More Transparency for NKF?

My friend and I tried sending this to the Stooge Times but they both ended up in the ’round file’ aka recycle bin.

Personally speaking, it is not a surprise that our letters end up unpublished. NKF and charity transparency is stale news and the Singapore People’s Daily aka Stooge Times would not want to beat the dead dog anymore. And of course, there are those who are convinced that T.T. Durai is only a sacrificial lamb and all these about the NKF is nothing but a charade.

Sent mine on July 30th, after some modifications.

I refer to the article “NKF must be ‘pace-setter’ in good governance, transparency” (ST, July 22), and I have a few suggestions to make.

In recent years, there have been some charity-related serials and fund-raising shows. Personally, I have always wondered whether these local and foreign celebrities are paid for their performance. I am very impressed that they are doing so much for charity, sometimes even putting their own lives at risks and getting injured in the process.

In the spirit of setting the pace for transparency and accountability, I propose that the NKF publicise the amount paid out to MediaCorp and/or other related parties. Assuming the maximum of 30% of the funds raised are used in expenses, including paying the fund-raisers, it means that NKF only received $7 million from the recent NKF fund-raising show which raised around 10 million over 2 weekends.

Also, I would also like to revisit the matter of SingTel collecting $0.21 per call. The NKF Charity Show 2004 had a record 3.2 million calls, i.e. $672000, all charged directly to the callers. If these were to be included as expenses, would the full appeal expenses thus exceeded the 30% allowable by law, even though this amount isn’t actually payout by NKF directly?

Furthermore, with the frequency of the charity shows on television, the amount of revenue at $0.21 per call would be quite substantial. As many low income people are donating their hard-earned money, such costs and charges should be made known for their benefit. This should be done so that the public are made aware of all these surcharges, which will go forward to assist them in evaluating if they can more effectively contribute to the beneficiaries via the other means available.

Interestingly, I saw on television the other day that “All proceeds from the telepoll campaign will go directly to the beneficiaries”, something not seen before in other fund-raising shows. However, it would be best if someone can actually tell us if “proceeds” mean gross proceeds or net proceeds.

The figures I have stated above are estimates from the figures I have gathered on the mass media. These figure might be inaccurate and they are not meant to scruntinise any particular organization or individual or to portray them in a bad light. My main intention is simply to allow the public to be better-informed in the future so that Singapore will become a better place for charities, fund-raisers, beneficiaries and donors alike.

Sent July 24th, by my friend Peter Ng.

MP Halimah Yacob’s speech printed on Page H9 of the Straits Times on 21st July 2005 was a wake-up call for me, particularly the following two paragraphs.

How many of us must have felt somewhat uncomfortable with the glitz and gloss associated with the NKF fund-raising efforts, including the television shows?

We must have wondered and asked ourselves many questions but never took the trouble to seriously articulate them.

I am one of those who has been uncomfortable with the fund-raising serials and variety shows for years and I would like to take this opportunity to articulate them now and have some of my questions and doubts clarified.

In recent years, the charity-related serials and fund-raising shows have almost become a regular feature on television and that has bothered me quite a bit. Some of the people I talk to think that the local and foreign celebrities perform for free and have been very impressed that the celebrities are doing so much for charity. Some even think the foreign celebrities flew in on their own expense.

I do not know whether they perform for free or for fees, or who pays for the costs of bringing in foreign celebrities, but I doubt that MediaCorp would absorb the costs, given the frequency of the fund-raising shows. Apart from the time the crew and celebrities would need to sacrifice to prepare for the fund-raising shows, MediaCorp would also need to sacrifice potential advertisement earnings during the times the shows were shown, not to mention the amount of money that would have to be spent producing and advertising for the shows.

In the spirit of seeking transparency and accountability for the good of the public, I hope either NKF or MediaCorp would clarify how much of our donations actually go to NKF and how much go to MediaCorp and/or other related parties. From what I know, the law allows for up to 30% of funds raised to be used for appeal expenses, including paying the fund-raisers. Taking the recent NKF fund-raising show as an example, approximately $10 million was raised over 2 weekends. If 30% was used to pay fund-raising partners like MediaCorp, it means that NKF only received $7 million, and if NMP Steve Chia’s figures were right, only about $700000 actually went to help the patients.

