Growing Up

During my Gf's company Christmas gathering dinner, all of us were watching "Wedding Crashes" by Owen Wilson. There was some unexpected nude bed room scene with full upper body nudity. The crowd seems nonchalantly on the nudity and some even laugh why the organizer forgot to do censorship for the movie screening. Especially significant since the movie was screen at company settings. Make me realize we had all transcended the age of innocence and naiveness. The Bs, the Ps and the Vs of body anatomy are not longer a mystery. Hope the kids did not see it and start asking curious question.

Bribing civil servant.

A 22 motorcyclist attempts to bride SSG Ang, a traffic police officer when he was stopped for not securing his helmet strap. SSG Ang immediately placed him under arrest. The bribe was 20 dollars.

SSG Ang was praised for his integrity and explemary conduct. He is a great role model for his fellow police colleague.

Looks like a good performance bonus for SSG Ang next year. Now the question is if the amount was 10000 dollars, could SSG Ang succumb to money?

20 dollar not worth it..... 10000 dollars? Maybe... In essence if the amount is more than the glory and monetary reward of being uncorruptable, most might succumb to greed.

We don't have to look further than Indonesia, Malaysia and even Thailand to observe such happenings. Many friends from this countries had told me stories of bribery from the wealthy when they got into trouble. With the big income gap between rich and poor and the ordinary salary of law enforcements.... Its easy to get out of trouble with money.

Singapore had it worst with corrupt high ranking civil officers (SLA), corrupt Charity organization chairman (TT Durai) and even corrupt monk. Its a shock and surprise for many had always picture Singapore as a clean city and governance.

It makes me wonder what kind of Abyss the people of high status are heading into nowadays.

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Not following procedures saves life.

Ed Punchard, a survivor of the Alpha Piper oil rig disaster did not followed emergency procedures and use his common sense of survivor to save himself...

All over the rig, people were instinctively following their training and emergency instructions. In the absence of any form of annoucement, most were trying to make their way to the galley to assemble, head count and take instructions. After all this was what they were trained to do.

Tragically the galley was in the line of fireball wheb the explosion happens, meaning that the majority who followed procedures did not survive. Those who did survived were those who disobeyed instruction and jumped into the sea.

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Trouble Is A Friend

Ha ha. What an interesting song, a song I will share later on after this messages. Sometime trouble can be a friend because a small trouble you stumble into now maybe the best lesson you never will learn in school from your teacher. Its a life lesson that keep you out of another trouble. I know it sound paradox - 'Trouble saving you from trouble'?

I love to play RPG games where you have enough time in each situation to think before you act (attack, cast magic, flee, summon) but sometime I made bad decision ending up losing huge chunk of HP, wasting tons of Mana, losing an item and sometime death. Good thing there is always a save function to backup my ass and a load function to instantly go back in time to rethink the decision.

I really sux at RTS games because I sux at micro-management, a MUST for playing games like Starcraft. Yet again, there is the SAVE and LOAD function for every time I lost in an assualt/defense or when I felt a certain good outcome could be even better. Well, just "go back in time" and try again. And obviously knowing the outcome of an old decision will allow me to make a good decision next time.

Unfortunately life ain't as rosy as PC games (or console games as a matter of fact), some people take a few years of trouble to reach a good outcome, some made tons of bad decision and took decades to be good. Knowing that most of us don't live to a century, why not made Trouble our friend so you can learn from trouble and avoid trouble in the future?

Police vs Former Police

The Manila Bus Hostage Crisis reminds me of the movie "SPEED" and "The Negotiator" combined together. Its a hijack and hostage taking of a bus plus a former decorated police chief as the hostage taker.

Why does a man had to go to such extend to prove his point only to be shot in the head? A good hostage taker should be calm and not kill the hostage to infuriate the Police, a good police force should be there to calm the hostage taker and secure the safety of the hostage through trick or treats.

The SWAT Team totally lost the element of surprise with their failed assault attempts. All the hostage could have perished from this blunder.

Headache of the middle man.

