12/16/2011

4,500 American and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives

These are the official number of dead people in the Iraq War. Not counting the hundreds of thousands of casualties, the destruction of the Iraq economy, the trillions of dollars spent and the murder of Saddam Hussein.
This is the price paid, by the Americans and the Iraqis for a hoax. Yes a hoax in which an American President and a British Prime Minister told the world and their people to believe.

And the Americans are happy that mission is accomplished. No one is mentioning the hoax and no war criminal charges against the two culprits who ordered and sanctioned the death of their own soldiers and the death of Iraqis, combatants and civilians.

And the Americans boys and girls are going home as heroes and heroines in a victorious war. How silly can things be?

Where is the white man’s conscience? Convening a war crime against the two perpetrators of this senseless killings and loss of lives is a must. But no, the white men will pretend it never happened. The silly Afro Asians and Arabs just did not know what to do or what to say. Yes, it happened. So what?

This is crime against humanity in the 21st Century!

Please do not punish the commuters

Train breakdowns are getting more frequent and fines are thrown at the operator quite often too. But please, take it easy, don’t fine them too much, in fact, please do not fine them. And please, do not call for heavy fines.

All fines will end up being reflected at the bottom line. And when the profit goes down, it will be good justification for more fare hike. Indirectly, the commuters will be the one paying the fines for the breakdown.

Please LTA, please do not fine the operator to fine the commuters. Psst, I heard someone giggling in the corner.

MDA reviewing book due to title error

I quote the mypaper, ‘The Media Development Authority said it is reviewing a series of satirical short stories, poems and essays about life in Singapore because of a discrepancy in titles and not because of its contents.’

This is uniquely Singapore. It reminds of the guy who told everyone to stay 100m away from a hut that had a bomb inside but people inside the hut is okay because inside the hut is not violating the order to stay 100m away.

SMRT had a stroke

When people aged, the possibility of getting a stroke will get higher each day. Similarly when the body is overfed, cholesterol is likely to choke up the arteries and may also lead to a stroke. Getting a stroke is going to be more common and normal among the elderly. Likewise, the train system is going to experience more breakdowns under normal wear and tear and the increasing load and operating hours.

What happened last night to the north south train, well, it happened. Commuters would have to get use to the new normal. Forming committees, seeking expert advices, looking for foreign experts to look into the problem, well, well, that’s what organization does when a problem occurs. Form more committees, do more investigation, board of inquiry, hire more experts and consultants, spend more money. These are the normal and necessary things to do. No need special talents for such follow up actions.

What I thought was unexpected and unacceptable last night was a total power failure and without any backup power supplies. People could die, many people could die in such a situation. And provision of backup power supply is basic and essential. With so many commuters jam packed at peak hours, and without fresh air, without light, things could have been worst. While the committees can spend another 6 months or 3 years to investigate the causes of such breakdowns, immediate actions must be taken to ensure that backup power supplies are provided and must work in every breakdown.

Thank the lucky star that no one dies last night. We don’t need to wait for someone to die to form committees, board of inquiries and hiring foreign experts to do such a basic equipment like backup power units, a mandatory safety requirement in all trains and all systems.

12/15/2011

Changes in CDP operations

The big change, by SGX, is that client’s shares will be kept or be accessible by broking houses. Whether this is going to make the market better for the clients and the industry is a moot point. It could be all for nothing. What I don’t feel comfortable is the reason given in support of this change, because developed markets worldwide are doing it.

The important point to note is that the developed markets worldwide are sick. And we have adopted many of the practices of developed market and the big question is, is the market getting better or getting sicker?

When there is change, change must be for a good reason, for improvement. Change must not be introduced for the sake of change or because other people are doing it, and worst because developed markets are doing it. The developed markets created the toxic notes and sold many snake oils to the less developed markets too. What the developed markets are doing is not necessarily good for less developed markets, and may even be bad.

Is our market getting better or going to get better? I may be insane, but I am seeing many systemic flaws in the market. Maybe I am dull and cannot see the good and brilliant things that are happening in the system.