Smiles in English signboards

Cocktail lounge, Norway: LADIES ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IN THE BAR. On the main road to Mombassa, leaving Nairobi: TAKE NOTICE: WHEN THIS SIGN IS UNDER WATER, THIS ROAD IS IMPASSABLE. On a poster at Kencom: ARE YOU AN ADULT THAT CANNOT READ? IF SO WE CAN HELP. In a cemetery: PERSONS ARE PROHIBITED FROM PICKING FLOWERS FROM ANY BUT THEIR OWN GRAVES. Tokyo hotel's rules and regulations: GUESTS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO SMOKE OR DO OTHER DISGUSTING BEHAVIOURS IN BED. In a Tokyo bar: SPECIAL COCKTAILS FOR THE LADIES WITH NUTS. Hotel, Yugoslavia: THE FLATTENING OF UNDERWEAR WITH PLEASURE IS THE JOB OF THE CHAMBERMAID. Hotel, Japan: YOU ARE INVITED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CHAMBERMAID. In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian Orthodox monastery: YOU ARE WELCOME TO VISIT THE CEMETERY WHERE FAMOUS RUSSIAN AND SOVIET COMPOSERS, ARTISTS AND WRITERS ARE BURIED DAILY EXCEPT THURSDAY. Hotel, Zurich: BECAUSE OF THE IMPROPRIETY OF ENTERTAINING GUESTS OF THE OPPOSITE SEX IN THE BEDROOM, IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE LOBBY BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE. A laundry in Rome: LADIES, LEAVE YOUR CLOTHES HERE AND SPEND THE AFTERNOON HAVING A GOOD TIME.

Citi and Morgan Stanley merging brokerages

The two giants are merging their operations in the face of the financial meltdown. The brokerages and their staff will have to shrink in a shrinking business. How would this affect the local brokerages? Will our brokerages shrink as well given the shrinking business in stock trading? Stockbroking, buying and selling of properties, insurances are the last few professions that allow people who can't find employments or do not want to be employees to be self employed. Of course there is taxi driving but this is a very difficult trade with the recession hitting the economy. When these three professions start to retrench, more will be out looking for jobs. The last frontier is to start your own business as entrepreneurs, provided you have a few hundred thousands of spare cash to play with. It is no longer possible to sell kueh and goreng pisangs along the corridors. It is against the law. But one can take the risk of selling pirated VCDs if one does not mind being handcuffed when caught. The loanshark business is still thriving and they need more midnight graffiti painters. Maybe the casinos can provide more jobs for those who are not bound by their religious and moral righteousness. For a start, Boon Wan has offered several thousand jobs in the medical industry. Just go for retraining.

Eerie silence in the world of elite

Are there any talents, thinkers and concerned individuals in the world of elite? Obviously there are plentiful. Do they have a view or any view on how our country and society is progressing and the direction we are heading? I think they must have. Do they agree with all the policies and what is happening? I think they do. That is why there is a total silence coming out from that world. Nothing will affect them or move them to say something. They are just too comfortable and too entrenched in their own world of luxury that nothing else is important to them. How long will this eerie silence last?

When the wheel of fortune stopped turning

2008 ended with the wheel of fortune stopped turning. The first financial crisis that hit the people was the minibond. The bigger financial crisis hitting the people without much fanfare was the collapse of stock prices. The losses were in hundreds of billions. Came 2009, the year started with mean testing. What does it mean? The first answer probably is the torching incident. Now the country is staring at a bigger crisis, recession and job losses, unemployment, defaults in paying mortgages. We are only in the second week of the new year. What more lie in store for us and how bad could things be?

The Seng Han Thong Incident

With sentiments and emotions calming down, lets take a second look at the Seng Han Thong Incident and the reactions in the media. The main media's reaction was quite expected, shock and awe and condemnation. The reaction in cycberspace was distinctively different. The immediate response to the incident showed a lack of sympathy, more of a it was coming and to be expected. Some went to the extent of rooting for it, that it was deserving. There was a kind of release of anger and frustration, not necessarily to Seng Han Thong in particular but to the govt as a whole. The mood in several of the forums were very negative. Here we had an MP being set on fire and these people were taking it in their stride, like a protest against the govt. This is definitely an unhealthy development and would set the party thinking why? The oldies were the party's strongest supporters all these years. The violent act was conducted by an oldie. The reaction in cyberspace came from a bigger spectrum, from oldies to the youngies. Could this be a little indication of bottled up feelings that need an expression and the incident was just it? Could more outlets for kpkb and letting off steam help to release the pressure along the way leading to less explosive actions? Suppressing expression of anger and frustration could only keep the feelings under the lid. When the heat gets too high, suppressing them will do more harm. Maybe the new year angpow could soothe some nerves and let the incident pass quickly as another unfortunate incident, to be forgotten. It was a shocking incident that was totally unexpected in a first world country. Perhaps many of the people are still of the third world with their world habits and mentality.