RSS – Really Simple Syndication. A format for notifying new content at a website. It is really neat. Using an RSS Reader, I now spend no time running through the same bloody sites to read the loads of news because any updates gets fed to me right away. Oh yes, even updates on my friend’s blogs. With this new gathering method, I hope that in the future, TGIF will really be punctually posted on Fridays, or at least on Saturday morning (where parts of world is still Friday). TGIF should now also be technically shorter – since I won’t be gathering like 2 or 3 weeks of news in one edition – and more readable to those who has been faithfully giving this grouch here their unconditional and silent support. And of course, with RSS, I can now dedicate more time to playing Ultima Online.

The World This Week

– that more than 20 years before the Vatican issued its recent instruction against priestly ordination of men with ‘deep-seated homosexual tendencies’, the Vatican gave similar advice to bishops in a brief, unpublicized memorandum. The memorandum told bishops that in considering candidates for the priesthood they should not accept men who were homosexually active, who led a homosexual lifestyle or who showed evidence of ‘latent or repressed homosexuality’. (Just like the SAF, the church has become kinder and more tolerant. In the past it would be denial of communion and excommunication. Some people should stop taking God’s kindness as a weakness.)

– that Condom-leezza Lice defended the unlimited detention of suspected terrorists saying, in an interview that it benefitted the U.S. and the entire world. “You can’t allow somebody to commit the crime before you detain them, because if they commit the crime, thousands of innocent people die,” she told the USA Today daily. (Absolutely. Therefore, we should detain the U.S. President before he declares war on another country in the world, because when he does so, thousands of innocent people also die.)

– that a new front in the political wars over sex and violence in video games opened when Senators Hillary Clinton and Joseph Lieberman called for a new crackdown on the industry by the federal gover-min. Sex and violence in video games has spiraled out of control, the two Democratic senators claimed, pointing to a recent flap over whether Rockstar Games embedded a sex-themed scene in its popular Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game. Parents should be able to make “sure their kids can’t walk into a store and buy a video game that has graphic, violent and pornographic content,” Clinton said in a statement saying the actual bill will be introduced when the Senate returns from vacation on Dec. 12. (Hillary Clinton and Democrats actually giving a damn about morals and the well being of kids? Wow, let me check if the sun is rising from the west, yet.)

– that a top U.S. spy agency declassified data showing agents skewed intelligence to back claims of a communist attack on a U.S. destroyer in 1964, an incident which led to the escalation of the Vietnam War. The NSA admitted defeat in a long battle to keep the controversial article, printed in 2001 in its in-house journal, secret. Senior NSA officers had apparently feared the explosive findings could prompt comparisons to claims the Bush administration regime twisted intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003. (So what Warmonger did is nothing new.)

– that the Federal Opposition said Australia had joined the ranks of tyrannical states such as North Korea, Syria, and Cuba by strengthening its free speech laws. Labor lea-duh Kim Beazley said the Howard gover-min seemed ‘hell bent’ on enforcing the sedition aspects of its new anti-terror laws. The gover-min says the laws are to enable authorities to tackle extremists who urge violence against Australians and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock again defended the sedition plans, saying they would not act as curbs on free speech. (What is so tyrannical about putting things in place to stop me from saying ‘Anyone who mass murder a lot of innocent Australians like Beazley can go to heaven’?)

– that the death sentence imposed on Van Tuong Nguyen was barbaric, and more abhorrent than normal because mitigating issues were not taken into account, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said. (Singapore may rejoice that justice is served, but she takes no joy in the snuffing out of a life.)

– that John Howard has warned Singapore that its execution of Nguyen Tuong Van may harm links between the peoples of their two countries. (The narrow-minded and myopic can go on hating one another. Rational Singaporeans and Australians should just get on with life.)

– that China hinted on it would oppose Japan’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council, days before a visit by Kofi Annan that will address plans to reform the body. (It should be opposed until the Yakusuni Shrine is no more.)

– that KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou, banking on his popularity to raise the election stakes, yesterday said he would step down if his party failed to score a decisive victory. His announcement, which caught many unprepared, could send thousands more KMT supporters to the polling stations and further boost the main opposition party’s chances, say analysts. (Are you nutz, Ma? Even if you lose this one you can hang around to kick the pathetic DPP out of the Presidency in 2008!)

