SG's 2005 Q1 Unemployment Rate @ 3.9%

(Source: CNA 29-April-2005)

This is up 0.2% from last quarter...I could be part of next quarter's stats if...

man vs woman (emailed from a friend)

NICKNAMES

If Laura, Suzanne, Debra and Rose go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Suzanne, Debra and Rose.

If Mike, Charlie, Bob and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla, Peanut-Head and Scrappy.
----------
EATING OUT

When the bill arrives, Mike, Charlie, Bob and John will each throw in $20, even though it's only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller, and none will actually admit they want change back.

When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.
----------
MONEY

A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he wants.

A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't want.
----------
BATHROOMS

A man has six items in his bathroom: a toothbrush, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel from the Holiday Inn.

The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify most of these items.
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ARGUMENTS

A woman has the last word in any argument.

Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.
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CATS

Women love cats.

Men say they love cats, but when women aren't looking, men kick cats.
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FUTURE

A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.

A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
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SUCCESS

A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.

A successful woman is one who can find such a man.
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MARRIAGE

A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.

A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change and she does.
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DRESSING UP

A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the garbage, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail.

A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.
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NATURAL

Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.

Women somehow deteriorate during the night.
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OFFSPRING

Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.

A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.
----------
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Any married man should forget his mistakes. There's no use in two people remembering the same thing.

Mood of the day 28-Apr-05 (Thu)

U never walk alone...u never walk alone
Woke up early this morning to catch the champion's league semi-final first-leg tie between chelsea and LIVERPOOL held at Stamford Bridge...ended in a goal-less draw...ahahaha...advantage liverpool, come the return-leg at Anfield next week

Today's morale score: 2/10...Sunkenton...err...i mean huntington still firing blanks...ptui

The Lost Lamp

A lost lamp was found today...here's my email to my staff:
======
Dear all,

A lamp (see attached picture) was found in the level 3 female (multi-user) toilet.
(Obviously, not by me; although, I am very tempted to ask the owner why extra illumination was required)

Can the owner please approach me for the lamp by Friday 29-Apr-2005 latest? Failing which, it would be disposed.

Thanks and best regards,
XXX
======
Me witty right? Sometimes I amaze myself so much that I cant stand myself

Mood of the day 27-Apr-05 (Wed)

Today's morale score: 2/10 ( Kill me...but make it quick)...but only because there was a pretty auditor from PWC ON my joint...err...IN our joint i mean...ahhaha...i wish...

Damnit...project huntington could well change its name to project hung-ington...NOTHING...i mean freaking absolutely NOTHING's cooking...at the rate this is going...may change this blog entry to "mood of the week" because it will most likely stay that crappy anyway...

blah...blah...blah...ptui

Mood of the day 25-Apr-05 (Mon)

Today's morale score: 1/10...simply because i'm getting really numb...ptui

I promise to be a good boy...

Oh shoot me, please...(due to lack of experience in this blog-ology subject)...didnt realize that if i wrote something flaming or racist or sexist or @#?-ist (not that i would or should or did)...i can get myself into serious trouble...sigh...wondered where freedom of speech went to...swell

Okie...As author, i now proclaim that this blog will never contain any anti-"blah...blah...blah" statements or jokes or whatever that will insult "blah...blah...blah"...in other words, this blog has now been officially declared "FXXXing BORING!!!"

Ptui

Ecstasy abusers turning to legal slimming drug to get high

(Source: CNA 24-April-2005)

Party goers popping prescriptive slimming drugs, that contain phentermine, to get their fix...

Here's the ironic part...'Said Sara,"I don't want to get myself into trouble, I'm a graduate."'

RRReal clever I must say...wonder which university she went to???

Mood of the day 25-Apr-05 (Mon)

Still nothing to show for with huntington...sian
Today's morale score: 1/10 (Kill me...pretty pretty please) damn, it's 1/10 because i'm getting numb with repeated killings...ptui...maybe i should follow the "graduate" and start taking slimming pills for kicks...sure can kill 2 birds with 1 pill yeah...

