– that thanks to a new charity drive started by Microsoft, IM-obsessed teenagers can now tell their parents that by staying online, they’re helping charities like the Sierra Club, Unicef, and the National AIDS Fund. The initiative, called “I’m,” is centered around a unique little gimmick: start a conversation in Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger with the word “I’m,” and Microsoft will donate a (small) portion of Messenger’s advertising revenue to one of its partner charities. (Yes. It is not an urban legend. It is not a hoax. It is real. Check this out… but U.S. only! Tiew!!)

The Stupid Shitty-Porean Award

– that a SIAO KIAN KIONG wrote this in Voices of TODAY on 2 Mar 2007: “Being a homemaker is a self-centred decision, made only for the benefit of one’s family. On the other hand, National Service is compulsory and it involves sacrificing for the nation. NSmen have the sacred task of defending the nation in time of war, to the extent of laying down their lives for their country. To put the homemaker on the same pedestal as that on which we place NSmen is an affront.” (Makes one wonder how Ah Siao’s mother would have felt hearing what this Siao Ding Dong has said. Maybe she really did find him in the ‘boon soh tung’ [rubbish bin] behind Pearl Market {珍珠巴刹后面的垃圾桶}. In fact, is there anything more selfless than making the decision to devote one’s self to one’s own children and home? And the editor who allowed this piece of shit to be published should be shot for insulting the reader’s intelligence.)

About the GST Raise…

– that rebutting Opposition MP Low Thia Khiang’s suggestions that the gover-min was ‘insincere’ in helping odd-job workers, Lim Swee Say Shee Shee took pains to explain why these workers needed to contribute to Medisave first in order to receive Workfare. Citing real-life examples, Shee Shee said that what such low-wage workers needed the most were enforced savings to meet their housing, medical and retirement needs. Said Shee Shee: “I don’t understand [what Mr Low is saying]. By putting the money in CPF, is this not real money? Is the money of less value? Is he saying that low-wage workers won’t need a home, won’t ever fall sick, or won’t need to retire someday?” (It is also hard to understand how that would help them when they can’t use it now. Above which, what good is there when you take 2% from them up front, then put back 1.5% into their CPF which they can’t even touch even in their dire straits, while their next better alternative is to be splattered all over the MRT tracks?)

– that besides Mr Low, several MPs had also earlier questioned the gover-min’s move as they felt that what these odd-job workers needed were upfront cash to meet daily needs, rather than savings for the future. (Either that’s something too difficult for million dollar mini$ter$ to understand or there is some ultra-complicated cum ultra-confidential reasons behind putting money in the CPF which they can’t explain in simple terms to make us understand.)

– that Tharman Thumby Shanmugaratnam borrowed the words of an 18-year-old to sum up Budget 2007. “He says, and I quote, that ‘the overarching priorities for Singapore’s fiscal policies remain starkly simple: To ensure Singapore’s long-term economic survival, and its survival as a cohesive unit.’ This is in fact what this Budget has been about,” said Thumby as he shared with the House the winning entry from RJC student Daniel Ong for the Budget essay competition. (Maybe Daniel Ong study study too much until brain dead already. In a few years he will be a gover-min scholar, and don’t be surprised another 15 years down the road this guy will be one of the mini$ter$ giving the people the same load of shit on TV.)

-that Thumby said ‘necessary, simple, effective and fair’, were the guiding principles behind the gover-min’s fiscal policies drawn up to arrest the widening income gap and stay ahead of the global competition. (Fair? According to who? Nothing in the world is fair because there’s no universal standard of fairness.)

– that Thumby says the GST increase, when coupled with the Workfare scheme, is not regressive. In fact, Thumby said, the lower income group would be better off with Workfare and the GST offset package. (Oh really? On paper maybe. And at most for the next few years when they are still getting the so-called goodies everyone is paying for. What happens after that?)

– that under Singapore’s current tax system, the top 20% of households will contribute more than half of the taxes collected by the gover-min. At 54% of total taxes, this amount is also about four times as much as what the bottom 40% of Singaporeans are paying in taxes. (What Thumby need to understand is that $50 is ‘sup sup sway’ to the top 20%, but it meant a lot more to the lower income so just take your million dollar logic and shove it up your arse.)

– that Thumby said removing GST from essential items like rice and salt may seem like a good way to help the poor but it will benefit the rich the most. (Obviously Thumby still doesn’t understand $50 means more to the poor than to rich fxxks like him.)

– that Thumby gave four reasons to make his case: the low-income group does not spend a lot on essentials; the GST from essentials comes mainly from the rich and foreigners; to make up for lost revenue, the GST on other items would have to go up; and the difficulty of deciding just what is an essential item. (Crap. For one thing, if it has been difficult to decide what is an essential item then how did Thumby come up wit the idea that the rich and foreigners pays more for them, and that the poor spends a lot less on them? The poor eats lesser rice than the rich? Stop taking us for idiots.)

– that Thumby revealed that according to the Household Expenditure Survey, the low-income households spend just 5per cent of their expenditure on the eight essential items [rice, salt, sugar, edible oil, soya sauce, vegetables, flour and fish]. Even after adding other non-cooked food items (9%) and utilities and public transport (13%), the total is only about a quarter of their expenditure. (So how is it difficult to decide that rice, salt, sugar, edible oil, soya sauce, vegetables, flour and fish are essential when he could name them?)

– that the gover-min will lose $450million in tax revenue, of which only about $30million comes from the low-income. (That 30 million means a lot more to the low-income than what the 420 million means to the rich. Above which, come on lah… you take $420 million less you also don’t need to pay out your so-called goodies! And the people would probably be more grateful they can get a breather.)

– that GST on other items would have to be higher if essentials are exempted. (And how often does the poor use some of these? Think luxury tax, Thumby. People like you should pay more tax for a Porsche or the 2nd car!)

– that it hits the middle-income harder, as seen in Australia and Ireland, where essentials are exempted but GST on other items goes up. (Then the middle-income should learn how to rein in their expenditure and spend less on non-essentials.)

– that using using the example of rice, Thumby noted that the more expensive brands of rice are well-stocked at NTUC FairPrice. “FairPrice tells us that most of their customers prefer higher-quality rice, and not just the rich-end customers,” he said, adding: “Should we cover Pearl Rice from Niigata, Japan, that incidentally had a wonderful food review from Teo Pau Lin of The Straits Times? I read it on the ST foodies website. But it comes with a price – $14.24.” (Yes, Thumby, all essentials in its raw form should be exempted. And Pearl Rice from Japan is $14.24 because farmers in Niigata has a higher standard of living and should be paid more, not so much because it’s a luxury. Geddit?)

– that Thumby asked, “should we extend it to chapati, which for some groups is an alternative staple to rice?” he continued, referring to the Indian bread. (No. Because it’s made. The baker provided a service… so GST liable. That too difficult for your puny brains, Thumby?)

– that gover-mins, find it hard in practice to tell people what is essential and what is not. Hence, the list grows, more revenue is lost, a higher GST rate on other items is needed, and the low-income benefit less. Thumby said: “This is why the best way is for us to help the lower-income group directly and let them decide on what they want to spend on instead of exempting essentials.” (Actually, Singaporeans would accept whatever you Tali-PAP shitheads tell them. They would be none the wiser if you asswipes had argued that essentials should be exempted. Or rather, whichever you argue, Singaporeans simply ‘lan-pa-pa-lan’…)

– that there must be a more permanent way to help those burdened by GST increases, beyond the ad hoc offset measures, Inderjit Singh. Inderjit suggested: Exempt certain basic products and services from the GST. A ‘more permanent’ solution is to zero-rate essential items, he suggested. The exempted items can include basic foodstuffs such as rice, flour, salt and sugar; education at all levels; health care; and the buying and renting of HDB homes. (Get a thicker pillow and dream on.)

