Wednesday, June 30, 2010

They think we are stupid again.

Punters have fair chance at gaming machines at integrated resorts
29 June 2010


SINGAPORE : Punters at Singapore's two integrated resorts have a fair chance at winning at the slot machines and other electronic games.

That is because the gaming machines have been certified to have met international standards, according to SPRING Singapore.

The national standards body said all electronic gaming machines such as slots and electronic table games have been tested and verified by laboratories which are accredited by the Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC) or its Mutual Recognition Arrangement partners.

They have also met the technical standards required by the Casino Regulatory Authority of Singapore (CRA).

Both the machines' hardware and software have been tested.

Tests on software included the communication protocol among the table machines that are linked to a server and the random number generator.



Have you ever wonder that it is not the interest of the Casino to let you win?

Same go for the “Casino Regulatory Authority” as they received taxes from the Casino earning.

Therefore the more the Casino earn from the general public, the more the authority earn.

So it is a joke that they are assuring punters they will have a “fair” chance of winning at the slot machines as they had been tested by the SAC. (With interest is for you to lose)

Hmm… does not make sense right?

Also note they did not say what is “fair”?

Fair to them may not be fair to you.

They may set the machine to give winning when it has reached a certain taking per day.

So let just say that this article is just bullshit.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Shooting in Woodland Mall???

Was reading Google news just now and realised there had been some shooting incident at Woodland! See last article in the picture below.


Will actuall it is a screw up by Google filtering system.

Apparently there is a Woodland Mall in Montgomery and google somehow classified it to be a Singapore news. Haha....

No Sick Phase

I call this period the No Sick Phase.

It meant you die die cannot on sick leave. Why? It is because of the World Cup.

Whoever fall sick during this period is automatically classified as “Keng”.

It doesn’t matter whether you are genuinely having a fever of 44 C or has a cast around you feet, if you call in and tell your boss that you are sick your will be classified as a “Chao keng”.

Another No Sick Phase that I identified is during the BMT.

All recruit who fall sick during this period are again, automatically classified at “Bloody kengster” that is true unless you are a “white horse” where all thing you say is classified as the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

I feel that you body need rest to recover from “minor” sickness etc flu, headache.

If you do not get sufficient rest when you develop this warning signals your body give you, you will be dead if you still push your body any further.

So I guess that’s explained why there are people dying in BMT as recruits are afraid to be labelled as a “Chao Keng”.

A couple of year ago I went back to my army unit for my FFI. I saw my docket and realised I only felt sick twice in my 2years 4 month in the army.

Once in BMT where I had a fever and once back in my unit when I had chicken pox.

I also remembered “remote diagnose” is invented in the army.

That is where the Medical Office can tell whether you are sick or not from 10 meters away without even touching or looking at you.

Anyway you will be diagnose with “Chow Kengster” with attend C bunk no matter what. Unless you have to be stretcher in, then that will be a different story.

So if you are catching the world cup, do remember to eat right, drink lots of water, exercise and have enough rest because it is still 2 weeks till we are officially out of the No Sick Phase. (Which will be back in 4 years time)

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Youth Olympic Games

Suddenly I notice Giant Billboards promoting the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) about 10m wide x 6 m tall start to spring up at various locations in Singapore.

I personally saw a couple in Tampines and Pasir Ris.

It has a big picture of the 2 clowns....er… no mascot with message like “Resident of Pasir Ris support the Youth Olympic Games”

I got a couple of questions

Firstly nobody asked me whether I support the YOG or not. So how can the town council say for everyone in the constituency that we support the YOG.

To be more accurate the billboard should read “ Pasir Ris Town Council Support the YOG” or “ Singapore Government support the YOG”.

Second question I got in mind is how much does this colorful billboards cost and who is paying for them? The various Town Concils, (Since they got a good record for collecting conservancy fee or the Ministry of Youth and community development?

Anyway I think it is a pathetic way of them trying to generate some interest in the YOG.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Hitting below the belt

Town councils fare generally well in first management report

10 June 2010 1157 hrs (SST)

Town councils have received their first-ever report card from the Ministry of National Development.

They were assessed in four areas in the inaugural Town Council Management Report (TCMR): estate cleanliness, estate maintenance, lift performance and management of service and conservancy charges arrears.

Most of them fared well in the assessment which took place from last October to this March.