– that Chen Shui-bian hit the campaign trail for his party, telling voters an opposition win in local gover-min elections this weekend would undermine the island’s sovereignty. (Undermine what sovereignty?)

– that a package of economic measures unveiled by Premier Frank Hsieh to revive Taiwan’s economy was dismissed by money managers as an election ploy to win votes for the ruling DPP. The measures include a tax cut for married couples aimed at boosting domestic consumption by NT$4 billion as well as lower real estate and stock transaction tax rates. Others announced were a three-year NT$200 billion low-rate loan deal for companies involved in select urban renewal projects which are expected to create 130,000 jobs. (Next time, learn from the Tali-PAP, announce it before there is even an election.)

– that Hong Kong pro-democraZy lea-duh Martin Lee said that citizens of the former British colony have no option but to use ‘people power’ in a bid to pressure Beijing for greater freedom. Ahead of a mass democraZy rally in Hong Kong, Lee blamed the Chinese-administered territory’s chief executive Donald Tsang ‘for not reflecting the strong aspirations of the people of Hong Kong to Beijing’. “The people of Hong Kong have no other option but to show solidarity by joining together by taking part in peaceful assembly to voice our aspirations, to let the Beijing lea-duhs know we really want and deserve democraZy,” Lee told a public forum in Washington. (And in the end, they might just end up with Tian-anmen on a greater scale, with Beijing appointed ‘viceroys’.)

– that opposition lawmakers poured scorn on a plea by Hong Kong lea-duh Donald Tsang to galvanise the city behind unpopular electoral reform plans that threaten to tip over into a constitutional crisis. Tsang’s televised appeal was counterproductive, they said, and instead steeled opponents as they prepared to protest against the proposals in a mass rally scheduled. Tsang’s reform plan, first rolled out in October, seeks to move the southern Chinese territory away from a system in which political lea-duhs are selected by a committee of mostly Beijing-backed elites. However, democrats demo-Rats agitating for universal suffrage say the measures don’t move the former British colony close enough to full democraZy and have vowed to vote the bill down in the legislature. (Which part of Beijing’s ‘NO’ – which Tsang understood – that these clowns do not understand?)

– that Thais will soon be able to do their shopping along with getting their daily dose of dharma under a plan to install monks in major department stores. For its ‘meet the monk in a quiet corner’ project, the Ministry of Culture plans to rent space in stores across the country where shoppers can have a quiet chat with monks, in a bid to bring people closer to religion. (Confession boxes will do too.)

– that the policewoman captured on video ordering a naked Chinese woman to do ear-squats is a constable from the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters. Deputy Inspector-General Musa Hassan said the policewoman, in her 30s, was identified and questioned, a day after the scandal was exposed in Parliament. (So what’s ‘Lynnie’s’ name in Malay?)

– that the identity of the naked woman, believed to be Chinese, remains a mystery. Investigators presiding over a case that has provoked public outrage over police detention procedures are finding it hard to identify the woman or even ascertain her nationality. The woman constable also cannot recall the date it took place. The reason for her memory lapse: She has witnessed a number of similar occurrences. This suggests that subjecting detainees to do squats in the nude is quite common. (In that aspect she’s smarter than Lynnie England. At least there’s no record.)

– that Malaysians are outraged at a top police officer’s defence of a constable caught on video making a naked Chinese woman do ear-squats in a lock-up. Deputy Inspector General Musa Hassan, who is leading the investigations into the incident, described it as a ‘routine check’ aimed at looking for concealed objects. Repeated deep squats are said to be aimed at forcing women detainees to expel objects concealed in their private parts. The Star quoted Penang district police chief Mazlan Lazim as saying that suspects had previously been caught hiding cigarettes, pills, matchsticks and razor blades in their private parts. (Oh, is it? Which other country used that method to look for conceal objects? Or is this a new Malaysian innovation?)

– that he said the police had switched their focus to tracking down the person who made the video, on suspicion that it might have been made for voyeuristic reasons rather than by a whistle-blower. “It is the perpetrator behind the video clip whom we are after and not the policewoman who was carrying out a routine check,” he was quoted as saying. (Denial. Denial. Did he learn that from the Japanese?)

