Alice Cheong in Wonderland

Let the picture do the speaking.

This photograph was taken yesterday (0020 20th-July-2008) at bus stop no. 40189 (Scotts Road, Newton MRT station) while I was waiting for the last bus home.

Scene 1: All credits are mine.

Ediot: How to do this? I cannot get it right.
Suzker: Do this and this, and it will be done.
Ediot: Boss! I finished my work. Just did this and that and I got it.
Boss: Well done. So fast. Good good.
Suzker: (Suck thumb)

Scene 2: Your things belong to me.

Ediot: I hear you have this bike. Heard you never use. I want to use it to travel around.
Suzker: Argh!
Ediot: Oh yes. Do you have that good book. I want to read it. Where is it?
Suzker: Argh!

Recently, I came to know that a friend of mine, signed a contract (Pg 1/2, Pg 2/2) 10 months ago, that is supposed to give him a 40% ROI in 5 months! Wow, that seems like a really good deal. The contract is signed through someone who seemed to be really credible (business person with real brick and mortar shop whom had been a friend for sometime with my friend), and the cash out time has passed.

What do you as a reader expect? Would my friend get back his principle and profit? Want to know more about this “lobang”?
Click here for the full account of the investment.
Click her for a quick summary of the investment.

For the time-constrained readers, the answer is, no, my friend did not get back a single cent to date, which is 5 months after the supposedly cash-out date. Readers, do beware of such investments plans. You must do your due diligent before parting with you money. No matter how well you know your friend, you money can perform disappearing act once it is gone from your pocket.

PS: Perhaps you or someone had came across this “lobang” or have heard of VR Global Metal Trading Pte Ltd, do contact me at the address specified at Contact Us. [Uncle Sam] [Alice In Wonderland] needs you. More cases are required before the police will investigate this investment.

Additional reading
Click here for the investment contract
Click here for the things to check while making investment
Click here for ‘101′ investment lesson by Vandalin

Yesterday was the launch of the National Orange Ribbon Celebrations, to commorates racial and religious harmony. In Singapore, we have multi-racial groups, and multi-religions. Harmony and peace is kept within the country with the comfortable co-existence, tolerance, appreciation and respect for each of the different groups. There is no one special race or religion in our Unique Singapore. We respect other’s cultures and beliefs.

However, very ironically, on the same day itself, it seems that our Singapore cyberspace is less tolerance, with a certain event that has divided many.

Orange Ribbon Celebrations mark racial harmony in Singapore
By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 06 July 2008 1921 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore is commemorating racial and religious harmony on a national level through the month-long National Orange Ribbon Celebrations – the first of its kind.

It is organised by OnePeople.sg, the five community development councils, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, People’s Association and the Self-Help Groups.

Over 5,000 people – Singaporeans, new citizens and expatriates – turned up at Clarke Quay in orange-coloured outfits on Sunday morning to embrace the idea of multiculturalism.

Click here to access the full article.

Extract of partial article from Channel New Asia on 07th July 2008

I once remember reading something along the line that ideas are free, or at most a dime for a dozen. However, right now, it comes to my notice that, sometimes, ideas can be worth much more than a dime.

We usually, tend to be more pragmatic, and say that action is what that counts. That means, action instead of ideas is what that will bring us the money. Hmm. But, guess what? If you have good ideas, and by typing your new ideas in less than 100 words, you stand to win $1000 hard cash.

Currently, Action community for entrepreneurship (ACE) is running a contest - “Why Not?”, in which by writing your ideas in one of the area for
(a) increasing Singapore’s attractiveness as a place for business,
(b) nurturing entrepreneurs of tomorrow, and
(c) encourage more innovative and competitive business, you stand to win $1000 cash.

If you think even further, everything around us actually started with an idea. We have the Heinz tomato started off with selling tomato soup. They made it big by serving more and more people. The Wright brothers believed in their idea of making a flying machine, made many tries, and successfully became the first to invent airplane. So, ideas is always the first step.

Now, in our current world, ideas by themselves can also be use to make money. How? That is where patent law comes in. A good novel idea, and with proper understanding/knowledge of how to make a product or a procedure, will allow one to file a patent, and upon successfully granted the patent, the patent holder can make money through licensing royalty.

So, “why not?” be an entrepreneur? Click here to enter for the contest. Remember the deadline is 17 July 2008, “why not?” submit your ideas now?

This post is an advertorial from BLOG2u

According to ST, an unidentified 92-year-old Saudi man proposed marriage to a poor 17-year-old Egyption village girl, offering a dowry of around S$38,000 as well as gold jewellery. The girl’s very poor parents, accepted the proposed marriage.

Hmm. Reading it, it reminds me of a cross between Madonna’s adoption of a Malawian boy, and the olden days arranged marriage. Money does make the world go round in a certain sense. And after all, which parents do not want their child to have a better life, be it being adopted or married to a rich partner. However, for the case of marriage, it is related to the right to choose your own partner.

I guess it is too late at 2am. I am unable to write a proper discussion.