All 16 town councils scored at least a level 2 for cleanliness on a scale of 1 to 5 with one being the best and 5 being the worst.

Four town councils - Tanjong Pagar, Marine Parade, Bishan-Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang - secured the highest level of 1.

The best performer was Tanjong Pagar Town Council. It achieved top ratings for all except estate maintenance.

Indranee Rajah, vice-chairman of Tanjong Pagar Town Council, said: "(First), the staff worked really, really hard and two, input from residents. Our Residents' Committees as well as the residents have been quite diligent in bringing things to the attention of the town council which allows for fairly quick response. "

What the Tanjong Pagar Town Council did was, their officers, especially the property officers, general manager and the staff, they put in a lot of effort on the ground, in terms of identifying the things that needed to be improved, and taking concrete measures to try and implement them.

In the other areas of assessment, most town councils also achieved at least a level 3.

However, town councils in opposition-held estates didn't fare as well.

Potong Pasir for instance scored a level 5 in several areas of assessment including maintenance and arrears management.

Hougang estate also scored 5 for arrears management.

No other estate scored a five in any area of assessment. But residents in Potong Pasir appear to take the poor assessment in their stride.

"It's okay because at least they clean it every day. And I see the person cleaning the lift and sweeping the corridors," said one resident.

"I see a big improvement from previous years, such as the roadside, the gardens, the walkways," said another.

Putting things in context, however, the National Development Ministry says the TCMR should not be used as a basis for comparison between towns. That's because each town differs in terms of its residents' profile and property profile. Hence, it says a more appropriate use of the result is for monitoring the performance of town councils over time.

Ms Indranee Rajah said: "What the assessment process does is that it makes the town councils think about their KPIs (key performance indicators) - these are the things we have to achieve. It also helps the residents to focus on what they want and it helps the town councils to know that these are the things the residents want.

So I guess it's helpful, because it gives you something to shoot for, and you can works towards improving it. Besides the town councils, the job of looking after an estate must be shared.

"Residents must also play their part in keeping the estate clean, because it's good for us," said a resident.



When letter start to appear in the Straights Times Forum this week regarding Potong Pasir cleaniness I knew something fishy is about to happen.

And true enough, yesterday PAP...... opps no the Ministry of National Development reported the performance of all the town councils.

And as expected if you read this article there is the mention of Tanjong Pagar, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Ang Mo Kio (Hmmm .... seem to remind me of some inportant people) did exceptionally well and Potong Pasir and Hougang are lousy.

This is a hit below the belt in boxing term.

Come on, we know the election is coming and I can believe the ruling party resort to such childish tactic.

Note: I thing one of the criteria of scoring will is “Least outstanding conservancy fee , Most conservancy fee being collected” Er… wait a minute doesn’t that meant it is bad for us if the town council collect hell lots of money from us?

Now thats what I call efficiency

Singapore chickens out on protest
2010-06-10 10:04

Singapore - A US animal rights activist said he was prevented by police on Thursday from staging a one-man protest in a chicken suit at a KFC outlet in Singapore.

Basse, a Manila-based campaigner for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), said he was whisked away in a police car after he arrived by taxi outside the restaurant in a working-class district.

"I am now in my hotel room. I am under functional house arrest. I will stay in my hotel room under police surveillance until I leave tomorrow (Friday)," 24-year-old Edward Basse told AFP.

Police in Singapore, which has some of the world's toughest restrictions on protests, had no immediate comment.

"It took a long time, the questioning, perhaps a couple of hours. I was scared, but that is what I have to do for the chickens," Basse said.

"They confiscated my bags and the chicken costume, as well as the poster," he added, saying he did not expect to be charged and would leave Singapore voluntarily.

‘KFC’s cruel practices’

In Singapore, protests are only allowed at a designated public park located on the fringe of the business district. Otherwise, any public demonstration or march needs a police permit.

"I was scared but they treated me fairly okay," Basse said of his stay with the police.

"I am here now (safe) in my room, but what I went through is nothing compared to (the treatment of) the chickens."

Jason Baker, Peta's regional director based in Hong Kong, said Basse was a vegetarian outraged by KFC's allegedly cruel practices against chickens.

"He made a decision that a voice needs to be given to the animals that KFC abuses," said Baker.




Its amazing how efficient the SPF can be especially for protester and people from the opposition parties.