– that Sylvia Lim’s speech was rebutted by 3 Tali-PAP MPs, who said she had not given the gover-min due credit for the prudence and generosity of its budget. The NCMP had criticised the gover-min’s decision to raise the GST, saying it had revenue from various sources and a stronger fiscal position than was reported. (What due credit? Due credit for making us all pay for this budget? There will be due credit if the Tali-PAP came up with money from their own pockets!)

– that the civil service will likely get a salary adjustment later this year, and the announcement on this is expected in April. This comes amid a tighter labour market and as the civil service faces higher attrition rates. The salaries of civil servants serpents here are benchmarked to their counterparts in the private sector and the last major salary revision was seven years ago. (That probably explains why GST up 2%, Corporation Tax down 2% but CPF only up 1.5% and also why no property tax cuts. And let’s face it… these jokers seems to get better bonus and pay than most of their counterparts in the private sector.)

The World Since the Lunar New Year

– that U.S. stocks rebounded after 27-Feb-2007 from their biggest plunge in four years after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke Barnie said the economy will continue growing and the nation’s largest financial institutions advised investors that the bull market is not over. (Anyway, Greensperm… oops… Greenspan only say a recession maybe possible at the end of the year. He didn’t really said there will be a recession. Haha…)

– that the U.S. vowed to press ahead with a plan for a missile defence shield in eastern Europe to guard against attack from Iran, with or without the approval of NATO allies. The head of the Pentagon’s Missile Defence Agency said Washington may want to put radar even closer to Russia – which opposes the plan – in the Caucasus, in addition to planned sites in ex-Warsaw Pact members Poland and the Czech Republic. (The U.S. has no respect for those countries that prostitutes themselves to the Americans for economic benefits.)

– that Tony B-liar was facing an embarrassing diplomatic set-back as the U.S. gave a cool response to his offer to base missiles from a planned ‘Star Wars’ defence shield in Britain. It emerged that B-liar has been privately lobbying the U.S. for several months about intercepter rockets for the proposed anti-ballistic missile system. (Well, you can’t withdraw from Iraq and not make Warmonger Bush unhappy. It’s also high time you stop sticking your warm face to the American’s cold ass.)

– that Abu Qatada, a radical and suspected key Al-Qaeda figure, lost an appeal against deportation from Britain to Jordan. Authorities hailed the decision, saying Qatada – in custody since a clampdown on terrorists following the July 2005 suicide bombings in London – was a clear threat to national security. The terrorist sympathizer argued that he risked being tortured if deported to Jordan – a claim rejected by the British Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) ruling on the appeal. (Maybe they should just put him on the island where they exiled Napoleon.)

– that European plane maker Airbus announced that it will cut 10,000 jobs over the next four years, in an attempt to save €5 billion by 2010. The aircraft maker said in a crisis statement that it will sell or close Varel and Laupheim production sites in Germany and Saint-Nazaire-Ville site in France. Across Europe, 4,300 job cuts will go in France, 3,700 in Germany, 1,600 in Britain and 400 in Spain. Half of the redundancies will be made among the 56,000-strong Airbus work force and remainder from subcontractors, CEO Louis Gallois said. (Have fun with the German Unions.)

– that Pakistani security forces captured one of the Taliban’s three top lea-duhs, a senior security official and Taliban sources said. The capture of Mullah Obaidullah Akhund marked the first Pakistani arrest of a senior lea-duh of the terrorist militia since it was driven from power in Afghanistan in 2001 and thousands of its fighters fled into Pakistan. (Are they finally cleaning up their act or is it all for show?)

– that the U.S. has expressed concern at the level of Chinese military spending and called for greater transparency in Beijing’s budget. Dick-head Cheney recently said that China’s military build-up and its missile test, in which an inactive weather satellite was destroyed, were not consistent with its stated goal of peaceful development. China hit back with a spokesman for the foreign ministry in Beijing accusing the U.S. of acting like a nosy neighbour. Qin Gang said China’s policies were aimed only at defence, rejecting claims of opaque spending policies. “What’s your response if your neighbour keeps peeking into your house through a crack in the door and yelling ‘Open the door, let’s see what’s inside’?” Mr Qin said. “Will you call the police?” (The world has currently more to fear from the Americans than the Chinese.)

– that Japan has pledged to keep whaling as its troubled fleet headed home early from Antarctic waters, while opponents exulted at the pullout and vowed to ramp up pressure against the hunt. The fleet, which had been hounded by environmentalists, is sailing home to Japan a month earlier than planned after its mother ship was badly damaged by fire. (Time for Greenpeace to re-arm and refit, and make sure the next time round this blasted whalers come by, they can make the frigid waters of the Antarctica their permanent home – i.e. they will get to come, but never get to go back.)

– that historians say at least 200,000 young women, mostly from Korea but also from China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan, were forced to serve as sex slaves in Japanese army brothels. (Just like the Japanese say that there is no evidence that massacre was committed in Nanking, and the numbers can’t be verified, they will argue that there is no evidence any woman was forced into prostitution by the Japanese Army during the war and the allegations can’t be verified. Modus Operandi, don’t you think?)

– that Schizo Abe will stand by Japan’s apology for forcing Asian women to have sex with Japanese troops decades ago, an aide said, following Asian nations’ outcry over Schizo’s recent denial of coercion. Hiroshige Seko, special adviser in charge of Abe’s public relations, was referring to a statement issued by then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono, apologising to victims of sex slavery. (Did Schizo really think anyone would let his comment be?)

– that Japanese scholars deny that force was used to round up the women as sex slaves, blaming private contractors for any abuses. Schizo sided with these critics, saying there was ‘no evidence to prove there was coercion’ and says Japan will not issue another apology for its World War II military brothels. (Someone should tell these Japanese shitheads that lack of evidence isn’t the same as evidence of lack.)

– that South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon criticised remarks by Shinzo Schizo Abe questioning Tokyo’s enslavement of Asian women during World War II as ‘not helpful’. Min-Soon was asked about comments made by Schizo who disputed if Tokyo was responsible for the enslavement of thousands of mostly Korean women during World War II. (It won’t be surprising that the Japanese probably imagined that all these women enslaved by the Japanese Army in WWII did it like their own AV actresses – i.e. they loved it and they did it for the money. Doesn’t matter they paid them donuts to begin with.)

– that a top ruling party official says Japan risks becoming another province of China, once again raising the spectre of a Chinese military threat just as relations between the two countries are improving. Shoichi Siow-Chee Nakagawa, 53, policy chief of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said in a speech: “If something goes wrong with Taiwan, within the next 20 years, we could become another province of China.’ At a press conference later the same day, he told reporters: “Once the Shanghai Expo is over in 2010, China may again become a non-pacifist nation. If Taiwan comes completely under the control of China, Japan may be next.” (The Japanese will have to commit mass hara-kiri for that to happen.)