Headache is nothing but a sensation created by the human brain as a respond to stress and pain, both physical and psychological. The human body comprise millions of nerve cell, sensors around the body responsible for sensing of physical stimuli like pleasure and pain, good taste and bad taste, pungent and fragrance. All this sensors as I had choose to call them transmit signals to the nerve processing center, the brain, which create a appropriate bodily and emotional respond.

When there is an overload of information coupled with psychological stresses like deadlines, lack of information, reporting to superior, fear, in confidence our entire brain become highly stressed and start responding with headache, sending signal to the entire body to cease the activity however at the same time getting signal from the long term memory that stoppage=failure, facing reprimand, lost of job, work pile up, $$$. This become rather restrictive to a person work and affects his/her performance ultimately.

Our brain the processing center of our body. In our line of work, information center are Command Post, Ops Center, HQ, the prime contractor, the middle management team and basically anyone or department coordinating effort between the top decision makers and the ground workers. You see, decision makers make or break decision while the ground workers make or break the work... in the middle of this process are the unfortunate sandwiched middle work force who sometimes have to juggle the outrageous requirements,deadline or action of the decision makers and the restrictive, poor morale and unconvinced man on the ground. This is an extreme case causing extreme stress to the "brain" of the organization whose livelihood depends on making both party satisfied.

In my opinion... you either be the humble guy doing the grunt and ground work and keep work life simple or the Top decision makers who make life difficult for a good or bad down the chain but never the middle management who get squeeze dry.

My favourite Thai Song! Mai-roo-jak-chan-mai-roo-jak-ter

Translation of lyrics available here

I am really surprise that the Singer is a 实力派 (Talent) rather than 偶像派 (Idol) artiste. He may not look good but he got a great voice!!! Judging from his size, I understand why the singer is call "Calories Blah Blah". Female singer is Endorphine.

Tax than kanna tax again?

TAX

1.

a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc.

2.

a burdensome charge, obligation, duty, or demand.

Ok so most of us pay tax. We pay tax base on our annual salary factor in the deduction of tax relief. So in essence we are paying tax for the money left over for us to spend and a portion of our salary are excused from tax factoring due to government policy, this is call tax relief. If you have dependent parents and kids, you can get tax relief. If you havw a handicapped sibling requiring your monetary support, you get tax relief. If you are studying part time at a government approved education institution, you get tax relief. The list goes on as a reward to obedient Singaporean who follows the government policy.

However some (like me) may realize that we are unwittingly subjected to double taxation in many instances? Take for example the everyday GST of 7% you paid from grocery to electronic product using your taxable salary. The 7% don't go to profiting the merchant but straight to the government coffers as tax. You had paid $100 for the "real value" of the product and a $7 tax to the government making the total of $107 out off your pocket. As for your income tax, the government will still tax you base on your initial ownership of that $107 dollars. Lets assume the tax is 2% which means you will be paying an additional $2.14 cents to the government.

This is simple elementary math here we are dealing with but it make simple sense as well. You paid $107 dollars for a $100 product means $7 dollars of GST plus $2.14 of income tax goes to the government. Thats $9.14.

So should we be grateful to the government for giving us GST rebates? No in my opinion because its only right that as a law abiding citizen who never evade tax to get back the extra money that was given away due to poor taxation principles.

Food for thought, its not just the GST that are part of the double taxation. You are double tax on properties (set to rise soon), tv license fee, your water supply bills, your electricity bill, monthly fees to town council for service and conservancy charges and god knows what else.

Law and Order

You invite a guest from another country to stay in your home for a few years. One day he got a bit tipsy and accidently push you onto the ground after stumbling back to your home in the middle of the night. Next thing you know, he threw a small tantrum while picking up a dropped key when at the same time his elbow swing and met the face of your child resulting in a bleeding nose. Your guest never said sorry and went straight to bedroon, collapsing onto the bed and snored like a pig.

The next day, you confronted him and he denied all wrong doings. Moment later he left your house and flew back to your country, leaving behind bruises and a broken nose. Never got an apology and not even a chance to bring immediate justice to his brawl act.

