the beauty of self deception

i read this article about how much people are willing to spend to look young and gorgeous. and the extent they are prepared to go, under the knife. all for people to say, 'ah, you look so good.' or 'ah, you look so young for your age.' the former may be a bit difficult to achieve and need to spend effort and money. the second is so easy to get by. if you are 50 and look 50, just tell whoever that you are 65. and 'ah, you look so young for your age.' so whatever age you are, just add another 10 to 15 years and you will get your 'ahhs.' it feels so good to look younger.

creative's zen vision M is number ONE

creative's zen vision m won the best product prize at the international consumers electronic show 2006 organised by cnet. it beats all the korean and japanese products of bigger names. well done creative. ipod did not come into the picture as it did not participate in the event. the zen vision m won on many of its features and technical specs. i have commented earlier that the zen product is anything but zen. this is based only on its appearance. nothing about its quality. the ipod is really zen like in look. features wise i will leave them to the technical people. when put together under the microscope who will emerge the winner is another story. but creative has won in cnet and can at worst be number two, if not triumphs again. hey creative beats iriver and brands like sony, panasonic, toshiba etc. wow! the team in creative that develop this product needs a pat on the back. forget about the guinness book of record. this is what i meant by useful talents. this is real.

the spray gropers in orchard road

seah chiang nee wrote about the foreign workers groping local girls in orchard road and the fear of a reprisal by our local gangs. and a similar showdown like sydney. i bet some of the local gangs, the ah bengs, are already planning to hit back. how can foreign workers come to our homeground to molest our ah lians? they will be whacked this time round if they dare to repeat their folly. and our friendly foreign workers policies will come into question. for if the foreign workers were to gang up, it is not going to be like sydney. it will be sydney a 100 times worst. there are so many of them, hungry men, lonely men and village mentality. it can be very ugly. the message must be passed quickly to the foreign workers to stop their nonsense. better still for those caught to be despatched immediately and with a lot of publicity as a deterrence. don't try to imagine what it would be like if 100,000 foreign workers riot in orchard road.

northstar v

the emergency drill conducted on sunday is something that singapore is very good at. our uniformed groups and the civil servants are highly efficient when come to matters like security. we can expect them to be ahead of things, things that can be planned will be carefully planned. so many agencies were tested on sunday. it was a very comprehensive and well thought of exercise. and given the number of people involved, the complexities of events and people, it can be very chaotic even as a drill. just imagine when it is real. the tension, anxiety, panic and nervousness, and fear, will be ten fold. i was thinking, what would happen if, just before the first simulated bomb blows off, a call came from a non exercise station telling the controller that it is the real thing. a bomb has exploded in say jurong east and there were casualties. caught in the midst of a major exercise and a call came in and it is real. the authentication and confirmation and the redirection of the forces to a real and new destination can be a very massive exercise. let us pray that it will not happen. somehow i think it will, only when.

let's start a charity - a proposal

as i meditate, there is nagging concern that something needs to be done for the poor kidney patients. it is, or it was the only charity that i regularly donated until i stopped a few years back. i did received many thank you letters from durai before. i find it unacceptable for people to have to pay to live. we pay for our food. everyone pays for food. but why should this group of people pay for dialysis without which they would die? and the dialysis is not cheap. it is a life sentence that they did not inflict on themselves, unlike aids or some diseases that you went out to court it. we now know that private hospital is charging $180 per dialysis. the new nkf charges $162. working on these two numbers, if we can start a charity that subsidises the full amount, or the patients need only pay whatever they can afford up to a maximum of $50, would not that be helpful? the donors money is like god's money. the money comes from the heart, never ending. the intent is to help. we should help the willing donors to process their money to the needy with minimum cost. if the patients cannot afford to pay a single cent, the charity must be able to pick up the full tab. the charity shall support as many patients as the donors are forthcoming and the fund is available. mission: to provide subsidies to kidney patients for dialysis treatment as much as the charity can afford. concept: the charity is to be run by volunteers who need not be paid market rate salary. all volunteers may be given an honorarium for their charitable work. only 20% of the donation shall be set aside as expenses, which will include honorarium, refreshment and transportation for the volunteers. no need to build hospitals or clinics. maybe no need for an office. but if funds allowed, a small office will do as the function of the charity is only to process funds, applications and administration of the patient and charity records. thus the operating cost of such a charity is very minimum. 80% of all donations shall go towards subsidising the dialysis fee. no other hidden cost, no big manpower bill, no big organisation to feed, no medical staff. maybe a few full time admin staff, if necessary. the patients can be referred to the charity from members of parliament or any charitable organisations. they will do the processing and screening for eligibility. a kidney patient is a kidney patient. this no one can hide. and all payments shall be directly paid to the hospitals or nkf or kdf or whichever approved providers. when to start: all those who are reading this can actually sound out to potential donors whether the concept is acceptable and ask for an indication of intent to donate to the charity. no collection of donation until the charity is officially approved and registered. ideally we would like to have donors donating like the lifedrop scheme of nkf. this we should thank durai for his concept. when the concept is well accepted and there are sufficient donors willing to come on board, some of you can come forward and volunteer to be founding members and sit in the board. warning, no big fees. only 20% of donations will be set aside to defray all expenses. all expenses and payments will be fully accountable and transparent. and if the charity really kicks off and substantial funds are flowing in, this 20% may be further reduced. this is a charity and people coming forward shall see their rewards in the service they provide to help the needy patients. ALL OF YOU WHO HAPPENS TO READ THIS, PLEASE PASS THE WORD AROUND. WE WILL USE THIS BLOG INITIALLY AS THE SOUNDING BOARD AND FOR FEEDBACK. LET'S SEE IF WE CAN REALLY DO SOMETHING AFTER ALL THE TALKS. REDBEAN.