– that North Korean lea-duh Kim Jong Il has been preparing a military-led collective lea-duhship to rule the communist country after his death, a news report said. Kim, who turned 65 recently and was picked by his father to take over the reins, has given up dynastic succession for various reasons, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted diplomatic sources in Beijing as saying. (All his sons must have been great disappointments. If not, the mothers must have pissed him off. Maybe another 200 years from now there will be a Korean version of ‘War and Beauty’ [金枝玉孽] during the period of the Northern Kim Dynasty…)

– that Taiwanese separatists marked the island’s ‘2-28’ conflict in 1947 as the start of the Taiwan independence movement, on the 60th anniversary of the incident. (Might as well say since 1895 when they fought the Japanese occupation forces. But again, it is not a surprise people without any legitimacy would want to be associated with some event or people with significance. For e.g. Empress Wu Zetian labelled her dynasty as ‘Zhou’ so she could claim lineage to the ancient Zhou Dynasty.)

– that historically, the ‘2-28’ conflict was sparked by a dispute between tobacco agents and a cigarette vendor in Taipei on Feb 28 1947, resulting in Chinese strongman Chiang Kai-shek’s sending in KMT troops to put down the riots. An estimated 18,000 to 28,000 Taiwanese were killed. (There was nothing about Taiwanese Independence in that. It was simply a popular reaction to social injustice perpetrated by the KMT at that time.)

– that a grandson of Chiang Kai-shek filed a libel suit against Chen Shui-bian after Chen said Chiang was responsible for the 1947 massacre of thousands. John Chiang, also a KMT lawmaker, demanded Chen pay one dollar in symbolic damages and run apologies in newspapers for sullying Chiang Kai-shek’s reputation. He also filed a criminal libel suit against Yu Shyi-kun, head of the separatist DPP, on the same charges. (Chen has nothing to show for more than 6 years of his incompetent rule except for his uncanny ability to drive a wedge between groups of his own people.)

– that a group of female Taiwanese opposition lawmakers demanded Chen Shui-bian apologise for making what they deemed ‘sexually harassing’ remarks to a reporter. Chen was criticised for replying with a smile ‘I am thinking about you’ when asked by a female reporter what he was thinking while planting rice seedlings in a tour to the countryside. (It’s not even surprising if he thinks often of other women. After all, he probably has more reasons to made ‘the mistake any man will make’ than Jackie Chan. And any man can understand why.)

– that China called on the U.S. to cancel a missile sale to Taiwan, saying it violated Washington’s one-China policy and created instability in the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. Defence Department told Congress it had approved the possible sale of Raytheon-built missiles to Taiwan for use on its F-16 fighter jets. The sale is worth up to US$421 million. (In response, China should just veto any sanctions on Iran.)

– that according to General Saprang Kalayanamitr, recent friction between Thailand and Singapore was not Singapore’s fault, but Thaksin’s Tham-sim’s. (Tham-sin should just retire with whatever wealth he still has and stop being an eye sore.)

– that Thailand’s finance minister and deputy prime minister Pridiyathorn Devakula announced that he had resigned, citing differences with the prime minister over the handling of the economy. Pridiyathorn, appointed after a coup ousted Tham-sim five months ago, said that he was stepping down partly because of a recent controversial attempt to appoint a key Tham-sim ally to a top economics post. (He probably either had enough of the recent flops or he didn’t want to be the hatchet-man to rob Shin Shit Corp from Temasek.)

– that top Indonesian officials appeared to have backtracked on claims that the recent ban on sand exports to Singapore was linked to negotiations on the extradition treaty and border issues. Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda told the Indo Pos daily that Jakarta had stopped the sand sales simply to prevent further damage to the environment. (And that’s not a problem too big for you to solve, just like your annual smoke problems that have the entire region choking?)

– that Indonesia spelled out its plans to fight the forest fires that shroud the region in haze each year, in hopes of convincing potential donor countries and agencies to help pay for the battle. Experts have estimated that Jakarta needs some 600 billion rupiah to bring the problem under control. Its plan includes coordinated measures by various ministries and agencies as well as regional gover-mins. Environment Mini$ter Rachmat Witoelar said his country needs generous financial support to guarantee that those measures produce results. (Simply put: “Pay up. Or be sorry when you smell smoke!”)

– that Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla has blamed Singapore for the slow progress in talks on concluding an extradition treaty, accusing it of seeking to hang on to billions in allegedly corrupt money siphoned out of the country by fleeing tycoons. He made the remarks in response to a question by The Financial Times in an interview. The prevailing view in Indonesia is that corrupt businessmen and politicians hide – and park their illegal gains – in Singapore. (Well, maybe. But who can tell if all of those billions, when returned to your country, won’t be siphoned off again?)

– that Malaysia has shot down a controversial plan by state officials to recruit Islamic ‘spies’ to snoop on unmarried lovers and report them to religious authorities, saying there was no need for such activities. Abdullah Badawi disapproved of the move, saying there were more activities beneficial to Muslims that state religious authorities could focus on. (Indeed. There are more things to worry about than whether unmarried couples are touching, kissing or even fxxking.)

Singapore Since the Lunar New Year

– that CPF returns can be improved but just how much risk people can stomach is not an easy question to resolve, Thumby said. (Whatever… as long as my CPF Housing loan doesn’t go up accordingly.)

– that the 14 town councils run by the Tali-PAP will continue to absorb the GST on Services and Conservancy Charges. They have been doing so for residential flats since the GST was introduced in 1994. When the GST went up from 3% to 4% in January 2003, and then to 5% in January 2004, the town councils absorbed the increases, instead of passing on the additional tax burden to the residents. (Can this report also include the facts about how many times and how many percent S&C charges have gone up since then?)

– that Singapore is monitoring the localised impact of global warming on the country. Mabok Tongue gave the assurance in Parliament in response to a concern raised by MP Lily Neo over the impact of global warming on parts of the island which are made up of reclaimed land. Noting that the most pessimistic scientific predictions indicate that the sea level would rise by at most 70cm to 80cm, Mabok pointed out that land reclaimed in Singapore is some 120cm above sea level. (Right. And when it does rise beyond 1.2m, Mabok won’t be around to be held responsible for it.)

– that Mabok has also clarified that Singapore is not targeting to grow its population to 6.5 million. Rather, the 6.5-million figure – quoted in the Revised Concept Plan – merely serves as a planning barometer for Singapore’s land use and transportation framework in the next 40 to 50 years. Speaking in Parliament during question time, Mabok pointed out that with higher projected population and new economic growth sectors, Singapore would need to optimise land use and explore new ways to create space. (For starters, maybe just flatten his house and make him live in HDB.)

– that Singapore’s Foreign Affairs, and Trade and Industry Ministers have asked their Indonesian counterparts to clarify why the supply of granite has been disrupted in the last few days. This was revealed in parliament by Mabok Tongue – who said the Indonesian authorities have stepped up checks and detained some barges carrying granite materials to Singapore. (Perhaps Indonesian ‘Authorities’ are a little confused by the difference of sand and granite. Just be thankful they didn’t confuse granite with grenade.)

– that the MRT Circle Line, which has been held back for over a year because of the 2004 Nicoll Highway cave-in, could be delayed further. Contractors working on the $6.8 billion project cite the Indonesian sand ban and a possible hiccup in granite supply as being the latest spanner in the works. Already, the cost of pre-mixed concrete has almost trebled to $200 per cubic metre since the sand ban was announced in January. Concrete is nine parts granite to one part sand, although the mix varies according to grades. (With ‘friends’ like Indonesia… who needs enemies?)

