Singtel using legal means to demand payment of $0

Found this on Hardwarezone forum and thought it to be too hilarious not to share.

The weirdest thing a telco giant has done is to request for payment of $0 and then threaten legal proceedings if the said amount is not paid. It makes me wonder how payment of $0 can be made. Some forum posters pointed out that this is the mistake of the law firm. But I like to think otherwise. I believe it's the problem of both Singtel and WLaw LLC.

1) Singtel's credit department would have instructed WLaw to send the demand letter and WLaw was only following client's instructions.

2) WLaw did not check details of the letter before sending out. If they did, someone could have alerted Singtel's credit department.

Whatever it is, this is really hilarious!!

Dismissed police inspector takes tourist bus hostage in Philippines taking 8 innocent lives

The following video was recorded live during the Manila siege. It's apalling how slowly and naively the Philippines SWAT team reacted to the situation. What started out as a happy tour around the country turned out to be a tragedy. Would the lives of the 8 Hong Kong tourists be spared if the Philippines police have agreed to the conditions of the gunman? All he wanted was a reinstatement and his pension. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realised that he is completely out of his mind....thinking that he could take hostage the tourists in exchange for his job back and not get jailed for it. Why didn't the police concede to his request and then cuff him up later? There were instances where the hostage-taker was seen alone and the SWAT team could have easily taken him down...why wasn't any action taken? Was the axe the best equipment the police force could afford? When they started hacking the glass windows, was there thoughts that there might be hostages sitting nearby who might get hit? Why were the snipers crawling on the floor instead of being at the higher point where visibility was better? There was only 1 gunman...not a team of them. 10 hours just to subdue that guy is inefficient. I wonder what was going through their minds during the entire siege.

As if the inefficiency of the SWAT team wasn't enough to create negative media, these insensitive clowns decided to add salt to the wound. Can't they tell that this is NOT a tourist attraction? Taking pictures of the bus is curiousity - that's human nature. Taking pictures with the bus is inhuman!

The entire Hong Kong is grieving over the lost of their citizens. I think such acts of foolishness is very uncalled for.

I love Hong Kong to bits and I grieve with the country for the lost of their citizens. But in all fairness, I must add that NOT all Filipinos are clowns. There are really nice ones around and we shouldn't be generalising everyone of them. Let's be fair. This is not the time to be encouraging hatred between countries.

More news on:

• http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/26/philippines.bus.steve.lunt/index.html?iref=obinsite#fbid=PQSaZauxzst&wom=false
• http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/23/philippines.bus.hostages/index.html?iref=obinsite#fbid=PQSaZauxzst&wom=false
• http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/24/philippines.bus.survivors/index.html?iref=obinsite#fbid=PQSaZauxzst&wom=false
• http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/08/25/philippines.hostage.fallout/index.html?iref=obnetwork#fbid=PQSaZauxzst&wom=false

Job Application Letter Award Winner!

Being a recruiter has its ups and downs. No matter how tough the situation may be, there's always some quirky CVs to cheer you up. Here's a copy of a real job application letter received by recruiters at one top Wall Street firm. No editing is done.....so the spelling errors and sentence structure errors remain.
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I am wishing of coming to your great street in the wall to work in bank for investments. My experieence is nice. My uncle had freind who held golfing sticks for Jimmey the Cayne in rounds when bank was dying. My father knows Sir Eliot Spitzer's girl nice well. Very, very preety, but worth nothing to lose big top job for. Big shame that. At school my teecher always siad that I know price of everytinge and value of nothinge, just like your traders of the subprime.

I never lie. I forget easy and in my country that is not for good. If they catch you in lie in Takijistan, they do terrable things too you with electric sticke. I had problam with the walkings for a little time, but I recover good now well. Not all do well after electric sticke, especial if many stickeings take.

I am wanting to be trader. In markeet, I always get good price. I never misprice, as I don't know how to do math - see, I have much in commun with your risky peeple. If trader jobs are finished, I could do risky as good.

My friende says you have lost plenty money by your tradings. I am sorrey for that. Perhaps I come and trade nothing - then you lose no money. Already I have good ideas to run your bank. Tell traders to stop losings. I can bring electric sticke.

I here about your bare stearn. Good that your government covers it with much guarantee. In my countrie, the poorings people pay all the bills for the rich too, so your grate countrie is the same. It is good to be at top in your bank. I want to be near top. To take much money when there is none for the rest is my dream. God bless yourr aMERICA.