I am aware that MediaCorp is a private limited company and is thus not legally bound to reveal any figures to the public, but because they appealed to our compassion and took money from the public who thought their money would go to NKF and the patients, it becomes a moral and ethical issue that must be worked out.

Interestingly, I just found out that Mr. Ernest Wong, Group CEO of MediaCorp, has just been appointed to the board of directors in NKF. I hope it means that the commercial relationship between NKF and MediaCorp will become clearer to the public and the synergy will lead to greater efficiency.

I am also particularly concerned with SingTel collecting $0.21 for every call that was made. The 2004 NKF Charity Show had a record 3.2 million calls for that show alone. That means that in one show alone, it earned $672000, more than the peanuts that Mr. Durai earns in a year, and slightly less than the $700000-odd that directly benefited the patients. What is more interesting is that this amount was charged directly to the callers, and hence need not be accounted for. If it were to be included as expenses, it would have accounted for almost 7% and for all we know, the appeal expenses may have exceeded the 30% allowable by law.

Furthermore, with the frequency of the charity shows on television, we can safely assume that SingTel has collected at least a few million just by charging $0.21 per call. SingTel and MediaCorp are businesses and have operating costs as well as shareholders to answer to, so I do no think it is wrong to charge. However, as it is a charity effort in which many people with low income are donating their hard-earned money, I believe there is a need for such costs and charges to be made known. It would also be good for these companies to lead the way in giving to the charities as well.

This is not to say that MediaCorp and SingTel are not doing anything. I know for a fact that SingTel does waive its charges for certain fund-raising events and activities, like the President’s Charity Show and the tsunami rescue effort. Incidentally, I just saw on television that “All proceeds from the telepoll campaign will go directly to the beneficiaries”, something we have not seen in other fund-raising shows, and I think this is a good move by MediaCorp. Anyway, since we are in the wondering mode, I wonder what “proceeds” really mean. Does it mean gross proceeds or net proceeds?

At the end of the day, if fund-raising shows means that less of the donations are going directly to the beneficiaries, the giving public should donate via other means like giving through GIRO or sending cheques which would not incur such high expenses. However, if the relevant parties can work together to raise more money while keeping the costs low, I am sure fund-raising shows will still prove to be an effective fund-raising channel.

In closing, I need to state that I am not writing to slander any individual or organization but to raise questions and provoke more questioning so that ultimately, we will all become better-informed and Singapore will become a better place for charities, fund-raisers, beneficiaries and the public alike.

SMS Primer – A Guide to Mangled English (aka modern Sumerian Cuneiforms)

PROLOGUE

From where I came from, even contractions is an abomination. I cannot imagine what can be made of the even more mangled forms of the language. I wonder how many English teachers out there are looking for ropes of variable lengths to hang themselves to atone for their failures.

Here’s a short guide to Syntax Mangling System.. erm.. sorry.. Short Messaging System (v1.4).

The ‘Ultimate Lazy Bones’ section

  • b – be
  • c – see
  • e/da – the
  • n – and
  • r – are
  • u – you
  • y – why
  • bz – busy
  • cr8 – create
  • ur – your (Also yr… which can be confusing with Year.)
  • nvm – nevermind
  • sry – sorry. (Nope, it’s not a partner for Sly.)
  • cu29 – see you tonight. (Nope. It is not some kind of copper isotope, nor a close relative of C14.)

The ‘I hate vowels’ section

  • hw – how
  • nt – not (Not Windows NT, obviously!!)
  • tt / dat – that
  • abt – about
  • nxt – next
  • pls – please
  • sch / skool – school (a good thing the key ‘k’ is not next to ‘t’ on the keyboard).
  • stn – station
  • tml / tomolo / tmrw – tomorrow
  • upg – upgrade
  • wrk – work. (No, this is not a successor model to the WRX.)
  • ctrl – control
  • shld – should
  • alrdy – already
  • knn / knnb / knnbccb – initials of a Hokkien vulgarity.
  • kns – kenna sai (literally means ‘resembles shit’.)
  • lcly – initials of a Cantonese comment. Usually refers to someone who has an attitude problem.