Dr Silviu Ionescu's trial in Romania hopefully bring justice to the victim of the Romanian Embassy hit and run case. This case put Singapore in the spotlight on how we dealt with an errant official with supposely diplomatic immunity who commited a crime in our country. Not only are the victims Singaporean but also a Malaysian who died from the hit and run. It will be a major mockery to our justice system if Ionescu were to be let away scot free as a result of pressure from the Romanian Government. Imagine what picture our dear neighbour will will paint of us when Singapore could not bring closure to the matter, satisfying the justice of the victims (from both side of the causeway) and the citizen as a whole.

After a failed assasination on Dong Zhuo (董卓), Cao Cao (曹操) flee the palace with his adviser Chen Gong (陈宫） and found refuge with a family in the rural farm land. He was well taken care by the farm family, given new set of clothes, good food, water and his horse was fed as well. The head of the household gave him the best bed available in the family for rest after Cao Cao tiring miles of escape from Dong Zhuo. One evening while the family are sharpening their knife on grind stone to slaughter a lamb for dinner, anxiety and suspicion strikes on Cao Cao. He killed the whole family, assuming that they are sharpening the knife to kill him, the fugitive. After the bloodshed he was horrified to realise the mistake he made but fled the scene with his adviser. He eventually become a noctorious leader in the Three Kingdom Era. Chen Gong could had bring him to justice for harming the host of the family.

Today a friend came your home, sprayed a creative graffati design on the wall of your house and left the scene immediately. It was a really nice form of art but it clearly is done without your consent. Further more he entered your home without your permission. I'm sure you will not be happy with what your friend did.

Every country had its laws and cultures for order of society. I think its only right for visitor to respect it. A 5 months jail sentence and 3 stroke of butt splitting canes to the Swiss man is fair justice for his attempt to undermine our law and order no matter how nicely done the graffati are. It should be 5 years and 30 strokes in my opinion for he knew very well that he is trespassing and vandalism. Oh yes he had been famous for doing so in many other countries but too bad he did it in Singapore as well. Lets not forget what Micheal Fay did years ago with his vandalism act and the outrage of American for the harsh punishment he recieve to his buttocks.

Recently its Mediacorp Artiste Quan Yi Feng vs Comfort Delgro Taxi Driver Mr Chan. Time and Court will tell whether Mr Chan had commited aggravated assault or Quan Yi Feng had committed aggravated defense. I hope the polices/lawyers know that they are handling an actress vs a day to day Taxi Driver, special interview/interogation skills are required when dealing with someone who does acting almost everyday. Ironically Quan Yi Feng hired a criminal lawyer to defend her....

Heading for LOB Dive trip

Finally...the long awaited break from work is finally here. Oversea leave from Friday to Monday (long long weekend) Gonna keep those work to a hidden memory of mine and time to do some scuba diving after almost 1 year of inactivity in the sea. This time, instead of staying on an island resort and heading out to sea to dive each day, me and my khakis will be Living On Board.

No more boat transfer to dive boat and waiting at the jetty. Eat, sleep and dive all from the LOB dive boat, good enough to slack it out over the weekend with minimal walking. Joining me for this weekend trip will be Palm and ZaiMing who I had went on dive trip seperately with during my basic and advance Openwater course. This time will be a team of three instead.

Looking at the weather forecast for the island of Tioman and surrounding waters, it looks like a raining season for the next two days when we will be diving. It said 20%~40% chance of rain so I hope we are in the 80%~60% percent weather bracket throughout the trip.

Focus for this dive trip will be underwater navigation and some photography of this little adventure. Will post the pictures when I get back.

Leaving you guys now with this "Kung Fu Bear" video that was claim to be real! Its really amazing how animal will fight back against human poaching in the future,

KUNG FUN BEAR!!!