– that HDB flats will continue to be affordable – even as Singapore’s population increases, assured Mabok Tongue. Mabok made it clear that this commitment remained a key priority of the gover-min. (By making flats even smaller than they already are?)

– that Singapore is standing firm against organ trading, even if it may save more lives, said Khaw Boon Wan. Speaking in Parliament, Mr Khaw said aside from ethical issues, many find the idea degrading and repulsive. (Hear that, Lee Wee Ling? So shut up, and don’t go crying to papa and your brother.)

– that the police have identified the person responsible for putting online the videos of two suicide jumpers at Admiralty and Yishun MRT stations in December. The two videos, which show two individuals being run over, have been making the rounds among Singapore’s online community. In a posting on his blog after he was questioned, the teenager said: “This is the first time I’m getting into trouble with the law, and it doesn’t feel good at all … At this age, if I get into any trouble with the law, I’m pretty much done for.” (He’s got the attention he wanted. Now it’s time to teach him a lesson in ‘common sense’.)

– that besides new teams, S.League fans can also look forward to ‘live’ matches on Channel 5 for the new season. The ‘live’ matches on Fridays had been aired on Channel NewsAsia for the past three years. (What a waste of TV transmission bandwidth and air time…)

– that the gover-min has rejected suggestions that advertising restrictions could have led to the failure of Crazy Horse Paris – the topless dance revue which pulled out of Singapore. Balaji Baka-ji Sadasivan said the performances were meant for a mature audience and there is a need for some regulatory control for advertisements of adult entertainment. (* Yawn * They will never associate themselves with any failures. So don’t waste time trying to get them to admit it. Just pin it on them and move on. Meantime Eng Wah can borrow a 10lb hammer to bang balls.)

– that Singapore’s fertility woes may well persist if one goes by the results from the Singapore Women’s Pregnancy Survey 2007, which revealed that one in four women in the reproductive age group does not intend to have a child. And when it came to women without tertiary education, this tendency was even higher. Almost half of them – 44% – indicated that they did not plan to have children. (Yep. Be responsible. If you can’t afford to raise them into proper human beings, then don’t have any children.)

– that the majority of women [70.5%] with tertiary education were keen to have children while only 56.4% of women with secondary and primary education wanted children. Their mean ideal age for having the first child was at 27 years old while the mean ideal number of children was 2.3. (Tertiary = higher income = can afford. Of course keen to have children.)

Trivial, Jokes and Thoughts from Discussions

– that Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker, was ordered to pay Alcatel-Lucent US$1.52 billion for using digital music technology without permission, a federal jury said in the largest patent ruling in history. The victory could see Alcatel-Lucent go after other providers of software and hardware that support MP3 files such as Apple’s iPod and iTunes as well as Sony, Creative and Napster. (A well-done law suit is a good way of re-distributing someone else’s profits.)

– that Apple advises Mac users to write down their passwords, just in case they have forgotten them when they are needed. On its Mac 101 Web site, Apple offers a document called “My Mac Cheat Sheet” (PDF). The document has spaces for Mac users to not just record their Mac OS X related usernames and passwords, but also log-in credentials for e-mail accounts, Internet access accounts and routers. (Just make sure that no one other than you finds it.)

– that a former Canadian defense minister is demanding gover-mins worldwide disclose and use secret alien technologies obtained in alleged UFO crashes to stem climate change, a local paper said. “I would like to see what (alien) technology there might be that could eliminate the burning of fossil fuels within a generation … that could be a way to save our planet,” Paul Hellyer, 83, told the Ottawa Citizen. (Actually, alien technology to get out of this godforsaken hellhole is more important.)

– that a story posted on Drudge stated that Al Gore’s Nashville, Tenn., mansion consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, has sparked lively debate among bloggers of all stripes and political affiliations. The story was basically a reposting of a press release from a self-described ‘independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan’ Tennessee research organization, which said: ‘Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.’ (Clearly, someone in the Bush Regime or the right-winged conservatives with a stake in America’s oil industry didn’t like the pressure Al Gore has put on them with that documentary. There is no greater hypocrisy than Warmonger Bush’s refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocols.)

– that in response, Gore’s office made stated that: ‘Gore’s family has taken numerous steps to reduce the carbon footprint of their private residence, including signing up for 100% green power through Green Power Switch, installing solar panels, and using compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy saving technology. Above which Gore has had a consistent position of purchasing carbon offsets to offset the family’s carbon footprint – a concept the right-wing fails to understand.’ (Gore has no need to answer to Drudge. Its incessant and shameless American right-winged and conservative agenda is a bucket of shit that is the next worst cancer to the world, next to Al Qaeda’s brand of global terrorism.)

– that according to a new documentary by Hollywood film director James Cameron, Jesus had a son named Judah and was buried alongside Mary Magdalene. The film examines a tomb found near Jerusalem in 1980 which producers say belonged to Jesus and his family. According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, six of those coffins were marked with the names Mary; Matthew; Jesua son of Joseph; Mary; Jofa; and Judah son of Jesua. (The Da Vinci Code with the ‘alternate Jesus’ idea has sold so well, that now even James Cameron wants to tap on that. Jesua [or Joshua] is a common Jewish name. If one could believe in the probability that a 1-in-a-million mutation can result in an entirely new species, it would be easier to believe that another family with a father name Joseph can have two sons of the Jesua and Jofa. For starters, has anyone asked how many Johns there are in this world?)

– that Israeli archaeologist Amos Kloner, who was among the first to examine the tomb when it was first discovered, said the names marked on the coffins were very common at the time. “I don’t accept the news that it was used by Jesus or his family,” he said. (In a separate unrelated news… a condom with the name Mao was found. Film Director Jake Kam-lan is expected to make a film titled, “Chairman Mao’s last condom”)

– that the mother of a 196-pound eight-year-old boy, who could be taken into care because of his weight, has defended her refusal to stop feeding him junk food. Single mum Nicola McKeown says her son Connor McCreaddie refuses to eat healthy foods, such as fruit and vegetables. (You are his mother, you dumb witch! You tell him what is good and made him eat what is good and stop trying to justify your own negligence!)

I even posted my indignation up to a forum… and some of the responses were quite interesting, and one was just simply hilarious. This really takes the cake:

“Maybe it only works on bird brains!”

On a more serious note, there were also comments that this research may have some positive applications, for e.g. for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s; and whether the research is good or bad depends on the people controlling it and its application.

Take for example, explosives are used to demolish buildings and blowing apart mountains for road building, but they are also used as bombs to kill people. The person who brought up this example asked if Nobel should be stopped since explosives are used to kill people.

Either way, it is a little too early to say if this research has any meaning, or whether it is good or bad. Whatever the case is, just like it is with explosives, human society will develop a way to harness the positive effects of this technology and control the bad.

The World since the last TGIF

– that the White House disagreed with Senate Majority lea-duh Harry Reid’s claim that the Iraq war was ‘the worst foreign policy mistake’ in U.S. history. White House press secretary Tony Snow said it was important to remove Saddam Hussein from power and noted that a majority of senators voted in 2002 to authorize the use of force in Iraq. (It is perhaps the worst military mistake…)

– that Dick-head Cheney warned China Friday its swift military build-up worried the world and said Washington was not blindly trusting North Korea to implement a landmark nuclear deal. (Worried the world with what? An obsolete armed forces that is only recently starting to modernise?)