Your sytem is also good - the politic. A black and woman for top job is nicely. In Takijistan we love Oprah Winfrey to. Sometimes the fat girl, sometimes the thin is very good. You are true free peeple. Even I here your bankers are in streete with sign looking for good jobs. In your aMERICA they don't knock on door in night if you beg on streete, and you are not taken away off to see family again never. americans just laugh ha-ha and call loser for poor the peeple with no jobs. I want to be loser in aMERICA some day. But now just I want job. If your jobs are finished, do you know place for job signs pleese ? I like ha-ha too.

I hope your bank is prosper and you have good job for me. My father says he knows you will give me good proper job. He says to tell you he now owns 15% of your stocke equity and will buy much more when you make more big losings soon. He has many electric sticke now and most money in all Takijistan .

I will be arrivings next weak. If no job, please send money immediately. Do not defer if I am not to make it in staff (like bonus, which now comes never). If cash is short just sell more housings of your trailer trash poorings people and send mee quick fast.

I am your servant, and my father is your boss top soon now

Whatever you give a woman, she's going to multiply

Saw this in Snugloft's blog and thought it to be so true!

"Whatever you give a woman, she's going to multiply. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges that which is given to her. So - if you give her any crap, you will receive a ton of shit."

This is so interestingly funny yet I cannot pinpoint any part of the phrase which seems to be wrong. As women, we respond better than we lead. Not that we can't lead but men would do a better job in that. It has never been and never will be my intention to rob that job away from men.

However in recent years, I can't help but notice a certain trend in men. They have somehow graduated from the "man of his word" to "NATO (No Action, Talk Only)". Sad but true. They no longer feel that they need to mean every single word they say. It is no wonder more and more gals are going for their own gender instead of the opposite. Well, the only way to protect ourselves is to practice what the phrase say - give me crap and you'll get shit!

Should Singapore abolish the death penalty?

Yahoo editor posted this question"In light of the recent public outcry on the sentencing of Malaysia citizen Yong Vui Kong to be executed by hanging, and the controversial book on Singapore's death penalty system by British author Alan Shadrake, should the Singapore government budge and lower their stance on administering the death penalty? "

According to my best friend, Wikipedia, Singapore has been using capital punishment (aka. death penalty) since it was a British colony. Being a country vying to be top in almost everything, we didn't lose out in executing capital punishment either. Wiki said that Singapore had the highest per-capita execution rate in the world between 1994 and 1999, estimated by the United Nations to be 13.57 executions per one million population during that period. Having grown up in an environment where public caning was a common sight in schools, I have been brought up to understand that capital punishment works!

In view of that, I do not think that capital punishment should be abolished. Most would have already know the penal code where commission of certain offences would lead to the city-state having to play hangman with you. Wiki said that 70% of death penalties are drug-related offences. Unfortunately, a certain group of people do not take Singapore too seriously...they decided that they should test the Singapore legal system over and over again. Friends, Singapore's low crime rate does not come about because most of us are angels sent down from above (some have two horns underneath their halos). It came about because the island stick to her rules and meant what she says. So the next time you picked up an embarkation card from immigration, do take the time to read the entire thing.....drug trafficking is not in the fine prints! Instead, it's bold, caps and red...you can't miss it!

Additional reads
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Singapore
- http://singabloodypore.rsfblog.org/archive/2009/11/10/urgent-yong-vui-kong-s-appeal.html

Free speech is a myth?

Some people wonder why Singaporeans don't speak up. I shall not attempt to explain but this is something interesting you should read...
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UK author vows to fight Singapore contempt charge
UK author vows to fight Singapore contempt charge

SINGAPORE – A British author vowed Friday to fight charges in Singapore related to his book on the city-state's death penalty policy, even if it lands him in jail.

Alan Shadrake, 75, said he rejected a plea bargain from the attorney general's office to drop a contempt of court charge in exchange for an apology for statements about Singapore's judicial system in his book, "Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock."

"They can put me in jail, I don't care," Shadrake said in an interview before a preliminary hearing. "They will not shut me up."

Shadrake was arrested July 18 and freed on bail two days later in connection with a criminal defamation investigation that is still ongoing. The attorney general also charged Shadrake with contempt of court, which, like criminal defamation, carries a possible punishment of jail, a fine or both.

The attorney-general's office alleges statements in the book impugn the impartiality, integrity and independence of the judiciary.

"The allegations and imputations in the book are calculated to undermine the authority of the Singapore courts and public confidence in the administration of justice," the attorney general's office said in court documents. "By reason of bringing to existence, publication and distribution of the book which scandalized the Singapore judiciary, the respondent has committed contempt of court."