Recently - 最近

Been Reading -

1. Zachery Shore - Blunders , Why Smart People Make Bad Decisions.
   
   
   
2. Marvel - Black Widow
   
   
   
3. World Of Warcraft comics. (Highly recommended, especially if you are a Warcraft fans)
   

Been Playing-

1. Shin Megami Tensei - Devil Survivor
   
   
   
2. Super Mario Galaxy (just open it up after 2 years of dust collection)
   
   
   
3. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Will be going-

1. Malaysia JB for food, shopping and R&R this weekend
2. Malaysia Tioman next weekend for LOB diving. Its been almost 1 year (thanks to my broken bones)...I hope my diving skills are still intact. Planning to hone my underwater navigation skills
3. Read more books in June and July
4. Another dive trip in July to hone my underwater photography skills.
   

Had learn -

1. Not to trust any shop in Lucky Plaza. Kanna carrot head $40 bucks.
2. To check price from various shop before buying regardless of how well recommended the shop is by your "expert" friends.
3. Our National Library had really wonderful collection of good new and good books. Highly recommended to loan from Library than buying. Good collections of Marvel comics.
   

Its good to be on the school break :)

Israel attacks Humanitarian aid ship from Turkey.

This videos speaks volume. Wonder why they still prefer a military intervention than a diplomatic one. This is an Aid ship with supplies for the people in need. Using military force against helpless civilians, that is cowardice....

However, if we look on the other side of the media picture. We see a country in constant threat and in constant vigil but also in deep suspicion of any activities that could be of their demise.

As good as the pirates of Somalia...attacking and boarding ship in International waters.

Water kills a fighting fish

I ask the aquarium shop why does the live prawns I brought back for my Arowana never survive overnight in the fish tank? Most died within 24 hours while the stronger ones survive the mysterious death for another day. That Aquarium shop staff told me that nowadays the prawn they got seems to be dying easily despite higher concentration of air bubble and use of leaf water.

A man step into the conversation and told me that its all the "N-Water" fault and he had some rather shocking evidence to prove it. His tale starts with how his good friend and avid Arowana owner did a regular water change, which had always been a peaceful occasion. However one day all his Arowana died after a water change. It sure is a tale to me for Arowana are champion survival even in poor water condition however I took his advise never to change more than half a tank of water each time and put in anti-chlorine and salt before adding in the tap water to avoid "shocking" the fish.

2nd tale involve a personnal experiment done by him. He got a bottle of "N-water" and pour it all into a small little tank where a healthy Fighting Fish lives in. Within 15 mins the colors of the fish faded to dark brown and within an hour the fish is dead in the "N-water". Astonishing tales to me!!! How can it be possible? Its clean and safe water by the way....

3rd tale. Young man collapsing while participating in running even. They use to distribute "N-water" at each drink station but stop after a while and nowadays its all Isotonic drinks. Hmmm...there is no prove to this claim but still surprise to see he was damn convince its the root cause.

I'll take the fact with a pinch of salt for they are just tales but I might wanna try the "Fighting Fish" experiment during the school break.

The complain and scrutinization of a funeral

A certain funeral of a 90+ years old grandma took place with much joyous singing and celebration in my neighborhood for the past few days. Instead of been a solemn occasion, it was a joyful one as everyone present on Sunday at the funeral sang a mother day song for this great grandma who had pass away, leaving behind at less 150 descendants. Never had I encounter a funeral of such grand scale judging not only by the number of people present but the sheer number of "banners" and "flower ring" send by grandmas friends and families. The among of incense papers and huge paper house a also a reflection of the scale of this void deck funeral. Even the minister from Sembawang GRC (an indian man) visited the funeral to pay his respect. My father join in the occasion volunteering to be part of the pallbearers on the "last day" or "Chu Bin" day as his good friend was the son of the grandma. Looks like alot of people wanna be a part of it.