– that Dick-head also used a speech to a group of prominent U.S. and Australian citizens to assail unnamed critics who he said want the allies to ‘turn our backs’ on places like Afghanistan or Iraq. In some of his most extensive remarks on the North Korean pact, Dick-head praised Beijing’s help but said China’s swift military build-up and recent anti-satellite test clashed with its stated goal of being a peaceful power. (Balik kampung lah, Dick. There is more to worry about from warmongering neo-cons like you.)

– that Barack Obama ridiculed Dick-Head for saying Britain’s decision to pull troops from Iraq is a good sign that fits with the strategy for stabilizing the country. (Well done Obama. After all, if Dick-head feels that Britain’s decision is right, then why is the U.S. sending more troops to Iraq?)

– that a front runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination says ex-Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfool will go down as one of the worst in history. Senator John McCain also accused the administration of mismanaging the war. But Mr McCain had been seen as an important backer of Mr Bush’s efforts to drum up political support for his new Iraq policy. (Saving your own skin now isn’t it, McCain? It is of no surprise that Rumsfool is now the latest punching bag.)

– that when Donald Rumsfool resigned as defence secretary last November, John McCain said he deserved respect and gratitude. (For serving as McCain’s future punching bag?)

– that the U.S. rejected an international call to abandon the use of cluster bombs, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. “We … take the position that these munitions do have a place and a use in military inventories, given the right technology as well as the proper rules of engagement,” McCormack said. Forty-six countries meeting in Oslo pledged to seek a treaty banning cluster bombs by next year, with major user and stockpiler Britain and manufacturer France signing on, Norway said. (There is nothing we can hope for from the evil Bush Regime.)

– that Poland and the Czech Republic risk being the targets of Russian missiles if they agree to provide sites for a proposed U.S. missile defense system, a Russian general warned. Russia has been increasingly bellicose in its response to the U.S. proposal to build the missile defense system in Eastern Europe. General Nikolai Solovtsov, head of Russia’s missile forces, said the system would upset strategic stability. It would be the first such site in Europe. Vladimir Putin has said he does not trust U.S. claims that the system would be to guard the American East Coast and Europe from missiles launched from ‘rogue nations’ in the Middle East. (America can put them in Israel if that’s really what they wanted.)

– that Russia has also threatened to pull out of a landmark arms control treaty unless the U.S. backs away from plans to install its missile defence shield in Eastern Europe. General Yuri Baluyevsky, head of the Russian general staff, said Russia could unilaterally withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty [INF treaty], Russian news agencies reported. (Putin should just do the thing Warmonger Bush did the ABM – Anti Ballistic Missile – Treaty: Unilaterally withdraw.)

– that an Iranian gover-min-sponsored body set up to probe the veracity of the Holocaust has challenged Europe to hand over documents about the mass slaughter of Jews in World War II. Mohammad Ali Ramin, the head of the ‘World Holocaust Foundation’ created after Iran’s controversial Holocaust conference last year, said Austria, Germany and Poland in particular should supply documents. (Right. Why not you give me evidence that you asshole exist?)

– that Mahmoud Mah-bouk Ahmadinejad vowed Iran would never surrender to Western demands to suspend its nuclear drive and promised announcements on Tehran’s atomic progress in the next two months. (He should do it with a nuclear bang. Preferably in his own house along with all his cronies.)

– that the U.S. flew nearly US$12 billion in shrink-wrapped US$100 bills into Iraq and distributed the cash with no proper control over who was receiving it and how it was being spent. Details of the biggest cash transfer in the history of the Federal Reserve have emerged in a memorandum prepared for the meeting of a U.S. congressional committee reviewing the Iraqi reconstruction. (Well, it would be really interesting if they found out that those bills weren’t even actually flown into Iraq.)

– that the U.S. Army is working to fill a shortfall in Iraq of thousands of advanced Humvee armor kits – known as FRAG Kit 5 – designed to reduce U.S. troop deaths from roadside bombs – including a rising threat from particularly lethal weapons linked to Iran and known as ‘explosively formed penetrators’ (EFP) – that are now inflicting 70% of the American casualties in the country, according to U.S. military and civilian officials. (They should just send in M113s… with reactive armour. Or they can send Optimus Prime.)

– that an admission of defeat dressed up as a victory was how many sections of the British press summed up Tony B-liar’s decision to pull troops out of Iraq. While many editors expressed relief over B-liar’s announcement that Britain would shortly begin pulling its 7100 troops out of Iraq, many questioned the timing and its implications for Iraqis. (At least B-liar was trying to save something for his successor. Otherwise the Tories would probably clean their clocks in the next election.)

– that the British police protection officer responsible for Prince Harry has flown to Iraq to begin making security arrangements for the royal soldier’s deployment to Iraq amid fears for his safety, according to British press reports. The Daily Mail newspaper claimed the prince is already referred to as a ‘bullet magnet’ by fellow soldiers as his Blues and Royals regiment prepares for an anticipated six-month tour of Iraq. Harry, third in line to the throne behind father Prince Charles and older brother Prince William, graduated from the prestigious Sandhurst military academy last year and is expected to accompany his troops to Iraq in April or May, said an unidentified military source. (Maybe his unit will be in Iraq, but he’ll be in a command post somewhere safe.)

– that close allies Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Iranian Mahmoud Mah-bouk Ahmadinejad pledged they would work together to confront US and Israeli ‘plots’ in the Middle East. (With plots of their own in Iraq?)

– that Mah-bouk Ahmadinejad has said his country wants to avoid conflict and called for the withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign forces from Iraq as the only way to ensure peace there. “We shy away from any kind of conflict, any kind of bloodshed,” Ahmadinejad told ABC television. (You will never hear the kind of shit he’ll say to Iranian television or the Iranian people. For e.g. ‘We will brand the U.S. and the Zionist enemy with a mark of shame if they dare attack us.’)

– that former Shanghai lea-duh Chen Liangyu will go on trial for his alleged role in a multi million-dollar graft scandal, a senior court official said. The deputy chief of Shanghai’s Higher People’s Court, Ms Liu Hua, did not say what charges Chen faced, or if he had indeed been charged yet. But it was the first time that any official had announced publicly that Chen, who was sacked, would go on trial. (Once found guilty, they should hang this lump of shit in public and let the carrion eaters pick his body clean.)

– that a Japanese fisheries official condemned Monday what he called an ‘act of terrorism’ by anti-whaling activists on a Japanese vessel in Antarctic waters. “It is very dangerous action of attack,” said Hideki Moronuki, chief of Japan’s whaling activities. “We would like to appeal to all relevant countries for cooperation to stop such [an] act of terrorism by this group.” He said the activists sandwiched the Kaiko Maru on Monday morning, jammed the ship’s propeller with a rope and rammed the vessel, damaging the ship’s handling rail on its deck while the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said two of its vessels – the Robert Hunter and Farley Mowat – “caught the Japanese whaling vessel Kaiko Maru bearing down on a pod of whales.” (Frankly, if you have got no more whales to hunt off your own waters, take it as a suggestion to stop eating them. To go so far and hunt them in the Antarctic is a simple demonstration of just what moral degenerates you are.)