– that Malaysia’s Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Noh Omar said that foreigners who think Malaysia is a ‘cruel’ country should go home. His comments came after Abdullah Ahmad Badawi apologised to China and ordered an independent probe into the scandal over a video clip showing a naked Chinese woman forced to perform squats in front of a female police officer. Datuk Noh, who is in charge of the police force, insisted to reporters in Parliament House that his officers had not acted out of bounds. “We have to be fair to the police. We cannot reach a stage where the police are demoralised,” he said. (That probably explains Anwar’s black eye as well. This shithead should resign. And by the way, the foreigners who go home should take their investments with them.)

– that Noh later denies asking foreigners to leave and said, “I said that if our country isn’t peaceful or if the police are as cruel as what is being claimed about them nowadays, then how could it be that many foreigners live in our country.” (Anyone’s got a tape of the original crap he spewed? Malaysians should use that as a ringtone on their mobiles until this sorry ass resign in disgrace.)

Singapore This Week

– that bus commuters have two major complaints: they are waiting too long for the bus and resent having to squeeze into overcrowded buses, the latest public transport survey shows. The bus passenger satisfaction survey of some 1,000 regular bus passengers islandwide also shows a dip in the overall satisfaction level for bus services. The rating, on a scale of one to 10, slipped to 6.4 this year, from 6.86 last year. PTC chairman Gerard Ee told The Sundae Times that commuters cannot expect a ‘miracle’ and said motorists had to do their part by staying out of the bus lanes at peak hours. He said: “There is a lot of room for improvement, but to put all the blame on bus operators would be grossly unfair as there are 1,001 factors to be considered. We have to keep pushing at it. I don’t think this report will produce a miracle, but the surveys help us to look at areas to tweak as we go along and improve.” (Ee, lookie here. You are not getting the point! Go take a cab down Still Road some day and see how clear the bus lane is, alright, and figure why there’s a kriffing jam there. And complaints about buses coming together and packed and drivers driving like a snail isn’t something new. So if it’s a miracle we are expecting, we have been expecting it for years, geddit?)

– that SBS Transit spokesman Tammy Tan said that traffic congestion is not predictable and is beyond the firm’s control, but said the company would work with the authorities to see what more can be done to give buses priority on the roads. (Not predictable? Go turn on the radio and listen to it, Tammy. After awhile you don’t need to be a prophet to know where the jams are daily. Here’s some examples for a typical morning – slow traffic on the AYE heading towards the City from Clementi Avenue 6 exit to Clementi Ave 2, near the Alexandra exit; Still Road heading towards Marine Parade before the PIE exit; CTE heading towards the City all the way up to Moulmein. So, if it really was an unexpected jam that happened once in a blue moon then it won’t be just a one day affair and will soon be forgotten, alright? And just what the hell you take to work, Tammy? A helicopter?)

– that Mabok Tongue said that the pace of HDB upgrading has been stepped up islandwide. A total of 64 precincts have been slated for the Lift Upgrading Programme next year, a 50% increase compared to the number of wards selected the previous year. Also, 12 town councils – overseeing another 100 blocks which do not qualify for the HDB Lift Upgrading Scheme – will also fork out some $14 million to upgrade their lifts after having gotten the approval. The 64 precincts selected for LUP next year, however, do not include the opposition wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang. They have also not applied to use their town councils’ sinking funds for lift upgrading. Mabok’s announcement came even as he unveiled a $332 million five-year upgrading masterplan for his constituency, Tampines. (There is definitely an erection election coming.)

– that syndicates pimping Indonesian prostitutes in the Geylang red-light district are lying low in anticipation of police raids – and some are hurriedly shipping their women back to Batam. The recent arrest of a syndicate ‘runner’ involved in a scam to bring prostitutes to Singapore and the ensuing publicity have made the situation ‘very hot’, said a former syndicate member, who wanted to be identified only as Kuda. “The syndicate bosses have quickly covered their tracks by sending the prostitutes back,” the 37-year-old said. (Not surprising. A frequent visitor of the Geylang lorongs also told me that the Chinese prostitutes lay low over the weekends too.)