Unfortunately such memorable events were marred by some nosy resident calling the police and complaining about noise pollution. By 10 o'clock, there is a already a white Police Subaru WRX standing by and god knows how many more police around the area waiting if the event bust the regulatory time of 11pm. Apparently this nosy resident cum complainer turn out to be a prominent RC member of my neighborhood. For god sake, this is a funeral and not some void deck party and the singing and chanting are actually only happening for 1 night and quite bearable. Can't we all at less give the spirit of old grandma a break on this occasion and not activate the police on such matters? 100 plus people at the void deck, its understandable that its not easy to keep things silent. This sad incident speaks volume about the quality of this RC member.

Ironically I heard one of the attendance of the funeral is also an RC member of my neighborhood! Talk about friendly firing...

Oh by the way, this remarkable funeral makes it to the newspaper last night. :)

Diving and Revision

I seriously need a holiday and escape from work a while but its not gonna happen till June. Its academic revision all the way from today till the last week of May when the examination is gonna happen. I am confident that there is no way I am going to fail any of the subject but I can't be sure of 3 straight A's. Frankly, I am wondering if I ever wanted to stay in this career line but yet again where else can I applied my experience to? Maybe the root of negativity comes from the present. Well, set the course straight though, I am still gonna push through this educational obstacles to secure a better future no matter what shit life throws at me.

Looking forward to the school break, looking forward to lots of diving trip in West Malaysia this holiday not because there is lots to see but because the price are reasonable for my pocket especially if I am going to clock multiple diving trip a month. Miss the sea and the sun and the friendly marine creatures (yes! they are all friendly unless provoked).

Met a stranger yesterday and got a good advise from her about life... Keep things simple and don't complicate your thoughts and feelings. Yup, sometime think too much about things beyond my control. :)

New Condom Brand

Imagine if all retailers started making their own condoms:

Tesco Condom: Ever little helps

Peugeot Condoms: The ride of your life

KFC Condoms: Finger licking good

Duracell Condoms: Just keep going and going and going and going...

Pringles Condoms: Once you pop, you can't stop

Burger King Condoms: The home of the whopper

Polo condoms: The one with the hole in it....

OH DAMN!!! Babies!

A Lion Name Christian

From the pen of Adam Khoo

Interesting insight into Singaporeans ! ! ! !

Interesting Article from Singapore (Just sharing)

Please pass on to all Singaporeans to learn a great Lessons,especially our
kids who are spoon fed and pampered........

Adam Khoo: The expats will rule Singapore
Posted by admin 28 January, 2010

I have a prediction. My prediction is that in a couple of years, the
expatriates (from China, India, US etc…) will rule Singapore. They will
increasingly take on more leadership roles of CEOs, directors, heads of
organizations, award winners etc… If you observe closely, it is already
happening now. This year’s top PSLE (Primary School Leaving Exam) student
is a China National. Most of the deans list students and first class
honours students in the local universities are foreigners and more and more
CEOs, even that of government link corporations are expats. The top players
in our National teams are expats.

As a Singaporean, I am not complaining. I think that in a meritocratic
society like Singapore, it is only fair that the very best get rewarded, no
matter their race, religion or nationality. Like Lee Kwan Yew said, I
rather these talented and driven people be on our team contributing to our
nation than against us from their home country. The question I have been
asking is, ‘why are the expats beating the crap out of Singaporeans?’ What
I noticed is that these expats have a very important quality that many
Singaporeans (especially the new Y generation lack).

It is a quality that our grandfathers and great-grandfathers (who came from
distant lands) had that turned Singapore from a fishing village to the
third richest country in the world (according to GDP per capita).
Unfortunately, I fear this quality is soon! disappearing from the new
generation of Singaporeans. This quality is the HUNGER FOR SUCCESS and the
FIGHTING SPIRIT!!!

Expats who come here today have the same tremendous HUNGER for success that
our grandfathers had. They are willing to sacrifice, work hard and pay the
price to succeed. They also believe that no one owes them a living and they
have to work hard for themselves. They also bring with them the humility
and willingness to learn.

