Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Flaw of Military Conscription
Punished for assault
By Teh Joo Lin
RILED by a soldier's poor work attitude, three of his colleagues beat him up one evening, with one of them hitting him with a helmet, umbrella and broomstick until the 19-year-old lay on the floor, semi-conscious and vomiting. And when a medic later advised that the victim be taken to hospital immediately, two of the perpetrators loaded Mr Jagjeet Singh - who held the rank of recruit - onto a trolley, wheeled him to his bunk and dumped him on the floor. On Wednesday, the three assailants were sentenced by a military court for the Dec 17 beating, which was so severe that the victim is still in hospital over a month after the incident in Bedok Camp 2 at Upper East Coast Road.All three pleaded guilty.
The main culprit, Lance-Corporal Nur Hilman Kassim, 23, was jailed three years and ordered to be caned six times. He will serve time in a civilian prison. Corporal Muhammad Fahmi Ibrahim and Recruit Hong Zhi Sheng, both 22, were sent to the detention barracks for six and four months respectively.During the hearing at the Singapore Armed Forces' Court Martial Centre, the court heard that the three storemen had confronted their colleague at about 6.30pm on Dec 17, annoyed that his poor work attitude had landed them in trouble with their superiors.
The face-off was verbal at first, but it spiralled into violence when they became agitated by his blank stares and uninterested responses.
There's no love lost between me and the SAF. Even though I'm out, I still think it's a big waste of time. One flaw is because it forces people who have literally nothing in common to come together to work together. Case in point. I can actually understand what the 3 guys went through when they get screwed over because of something someone else does and through no fault of theirs. The whole everyone pays the price kind of mentality sucks. It might have worked for an older generation, but for the current generation, punishing everyone? That's not going to work. SAF needs an Obama..Labels: SAF
Pachebel Rant
Labels: humour, music video
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Downside of Tray Return
There's this movement now where the patrons of food places are encouraged to return their trays after they are done eating. Perfectly fine. I have no problem with that. I think it's a good habit and hopefully a step in the right direction to be a gracious society. Downside with this movement is this: What if the stall doesn't give you a tray? I recently encountered this when having a meal at a hawker centre. I was eating my meal when I saw the sign saying "please return your tray". However, the stall owner did not give me a tray. And when I looked around, most of the diners were not given trays too. So how does one return the tray when there isn't a tray? The tray holders are designed to only hold trays. So in the end I had to pass the plate to the lady who was there clearing up plates (which weren't cleared and yes, no trays too). She gave me this weird look.
Labels: defective by design
Well it finally happened...
Hollywood finally has a show where the main character is an engineer. And a real one at that. Not one of those engineers who's also a scientist/inventor. And he is Will Smith's character from 7 pounds. He's an engineer from MIT too. Apparently an engineer in NASA or what not. But He dies Thanks a lot Hollywood.
Labels: Engineers-yay?, Movies
Yup no beggars in Singapore at all
Cause they have been outlawed.
UNDER the Environmental Public Health Act, individuals caught peddling tissue paper can be fined up to $5,000.Repeat offenders can be fined up to $10,000, jailed up to three months, or both.
Under the Destitute Persons Act, offenders can be charged for begging.If convicted, they will face a fine of up to $3,000 or a jail term of up to two years.
Under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act, if an individual is found to be creating a public nuisance by using threatening, abusive or insulting words, or behaviour towards another person, he can be fined up to $5,000.
Nice to know that we're trying to destroy the livelihoods of people who are just trying to make ends meet and don't have the necessary skills to make a living via some other means. But at least it allows certain people to proclaim that there are no poor or beggars in the country. Lesser mortals indeed.
UNDER the Environmental Public Health Act, individuals caught peddling tissue paper can be fined up to $5,000.Repeat offenders can be fined up to $10,000, jailed up to three months, or both.
Under the Destitute Persons Act, offenders can be charged for begging.If convicted, they will face a fine of up to $3,000 or a jail term of up to two years.
Under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act, if an individual is found to be creating a public nuisance by using threatening, abusive or insulting words, or behaviour towards another person, he can be fined up to $5,000.