The ‘It sounds the same’ section

  • cuz / becos / cos – because
  • den – then
  • don / dun / dont – don’t
  • jus / juz – just
  • noe / knw – know
  • oni – only
  • sux – sucks
  • tot / thot – thought
  • wat / wad – what (and no it’s not about dirtwads.)
  • deir – their? (Or is it short for dinosaur’s lair?)
  • lyke – like (What the….)
  • mayb – maybe
  • tink – think (Probably for the oinks who can’t think.)
  • wont -won’t (Punctuation also want to save… * sigh *)

The ‘Mutant’ section

  • rox / rawks – rocks
  • kewl – cool. (Duh!)
  • rulez – rules (When I first saw this, I thought someone fell asleep in his rule.)
  • solli – sorry. (What’s the real problem here? They are both 5 characters long! Will I be seeing Gee-roh one of these days?)
  • farnie – funny. (This one is a real classic. Funny is 5 characters long and actually one character less, dudes!!)
  • realli – really.

The ‘Shortcut’ section

  • cha / char – characters
  • x’fer – transfer
  • keybrd – keyboard

The ‘Existing Shortform’ section

  • dy – day
  • wk – week
  • yr – year (some use this in place of ‘your’.)
  • mth – month (Not Multi-Toilet Hall, obviously.)

EPILOGUE

Friends, Singaporeans, Country-men… in your zeal to shorten whatever you write, at least please make it readable and understandable for the person who is going to read it. It is not just about respecting the recipient of your message, it is also about self-respect. Mangled English gives the impression that the writer is sloppy and lazy. (And personally speaking, I felt there are those who have already enforce that impression by their actions and the way they lived their lives.)

You have a QWERTY keyboard and there is no 160 characters limit, so please show the ‘older people of a bygone age’, like myself, some mercy. It is tiring to read and decipher what I am reading as I go by. I am not born a code breaker.

And if possible, please try NoT tO dO tHiS. If your shift and capslock keys are depressed at every alternate character typed, first check your fingers. If there’s nothing wrong with them, then replace your faulty keyboard. Keyboards used to be expensive, but thanks to cheap factories and labour in China, economy of scale has been redefined.

Bad Management #101

Some gems of ‘great’ management gathered from friends and personal experiences:

  1. “Why do you need to elaborate so much on this email? You are wasting time. Just attach the entire exchange, write ‘please advise.’ and let those guys go and read find out for themselves what needs to be done.”

    The sad part is most of the time you either don’t hear a reply from the other party, or they will still write back to ask for clarification. So might as well have done it in the beginning, right? And, summarizing the matter makes it easier for the other party to pick it up too. It saves them the time of having to go through the entire exchange to figure out what’s going on. In fact, to just dump it on them is counterproductive and a wasteful duplicaiton of work which is already done. Don’t agree? Then ask yourself why should you try and figure out what I have already understood all over again.

  2. “Just shoot the email to those guys. The idea is to have the email trail to prove that you have taken action. Whether those guys read or take action or not doesn’t matter. If you are taken to task then just take it to the level above them.”

    Sure. Then do it yourself because it’s a vicious cycle. If all you do is forwrd the previous email exchanges with just a ‘please advise.’, ‘fya’ or a blank mail without any meaningful comments, is it a wonder why the other side don’t even bother? Imagine someone taking a whole bunch of files and dump it on your table, and then just walked away without saying something helpful. It’s just plain rude. Also, taking the matter to their immediate superiors may galvanise them into the much desired quick response, but it is more likely that the other party will after that be even more reluctant to act timely on the next request.

  3. “It’s very easy to deal with your clients. All you need to do your job well then they cannot touch you.”

    This came from someone who will find all excuses not to show up before the clients and will only do so after he couldn’t find any unfortunate scapegoat to do so. It’s damned easy to say without leading by example. Oh puh-leaze, wanna bluff the ghost to eat tofu also be more tactful, alright?

  4. “A leader do not need to be hands on. Just tell your guys to do. Your job is not to show them how to do it. Just tell them to do it.”

    Reminds me of a hypothetical armoured unit CO that says this over the air: ‘All units Alpha Battalion, ATTACK! ATTACK!! ATTACK!!’ and when done, said this to the driver of his own tank: ‘Driver, REVERSE!’. Right.