Take the case of Qui Biqing, the girl from Qifa Primary school who topped
the whole of Singapore in last year’s PSLE with a score of 290. When she
came to Singapore 3 years ago from China, she could hardly speak a word of
English and didn’t even understand what a thermometer was. Although she was
10 years old, MOE recommended she start at Primary 2 because of her lack of
English proficiency. After appealing, she managed to start in Primary 3.

While most Singaporeans have a head start of learning English at pre-school
at the age of 3-4 years old, she only started at age 10. Despite this
handicapped, she had the drive to read continuously and practice her
speaking and writing skills, eventually scoring an A-star in English!

This hunger and drive can also be seen in the workforce. I hate to say this
but in a way, I sometimes think expats create more value than locals.
Expats are willing to work long hours, go the extra mile, are fiercely
loyal to you and don’t complain so much. They also come a lot more
qualified and do not ask the moon for the remuneration. Recently, I placed
an ad for a marketing executive. Out of 100+ resumes, more than 60% came
from expats.

While locals fresh grads are asking for $2,500+ per month, I have expats
with masters degrees from good universities willing to get less than
$2,000! They know that if they can come in and learn and work hard, they !
will eventually climb up and earn a lot more. They are willing to invest in
themselves, pay the price for future rewards. Sometimes I wonder how some
of the locals are going to compete with this. Of course, this is just a
generalization. There ARE definitely some Singaporeans who create lots of
value and show fighting spirit.

Unfortunately, I have found that more and more young Singaporeans lack this
hunger for success. Instead, they like to complain, blame circumstances and
wait for others to push them. Some hold on to the attitude that the world
owes them a living. I shake my head when I see local kids nowadays complain
that they don’t have the latest hand phones, branded clothes and games.

While I acknowledge that the kids of today are much smarter and well
informed than I was at their age (my 4 year old daughter can use my Mac
book computer and my iphone), I find that they lack the resilience and
tenacity they need to survive in the new economy. Some kids nowadays tend
to give up easily once they find that things get tough and demand instant
gratification. When they have to work first to get rewards later, many tend
to lack the patience to follow through.

So, how did this happen? Why is our nation of hardworking, hungry fighters
slowly becoming a nation of complaining softies? I think the problem is
that life in Singapore has been too good and comfortable. Kids today have
never seen hunger, poverty, war and disasters. What makes it worse is that
parents nowadays give kids everything they want and over protect them from
hardship and failure. Parents often ask me why their kids lack the
motivation to study and excel. My answer to them is because they already
have everything! Giving someone everything they want is the best way to
kill their motivation.

What reason is there for them to fight to become the best ! when they are
already given the best from their parents without having to earn it? It
reminds me of the cartoon movie MADAGASCAR where Alex the Lion and his
animal friends were born and raised in the Central Park Zoo. They were well
taken care of and provided with processed food and an artificial jungle.
When they escaped to Africa, they found that they could barely survive in
the wild with the other animals because they had lots their instincts to
fight and hunt for food. They could only dance and sing.

I see the same thing in the hundreds of seminars and training programmes I
conduct. I see increasing more and more expats attending my Wealth Academy
and Patterns of Excellence programme in Singapore. Not surprisingly, they
are always the first to grab the microphone to answer and ask questions.
While many of the locals come in late and sit at the back. The expats
(especially those from India and China) always sit at the front, take notes
ferociously and stay back way after the programme is over to ask questions.


I feel ashamed sometimes when I ask for volunteers to ask questions, and
the Singaporeans keep quiet, while the foreigners fight for the
opportunity. For my “I Am Gifted!’ programme for students, I have the
privileged to travel and conduct it in seven countries (Singapore,
Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia etc…) and see all students from all
over. Is there a big difference in their attitude and behaviour? You bet!

Again, I feel really sad that in Singapore, most students who come are
usually forced by their parents to come and improve themselves, Some
parents even bribe them with computer games and new handphones to attend.
During the course, some adopt the ‘I know everything’ attitude and lack the
interest to succeed until I kick their butts. It is so different when I go
to Malaysia, Indonesia and once in India. The kids there ask their parents
to send them to my programme. They clap and cheer enthusiastically when the
teachers enter the room and participate so willingly when lessons are on. I
still scratch my head and wonder what happened to my fellow Singaporeans to
this day.