– that a Japanese publisher said it has decided to scrap a translation of a new English-language book on Japan’s royal family that has sparked protests from Japan’s gover-min. ‘Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne’, penned by Australian journalist Ben Hills, was released by Random House in December and is billed as a biography of the 43-year-old diplomat-turned-princess, who has suffered for years from stress-induced illness. Japan’s Imperial Household Agency and Foreign Ministry had demanded an apology from the author for ‘disrespectful descriptions, distortions of facts and judgmental assertions with audacious conjectures and coarse logic’. The gover-min also protested to Random House in Sydney. (Ben Hills must have hit too close to the mark. Darth Grievous recommends Hills’ book as a must read to see some of the dirty linen of the descendants of the ‘Sun Goddess’.)

– that Japan has expressed its displeasure at a resolution before the U.S. Congress calling on Tokyo to apologise for the country’s use of sex slaves in wartime. Foreign Minister Taro Aso said the resolution was not based on facts. Sponsored by several members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the proposed text urges Tokyo to formally resolve the issue of so-called ‘comfort women’. Japan admits its army forced women to be sex slaves during World War II but has rejected compensation claims. (The Japanese will only comply with the suggestion of the U.S. to resolve the ‘comfort women’ issues when the Americans stop backing them up with weapons.)

– that after 4 years of cajoling and persuasion, North Korea has agreed to take the first steps towards shutting down its key nuclear facilities. It will seal its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon within 60 days and collect its first payoff – worth 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil. Once it disables the reactor irreversibly and scraps all its nuclear programmes, the aid would be worth a million tonnes of fuel in all. (The ‘Dear Lea-duh’ of North Korea has usher in a new chapter in diplomacy called ‘Nuclear Blackmail’. Iran is watching.)

– that Roh Moo Hyun, South Korea’s President, said he is worried that North Korea might backtrack on its pledge to dismantle its nuclear capability as the communist regime is ‘unpredictable’. (Despicable would be a better word than unpredictable, when one is talking about North Korea.)

– that Taiwan’s independence-leaning authorities have played down in textbooks Japan’s 1937 massacre in the occupied Chinese city of Nanjing, in a move likely to irk China, it was reported. In one of the textbooks, which are screened by an official committee before release, the publisher omitted the event from an article on China’s eight-year war with Japan. (It might as well have omitted the fact that Japan ruled Taiwan for 50 years too. Or that Japan got it through an unequal treaty.)

– that the lea-duh of Taiwan’s main opposition party has stepped down following an indictment on charges of corruption. Ma Ying-jeou resigned from his position as head of the KMT shortly after the charges were announced. However, he immediately vowed to clear his name and said he would run in the 2008 presidential election. (Give Ma Ying-jeou credit for having the moral courage to honour his own words and resign, unlike that coward Chen Shui-bian.)

– that Beijing condemned Chen Shui-bian for dropping ‘China’ from the names of state-run firms and introducing ‘distorted’ history books, saying the moves were aimed at severing links with the mainland. But Chen Shui-bian told reporters that he would push for more name changes, identifying China Air Lines, the island’s flag carrier, and Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s largest phone service company, as among the next possible candidates. (In the end, it’s Taiwan that will lose out. Not China. And it will be your name that will stink a million generations.)

– that Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont publicly criticised the nation’s junta lea-duh Sonthi Boonyaratglin for failing to do enough to curb violence that has claimed over 1,900 lives. (Sonthi is more busy worry about his phones being tapped and listened to by someone on a console here in Singapore. Kekekeke…)

– that Singapore wants Thailand to clarify remarks made by its junta lea-duh that he plans to take back control of satellites run by a firm sold to the city-state’s Temasek Holdings, the foreign ministry said. “Singapore is surprised at what Council for National Security Chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin was reported to have said about getting back Thai national assets which have been sold to foreigners,” a foreign ministry spokesman said. (Yep. Make an offer. Fair value. U.S. Dollars please. No buts, and definitely not your baht baht baht baht…)

– that Thailand has announced it will poll the nation and allow public opinion to decide whether the gover-min should seek to buy back the nation’s satellite operator now controlled by Temasek. If more than 75% of those surveyed back the idea, Thailand will make an offer to buy Temasek’s shares in Shin Satellite, said the minister for information and communication technology, Sitthichai Pookaiyaudoom. Temasek holds a controlling 41% stake in ShinSat and a buyout of Temasek’s shares would cost the Thai gover-min about 10 billion baht. (Call a referendum lah. To base it on a survey is a blasted joke. And please pay us in U.S. Dollars or Euros.)

– that the Philippine govern-min has set a minimum monthly wage of US$400 for its domestic workers overseas. Agencies said they recognise the good intentions behind the minimum wage set by the Philippines gover-min since it would recognise the hard work put in by their domestic workers overseas. But they feel US$400 is a little unrealistic, considering the stiff competition by domestic workers from other countries, and the lack of jobs for these women back at home. (Did the Pinoys think by doing so there will be more money for their workers to remit back home?)

– that Indonesia’s recent ban on land sand exports was a means by which it could apply pressure on Singapore to sign an extradition treaty, said a top Foreign Ministry official. Primo Alui Joelianto, the ministry’s director-general for Asia, the Pacific and Africa, was reported in the Jakarta Post yesterday as saying that the ban was ‘a key way of placing more pressure on the city-state to move faster towards signing an extradition treaty and resolving the countries’ border spats’. Indonesia, he said, had become ‘very impatient’ with the pace of negotiations on concluding agreements on extradition and defence. (Anyone with a brain could already guess what you snakes were up to without even saying it.)

– that several Indonesian MPs have reportedly called on their gover-min to follow Thailand’s example and try to buy one of the country’s telecommunications giants back from Singapore’s Temasek Holdings. The afternoon daily Sinar Harapan quoted Mr Hajriyanto Thohari, the Golkar member on the parliamentary committee on security and international affairs, as saying the gover-min should not hesitate to take over Indosat, the country’s second-largest telecoms company. (Sure. Fair value. In U.S. Dollars. Even Popiah is more valuable than Rupiah.)

– that Mama-thir Mohamad urged Iraqi insurgents to make the U.S. ‘pay a very high price’ for its occupation of Iraq. In his most provocative public remarks on the Iraq war yet, Mama-thir said he wanted to ‘congratulate the Iraqi resistance’ for successfully turning public opinion against Warmonger Bush and Tony B-liar. “Make sure that the Americans will pay a very high price for their adventure,” Mama-thir said at an international anti-war conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s largest city. (Even when all parts of his body shall perish, his vicious tongue will live forever. It will defy death with all vigor. But here in Singapore, some may perhaps bve thankful he is directing his venom at the West… for now.)

– that Mama-thir was admitted to the National Heart Institute for a medical check-up after being hit by a bout of flu, an official said. Mama-this was taken in for a ‘routine observation and blood tests since this morning’. his aide Sufi Yusoff said in a statement. (No one will miss him when his turn comes to ‘return his IC’.)