In view of the FDA alert in USA on the outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul, that was associated to the consumption of three varieties of tomatoes - the raw red plum tomatoes, the red Roma tomatoes and round red tomatoes, our Singapore AVA has reacted and issued instructions to importers, to stop importing and recall these affected varieties of tomatoes.

So, what is the best thing to do? Don’t take such US tomatoes that are lying in your home. Get rid of them to prevent any of your family member from eating them accidentally. Don’t purchase any of these three varieties of US tomatoes, that might be available, as the news might not have reached some shops owner.

Recall of three varieties of tomatoes from USA

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an alert to inform consumers in the USA that an outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul, has been linked to the consumption of raw red plum tomatoes, red Roma tomatoes and round red tomatoes.

As a precautionary measure, AVA has instructed importers to stop importing these three varieties of tomatoes from USA and initiated a recall of the tomatoes from the retailers with immediate effect.

AVA advises consumers who have purchased such US tomatoes not to consume them and to discard them.

Click here for more information.

Article obtained from AVA website on 13 Jun 2008

In Apr 2008, there was an article on TNP. “SHE woke up with a start after sensing that someone was touching her private parts.” In this case, the molester was convicted of the crime.

However, let’s analyst how many think of molest. We got comment like the following.

“I wonder why the lady slept without locking her door at night? She was renting a room, so she should have been wise to lock the door.

Just curious about such a suspicious circumstance. She was like inviting trouble. No doubt the landlord should not have opened her door, but why she took such a risk to ruin a man and his family?”

As illustrated above, in the mind of a number, their view is that that it is the lady’s fault. They will claim that that it is just natural that a guy will want to satisfy his needs and that it is just a touch anyway. It is the lady’s fault for not locking the door, not veil-up like a mummy, and for not stopping the guy.

However, this exactly shows how the moral of the society has deteriorated.

1. (It is only natural.) I naturally want a car. Does it means that it is natural that I steal and it is the fault of the car owner for leaving the car in the car-park. So, I should not be convicted of stealing.
2. (It is just a touch only.) What about saying, I just borrowed the car for a few years only. I didn’t harm the owner in any way, so, I should not be convicted too.
3. (I was tempted.) It is the car owner who tempted me with such a nice car, which I have always eyed. Therefore, it is the car owner’s fault for tempting me. It is not my fault. I should not be convicted too.
4. (I was not stopped.) The car owner did not stop me from stealing the car. So, the car owner allowed me to steal the car. It is again not my fault. So, I should not be convicted too.

As such, laws are being written to make it an offence to molest (or for the illustration used, stealing is an offence.) It is never right to molest. Those who say that it is right, means that their moral has gone to dogs.

It is a sad thing, that according to AWARE (Association of Women for Action & Research), at least 3 cases of outrage of modesty is reported everyday in Singapore, and a silent majority does not report it.

And in addition, even though the law in Singapore does make outrage of modesty an offence in Singapore, it is not an offence under Singapore law, if molest occurred outside Singapore. The saddest thing is that there is local who [molested?] another local when they are oversea, and does get scot-free using this legal loop-hole.

According to the Straits Times report, “Budget no more“, there is an attached pdf that does the comparison.

I extracted just the comparison on Perth. Is anything missing?

Looking at the comparison performed by ST, it seems that Tiger Airways is giving a bad deal. No promotion price is mentioned. So, I did a search on Tiger Airways website. The cheapest return fair that I found is $440.98 (Airfare: $89.98 Tax: $351). Even when we add the luggage charges of $40 for 30kg check-in and S$4 per passenger per sector for Convenience Fee, it adds up to $488.98 / person. Now, perhaps, I know the reason behind the ranking of Straits Times.

(Update: The price given by ST in the above image is for two to go, and is the total price for two. The Tiger Airways normal price is based on $159.99 per sector per person. It is not the cheapest fare available from Tiger Airways.)

Update: And Tiger Airways is running this promotion to Darwin, $169 one way, inclusive of tax. That means, $386 total ($169 * 2 return fare inclusive of tax + $40 30kg check-in luggage + $8 convenience fee). So, it really depends on (1) when one is traveling, (2) where one is traveling and (3) whether traveling alone or in 2.

Quoting About.com on Acquiring and Defending Patents: Part2 - Fighting Patent Infringement,

I believe it is best to hold patents in your own name rather then assigning them to your company. You should form a corporation whose purpose is to market the inventions. Have a contract that licenses the right to market the patents and any products created on a non-exclusive basis to your marketing corporation. This contract needs to specifically state that it is not transferable to new ownership of the corporation and that it is renewable at six month or one year intervals at the licenser’s sole discretion. The purpose of the contract is to create a situation where a judgment against your marketing corporation is worthless because the right to market the invention is not transferable. This approach reserves the right for you to license the patent to others if your first corporation comes under attack by an infringer or for any other situation such as product liability.

Update: Reading the above, I guess everyone can guess why there is a difference for the current patent matter that is blowing all over Singapore Internet. In addition, I think it will bring some clarification that since the IPOS mentioned that they are different, it just point to something else, rather than being S**M which everyone is thinking.