So mark my words, unless the new generation of Singaporeans wake up and get
out of their happy over protected bubble and start fighting for their
future, the expats (like our great grandfathers) will soon be the rulers of
the country. At the rate at which talented and hungry expats are climbing
up , our future prime minister may be an Indian or China PR or may even an
Ang Moh!

As close to fame as we can get. 40K hits

Leaderless and Headless

What happen when a chicken runs around with its head covered? It wanders here and there and to no where. What happen when high rank fails to lead and had chronic case of amnesia plus you as an employee really had no choice of leaving the job? Gang up with you fellow colleague, form a coalition and take turn leading the team. Furthermore, spoon feed the management and remember to keep names in the CC part of the e-mail to get some steam for an action from the top.

I don't like to put CC in e-mail to get things moving but sadly the truth is there are people who sit on a matter with inaction unless you are his boss or you had frightening people in the e-mail CC loop to spur actions. CC are important as well as prove of e-mailed been sent to upstairs for when they play dumb or caught a sudden case of amnesia, you can remind them that an e-mail was send before hand.

Life sux because of human :). Often dealing with marine creature are better off comforting than dealing with the dynamic of human nature.

Unusual Discount

What a fantastic discount :)

100 dollar to enter

Oh yes. Singapore first Casino is finally open at Sentosa and it comes with a hefty 100 dollars entrance fee for Singaporeans and F.O.C for foreigners regardless of race, language or religion. Yet again, Sentosa center itself as a popular tourist magnet but stronger this time round with new thing for the adults and new thing for the kids. Never mind the 100 dollars money "lost" just to be in the game, it still attracted many fellow Singaporeans to try their luck on the first day of CNY.

Nevertheless, I heard lots of people loss money on the first day of the year of the tiger (entrance fee + table money). It goes to show that operating a casino is a profitable business and the house advantage is always there. And the lure of gambling was so much powerful that a few Singaporean even tried to sneak without paying the entrance fee (they were eventually ban from entering the Casino).

The 100 dollar entrance fee only last for 24 hours and only applicable to Singaporean. Foreigner, tourist or worker alike get to enter for free. I do question the viability of the 100 dollar fee when news had already breakout that an Indonesian attempted to steal a handphone after losing $1000 at the Casino recently. Not all foreigners working in Singapore earn top dollars especially our hardworking China and Bangladeshi workers in the construction line.

I don't think there is any difference in the impact of Casino on social problems whether there is a 100 dollar entrance fee or not. At the end of the day we don't only have tourist but foreigner workers with their money stake on the table and a F.O.C Casino entry. Wouldn't social problem be manifested when some of them fell to temptation and lost their money, the money they are suppose to send home to their family in another country? Noting that the gambling culture are especially strong in the Chinese community and we do obviously now have many Chinese foreign worker here, wouldn't they be in trouble as a result of losing too much money at Casino?

The 100 dollar entrance fee is a very poor solution to curb social problem related to gambling when it treat Singaporean differently from other foreign member of our inclusive population. It can be seen as unfair for both side of the population. On one hand, 100 dollar restrict access to Singaporean who paid tax and vote for our current government who in turn came out with the grand plan to built Casinos. On the other hand, 100 dollar waiver for foreigner inaccurately justified them as sound minded, discipline and had good personal restrain on the poker tables as not to be of any problem to Singapore.

Yet again we can't extend this 100 dollar fee to foreign worker/employee working and staying in Singapore just to curb any social problem that might crop up from a different root of the same tree, they are in some way tourist as well. So why don't we just take this 100 dollar fee out so every human in Singapore can enjoy the Casino? In the United States, there is no such thing as a entrance fee for the locals. If we want to match up to the world standards like Las Vegas, off goes the 100 dollar entrance fee.