– that Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman has urged Singaporeans who say their passports were left unstamped by immigration officials when they entered Johor to come forward and lodge reports. Malay daily Utusan Malaysia reported that Abdul Ghani said Singaporeans facing such problems should raise the issue with him so that the matter could be resolved. “I wish to meet these Singaporeans if indeed such a thing happened. We need to investigate to see whether these were done deliberately or otherwise,'”he told journalists at the Johor Cyberport Multimedia Super Corridor after a joint-venture signing ceremony. He also said he was unaware that Singaporeans were jailed for carrying the unstamped passports. (He has first proven himself an idiot by accusing us of causing floods in Johor with our land reclamation in Pulau Tekong. Now he showed the world one of the reasons why he is such an ignorant fxxkwit: He never read newpapers.)

– that women should wear chastity belts to prevent rape, incest and other sex crimes, a prominent Islamic cleric in northern Malaysia has been quoted as saying. Datuk Abu Hassan Din Al-Hafiz, speaking in the northern state of Terengganu on Thursday, said chastity belts could protect women from a growing number of sex crimes in Malaysia. “The best way to avert sex perpetrators is to wear protection,” Datuk Abu Hassan told a crowd of followers. (And the best way to end the incessant barking of a mindless dog is to muzzle it.)

– that Malaysia has never been envious of progress made by other countries, as they have a right to develop, Najib Razak said. It is more important for Malaysia to focus on its own national development and strive to achieve greater progress, Utusan Malaysia reported him as saying. (A drunken man will seldom admit he’s drunk.)

– that Malay contractors will have to sign pledges not to sell gover-min projects to other races, in a move to curb massive leakages in a system set up to raise Malays’ economic status. Finance Ministry secretary-general Izzudin Dali was quoted in Berita Harian as saying that contractors who violated the declaration would lose their contracts and licences. It was revealed that an astounding 85% of projects secured by Malay contractors ended up in the hands of other communities. This was discovered after a study was carried by the Works Ministry last year. (Can sell to Mat Salleh from England or not ar?)

Singapore since the last TGIF

– that Teo Chee Hean said the GST increase, which will go up from 5% to 7% this year, also has to be viewed as a necessary measure to grow Singapore’s global competitiveness. “We must remember that (raising) the GST is not just a transfer exercise to see who you take money from and who you transfer it to. That’s how you cut up the pie, but more importantly, it’s also about growing the pie,” he told reporters at the sidelines of a community event. (Really ar? But just whose pie has grown?)

– that the impact of the GST hike in July will be cushioned for most households with two working adults. This is because these families will benefit from the 1.5% restoration in the employer’s CPF contribution. This was an observation by Lim Swee Say Shee Shee, in response to concerns raised during a TV forum on the Budget. (Well, just hope you live long and healthy enough to withdraw that money and actually ‘benefit’ from it.)

– that the increase in the employer’s CPF contribution will also go towards defraying expenses, especially for the middle class. (More Tali-PAP million dollar mindfxxk in progress. Just how you are going to get that money out of the CPF to defray your expenses is beyond me.)

– that Singapore’s poorest – the 10% of households that earn the least – finally bucked the trend in 2006, according to the Key Household Income Trends report released. The average Singaporean earned more – and so did the bottom 10%. In 2005, there was a monthly income of $270 for each member of this poorest slab of households. Last year, it was $300. In real terms – taking changing prices into account – this translated into an increase of 6.6%. It’s not as if their wages have gone up, though. It is just that their household size is shrinking and, with the brightening economy, more of them have been able to find jobs. (Household size shrinking? What happened? They starved to death, or they gave up living by means of the MRT track?)

that buyers mysteriously beat the official HDB alert to turn up at Walk-In-Selection [WIS] exercises and queue up to 2 days before it is announced. The HDB added that action will be taken if anyone is found guilty of leaking information about the exercise before hand. (Who is going to be so dumb to admit, “Ya! Ya! I was the one who leak the information!”, and let you catch ar?!)

– that ride on MRT trains could soon feel a whole lot safer, if all goes according to plan for the LTA. It is inviting proposals for a round-the-clock video surveillance system (VSS) for all trains, stations, depots and a control centre. (Cut the crap. What they need is at least a cursory visual inspection of each train when it reach the end of each line. Try and imagine a train which has been running until the puke has dried and solidified on the floor while the cabin stinks to the lowest level of the abyss of hell! That must surely have qualified as a ‘World Class Stink’.)

– that to ensure a smoother ride, the LTA is looking into bus stops without bays. It will use a planned road widening along Jalan Eunos for a trial run in 2009 to test the benefits of such bus stops, which the LTA aid would cut down the amount of time buses take to travel out of bus bays. Together with full-day bus lanes, the agency hopes such bus stops will improve bus speeds by 30% – from 17 to 18kmh now to 23 to 25kmh – during peak hours. (Jalan Eunos is one of the most congested roads for people heading back to the Hougang area from the Katong area. Try and imagine what the jam will be like and prepare for more ERP.)

– that SBS Transit has launched a ‘Move To The Rear’ campaign aimed at encouraging commuters to move to the rear. Three bus services – 15, 27 and 36 – will have speakers playing a public announcement which urges commuters to avoid crowding the front of the bus, hence reducing boarding delays. (What they really need is a conveyor belt. So people will end up at the end whether they like it or not.)

– that the NKF has won the civil suit against its former management. The victory came after the remaining three defendants – former chairman Richard Yong, former board member Matilda Chua and former treasurer Loo Say San – conceded to all claims made against them, with costs. The turning point for the rest to concede came when Yong admitted he had failed in his duties as director when he was cross-examined. (Not a moment too soon! Now we can move on to the criminal trial.)

– that the dates for the criminal trial hearing involving ex-NKF board directors have been set. Durai would be the first to be called up for the hearing set for the end of February 2007. The rest of them – former chairman Richard Yong, former treasurer Loo Say San and former board member Matilda Chua – will have a date with the subordinate courts in March 2007. (Will there then be justice?)

– that any land acquired by the gover-min for the purpose of infrastructure development – such as MRT lines – will now be bought over at the prevailing market rate. Previously, compensation by the gover-min was based on the market value of the acquired property as of Jan 1, 1995, or the day it was gazetted for acquisition, whichever was lower. The amendment, tabled by the Ministry of Law, will remove this benchmark. This is the most fundamental change to the Land Acquisition Act since it was enacted in 1966. (And they will only pay the owners 10 years later?)

– that foreign workers here will soon be able to shop for groceries, get a haircut, even remit money home – all without leaving their dormitories. As the construction industry booms, attention is turning towards ensuring more attractive living quarters for the legions of foreign workers here. (What’s next? Do they need to book-out and book-in too?)

– that senders of junk email and SMS messages could end up paying up to a $1 million or more in damages if found guilty under a proposed law. With cyber security being a major concern, the gover-min is moving to control the sending of unsolicited electronic bulk mail, for so long the bane of Singapore’s mobile phone owners and Internet subscribers. (What can they do about someone who does it overseas? Say this asswipe on this IP: 85.255.118.170 who calls himself ‘greenwoodz’ who has been spamming comment sections of those blogs without spam filters with his endless adverts?)

– that a motorist got back at two of SBS Transit’s traffic inspectors who photographed his car parked in a bus lane. Shortly after they took the photo, he spotted the two inspectors having breakfast, with their motorcycles parked illegally along double yellow lines. Whipping out his camera-phone, he filmed the motorcycles, confronted the two men and then put up the sequence on popular video-sharing website YouTube. Now the clip is making its rounds on the Internet via blogs here, and the two men are in trouble with their employer. (These two should know better. You can’t enforce the law while being violators yourself. But much can be said about the sore loser who took the video anyway. Got money to buy car no money to park? Hello?)