Nice to know that we're trying to destroy the livelihoods of people who are just trying to make ends meet and don't have the necessary skills to make a living via some other means. But at least it allows certain people to proclaim that there are no poor or beggars in the country. Lesser mortals indeed.
Labels: current affairs, stupid policies
My Article to Singapore Horticulture Interests Times
I have recently been invited to write an article on this Horticulture course which I attended a few months back in England. Sure the course was long (6 months) and man it was expensive $100,000 (look at all that zeroes) but thankfully my role in the office is quite redundant. Pretty much that of a rubber stamp. The lesser mortals under me can do all the work I do at a much lower cost. So anyway I took my lovely wife (who's a CEO of a large MNC, I won't name the company, but it rhymes with "bell") and my 6 year old kid (who's a genius, recently admitted to MIT to lecture) Yay go him.
Oh yeah, the article on plants. Erm, basically put seed in soil, water and put under sunlight.
Everything above is a satire. If you think that anything above is real, you need to probably get your head examined.
Oh yeah, the article on plants. Erm, basically put seed in soil, water and put under sunlight.
Everything above is a satire. If you think that anything above is real, you need to probably get your head examined.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Tastes Like Feet
Top ranking civil servants must like the taste of feet. I mean, look at the things that have transpired.
Perm Sec Tan Yong Soon writes an article on his cooking holiday with his wife and kid. Sounds normal? Except he came across as gloating and insensitive especially when doing stuff like mentioning that his wife was a senior financial consultant with a bank and that his son was going to Brown uni. Also mentioning how easy it was to take 5 weeks of leave (Perm Sec here), how he implied he was a good leader. -> First incident of feet tasting.
So the follow-up, Head of the Civil Service Teo Chee Hean reprimands? said Perm Sec and all saying it was insensitive. Perm Sec doesn't comment. (Of course, he's already tasted feet once. He's still in the process of removing it from his large intestine.)
So then come the comments from his fellow civil servants. Now they are MPs (1 rank higher) who somehow felt the need to comment on this. First one came from MP Arthur Fong
"MP Arthur Fong agreed that Mr Tan could have been more sensitive about the timing of the story.
.“It was harsh on him, but the timing wasn’t good,” said Mr Fong. “Perhaps people wouldn’t even blink if this story came out in good times.” "
Erm.. dunno if I agree with him. How is it harsh on him? He got a slap on the wrist. He's paid quite a princely sum. I'd think the pay justifies the punishment.
Now the clincher is here (Singapore's latest Champion for 2009. Last year was Wong Kan Seng)
MP Charles Chong
"“Maybe it made lesser mortals envious and they thought maybe he was a bit boastful. Would people have taken offence if his wife (a senior investment counsellor at a bank) had paid for everything ?”"
Ah.. the ultimate insert foot in mouth moment. I would like to know what was going through his mind when he even said this in public. Does he really believe that? I mean if he does.. at least he's honest about it. But, is this the kind of calibre of leader that we want leading us? People who think of themselves as a rank above the masses? How disjointed is that? Oddly enough, none of the 2 leaders quoted above actually understood why people were upset. The original article smacks of a smug attitude that is already linked to our leaders.
In honor of our Feet tasting/eating MPs, I offer you this Friends clip. Where they eat trifle.. that tastes like Feet.
Perm Sec Tan Yong Soon writes an article on his cooking holiday with his wife and kid. Sounds normal? Except he came across as gloating and insensitive especially when doing stuff like mentioning that his wife was a senior financial consultant with a bank and that his son was going to Brown uni. Also mentioning how easy it was to take 5 weeks of leave (Perm Sec here), how he implied he was a good leader. -> First incident of feet tasting.
So the follow-up, Head of the Civil Service Teo Chee Hean reprimands? said Perm Sec and all saying it was insensitive. Perm Sec doesn't comment. (Of course, he's already tasted feet once. He's still in the process of removing it from his large intestine.)
So then come the comments from his fellow civil servants. Now they are MPs (1 rank higher) who somehow felt the need to comment on this. First one came from MP Arthur Fong
"MP Arthur Fong agreed that Mr Tan could have been more sensitive about the timing of the story.