Note Edward Basse was “whisked away in a police car after he arrived by taxi”.

Either someone tip off the police about Edward checking in the hotel with a chicken suit so he was being trailed by the police or KFC called the police when the spotted a human size chicken. No matter I got to say the police appeared faster the superman in this case.

I called the police regarding some illegal teen gathering in the middle of the night making hell lots of noise and it took them 40min and 3 calls later for a police car to appear.

Wonder if I told them there is some opposition parties member in the group will they appear within 10 secs?

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Funny MV (CCB)

Post here for my future reference! Haha damned funny!

Friday, June 04, 2010

Media Cock

MediaCorp to telecast Singapore's table tennis win over China
03 June 2010 1609 hrs (SST)

SINGAPORE: MediaCorp will telecast on Sunday the historic win by Singapore women's team over China in the recent World Team Table Tennis Championships in Moscow.

Singapore's trio of Feng Tianwei, Wang Yuegu and Sun Beibei rocked the sports world when they beat reigning champions and world number one China 3-1 to become world champions.

The media group says it has just secured the telecast rights of the event.

It explains that "live" telecast rights were not made available to free-to-air broadcasters.

Channel 5 will air the event in its entirety at 3pm on June 6, with an encore telecast at 9am on June 12.

MediaCorp says its extensive TV coverage of recent SEA Games, FINA Arena Swimming and the recent AFC Asian Cup Qualifier featuring the Young Lions underlines its firm support of the sporting achievements of Team Singapore athletes.

The group says it will continue to bring key competitive events and matches to viewers, subject to broadcast rights considerations. - CNA/ir

This is really pathetic!

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t even know the Singapore Team are in the final of the Table Tennis World Cup until news broke that they has won.

Ok fine so they have won. Congratulation. That’s all.

Now our dear media cock went to secure “the rights” to broadcast the game.

Shouldn’t they do it in the first place to show the “live” programme.

Shouldn’t they promote the event before the final game so Singaporean are aware that our China B team had made it to the final?

Media cock gave me a feeling that they don’t want to bet of Team Singapore and therefore is unwilling for folk out money for the “live” broadcast.

Now everyone know the Singapore Team has won and now they want to telecast its. WTF?!

Its like go buy the TOTO after they had announce the draw result.

And in the end the still has the cheek to say they have “its firm support of the sporting achievements of Team Singapore athletes.”

Wonder will they go ahead and secure the rights of telecast is Team Singapore has lost to China in the final.

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Onitsuka Part II

My No 2 Tiger from Taipei. Mexico 99 Deluxe

Think I somehow became a shoes collector.
















Monday, May 31, 2010

"The Great Singapore Sales"

Went to Orchard to do some errant on Saturday and man I regretted it almost immediately.

Having 4.3millions population really sucks but couple in the first weekends of School Holidays, the long weekends and the Great Singapore Sales, Orchard road felt like an oversized sardine can.

Was actually eyeing the Nespressor Machine for quite sometime now and I thought it will be a good time to get it at the GSS especially when Takashimaya card holder normally get 10% off on top of the what discount there is.

Turn out to be a real disappointment.

If I remember correctly, last year they offer 10% off the machine and with the Takashimaya cards you get total of 20% off.

The Citiz Aeroccinno is listed at $678 and this year offer is only $50 off plus 10% off which come up to $565.20. Far short of the 20% price of $542 I was looking at.

A check on the website and I found out the same machine cost only about S$400 in UK.

Singapore really sucks.

Look at the mark up $678 - $400 = $278.

Who say Singapore is a cheap place?

Wonder where all the shoppers come from? Better take you spending power elsewhere if you have the chance.

So anyone heading to UK please let me know.



Thursday, May 27, 2010

Back from Taipei (Again)

Had not been blogging for some time as I was in Taiper (again).

As usual had a fantastic time shopping and eating and eating.

Will review more of stuff I got from Taipei soon.

Also spent my birthday there and its nice for the hotel to throw in a birthday cake for me. Nice touch.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Onitsuka Tiger

Took my new Tiger for a spin over the weekend.

Bought it in Taipei last month. Cheapest place to get a Tiger.

Will be looking out for another pair next month.

Hee....

Fresh from the factory.

Looking good.

Side view.



The sole.

Made in Japan.