– that the next person to come before the courts for failing to serve National Service could go to jail. In his first comments on the ‘Melvyn Tan case’, Teo Chee Hean said the MINDEF would push for a jail term for people who ‘deliberately and knowingly evade NS’. The Enlistment Act, a bill that spells out penalties for NS evaders, already allows a jail term of up to three years in addition to a fine. But the draft dodgers are usually made to pay a fine of up to $5,000 and escape time behind bars. (They should employ Lynnie England as the prison guard too.)

– that the newly-formed Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Committee said in a statement they ‘utterly deplore and condemn’ the hanging as an ‘inhumane and barbaric punishment disproportionate to his crime’. M. Ravi, a prominent Singapore-based human rights lawyer, called the killing ‘state-sanctioned murder’. “In a civil society such as Singapore, and the world that is watching this, they must learn from this lesson,” he said outside Changi Prison just before the execution took place. “At this moment, his hands are being tied, his ankles are being manacled and a hood is being placed over his head. A state sanctioned murder is going to take place.” (Too bad they weren’t around when Adrian Lim was hung.)

– that within the next six months, the AVA will introduce a package of new regulations designed to encourage a community of responsible pet owners. One of these changes will see the annual licensing fee for unsterilised male dogs go up from $14 to $70, the same as the current fee for unspayed female dogs. (How about new regulations for responsible males too? Like some tax rebates for males who don’t go to prostitutes?)

Trivial, Jokes and Thoughts from Discussions

– that according to a scientific report, planet Earth’s computers are wide open to a virus attack from Little Green Men. The concern is raised in the next issue of the journal Acta Astronautica by Richard Carrigan, a particle physicist at the U.S. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. He believes scientists searching the heavens for signals from extra-terrestrial civilisations are putting Earth’s security at risk, by distributing the jumble of signals they receive to computers all over the world. All signals picked up by Seti are broken up and sent across the internet to a vast band of volunteers who have signed up for a Seti screensaver, which allows their computers to crunch away at the signals, when they are not at their desks. (The aliens probably need to dust off their old Windows-compatible, 32-bit computers and put them back into use to write virus which is capable of attacking our computer systems. And by the way, how can you tell they aren’t already controlling our systems now? Now, I’ll tell you the truth. Ready? Ok. Red pill? Blue Pill?)

– that ever since the Chinese ‘hacker’ stole some money using a keylogger trojan from some DBS and POSB accounts, DBS implemented a feature called OTP – One Time Password – which will send an authorisation code to your mobile before you can activate a third party payee. (It’s more like One Time Pain when you need to transfer money in a jiffy and then you realized you need to go to an ATM to activate your iBMessage facility before you can have OTP.)

– that Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest maker of computer memory chips, pleaded guilty to a charge it participated in a worldwide price-fixing conspiracy that damaged competition and raised PC prices. After accepting the plea and a previously arranged deal with prosecutors, U.S. District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton ordered Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and its U.S. subsidiary, Samsung Semiconductor Inc., to pay $300 million – the second-largest fine in a criminal antitrust case. (Too bad consumers won’t get a single cent of benefit from this.)

– that John Seigenthaler, former administrative assistant to Robert Kennedy, has a bone to pick with Wikipedia. In an op-ed in USAToday Seigenthaler takes the community-authored encyclopedia to task for running a biography of him that falsely accused him of being a suspect in the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy. The charges remained up on the site for months before Seigenthaler got them removed. The claims were posted anonymously on the encyclopedia, and while he was able to trace the author’s IP address to a customer of BellSouth Internet, the company said it would not disclose the name without a subpoena, Seigenthaler wrote. (The Tali-PAP should start scanning the Wikipedia too. Maybe some new donors for charity can be found there, after a few law suits for defamation and libel.)

– that the SAF is now 3G! (Here’s some news for you, Jack! Soon will our potential enemies’)

– that British supermodel Kate Moss has scored a lucrative deal with a mobile phone operator as she swiftly rebuilds her cocaine-shaken career. Moss, 31, is to earn £1.2 million to be the face of the youth-oriented Virgin Mobile network in ads that will be shot in Los Angeles next month. (Down with Virgin Mobile!! Say ‘NO!’ to bad role models!!)