.“It was harsh on him, but the timing wasn’t good,” said Mr Fong. “Perhaps people wouldn’t even blink if this story came out in good times.” "
Erm.. dunno if I agree with him. How is it harsh on him? He got a slap on the wrist. He's paid quite a princely sum. I'd think the pay justifies the punishment.
Now the clincher is here (Singapore's latest Champion for 2009. Last year was Wong Kan Seng)
MP Charles Chong
"“Maybe it made lesser mortals envious and they thought maybe he was a bit boastful. Would people have taken offence if his wife (a senior investment counsellor at a bank) had paid for everything ?”"
Ah.. the ultimate insert foot in mouth moment. I would like to know what was going through his mind when he even said this in public. Does he really believe that? I mean if he does.. at least he's honest about it. But, is this the kind of calibre of leader that we want leading us? People who think of themselves as a rank above the masses? How disjointed is that? Oddly enough, none of the 2 leaders quoted above actually understood why people were upset. The original article smacks of a smug attitude that is already linked to our leaders.
In honor of our Feet tasting/eating MPs, I offer you this Friends clip. Where they eat trifle.. that tastes like Feet.
HR Personality Test
Copied from here [theage.com.au]):
1. Put 400 bricks in a closed room.
2. Put your new hires in the room and close the door.
3. Leave them alone and come back after six hours.
4. Then analyze the situation.
a. If they are counting the bricks, put them in the Accounting Department.
b. If they are recounting them, put them in Auditing.
c. If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks, put them in Engineering.
d. If they are arranging the bricks in some strange order, put them in Planning.
e. If they are throwing the bricks at each other, put them in Operations.
f. If they are sleeping, put them in Security.
g. If they have broken the bricks into pieces, put them in Information Technology.
h. If they are sitting idle, put them in Human Resources.
i. If they say they have tried different combinations and they are looking for more, yet not a brick has been moved, put them in Sales.
j. If they have already left for the day, put them in Management.
k. If they are staring out of the window, put them in Strategic Planning.
l. If they are talking to each other, and not a single brick has been moved, congratulate them and put them in Top Management.
m. Finally, if they have surrounded themselves with bricks in such a way that they can neither be seen nor heard from, put them in Congress.
1. Put 400 bricks in a closed room.
2. Put your new hires in the room and close the door.
3. Leave them alone and come back after six hours.
4. Then analyze the situation.
a. If they are counting the bricks, put them in the Accounting Department.
b. If they are recounting them, put them in Auditing.
c. If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks, put them in Engineering.
d. If they are arranging the bricks in some strange order, put them in Planning.
e. If they are throwing the bricks at each other, put them in Operations.
f. If they are sleeping, put them in Security.
g. If they have broken the bricks into pieces, put them in Information Technology.
h. If they are sitting idle, put them in Human Resources.
i. If they say they have tried different combinations and they are looking for more, yet not a brick has been moved, put them in Sales.
j. If they have already left for the day, put them in Management.
k. If they are staring out of the window, put them in Strategic Planning.
l. If they are talking to each other, and not a single brick has been moved, congratulate them and put them in Top Management.
m. Finally, if they have surrounded themselves with bricks in such a way that they can neither be seen nor heard from, put them in Congress.
Labels: humour
Warning Labels For Politicians
- "Remember - I lied to you the last time you voted for me."
- "Warning: Politicians serve their biggest contributors first."
- "Politicians - their #1 priority is sincerity - once they can fake that ..."
- "#1 sign that a politician is lying - their lips are moving."
- "Warning: If you think your choices suck, then it is YOUR responsibility to do something about it."
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
MM Lee- now with 50% more prophetic abilities
Saturday, January 10, 2009
CSI Spoof + Rick Astley Spoof
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
CSI Spoofs
Friday, January 02, 2009
A nice oldie
Labels: music video
Thursday, January 01, 2009
At Least Someone Out There Still Cares
How true Mr Pratchett
"Quimby was eventually killed by a disgruntled poet during an experiment conducted in the palace grounds to prove the disputed accuracy of the proverb "The pen is mightier than the sword," and in his memory it was amended to include the phrase, "only if the sword is very short, and the pen is very sharp." "
From Terry Pratchett's The Light Fantastic
From Terry Pratchett's The Light Fantastic
Labels: humour
