the complaining culture

Complaining is a Singaporean culture. It is in their blood. The people only know how to complain. From the internet, the man in the street, the elite and in Parliament, we all complain. And we don't even know that we are complaining, unless we prefix it with the words, 'feedback.'

the poor had it (part 2)

The poor had it (part 2) In the first part I wrote about having to pay more when a commuter did not have the exact change. There is another ruling which many have forgotten but I am not sure whether it has been amended. This is related to bus cheats. There are bus cheats and there are careless or absent minded commuters. Some will deliberately forget to flash their EZ link cards, some exit early to pay less and some simply forget. Let's not discuss the cheats as they will have to pay a heavy fine, even jailed, if they are caught for cheating a few cents on bus fares. The moral of the story is to cheat more, in the millions, and in style, if one wishes to cheat. Then one can still be respected as a talent. Poor commuters should not try to cheat. Ok my point is that if a commuter forgets to flash his card on leaving the bus, he will be charged the full fare from depot to depot, I think. I am not too sure about this. But definitely more than the actual fare if he has flashed exit. So if he boards a bus at the second last depot, flashes the card in but forget to flash out, he may have to pay the fare from one end to the other, the maximum fare. In short, the commuter has to pay more. But he has the option of writing in or explaining to the transport operator, at some office in some corner of the island which would probably cost him more than the over charge if he bothers. Many don't bother as it is not only tedious and troublesome, but more costly. So the poor commuters will have to pay more for a mistake, or forgetfulness, with no intent to cheat. What happens when there is a system error or card reading error? I am twiddling my thumb. Who pays for the error?

what's the problem?

[b]'At the end of the day, we may have superduper GDP growth but if much of that growth is creamed off by foreign-owned MNCs or just by a small group of large companies or only the already rich, then what is the point of all this GDP growth?' Manu Bhaskaran[/b] Is that a problem? If it is, blame it on globalisation. No super talent has the answer to such an impossible problem. If I am the rich and benefitting from it, why should I come out with a solution that will make me less rich?

haze ransom will travel

A ransom that will not work Indonesia said it needed US$60 million to solve the haze problem. And it is contributing US$50,000 to an Asean Haze Fund. Singapore also pledged the same amount. Immediately we can see the farce of the whole game. It only gets more hazy by the days. Now Singapore wanted the whole world to come in as it is as clear as the haze is hazy that any anti haze effort without the US$60 million ransom will not work. And US$60 million is only the beginning, the initial asking price. Hopefully some countries, for political reasons and goodwill, may want to throw in another few pennies to the cup. China, Japan and the USA may have to behave and give a token support for goodwill. And Malaysia may contribute more as blood is thicker than water. Maybe eventually they will get US$10 million for starting the fire and causing the haze and for some token effort to douse the fire that they started.

Talkingcock.com facing tough competition!

I took a peep at Talkingcock.com after someone told me that it is no longer that exciting. I too have not visited Talkingcock for a long time. Now with so many people talking cock in this paradise island, where got so much time to read so many cock and bull stories. But when I visited Talkingcock.com, yeah it is quiet. And the articles were dated. Could it be that the contributors are now back in this island and contributing to all the garbage here? I think that could be a reason. Anyway, Singaporeans never have it so good with so many people joining in to talk cock. When old cocks stop talking, young cocks will have their days. Old cocks like me better give way to young cocks. I am waiting for more young cocks to come here and crow. : )