  5. “Do you know a lot of clients complained to me about you and I have to say good things to cover up for you? You should have done these tasks first. Don’t ask me about the nature of the complaints. Just do these for me, geddit? What? Not assigned to you before? You just do this first. Your own tasks can do later.”

    Duh! So, how the poor staff got complained and needs to cover up when he wasn’t even assigned the tasks in the first place? And getting into such a situation like this means ultimately the staff will get complained because he can’t produce what he has promised to his other clients.

  6. “I will escalate it to our regional and global support teams.”

    While escalating matters do sometimes get things solved quickly, escalating without first consulting one’s own team the real situation creates problems on its own. Firstly, it makes your own team looks incompetent. If everything needs to be solved by those guys without any effort on the local team’s part, then the local team is redundant. It is good to have redundancy, but it is bad to be redundant. Get the idea?

    Secondly, if it is not an issue related to the regional and global suppor teams, too many such unnecessary escalations gives a ‘crying wolf’ impression and no one takes you seriously in the future. Get a grip man. It’s not so serious that it needs escalation unless the customer threatens to have you burnt on a stake!! And the team will give you a tinker if the matter really requires escalation.

* SIGH * With a management like this, who still needs enemies?

Feel free to email me with your own experiences. But please, don’t send me self-glorifying bullshit about your long suffering and how important and nice you are for doing something for your stupid boss, alright?

TGIF – The World This Week (Up to Aug 26)

The Ugly Singaporean Award

– that events manager LIM BEE LEONG, 30, left his Alaskan malamute – an Arctic sled dog which has two coats of fur and needs plenty of water to stay cool – without water and shelter in the backyard of his terrace house in Lorong Pisang Emas, in Bukit Timah. The three-year-old dog died of heatstroke and was found with blood foaming at its mouth with faeces littered all over the backyard. Lim was fined $3,000 for causing his pet ‘unnecessary suffering’ in a case the SPCA described as one of ‘extreme neglect and cruelty’. (This sicko should be banned from having a dog for life or, IMO, subjected to a torture without water for 3 days in a 50 degrees Celsius room.)

The World This Week

– that America’s controversial new ambassador to the UN is threatening to torpedo 12 months of negotiations on the reform of the organisation. With only three weeks to go before world leaders arrive in New York to agree the deal, ambassador John Bolton has tabled at least 500 amendments. Dolt, erm.. Bolton’s intervention has greatly raised the stakes in the search for a deal. America is now effectively asking the world whether it wants a new deal, or no deal. America wants the UN to back fundamental reform of the organisation’s management structure; to agree with its measures to fight terrorism and to abolish its human rights machinery. (In other words the rest of the world should submit to America. This version of America can just f*ck off and die.)

– that there are claims that anti-war protestors besieged wounded and disabled soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. Protest signs with slogans like ‘Maimed for a Lie’ were displayed and there are evidence of the wounded veterans being taunted by protesters. (The war maybe a lie for all I cared. But not everyone of these soldiers went to Iraq believing all the crap about WMDs and DemocraZy. Even though there’s no real evidence to link Iraq with terrorism in America, a lot of these soldiers went there believing that they are sharing the American dream with Iraq, and what they do can allow sonuvabitch losers like these the freedom to protest at home without the fear of a terror attack.)

– that military families disturbed by a sea of crosses erected by anti-war protesters supporting Cindy Sheehan near Warmonger’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, have removed crosses bearing the names of their fallen children and transferred them to another site to show support for American troops in Iraq. (And there’s nothing more shameless and despicable than making use of the dead to promote an agenda.)

– that anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan is now ‘channeling’ her slain son, Casey, from heaven, suggesting he’s calling Warmonger ‘an idiot’ and she claims to have ‘tens of thousands of angels’ supporting her cause to bring U.S. troops home immediately. (A shrink, she needed.)

– that Cindy Sheeha said, “When I get up [to heaven], he’s gonna say, ‘Good job, mom’,” Mrs. Sheehan said in a speech last night upon her return to Crawford, Texas. “He’s not going to say, ‘Why’d you make me spin in my grave?’ you know. And I can just hear him saying, ‘George Bush, you are really an idiot. You didn’t know what you were doing when you killed me. You didn’t know what you were getting into.’” (Show me Casey in heaven, Cindy Sheehan, and I’ll show you God.)

