eager beaver got slapped

The eager beaver got slapped again. Indonesia banned sand export to us. The funny thing is that whenever there is a little problem in our neighbouring countries, our eager beavers will all jump on their feet to want to help with their time and money. On the other hand the recipients will either see this as a poor effort to curry favour, in bad taste, just to show how prosperous we are. And even thinking that we are doing it to please them for some goodies in return. And the Malaysian flood is also seeing our people rushing to help. Do people appreciate or would people turn around and say, "Get lost, hypocrites! We don't need your help." Our neighbours would rather let their water flow into the sea, or sand go to waste than trade them for money. They only want money to be given freely. And when they know that we need a commodity badly, be sure they will ban it to keep it from us. The next thing they will do is to ban maids when Singaporeans are too dependent on maids. This will come when maids will no longer be allowed to come to Singapore. More SEZs?

loan shark country getting better

Loan sharks active as ever. This is reported in the Today paper. More than 10,000 cases of harrassments or activities reported. In fact 10,221 cases in 2006, an increase of 47% from 8,600 cases in 2005. Ho Peng kee asked for more time to tackle the problem. So far only 294 persons were arrested on related offences. Looks like the loan shark syndicates are outwitting the police. They used electronic banking facilities, virtual transactions, debtors bank accounts, telephone numbers etc. They are so sophisticated that the police would need 'extensive intelligence gathering and investigation' to bring them to court. Tough job for the police when the criminals are so smart. In the meantime the people are encouraged to form neighbourhood watch group to help themselves, like the good old days.

nkf story - the lie detector

The Lie Detector I was reading the story of the one eyed dragon and how he told the court that he killed his victim by accident, misfired! Firing 6 shots by accident. Now what has this got to do in this thread? I thought everyone called to the witness box will have to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Looks like it is the other way round, to tell the lie, the whole lie and nothing but the lie. And then let the human lie detector to detect who is telling a bigger lie. There are two problems. The person telling lies can be a damn great liar that his lies become truth. The second problem is that the lie detector may wake up from the wrong side of the bed and misfunction. Justice is so scary.

nkf story- the moral of the story

The moral of the story When a student is ready, the teacher will appear. The NKF story is the mother of all teachers. It has so much to teach for those who are willing to learn. But there are those with eyes but cannot see, with ears but cannot hear. And there are those in a state of delirium and will not see nor hear anything. NKF is a case of being blinded by success. The bigger the success, the bigger the blindness. When it is so successful, no one can see their own mistakes or faults. How can they be doing anything wrong when everyone is so happy and money is pouring in like crazy? Then when money gets too much, people loose their bearing. Their perception of the value of money got distorted. What is $600,000 when you have several millions and with more money pouring in for no reasons. And many just sit there and collect money, in millions, just reading newspaper and having tea. The mind is sound but in a different level of soundness. And I can swear in court that everyone of them is doing an honest job, sincerely and honestly, and professionally, for the good of the charity and the patients. They just measure things in different ways, do things in different ways and using different rules. The people shall not judge them using the people's own rules of goodness. Especially the poor people. When they are living in those squalid conditions and struggling to make ends meet, to them a few thousand dollars will be damn big deal. Actually even $600k is chicken feet. For a good CEO he should deserve more. Society must use different yardstick and measurement for different people, the rich, the not so rich and the poor. Different world, different rules and different life.

nkf story - the master stroke

Reading the mind of the master As the story goes, the master has everything thought out and waiting to deliver his master stroke. While the new NKF and all the defendants were busy consulting their legal counsels and emptying their bank accounts, thanks to Drew and Napier, the new NKF can save their legal fees, the master has everything worked out. And very likely he is going to declare he will accept all responsibilities and will not have the need to appear in court. Just bill him for everything. No problem. Then after paying his legal counsel he will declare that he is left with only $2000 in his bank account. What happens to all the money that he made? Oh, did you remember that he was in Vegas?