Prosecutor David Chong said in court Friday that the attorney general's office would accept an "unqualified apology" from Shadrake given the author's ailing health. Shadrake said he takes daily medication for heart disease.

Chong also warned journalists against publishing any "contemptuous material" related to the case.

Judge Quentin Loh granted Shadrake's request for a two-week adjournment to prepare his case.

Singapore's leaders have sued journalists and political opponents several times in past years for defamation. The government says restrictions on speech and assembly are necessary to preserve economic prosperity and racial and religious harmony in this multiethnic city-state of 5 million people. It says any statement that damages the reputations of its leaders will hinder their ability to rule effectively.

Human rights groups say Singapore uses criminal defamation laws to silence critics.

"Free speech is an endangered species in Singapore," Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "It's sadly predictable that the government did not hesitate to threaten prosecution, fines, and imprisonment against an author whose views run contrary to its own."

The media authority said last week that it had not banned the sale of the book in Singapore.

"I would never apologize and I would never say sorry," Shadrake told reporters as he left court Friday. "I didn't do this to grovel to them like Singaporeans mostly have to do to lead a normal life."

Singapore applies capital punishment by hanging for offenses such as murder, drug trafficking and unlawful use of a firearm.

Source - Yahoo Singapore News

How to prepare a kiwi

Found this in my email. Thought it's quite interesting! If you're not sure how to prepare a kiwi, here's 7 steps.

McDonald's apologized

McDonald's made a really stupid decision and upset many chinese when they decided to exclude the pig from their 12 horoscope doraemon toy collection. For once in the entire chinese horoscope history, there's only 11 characters. The reason for the exclusion is so as not to offend the muslim community in Singapore. About 75% of the nearly 5 mil population in Singapore is chinese. I really admire McDonald's stand in risking that 75% to uphold racial harmony. I guess toy shops should stop selling Porky Pig (in Looney Tunes) coz muslim children might walk into the shops. And The Simpson movie should be banned from Singapore (at the time it was showing) because of the Spider Pig song.

Frankly, I don't really think this is McDonald's fault as an organisation. It should be the fault of some drunk executives trying their luck to see if they would get sack for helping McDonald's lower their profit by coming up with weird and ridiculous ideas.

Singapore, as a nation, took alot of efforts in building racial harmony. It is not an uncommon sight to see children of different races playing together at the playground or neighbours of different races chatting at the void deck. We have come a long way. So what make them think that putting a pig toy in a combo meal toy collection would spoil that? I seriously have no answer except for the drunk executives. Or maybe....it's a promotional gimmick! If that's the case...it has backfired!

My suggestion...take a survey and see the response. It might not be what they think it is. Let consumer speaks for themselves

Taxi stand trio

Handy Road (Dhoby Ghaut) is not a very long road. Infact, it is one of the shortest roads with the most taxi stands squeezed in it. There is a taxi stand at The Atrium@Orchard, Plaza Singapore and The Luxe (near Cathay). What's amazing is that The Atrium is only about 5m from Plaza Singapura (you can even see the Atrium taxi stand while standing at the one in Plaza Singapura). I don't quite see the rationale. Can't the people from The Atrium walk over to Plaza Singapura? It's quite irritating when you are in a super long queue with your full trolley of groceries and then noticed that taxis are stopping at the Atrium for passengers who hasn't waited even a minute.

Actually, I have a better plan. Since they already have so 3 taxi stands on one short road, they should make the most of it. Yep! Have more. One more at Nomu and one more at The Cathay...And then maybe register for Guinness World Records.

ERP, our way of life

Nope, I am not talking about Enterprise Resource Planning. I'm talking about Electronic Road Pricing here. The Land Transport Authority has announced that there will be 4 new gantries in the following places: Marina Way (an exit road from the Ayer Rajah Expressway); Marina Station Road (near the new MRT station); and two on either direction of the new three-lane dual-carriageway Bay Bridge that links the new business and entertainment hub to Raffles Avenue. This brings the total number of gantries to a whopping 36 on this tiny little island. Yes, presenting...the crowding effect.

Map from Singapore Land Authority

In time to come, we will not be known as the little red dot. There will be a global rebranding and we'll be known as the little blue dot thanks to all the ERP gantries.

More gantries might be erected in high human traffic areas like the followings:


So the next time you step out of your house, remember to check if your Ezylink card has sufficient funds. A system will be installed in every household where you are able to check balance. Insufficient balance might result in traffic police summons.