– that after calling the terrorists in Iraq who killed her son ‘freedom fighters’, anti-Bush activist Cindy Sheehan now says other mothers of those slain in the conflict whose views oppose her own are ‘brainwashed’. She said, “I have been silent on the Gold Star Moms who still support [President Bush] and his war by saying that they deserve the right to their opinions because they are in as much pain as I am. I would challenge them, though, at this point to start thinking for themselves. How can these moms who still support George Bush and his insane war in Iraq want more innocent blood shed just because their sons or daughters have been killed? I don’t understand it. I am starting to lose a little compassion for them. I know they have been as brainwashed as the rest of America, but they know the pain and heartache and they should not wish it on another. However, I still feel their pain so acutely and pray for these ‘continue the murder and mayhem’ moms to see the light.” (Maybe it’s you who needs to know you are the one who needed the light.)

– that hot on the heels of the Cindy Sheehan media circus in Crawford comes word that Jane Fonda will ride again as an anti-war crusader, kicking off a nationwide barnstorming tour next month. (Once traitor always traitor.)

– that a new rotor was being brought in to be used as a spare part for a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter brought down by a rock thrown by an illegal immigrant, said the patrol’s Yuma sector spokesman. (We have a black hawk down!! A black hawk down!! Oops. Wrong movie.)

-that a judge infuriated by youth violence stunned a Boston court when he set bail for a 12-year-old boy accused of firing a gun on a street corner at US$250,000 The sum was 50 times the amount prosecutors had sought and the boy was sent to a youth detention centre when his family said they could not raise the sum. Judge Paul D. Lewis said that after 23 years on the bench of the juvenile court he had lost patience. “These kids don’t take responsibility for anything,” he told the Boston Globe after the ruling. “They’re fearless. It’s out of control. It’s beyond out of control.” (Kids committing capital crime but is under the age to be sentenced to death or life-imprisonment should be castrated to keep their genes out of the genepool for good.)

– that British troops combating the heat and dust of Iraq have a new weapon in their armory — germ-fighting underwear. The antimicrobial underpants have been introduced as part of a new desert uniform. They are the first undergarments issued to British troops, who traditionally have had to supply their own. (Are their weenies shrivelling and shrinking in the desert?)

– that Venezuela’s vice president accused ‘religious’ broadcaster Pat Robertson of making ‘terrorist statements’ by suggesting that American agents assassinate President Hugo Chavez. Robertson said on the Christian Broadcast Network’s ‘The 700 Club’: “We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability.” (Thou shall not murder.)

– that ‘religious’ broadcaster Pat Robertson insisted that he did not call for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, despite comments broadcast on his program earlier. “I didn’t say ‘assassination’,” Robertson said on his Christian Broadcast Network show ‘The 700 Club’ about remarks reported by The Associated Press and other media outlets. “I said our special forces should ‘take him out’. ‘Take him out’ could be a number of things including kidnapping. (Thou weasel. Thou shall not lie.)

– that Pat Robertson apologized for calling for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, saying he spoke in frustration earlier in the week. “Is it right to call for assassination? No, and I apologize for that statement. I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him.” (In thy anger, do not sin.)

– that an 80-year-old woman dubbed the ‘granny spy’ helped Brazilian police to arrest 15 people, including two police officers, by secretly filming a narcotics operation for two years from her flat window. The retired woman, who remained anonymous and under police protection as a witness, said “desperation” at the lack of police action against the drug ring drove her to make the films. (Well done, super granny. All drug traffickers should be hanged.)

– that a day after a special meeting between John Coward and Muslim lea-duhs, Muslims who do not respect secularism and law were told on August 24 to leave the country. “If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Shariah law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you,” Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to Howard, said on national television. He was quoted by AFP as saying that there are no two laws governing people in Australia. (And they can always go to the moon. The Lunar – or Lunatics – Caliphate is such a great idea.)

– that John Coward angered some Australian Muslims by saying he supported the use of spies to monitor the nation’s mosques. (Ahh, they prefer he not say it and do it quietly and secretly.)

– that ‘Palestinian’ Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and members of various ‘Palestinian’ terror groups, such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, this week decided at a meeting ‘resistance’ against Israel would continue and would be coordinated at the national level until the Jewish state evacuates ‘all occupied territories’ – code for the destruction of Israel. (There are vipers less venomous than these.)

