Category: Rants

Daily Discourse – DBS High Notes 5

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DBS has said it would take responsibility if customers are able to give evidence of mis-selling in relation to products affected by the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Now, let’s look at the profile of some of these poor souls who lost their money. These are a few of them which I gathered from searching Google:

  1. 60-year-old retiree Tham Wai Wah (who has only an O-level education): S$ 125,000.

  2. 59-year-old retiree who only wanted to be known as Mrs Lim: S$25,000.

These are just the reported cases. Ask around and you will find friends telling you that their own elderly parents have been approached to invest in some of these products. In fact, ask your own elderly parents if they have been approached when they go down to the bank to either withdraw their matured Fixed Deposit (FD), or to start a new one. Mine has been, and I thanked God none of these products they are ‘advised’ to put their money in are Lehman related. Better still, some of these products are maturing in 2 months.

Now, can anyone honestly dare said these old folks understood what a structured product is and all the risks behind it? Why do we hear that some of these people lost their entire life savings? Why, is it even sold to old folks whose original idea was simply to earn some honest interest from fixed deposits?

I spoke with my dad on one of the products he has placed some money into, and all he could tell me was that the guy who sold it to him told him this: Principal guaranteed, and even if the markets is doing badly he could earn 10%.

And this appears to be the same thing I am reading about these old folks who lost their money. To me, it is obvious that this is mis-selling. But solid proof of this will be hard to come by. I am quite sure some of these old folks probably couldn’t even remember who sold the product to them, nor could they find that particular staff anymore and ‘interrogate’ them. Just how on earth are investors going to prove the mis-selling without a full recording of the entire series of events leading up to their decision to invest into that product?

No wonder my friend’s comment said this when he was told of the above news: “如果我呃你，我老咗会死！” [It losely translates as – If I have bluffed / cheated you, I will die when I get old.]

And I can’t help but agree with his comment.

By the way, I heard Hong Kong, Macau and Australia have all guaranteed 100% of deposits in banks. When will Singapore, with its immense reserves do the same? With all the money around for the GIC and Temasek to invest everywhere, can’t the government gahmen even do this little bit to assure its citizens?

Comics:

Recommendations:

Good reads:
The Online Citizen (Rachel Chung): How much does the Government care?
Communplugged: Metrics Are So Yesterday!

Other news:

Local blog aggregator ping.sg pR0n.sg has gotten a face lift and new features. Lycan Times gathered that users who contribute their posts to it may now choose to keep ‘ponging’ of their posts private. This means registered users who read the posts which are not well liked and yet fears repurcussion will now be hidden from the public.

Either way, it’s a useless feature when one look at the current state of the Top 10. It is clear that few are really concerned with being exposed for ponging the lar sup (dirty) aka ‘NSFW’ (Not Safe For Work) posts. The fear of ‘exposure’ was nothing more than a speed bump previously. Allowing them to pong anonymously now simply means they will now be ponging such post with abandon and bring the domination of NSFW posts in the Top 10 to new heights.

On top of this change, there is now ‘community based’ features so only blog posts of friends will be listed. It maybe a wonderful feature so you don’t miss your friends’ post, but you can do the same using an online RSS reader such as Google Reader. Either way, after looking at the screen shots on some of the blogs reporting this feature, the layout reminded me of either blogcatalog or mybloglog.

Personal Opinion: It’s to pR0n.sg just as Aero is to Windows Vista.

Daily Discourse – Starbucks

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Recently Starbucks hit the news for wasting water – 23.4 million litres of water a day to be exact. If I am not wrong, someone actually made a calculation and came up with the estimation that this means they can refill an Olympic-size pool several times in an hour or something.

I am appalled that Starbucks is wasting that much water. Please note that while 70% of our water is covered with water, only 2.59% of that is freshwater [1].

And the drinkable water is unevenly distributed and shared by other land animals and plants, and also industrial and agricultural usage. And if this hasn’t been obvious to you in the past, that is why certain parts of the world are suffering from water shortages. Not to mention some of this water is now so polluted that we can no longer drink it without processing it first.

Here in Singapore, we go through much pain to ensure a steady supply of fresh water. At times, that even become an international dispute with our neighbouring country up north. Other example of international disputes over water involves Israel and Jordan, and also China and India. In fact, it is also rumored that the civilisation that built Angkor Wat collapsed as a result of water management failures. (You can read up some of that in Jared Diamond’s book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.)

Now, water management is not the only point in Professor Diamond’s book on sustainable use of our planet’s resources. Thus, while Starbucks should get the boos for wasting water, let’s also look at what Starbucks has done right in being environmental friendly:

  1. Grounds for your Garden: A year round program that gives leftover coffee grounds to anyone requesting it for composting, though not all stores and regions participate.

  2. Reducing the size of their paper napkins and reducing the size of their store garbage bags: Reduced over 1.8 million pounds of solid waste in 2004 alone.

  3. Paper napkins made of recycled paper: Just take a look at them when you take one. There’s a fine print that says no bleach was used in its production. Now that’s one less chemical being dumped into the rivers.