In place of it, a better deterrence will be good education program on gambling, publicity on responsible gambling and a keen eye on the casino floor for problem gamblers. The use of entrance ban of problem gamblers are also a very good solution. Finally publicity program on responsible gambling should be made into all main languages and be extended even to the dormitory of foreign workers in Singapore.

Early Reunion Dinner

We had reunion dinner early this year due to holiday plans of mum and dad to Genting during the eve and first day of Chinese New Year. This year, we had two new members at the dinner table. William and Cindy :)

Best of Kumar....

We should have him (or is it her?) during our upcoming, obligated to attend CNY 2010 Lunch... Love Kumar's attitude and humor.

Thrill Steal!

The thrill, the sense of accomplishment, the satisfaction of a stealthy execution and sometime, the material gain. That is the kind of euphoric feeling one get when one succeeded in stealing. The more success one get, the more attempt one made. Its an extremely lucrative habit that eventually leads to an addiction of thrill. Even close calls of getting caught never deter but attracts each and every stealing attempt. Nowadays people steal for thrill. Some said its a psychological disorder like what our Miss Singapore Iris Low got.

Recent even unfolded in regard to a friend of mine. Caught red-handed and facing certain penalty. I was first shocked, that disappointed and angry but finally felt sorry for him to end up in this state. Sometimes its hard to see beyond a person face to know who he or she really are especially when he or she got a "Poker Face" in every situation... a blank expression when interrogated.

Mutton Briyani Chicken Briyani

Most people in Singapore must had tried the Indian Briyani (mutton,chicken or fish) unless you had spice intolerance. My favourite hunt for Briyani got to be the Indian stall located at the food court at North Point and the next will be Prata House. The next time you had Briyani, take close notice at the shape of each rice grain. You will find that its longer and much slender than the regular rice on our dining table. Little did most realise that its an imported rice from India or Pakistan, name Basmati Rice. By the way, the rice doesn't stick much at all as compared to regular rice grains.

Airliner Accident Review 2009

At less accident rates are heading downhill years after years. That is a comforting fact but no one wanna be part of the statistics.

Airliner Accident Review 2009

View more presentations from Aviation Safety Network.

A joke about the train

A riddle,

3 lions board the MRT train at Khatib Station, they intend to head to Orchard Station.

1 Station later at Yio Chu Kang Station, 10 sheeps board the train heading to Orchard Station as well.

How many sheep manage to alight at Orchard Station eventually?

The Answer: All the 10 sheeps alight at Orchard Station, so did all the 3 lions.

Why????

"Eating and drinking are not allowed in the train or at the platform area"

The Ecoomic and The Enviroment

"While economic indicators such as investment, production, and trade are consistently positive, the key environmental indicators are increasingly negative. Forests are shrinking, water tables are falling, soils are eroding, wetlands are disappearing, fisheries are collapsing, range lands are deteriorating, rivers are running dry, temperatures are rising, coral reefs are dying, and plant and animal species are disappearing."

~Extracted from the book " Selling the work ethic" by Sharon Beder~

And talking bout the environment...I recently visit the Singapore Zoo with my family... its good to be back on the feet walking :)

Tons of coins! Finder Keeper

What happen when you send your dirty laundry to the laundry washing shop without taking out your money?



All this coins are retrieved from the pockets of many unknowing customer who send their laundry for washing. All this coins were accumulated within a short span of 6 months from thousand of clothing send from shops around Singapore and contracted to factory for washing. After the "break the piggy bank" ceremony and an exhaustive night of sorting and counting, we arrive at a figure of S$1014 but there might be a small percentage of error for you must understand the challenge sorting out thousand of coins.

Some might ask, why not return to the customer? It is of course too much of a hassle and not cost effective unless its a stack of notes (the person misplacing it ought to be hang for carelessness). If you read the fine prints on every receipt issued from the laundry shop, it will clearly state that the shop will not be liable for any article left in the pockets. Hereby reminding all readers to check your pockets before throwing your clothing into the laundry bag or basket unless of course you don't mind "tipping" the finder keeper a dollar or two which do add up to a heap of coins over the months.