Greed in Singapore

ST Forum
Try RTM1 for World Cup


Apr 24, 2010

Blocks' central antenna can pick up Malaysian channel's signal.
By Leonard Lim, Chan U-Gene & Jeff Ang

FOOTBALL fans, good news if you are among the 80 per cent of the population living in public housing.

Chances are, you will be able to catch 20 World Cup games live and another 11 delayed on a free-to-air Malaysian channel - if the unthinkable happens and Singapore fails to secure the broadcast rights to the football extravaganza.

And some HDB dwellers who can receive Indonesian channels such as RCTI and Global TV may even be able to watch all 64 matches live.

Almost all the live telecasts will be for matches that kick off at 10pm Malaysia and Singapore time - and they involve top teams like Brazil, Portugal and England. These are matches that will be broadcast on Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) 1.

Four other live matches are being screened on RTM2, which is not available in Singapore.

RTM, which was granted exclusive terrestrial broadcast rights for Malaysia in January, will also broadcast daily highlights of all 64 matches at the June 11 to July 11 showpiece in South Africa. But it is not yet known if these will be shown over RTM 1 or 2.



In the age where people are trying to improve,we in Singapore are doing a backstroke because of greed.

No more free-to-air world events for you folks Singapore. All must pay pay pay.

At least our neighbour in Malaysia and Indonesia are better then us in this aspect.

First world country my foot!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Earth Day

Today is world’s Earth Day.

Please do a little for the environment today. (Switch off more lights!)

Was watching The Inconvenient Truth again and it’s a reminder how devastating what we are doing to our planet.

Good luck for the next generation if we don’t do anything this generation.

So folks if you want your sons and daughters to experience the Earth as you know it. Start to do something no matter how small it may be.


Tuesday, April 20, 2010

More Reason Taipei is Better

Was back in Taipei last month. As usual money well spent.

Famous peanuts ice at Ximending. Cost only about S$2.50. The peanuts is really soft and had been cooked for more then 8 hours.

One of my favourite store. Pork Chop Rice at Dong Qu. One set is about S$4.
Where to get this kind of quality at this price in Singapore?
Will be going back Taipei next month. Will remember to take more photo of the food there.
Yum...



Taiper better then Sin?

Mr Brown wrote this article recently and it has angered many Singapopean and started an online debates whereder did Mr Bron put Singapore down.

Well I totally agreed with Mr Brown! Check out my post back in 2009! Yeah I notice it long ago that Singapore is not the best place on earth.

I find that Singaporean can really take critisim. Also I find that Singaporean are quite proud. Looking down on others and we think we can speak English better then any countries in Asia.

But mark my words, we are losing out fast to people in term of services and aggresivness. We are not hungry and sooner or later we will be left behind with our broken English.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Post Goal 2010 plan.

ST Forum
Apr 13, 2010


Ambitious soccer plan overdue

I AM excited by the Football Association of Singapore's (FAS) ambitious plan to take Singapore's soccer to greater heights to match powerhouses Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea ("FAS targets top-10 soccer spot in Asia"; last Thursday).

This project is long overdue.

World Cup 2010 was just a pipe dream for the Singapore soccer team and aiming for the best in Asia is a more realistic target.

The emphasis on youth development is a move in the right direction and taking in boys from as young as eight augurs well for the scene. Stimulating interest at an early age will certainly give a boost and inculcate passion for the game.

The target for a gold medal in the South-east Asia Games has long been my wish.

It has been eluding us for a very long time and it is every Singaporean's desire to win it eventually.

The country has done well in swimming, table tennis, bowling and shooting in the SEA Games, and I hope more funds can be allocated to soccer, which is dear to the hearts of many.

Singaporeans share and believe in the vision that we will one day emerge as a powerhouse in soccer.

Bennie Cheok


This is yet another joke and I must applaud Bennie’s optimism.

Remember what our goal was back in 1999? Yes to be in the final of world cup in 2010. (Hey its this year!)

http://javertworld.blogspot.com/2006/08/goal-2010.html

After pouring in millions of tax-payer’s money, even formed a S-League, look at the state of our national team. Pathetic.

So now we are lowing our standard to be the TOP 10 in Asia. Goash! More money down the drain!

Yes I agreed that our National Team has improved compared to 10 years ago, but don’t forget so are all the National Teams in the world!

We will never keep up with those countries that has developed comprehensive programme to develop their soccer players.