  4. Recycled content in food packaging for Starbucks coffee cups: First-ever to be granted by U.S. Food and Drug Administration

  5. Gets all of their coffee beans from farms: Ensures that farmers are not negatively affecting the environment while producing coffee beans for Starbucks.

Most, if not all of the above facts are found here.

Now, this is not an article to justify Starbucks. But are you aware of the above environmentally friendly measures Starbucks have taken? In fact, when you bash Starbucks, have you also check up on some of the environmentally unfriendly conduct of certain allegedly ‘green’ companies? For e.g. In one of HP’s LCD product, there is a label that says something to this effect: Dispose carefully, lamp contains mercury. On top of that, just how environmentally friendly are the million of iPods sold all over the world, when they are all made of plastics? Also, there is a rumor that Apple will be producing laptops made of aluminum – a non-renewable resource that is mined from the Earth. Will anyone be making a lot of noise about that?

So, while Starbucks should do something about this water issue and maybe even do more to improve it’s environmental record, why are we letting some of the others go scot free?

Comics:

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Daily Discourse – Benny Hinn

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Friday Oct 10, 2008

My friend messaged me in the morning to inform me I was quoted on The New Paper. And this I only knew until I work up in the afternoon at 1pm – the reason of course was I was having massive diarrhea since the night before, and also a nasty headache.

Subsequently, a blogger also left a message on my blog to indicate that I have been quoted. Thus, when my legs stopped wobbling, and that the ‘rush’ at the exit end of my alimentary canal has more or less ended, I allowed the curiosity to kill the cat and paid 70 cents in the late afternoon to find out what the fuss was all about. And this is all [scanned image]:

Responding to Mr Lim’s blog post, netizen Xizor2000 wrote: ‘I do hope that people realise that popular pastors are not necessarily ‘right’.’

So, it was just a news article on the local blogosphere’s reaction to City Harvest Church’s engagement of Benny Hinn to speak at its first Asia Conference. In specific, it refers to this blog post dated July 2nd, 2008.

I am surprised not that it took almost 3 months for the local media to pick this up, but that it actually even picked it up at all. I thought news like Starbucks’ wastage of water would have been more interesting (more on that in a future post).

Now, I would like to bring to your attention this:

… a CHC spokesman said: ‘Rev Benny Hinn is a well-known minister, having spent more than 30 years as a full-time pastor and Christian worker. He is a sought-after speaker all around the world and is still being invited to speak in many major international conferences.’

The spokesman added that the church is aware of the online buzz about Rev Hinn’s ministry, ‘some negative and some positive.’

‘But as it is with any other successful ministry, one can expect both bouquets and brickbats for their work,’ he said.

But has City Harvest Church examine closely the brickbats in question? Where are those Benny Hinn has healed? Is it not the truth that when Jesus Christ healed a person, it is recorded in the scriptures that these people then appeared to many? On top of which, why is the Benny Hinn Ministries is not a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability? Is it so difficult for this alleged man of God, to put to rest the doubts of fellow Christians if there is nothing to hide?

City Harvest Church should well be aware what pitfalls that would come by associating with a person of questionable character. It should question if it is at all wise to continue associating with Benny Hinn until all the controversies around his ministry is addressed.

As for those who would like to consider me biased against Benny Hinn, let me also point out that our political leaders will spare no effort to put to rest all questions to their integrity. Even a minor Member of Parliament is expected to leave the party if charged (not even convicted!) in our court of law. And do you not agree with them it is the right approach? Or do you in your own bias, practise a form of double standards as far as the decision of your church management is concerned?

Comics:

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Song: Andy Lau – Everyone is Number One

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The Real Great Depression – The Panic of 1873

Daily Discourse – Shameless

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I left the Facebook group called ‘I’m pissed off that my prime minister’s getting S$3.1 million this year’.

Frankly, I used to be immensely pissed with the pay our leaders lea-duhs are getting until I read this:

September22, 2008

Up to 10,000 staff at the New York office of the bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers will share a bonus pool set aside for them that is worth $2.5bn (£1.4bn), Barclays Bank, which is buying the business, confirmed last night.

…

In addition to the $2.5bn cash pool, Barclays is also in negotiations with about 30 executives it considers to be Lehman’s best assets and plans to offer them contracts worth tens of millions of dollars. British employees of Lehman described the bonus payments as a “scandal” as they waited anxiously yesterday to see whether a deal could be struck with buyers circling the bank’s European operations.

I don’t know about you, but I am furious. Have they no shame? The turmoil caused by the collapse of Lehman Brothers almost a month ago is still felt in the financial markets today. Just how many people have been screwed a few times over as the markets went into free fall? And these guys get their golden parachutes?!

When I look at just how lacking in accountability from the likes of these executives in Lehman Brothers, I must really say our ministers are doing pretty alright. In fact for a moment, I almost agree with our ministers they are underpaid.

Thus, I left that Facebook group, not because I now agree with the pay the ministers are getting, but as thanksgiving to God that I still have my job (maybe not for long but who knows), the country I lived in is still safe (even though in recession), a roof over my head and well, the comfort and access to the Internet for me to bitch about the things I am not happy with this country. My only wish is that our lea-duhs will be responsible and that God gave them the wisdom not to falter.