– that massive queues at petrol stations resulting from a fuel shortage disappeared overnight in Shenzhen after China’s key petroleum companies reportedly delivered new shipments to ease the crisis. (How many people did they threaten to send to Inner Mongolia to do hard labour?)

– that China has warned government officials to get rid of any illegal shares in the country’s disaster-plagued mining industry amid a renewed crackdown on corruption blamed for thousands of deaths a year, an official newspaper said. Such stock ownership is already illegal, the official China Daily said, but it added that the announcement will give officials a chance to ‘right their wrongs’. (An easier way would be to just shove them into the mines they ‘invested’ in and make them work there.)

– that Japan will give up its bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the time being because it failed to win enough support from the international community, a Japanese newspaper reported. However, Mr Yu Kameoka, a spokesman for Junk-ichiro Konkz-umi, said he has not heard of any decision regarding the bid. Japan, Brazil, Germany and India – the so-called Group of Four, or G-4 – have proposed expanding the council from 15 to 25 seats, adding six permanent seats without veto power. (Cleaning up your history cirriculum and quit going to Yakusuni will win you some support.)

– that Japan has not given up its bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, but will not push for an early vote on its proposal along with Brazil, Germany and India to expand the council, a gover-min official said. The gover-min official denied an earlier report which said that Japan would soon hold talks with the three other countries to confirm that they are giving up their Group of Four bid, due to a lack of support in the UN General Assembly. (Where got so easily give up one?)

– that a Japanese court threw out claims that a notorious contest by imperial troops to behead Chinese soldiers was a journalist’s fabrication, handing a rare legal victory to critics of Japan’s wartime past. In the run-up to the Nanjing Massacre, Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun – the predecessor of Mainichi Shimbun – reported in 1937 that two army lieutenants engaged in a contest to see who would be first to behead 100 Chinese soldiers. The story was meant to boost morale at the time. But relatives of the two lieutenants, who were later executed, filed a lawsuit in 2003 saying that the article and a subsequent story by Asahi Shimbun in 1971 were false. However, Tokyo district court judge Akio Doi said: “The lieutenants admitted the fact that they raced to kill 100 people.” (Too ashamed to have such beasts as relatives?)

– that Taiwan detained 20 Chinese fishermen aboard six boats for illegal fishing during the first day of a week-long crackdown, an official said yesterday. The men were held off Kinmen and Matsu, two fortified island groups near the Chinese mainland. Thirty-two other Chinese fishing boats were driven off in the operation involving 36 coast guard patrol boats. Smuggling is rampant between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland. (You would wish they showed the same enthusiasm when facing down the Japanese.)

– that Taiwan’s Gover-min Information Office (GIO) has come under fire after it was revealed that not a single cent of the money it collected for survivors of the Asian tsunami has been disbursed. Some US$13 million collected by Taiwan’s Gover-min Information Office remains in Taiwan. (Might as well not collect.)

– that dozensS of foreign labourers burned cars and attacked police with slings and stones in a dispute over working conditions in Taiwan’s southern port city of Kaohsiung, police reported. No one was injured in the confrontation, Taiwanese media reported, in which a makeshift office was also set ablaze. The melee was sparked when several drunken workers returned to their dormitory at night after a day off from work but were barred from bringing alcohol and cigarettes into the building, news media said. (So much for all the crap about championing human rights from the likes of Chen Shui-bian.)

– that Malaysia has labelled a costly US$26.5 million anti-smoking campaign a failure, with the number of female smokers doubling since its launch last year, reports said. Health Minister Chua Soi Lek said the five-year ‘Tak Nak’ (Don’t Want) campaign launched in February 2004 had failed to curb smoking and that it would be reviewed. (No sweat as long as they get the idea that the campaign isn’t about anti-smoking but to make $2 for every $1 spent.)

that Abdullah Badawi closed the door on sacked Anwar Ibrahim’s return to dUMNO by stressing that his sacking was a disciplinary matter and unrelated to the court cases against him. (Even when there’s no grounds for any disciplinary measures in the first place. But of course, who wants to let a potential rival return? Better to strangle the baby in the cradle before it grows into a rival to the throne.)