We should just concentrate to win Gold in some, debates or Physics Olympics.

Most soccer fan here rather support a team in Europe rather then the national team I guess.

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Sad country.

ST Forum
Apr 8, 2010
Why the delay in upgrading opposition ward?


IT HAS been almost a year since Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu announced that the Government's Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP) would be launched in the two opposition wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang.

The news thrilled residents like me, who live in the selected LUP precinct of Potong Pasir constituency. It gave us much cause for excitement.

However, this euphoria seems to be evaporating as no work has been done.

There is not even an announcement of a date when work is to begin. I am starting to wonder if the project is on track or if some unexpected problems have cropped up.

I hope the Potong Pasir Town Council or the Citizens Consultative Committee can enlighten residents.

Let our constituency be a model of how an ugly duckling can be transformed into a beautiful swan.

Chan Mia Lee



The behaviour of our MIW is just plain childish.

Lift upgrade should not be use as a carrot to buy vote.

People staying in opposition ward deserve every right for facilities upgrade as they pay taxes too!

If our MIW have to resolve into this dirty method to force people out of opposition wards then all I can say is what a sorry state our county is in.

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Updates

Not been blogging for quite a while now as I was away for a week during Chinese New Year and then was sick for 2 weeks after that.

Went to Fukouka again during CNY.

As usual weather was great and ate lots of nice food too. Weather was fantastic, nice and cold between 4 – 10 C. It s a good place to rest and relax as it is not too crowded like in Tokyo.

Bought quire a few things as well. Bought 4 pairs of sneakers this time but the red converse was an emergency as the shoes I wore there broke in the middle of the road! Haha….

Happy with all my shoes purchase as they are mostly limited to Japan only.

Came home and dug out my shoes collection.

3 more pairs bought last year in Tokyo in the front here.

And here are the rest of my shoes. Mmm… running out of space soon.


May have caught a cold in Fukouka, was having a terrible cough and was sneezing after a fews days back in Singapore. So after 14 days, 2 visits to the doctor, 3 bottles of cough mixture, 20 flu tablets, 20 anti-inflammation tablets and 10 paracetamols, I am feeling much better now. The hot weather is not helping with my Flu as well.

So am drinking lots of water these days and resting well. And time to pack for Taipei!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

National Service

Next week I will be going for my annual ICT.

This will be my 9th year and hopefully will be my second last in-camp training before I join the rank of the enlightened at the MINDEF Reserve.

So again there will be an IPPT test, camping in some remote part of Singapore, wearing Green clothes and some sleepless nights again.

I don’t really mind going back for my ICT. Really.

Its an opportunity to catch up with old friends and to exercises other part of your body that you seldom use in the office.

But it’s the dreadful time wasting waiting that I hates.

I just can’t help to wonder how inefficient the Army can be sometime. I never understand why. Not to forget highly paid individual runs the organisation.

So I was looking back the day when I was a CHOW Recruits and compare to now, many things has changed. Here are some where I can think of:

  1. Use to wear the WWII Tin Helmet. Now it the stylo Kevlar one.
  2. Use to wear the super old SBO. You need to fix the two pouch and water bottle and the “bra strap” your self. Now they get the Load Bearing Vest.
  3. Running shoes are black canvas type. Now you get either Brooks or New Balance.
  4. Uniform is different as well. Green camouflage replace by Pixel Camouflage.
  5. Beds are sponge on spring support. Now got super Dunlop.
  6. I got the camouflage green shorts and Plain green T-shirt as PT KITS. Now its olive green and black shorts.
  7. M16 then and SAR 21 now.
  8. Cookhouse are run by Ah-Beng. Now its aunties from Singapore Food Industries.
  9. You used to keep a Tin plate when you go to the cookhouse and you need to wash them. Now there are plates in the cookhouse and you don’t do the washing anymore!
  10. Boots you wear are hard and stiff. Now it’s the gotex.

So our soldiers are different now. Compare to even just 10 years ago. People are more educated and also there is less ill treatment now.

Then I just can’t help to think what remains the same in the army… mmm…

1)The towel is the same!
2) So is the Beret!
3) Still got the same #@$@# regular.
4) Water bottle and mess tin is still the same. But I wonder does anyone uses the mess tin these days.
5) Still uses the tleat over map.

Feel free to add on…. I running out here…haha…