Beyond that, I really don’t fxxking care how much money they are getting a month anymore as long as I get a roof over my head and a job to pay my bills.

And then I read this:

October 7, 2008

Have you heard of anything more outrageous – a week after taxpayers commit $85 billion dollars to rescue AIG, the company’s leading insurance executives spend hundreds of thousands of dollars at one of the most exclusive reports in the nation… Let me describe for some of you the charges that the shareholders, taxpayers, had to pay. AIG spent $200,000 dollars for hotel rooms. Almost $150,000 for catered banquets. AIG spent $23,000 at the hotel spa and another $1,400 at the salon. They were getting manicures, facials, pedicures and massages while American people were footing the bill. And they spent another $10,000 dollars for I don’t know what this is, leisure dining. Bars?

I soon will go to AIA to cancel some of my really crappy endowment policies. It is high time we start bringing the recession to some of these buggers and I’ll never ever buy another endowment policy again.

In fact, I have two that have been running since 1998, and when I considered the coupons I have cashed out every alternate year, and the current value there is in each policy now, it adds up to just slightly more than half of what I have paid to them.

Where did the other half of my money go? Now maybe this extravagance, and not the insurance that also comes with the policy, explains why it takes so long for our policies to actually start earning us money.

Bye bye, AIA.

Comics:

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Gadget Reviews:
Nicole – Lowdown on Samsung Innov8 Features

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mobile.silence

Daily Discourse – Stomp Forum

3 comments

Most of the time I ignore Stomp and its forum because it is my considered opinion that it’s nothing more but a cesspool. I generally practice what I have at times preached: “Don’t like? Don’t read.”

The forums I participate in these days are generally work related. And they are mostly forums for me to post queries about problems with Windows that we have never experienced, or those that no amount of searches on Google will provide a solution. Otherwise, I drop by to check out forums that links my blog, to find out why I am linked, and what was said. In fact, the only forum that I access daily without fail is the almost defunct forum I also hosted.

Personally speaking, since I have a low opinion of Stomp, I would prefer not to give it any attention on my blog. Neither do I expect to visit it for a long time to come. But today, it was brought to my attention that an acquaintance – Miss Loi – was slandered there.

Now, I have never used Miss Loi’s tuition services and I have never met her. So I am not making a point here about how exemplary her tuition services are. But I am making a point to set straight some of the allegations made in that forum post, especially this part:

A year ago when I was walking back home from school, I was stopped in my heels by ads posted on the wall everywhere… “free exam papers” at freeexampaper.com . I made my way back home feeling enthralled that I could finally get some practice papers without spending a fortune. But to my disappointment it was a scam… the site was SELLING the papers, whatever happened to the “free”? As I sank into my chair burying my teary face, I lamented about how f**ked up the world is.

I learned that a maths tutor operated that site. She’s a math major or something. There was a column about her in the article and apparently she has the liberty to “sack” students whom she deems unfit. She charges about $90 or something, I think her name is Ms.Loi?

This is just preposterous. Its a harsh reality but sadly thats the truth. If this is the case then I think that the education system has failed. Education atleast pre university education should be free for all.

I love this word: preposterous.

What is really preposterous is the forum post itself. It speaks of a matter ‘a year ago’ when at time we don’t even remember something a month ago. Just how much of it recalled is fact or fiction? It is clear that the writer is completely oblivious to just how his thoughtless words may destroy the livelihood / career of another individual. But of course what can we expect when one is never required to stand up and be cross-examined for whatever they say?

So, let me set this record straight:

  1. The correct name of the site is: www.exampaper.com.sg and it mentioned nothing about ‘free’.

  2. I couldn’t find anything on www.exampaper.com.sg which indicated any charges in the range of $90. Where did this figure come from?

  3. ‘Sacking’ Students: My understanding is that Miss Loi would advise those students who made no improvements to leave after all manner of helping them in ineffective after 6 – 12 months. And I think that’s fair, since parents can then take their children elsewhere. Above which, those who made good progress no longer need tuition anyway and they should be advised to end their tuition to free up the space in the tuition centre for more needy students. In fact, just ask Miss Loi to understand the full context of her comment and not subject it to your own imagination or interpretation.

Now, if you are wondering what is the use for me to refute that writer on my blog, take note that I had also made some negative comments about the Stomp Forum. It would be inappropriate for me to do so at the forum itself as that would be the equivalent of taking the hospitality of another person for granted. Furthermore, I don’t think I can refrain from using unkind language.

Anyway, I do hope when people search for comments on Miss Loi using a search engine to verify these false things written about her, they will inevitably stumble upon this article. I also hope that this post will remind everyone that Stomp is the last place anyone should look for unbiased / credible comments or reviews. In fact, even when I am not a big fan of moderation, the completely non moderated and unverifiable nature of Stomp should give you a general idea just how much credibility it should be accorded.

As for the slanderous little Stomper… this is what I have to say to you: You are lucky that Miss Loi had preferred not to take the matter to a lawyer. A wise decision, since suing you is really a waste of money and there’s not going to be very much you can pay in compensation either. But you better watch out, punk! The next person you ‘fix’ may not be as magnanimous.

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