Singapore This Week

– that Vivian Bakayaro-nan made an unscheduled stop during his ministerial visit to Punggol South at the as-yet-unopened Buangkok MRT station, where eight white elephants caught his eye. The four-foot tall cardboard cut-outs of cartoon elephants with smiling faces were placed there by the residents of Punggol South. And their silent message was not lost on Baka. (Kranji MRT station was built in the middle of nowhere before the race course moved there. Not to mention the Singapore Expo MRT station when there are not exhibitions. Not enough traffic and so no stop at station is an lousy excuse.)

– that almost all NKF patients will pay less for dialysis from next month. The charity’s interim board has lowered the cost of dialysis treatment from $2,730 a month to $2,211 per patient. That works out to about $162 a session – down from $200 previously – and compares well with the Kidney Dialysis Foundation’s $154, and private centre Asia Renal Care’s $283. From next month, the NKF will also simplify its subsidy policy and fix flat rates. Those with Medishield cover will get a lump sum subsidy of $961 a month; those without will receive a more heavily subsidised $1,711 a month. (Finally doing something with that 30 years of reserve, huh?)

– that the family of the 40-year-old cyclist who was paralysed from the neck down after crashing into a metal barrier at a pedestrian bridge in Tampines, is demanding compensation from the LTA. (Why the hell die he ignore the sign to push, not ride, his bike across the bridge in the first place?)

– that as security tightens at Woodlands Checkpoint, smugglers are resorting to hiding contraband goods in their underwear. One was a 41-year-old woman who ‘fainted’ twice in a bid to prevent checkpoint officers uncovering cigarettes in her panties. Another is a motorcyclist found with 4 uncensored VCDs and DVDs stuffed down the back of his underwear. Sixteen Dormicum tablets in slab form were found in the 25-year-old’s groin area. Another 20 tablets of the controlled drug were found in his wallet and four packs of undeclared cigarettes were discovered under his motorcycle seat. (Next time, they should just shove them all up their own ass.)

– that after Kelvin Tan Wei Lian was crowned male champion of Project Superstar, some kaypoh – i.e. rosy – people have been asking: “How many sympathy votes did the blind busker get?” (Hey losers. Go blind yourselves and find out!)

– that a LAU POH FIAT commented that lowering water pressure and installing auto-sensor taps is not the right way to save water. Lau claims that by doing so, ‘one cannot wash properly. The flow of water stops very quickly – sometimes in as little as 5 seconds – and the volume is so little that one can’t even clean the fingers! This also leaves the washbasins with saliva stains and other stuff and the cleaner will have a tougher time maintaining hygiene standards.’ (What a whiner! Just lift your hands and stick it under the tap again to activate the water flow, stupid!)

Trivial, Jokes and Thoughts from Discussions

– that in late July, Chinese authorities told the country’s top blog host to move Sister Furong-related content to low-profile parts of the site. Her pictures can still be found online, but links to them and chatrooms about her have disappeared from the front pages of major Web portals. (Awww… shucks. For a moment I thought she can be China’s very own Xia-Sway. Oops! I mean Xiaxue.)
– that a Belgian nun’s acrobatic dancing with a missionary during the Catholic World Youth Day in Germany over the weekend earned her a reprimand from her mother superior, a Belgian paper said. Daily Het Laatste Nieuws showed pictures of a dancing Johanne Vertommen being held up in the air by the missionary, and then clinging to him with her legs wrapped around his body. (It’s the Mother Superior that needs help.)

– that when a pervert exposed himself on a Manhattan subway last week, victimn Thao Nguyen reached for her secret weapon – her camera phone. The quick-thinking 22-year-old snapped a shot of the smirking sicko who is masturbating and took it to cops and then posted it on the Internet. (Caught with his pants down on camera. How long can he run?)

– that an online thesaurus struck a listing for the word ‘Arab’ after Arab-American groups complained the entry listed derogatory synonyms. The entry, which appeared on thesaurus.com, listed the word as a noun meaning ‘beggar’ and gave 16 pejorative synonyms including ‘homeless person’ and ‘welfare bum’. The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee contacted the synonym book’s online publisher to complain about the entry; the American Arab Forum also criticized the listing. Several hours after Roget’s Thesaurus was called by The Associated Press, all entries for ‘Arab’ had been pulled from the site. (Even this report attempts to be politically correct. There was no mention of the dreaded ‘T’ word.)