Mood of the day 22-Apr-05 (Fri)

Today fxxxing sucks big time...
Not only was there no progress on project huntington...there was negative developments cos some line items were either closed or fallen offline...screw!!!
Today's morale score: 0.5/10 (Nearing suicidal tendencies...but fret not...not there yet)

Mood of the day 21-Apr-05 (Thu)

Some progress but still no positive developments on project huntington
Today's morale score: 3/10 (Morale's UNDER the freaking the sea bed)

Signing off for the day

Biological Agents & Toxins Act

Attended the stakeholders' session for the proposed BATA today @ MOH...very informative
There are two primary objective of the bill:
1) regulates the possession, use, import, transfer, transportation of BAs and toxins
2) provides for safe practices in handling of such BAs and toxins

Personally, Post-911 and with bio-terrorism still playing on our minds, this would serve to remind scientist of their social obligations and to protect the community at large...good move MOH (",)

However, one thing that really concerns me was the "duties of operators of facilities"

"(The) operator (is) liable for his agents if offences are committed with his consent or connivance or through his neglect" (MOH, 2005).

Scary!!! Do you know that anybody who screws with "first schedule" BAs would be liable for fine not exceeding ONE MILLION DOLLARS (last finger on lips, please) or life imprisonment or BOTH...

One question that was buzzing on my mind was "who is the operator?" the director of the joint? the biosafety manager? the principal investigator? or the biosafety manager's kakia (aka foot solider aka most expendable of the lot)??? To my relieve...its the director...ahahaha...good luck

Mood of the day* 20-Apr-05 (Wed)

* adapted (ya right, more like copied freaking wholesale) from TRM...
Damn bloody suckie...no progress on project huntington...
The only cheer was that there were no shitty stuff coming onto me...
Today's morale score: 1/10

Key
10: Died and gone to heaven
9: Organismic...bring it on baby!!!
8: Couldn't ask for a better day...
7: Cruise control...smooth sailing
6: Ok lah...not that bad, not that pretty either
5: (Alarm ringing!!!) Morale's dropping
4: Morale's scraping algae off the sea bed
3: Morale's UNDER the freaking the sea bed
2: Kill me...but make it quick
1: Kill me...slowly...i will feel better
0: Suicidal tendencies

Casino casino casino...what's the bloody big deal?

Since the gov announced that a casino would be built in SG, there has been non-stop talk talk talk talk talk talk about the casino.

There was even a special feature on CNA about the casino, where viewers could sms if they are "yes" or "no" for the casino. What a good way to generate revenue with sms charged at 20cents (i think)...capitalizing the consumer gulliability that their views really matters...hogwash!!!

Personally, I am for the casino right from the start because the economic benefits (CNA, 19-April) out weight the potential social ills
~ creating 35,000 new jobs...but i believe most would be given to cheaper labour sources from china, india, thailand etc...so what's left for singaporean AGAIN?
~ beefing up the tourism (+ tourism supporting and construction) industry...it badly needs a shot-in-the-arm...i mean, what's there to do in SG...freaking Geylang has security cameras everywhere...how to happy-happy???
~ SGD$1.5 billion to GDP...damn...we shouldn't have built biopolis...should have built our third casino called CLAYM-polis (come lose all your money)
~ social ills? what social ills? round the corner of every housing estate, you will see a gov-operated lottery shop...4D, Toto, Sweep (your money away) stakes, EPL, S-league, Champion's league, Sucker's league. Then, there's our horse racing in kranji. Oh please, we gamble all the time in the privacy of our homes (manjong, blackjack, big-2, poker) especially during CNY

Someone please tell me what's the bloody big deal? There's casino everywhere around the world...

My God, just saw another article in CNA "Spore aims to be top gambling addiction treatment centre in Asia"...man, this casino issue turning more and more into soap opera material, with the potential for viewer's rating to surpass "desperate housewives"...hmmm, are we going to have addiction treatment centres for alcohol, smoking, excessive eating, surfing porn, shopping, pretending-to-sleep-on-trains-when-pregnant-woman-boards...

YAWN!!!

TRM's blog: http://www.livejournal.com/~siegfried_trm/

Fortune 500 (2004 results)

(Source: USA Today)

1. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (Retail)
2. Exxon Mobile Corp (Energy)
3. General Motors Corp (Auto)
4. Ford Motor Co (Auto)
5. General Electric Co (Electronics)
6. ChevronTexaco Corp (Energy)
7. ConocoPhillips (Energy)
8. Citigroup Inc (Finance)
9. IBM Corp (IT)
10. American International Group (Insurance)
11. HP Co (IT)
12. Verizon Communications Inc (Communications)
13. The Home Depot Inc (Retail)
14. Berkshire Hathaway Inc (Business Holdings)
15. Altria Group Inc (Food and Tabacco)
16. McKesson Corp (Healhcare)
17. Cardinal Health Inc (Healhcare)
18. State Farm Insurance Cos (Insurance)
19. The Kroger Co (Retail)
20. Fannie Mae (Finance)
21. The Boeing Co
22. AmerisourceBergen Corp
23. Target Corp
24. Bank of America Corp
25. Pfizer Inc
26. JP Morgan Chase & Co
27. Time Warner
28. The Procter & Gamble Co
29. Costoco Wholesale Corp
30. Johnson & Johnson
31. Dell Inc
32. Sears Roebuck and Co
33. SBC Communications
34. Valero Energy Corp
35. Marathon Oil Corp
36. MetLife Inc
37. Safeway Inc
38. Albertson's Inc
39. Morgan Stanley
40. AT&T
41. Medco Health Solutions
42. UPS
43. JC Penney Co
44. The Dow Chemical Co
45. Walgreen Co
46. Microsoft Corp
47. The Allstate Corp
48. Lockheed Martin Corp
49. Well Fargi & Co
50. Lowe's Cos

~ Only the top 50 have been included...due to space constraits...actually tired of typing
~ Items in ( ) were sourced from their corporate websites
~ Hmmm...should have got into Energy Engineering (instead of u-know-what)...much more prospects...
~ Mr Gates at No. 46...lost to JC Penney...Conclusion = Women spend more, computers can wait

Ex-SAF scholar jailed for trying to bribe DSTA official

(Source: CNA 15-April-2005)

Eng Heng Chiaw: Director of Avanade Asia Pte Ltd
~ TRIED to offer bribe of $500,000 for information on naval copter project
~ did this over "casual lunch with a friend (Sin Boon Wah: Dy Chief Exec at DSTA)"
~ slapped with 8-week jail term
~ his lawyers comments: no benefit for him because project had already end; he was mischievous and naive

Anyway...Avanade is a technical integrator specializing in MS enterprise platform...wonder what does this has to do with a copter project? (http://www.avanade.com/about/avanade/)

Well...Applications
1. Never joke with a gov official (even if he is your friend)...it could land you in jail
2. Lunch alone
3. Make sure the project is related to your company
4. Make sure the project hasnt ended yet (what was he thinking???)
5. Scholars are naive (one up for the non-scholars groupies!!!)
6. If you had $500k to spare...please go to the casino instead (safer)...

SG's subway to have armed police officers on patrol

(Source: CNA 14-April-2005)

Talk about feeling like a million dollars...well protected huh?

But does it really deter would-be bombers?
I mean...do those people at MHA really think this would work? Obviously they haven't taken the subway during rush-hour!?!?!

The trains are packed to the brim...if you could gently squeeze the side of the trains...you would probably find people oozing out...drip...drip
Plus those security counters and random spot-checks...how good are they?

The bottomline is: if someone is really determined to bomb himself/herself up in the name of XXX...what's stopping them??? No armed guards or spot-checks will do...anyway...

Hey...found a creative way of maximizing those armed guards...maybe they can also deter people from committing suicide or picking up their fallen shoes from the train tracks huh...

SG's second medical school

National University of Singapore (NUS) and Duke University School of Medicine to set up the Graduate Medical School...Singapore's second medical school.
(Source: CNA 14 April 2005)

Kinda of wonder why Johns Hopkins University wasn't selected as a partner to NUS since they already have a presence here in Singapore...both on the clinical and the biomedical research front???

Here's some stats (from the USNews.com website) to back why Johns Hopkins would have been a better choice...

2006 Top US medical schools - Research
No1: Harvard University
No2: Johns Hopkins University
No6: Duke University

2006 Top US medical schools - Primary Care
No1: University of Washington
No6: Duke University
No23: Johns Hopkins University

Medical specialties: AIDS
No1: University of California - SF
No2: JHU
No3: Harvard

Medical specialties: Drug/Alcohol abuse
No1: Joint - Harvard/JHU
No3: University of California - LA

Medical specialties: Family Medicine
No1: University of Washington
No2: University of Missouri - Columbia
No3: Oregon Health and Science University

Medical specialties: Geriatrics
No1: JHU
No2: Mount Sinai
No3: University of California - LA

Medical specialties: Internal Medicine
No1: JHU
No2: Harvard
No3: University of California - SF

Medical specialties: Pediatrics
No1: Harvard
No2: University of Pennsylvania
No3: JHU

Medical specialties: Women's Health
No1: Harvard
No2: University of California - SF
No3: University of Pennsylvania

Let's the results speak for themselves...could there be a deeper, darker reason???

hmmm...my first hand at blogging

damn...shows how bloody bored i am...