of what I've seen, this word/phrase is not commonly used/known, not least because the people here don't use English, This blog will not be updated till further notice Due to pressing personal problems and those with work, I will cease updating of this blog till further notice. I will be away in Shenzhen, China till the end of the year and I heard that Blogger is banned in China. As such, I think it might be impossible to blog on this platform. I thank all my previous readers for their support and I hope bloggers out there will continue on your endeavours to Recycling and why it will not take off in Singapore Before I start the post proper, let me display two pictures I took at Suntec City the other day. The two bins. Look similar? Not really, right? But contents looks similar! This is what I call the lack of social conscience in SG. This is why, despite many of the good intentions behind the SG government's policies, they almost never seem to take off in the way it was intended.Since people like University places = F(protectionism, citizenship, taxes)? Great debate on the issue of "how we should allocate our university places." I didn't write on it first-time round because I didn't think it was much of an issue to be debated on. How wrong could I get. If people understand what a debate is about, they will realize that there is hardly a "correct" and "wrong" stand. Too very often in our lives, there are the so-called grey areas. I hope that Pragmatism and the choice to stay out of politics Life could be predictable, if only you'd believe it to be. There's a "straightforward" path to success. Study hard in primary and secondary school (get into all the brandname ones without the "negative influences"), get into a top JC (y'all already know which), then achieve the perfect 4As, 2Ds, A1 for GP and an excellent CCA record to boot. (But that's IF you can do it, and a very big IF.) Then Bureaucracy at its ugly worst Well well, what do we say to this? Alfian Sa'at writes: "I was told that the school had received a telephone call from the MOE requesting the immediate termination of my services as a relief teacher. He [the principal] was unable to give me the grounds for such a decision. When I queried him as to whether this was based on my performance in school, he assured me, in his own words, that ' Say NO to NETS NETS is increasing its fees for merchants, and these merchants are likely to pass the increased costs to us. This increase is not unsubstantial, as it represents a three-fold increase over current charges. "NETS now charge businesses between 0.35 and 0.55 per cent of the amount of each transaction. Starting July, this will be increased gradually to between 1.5 and 1.8 per cent of purchases." --- Of hawkers, whining and foreign talent It is funny how the mind works. I cannot pretend to fathom how my own brain works, much less say I understand others'. In the short span of 15 minutes I was at a coffeeshop (a coffeeshop is different from a hawker centre, but any Singaporean would know that) having my lunch, I had formulated this post in my mind's eye. I had noticed a bunch of hawkers grouped together at a table, and gossiping. The Charade of Meritocracy An old article found (click on the link above) after reading one of Mr Wang's old posts, but nonetheless a great read because of the investigative journalism done. The article outlines how the government scholarship system works to the man-in-the-street's detriment. While the Govt continues to insist that the system is fair and above-board (it may well be so), statistics prove otherwise. The Oh oh Singapore is not as clean and white as you think Well well, so we've raised the pay of our ministers, ensuring that they stay corruption-free, and now we get a nice rude shock. First it started off small (though quite big by any standards), with the Public Accounts Committee revealing that EDB was being audited for the first time in 46 years, and on top of that, many irregularities were found. What now, "Cocky" Yeo? The Auditor General's You Can Do It This phrase is an oft-heard one, but how often do we use it on ourselves? Be it in educational institutions or in the workplace, it is a sad fact but true - that negativity in the leaders breeds even more negativity in their followers. Read the middle part of Mr Wang's post on this. Can you imagine how the promising young man that is now would have turned out if he actually believed his teacher?