– that a review of medical evidence has found that fetuses likely don’t feel pain until the final months of pregnancy, a powerful challenge to abortion opponents who hope that discussions about fetal pain will make women think twice about ending pregnancies. The review by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco comes as advocates are pushing for fetal pain laws aimed at curtailing abortion. (Did the researchers at the University of California urn themselves into fetuses and find out if it’s painful?)

– that more than 50 people in Tangzhuang township of Henan province in central China have thrown their centuries-old surname to the dogs, hoping to free themselves of a stigma supposedly imposed on their clan by an ancient emperor. The families said that Shi Jingtang (石敬瑭), who founded the Later Jin Dynasty (后晋, 936AD -947AD), ordered their ancestors to give up the surname Jing (敬) and change it to Gou (苟) – which means careless or indifferent – because he wanted his name, which had the same Chinese character, to be exclusive. (History: Shi Jingtang is one of China’s famous traitors. To become Emperor he traded all territories north of the Yanmen Pass (雁门关) to the Khitan’s (契丹) Liao (辽) Dynasty and shamelessly address the Liao Emperor, younger than him by 10 years, as father. This act allowed Shi to be Emperor for 7 years, and left northern China completely indefensible. It laid the ground for the successive conquest of all territories north of the Yangtze River by non-Han races such as Khitans, the Jurchen’s (女真) Jin (金) Dynasty and the subsequent conquest of the whole of China by the Mongols in 1279AD, which established the Yuan (元) Dynasty until 1368AD.)

Sir Knight, You have got ‘chain’ mail…

Recently, two well intentioned colleague forwarded an email claiming that designer Tommy Hilfiger made this world shocking comment on the Oprah Winfrey show: ‘If I knew that blacks and Asians were going to wear my clothes, I would have never designed them.’

The mail ended itself with a call for a boycott of all Hilfiger products.

Fortunately, Tommy Hilfiger never did make this racist remark. However, it is unfortunate that this hoax, in circulation since 1996, and which has been quelled in public by even Oprah Winfrey herself on her show in Jan 11, 1999 is making its rounds again a good six and a half years since then.

Poor Tommy Hilfiger.

I have said these so many times to so many people that I am sounding like a freaking broken record.

  1. Verify if something is true, before you send them on their merry way. Believe nothing of such nature when it comes as an email, even if that email claims to have come from God Himself, complete with a million terrible curses and misfortune to befall you if you failed to forward it.
  2. Google is your friend. If you can’t find it on Google, then it is not true. If you can find it on Google, then there will be enough literature on the topic which will tell you about the article’s truthfulness.
  3. Snopes is your friend. Most hoaxes can be found on Snopes.
  4. If you are too busy to verify, then make sure you are too busy to forward them too.
  5. If you are not sure even after attempting to verify, then do not forward. Love your friends by not having contribute to a hoax.

You might wonder what’s the big fuss I am making about a little thing like this if it’s just another damned hoax? But can you imagine thousands upon thousands of people out there made to believe in a lie, and they believe in it because they trusted whatever their friends sent them?

Go on and deceive your friends if you think it is nothing. Go on and abuse their trust in you by continuing to forward such junk, which contribute to the traffic that increase the burden to thousands of routers and servers out there.

So, the next time when you complain about ‘the Internet very slow’, then please remember that the Internet is probably just trying its best to clear some of the shits your have sent on their merry way, and now sent out by friends of your friends.

By the way, please don’t forward curses to your friends. Garbage like ‘Forward this to 10 people and you will be blessed or else all the shits in this world will come crashing on you’ is not a blessing. It is a damn blasted curse for f@#$ sake. Should anyone be forced to bless their friends?

Also, cut the crap about those silly shits that asks for people to stare on a screen and then pops some ghastly and scary stuff complete with loud shrieks and scary noises. There are better ways to test your friends’ courage and their guts. Admittedly, I don’t have very strong nerves and I have a weak heart, so take these shit and have it auto pop-up on your screen a few hundred times if you love them so much. Preferably say, 3:30am in the wee hours of the morning, alright?

Have a nice day.

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