– that there are going to be some changes to traffic flow along Orchard Road. The existing two-way Oldham Lane – between The Atrium and MacDonald House – will be converted to a one-way road from 6 March. The one-way will be from Handy Road to Orchard Road, which means motorists can only use Oldham Lane to get onto Orchard Road. (Finally someone in LTA has gotten to think at least with his arse to come out with a simple solution to the Oldham Lane ‘problem’. A problem which is caused by them – by introducing full day bus lanes – in the first place.)

Trivial, Jokes and Thoughts from Discussions

– that an expat told me, Singapore Airlines may perhaps be the best when in the air, but once you get down to the ground it sucks big time – for e.g. the hassle of purchasing tickets. The best part is this, you can reserve a seat online, but you can’t use the vouchers. And if you want to use the vouchers, you need to call too book them, and you are charged $25 for that. The best part of it all is that you can’t reserve a seat when you call them. (Whichever company designed this system really have shit for brains. Go take a look at the Amazon.com site for some inspiration, losers!)

– that growing demand for clean fuels distilled from plants will revolutionise agriculture in both rich and poor countries, a senior American agriculture official has said. Michael Yost, the head of the U.S. foreign agriculture service, said African and American farmers both stood to profit from the growing demand for grains that can be converted to ethanol or biodiesel, two clean-burning substitutes for gasoline and normal diesel fuel. Farmers who produce grains, sugar and plant oils all stand to benefit from the growing demand for biofuels and the higher prices that will surely follow, said Mr Yost. (It also means that the existing food shortages isn’t going to go away because food is now planted not for eating!)

– that women who eat seafood while pregnant may be boosting their children’s IQ in the process, according to new research published in The Lancet. The study results were surprising, say the authors, and contradicted American and British recommendations that pregnant women should limit their seafood and fish consumption to avoid potentially high levels of mercury. Mercury is found in small concentrations in fish and seafood, but can accumulate in the body. High amounts can damage the human nervous system. But researchers say seafood is also a major source of Omega-3 fatty acids, vital to brain development. (As if the strain on the Earth’s marine resources isn’t bad enough. Such research are a waste of time that doesn’t go very much into improving the lot of human beings on this planet.)

– that the largest new study of its kind on siestas has found that people who take a short afternoon nap regularly are significantly less likely to die from heart disease. The study of more than 23,000 Greek adults – the biggest and best investigation of the subject to date – found that those who regularly took a midday siesta were more than 30% less likely to die from heart disease. (They should allow us to all sleep up to 30mins daily after lunch.)

– that Steve Jobs made the case for abolishing the protections known as ‘Digital Rights Management’ [DRM], in an open letter on the company’s Web site. The essay, dubbed ‘Thoughts on Music’, cited the anti-piracy technology as the main reason music sold through iTunes can’t be transferred to other portable players besides the iPod. (Right. Blame someone else for Apple’s very own monopolistic and anti-competition practices! The question is, it might be logical to make it difficult for duplication. But to make it difficult to be played on someone else’s player?)

– that Jobs suggested that consumers unhappy with the status quo should urge the world’s four largest labels – Universal Music Group, EMI, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group – to sell their online catalogs without the DRM restrictions. Those four labels distribute more than 70% of the world’s music. “Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace,” Jobs wrote. “Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.” (Balls. Fix Apple’s own piece of shit DRM. Why stop people from buying from Real’s Rhapsody, for example? The truth: The largest source of proprietary DRM software is Apple, which prevents songs purchased from iTunes to be played on any competing player – and prevents the iPod from playing songs purchased from competing online music stores.)

– that Jobs said Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI required Apple to protect their content from being illegally copied. The solution arrived at was to create a DRM system, which envelopes each song purchased from the iTunes Store in special and secret software, so that it cannot be played on unauthorized devices. (Well, so does that stop the same song from being passed from another user with an iPod? Not everyone is an idiot like your Mac-Freaks, Jobs.)

– that a man who was fired by IBM for visiting an adult chat room at work is suing the company for $5 million, claiming he is an Internet addict who deserves treatment and sympathy rather than dismissal. James Pacenza, 58, of Montgomery, says he visits chat rooms to treat traumatic stress incurred in 1969 when he saw his best friend killed during an Army patrol in Vietnam. In papers filed in federal court in White Plains, Pacenza said the stress caused him to become ‘a sex addict, and with the development of the Internet, an Internet addict’. He claimed protection under the American with Disabilities Act. (Why didn’t he also sodomise a goat to prove his point – about his addiction to sex?)

– that the heartwarming commercial featuring actor Richard Gere buying scores of birds for a little girl whose brother is going away has been voted the best commercial last year. The popular commercial, which has Gere paying by his Visa card, came in tops at the MediaCorp TV Viewers’ Choice awards ceremony last night, beating out 19 other finalists. (Curse you Richard Gere. Curse your gray hair. Curse you dunno how to count American Actor. You don’t know how to buy 4 more birds but has to release them all?)

– that the now deceased former Playboy model, Anna Nicole Smith, underfed her five-month-old daughter Dannielynn in order to keep the little girl ‘sexy’. The claims were made in an affidavit made by Smith’s former nanny Quethlie Alexis in the Bahamas. “Ms Marshall (Smith’s real name) was obsessed with making sure that her baby was ‘sexy’,” the document reads. “Ms Marshall knew that the correct amount of baby food was three ounces every three hours… Ms Marshall insisted that the maximum I was to give was 2.5 ounces.” (God bless Dannielynn!)

– that ‘Lost’ crashed in the ratings, hitting an all-time low for a new episode. ABC’s drama about plane crash survivors stranded on a mysterious island drew an estimated 12.8 million viewers Wednesday, according to preliminary figures from Nielsen Media Research. That’s well off the peak of more than 20 million for the drama that became an instant sensation when it debuted in September 2004. (High time it goes the way of ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’. A day long awaited ever since half a dozen of contacts turns up [as] ‘Lost’ on the MSN Messenger list)

– that Ruud van Nistelrooy has hit out at Alex Ferguson, claiming he ‘kicked his soul’ during their major rift which saw him leave Manchester ManUre United last summer to join Spanish giants Real Madrid. The 30-year-old Dutch international striker joined Madrid for €14.8 million and van Nistelrooy talked down the Red Devils, claiming Real Madrid were a bigger club. (It probably is. In fact, the other leagues may well be better than EPL, if not for the fact that EPL has commentaries in English, and has greater exposure.)

– that French Soccer Club Lille was angered by Giggs’ goal, scored from a quickly-taken free kick while goalkeeper Tony Sylva was still arranging his wall in a Champions League match. The goal allowed ManUre United to win the match. (In this Youtube video, Tony Sylva didn’t seem to be ‘arranging his wall’. More like a stupid mistake that any footballer worth his salt would have taken advantage of.)

The lack of common sense and civic mindedness of some fellow commuters are appalling.

In the picture on the left, this guy shamelessly occupied 2 seats when he got on. While at a later station he did remove his leg and bag allowing another commuter to take the seat, it makes one wonder why can’t he sit properly right away.

In the next picture – taken at Jurong East MRT station – you see this guy in white standing right in front of the door, and the whole lot, while standing behind the yellow line, was so close to the edge that all they will fall over had someone come along and pushed them. Aren’t they at all concerned with their own safety?

* sigh *