Of A Special Power

Imagine this.. somehow, you got a gift, a special power.. once every 12 weeks, you are given the option to travel up to "heaven".. there, you are given an option to look down upon earth and save someone living.. you might not fully save the person nor know the person's name or face.. but you, alone decide whether to do a small part to save someone's life..

still with me? So.. what's the catch? well, this journey from here to "heaven" takes some time, the after effect of doing a "rescue"(as mentioned above) takes about 30mins.. after it which you might feel a little tired.. no other long term effects..

would you exercise your option to make the "travel" and in turn rescue the life(s) of others? Would you sacrifice your personal time and some "energy" to help someone live?


I hope your answer is Yes... i really do..

for you can obtain this power to give a gift of life..



you can donate blood.. and yeah, i got myself wired again today to do my little part..






















Visit the webby!



You can help too

Of the Yellow Ribbon

Have you noticed the NCC cadets with the yellow ribbon tins today?





What is your stance towards the movement?

I neither support nor oppose the project.. why? I might be wrong, but the website states that this project aims to help people who have realise their mistakes and are keen to reintegrate into society to be accepted once more..

maybe, for the corporate fraud people, the shop lifters, the cheaters and many more, this second chance would really be appreciated and they would hencehold return to society to live and "atone" for the crimes that they have commited..

but what about the people who through dangerous acts caused death? neglience leading to deaths? rapists even.. these are the kind of people who have suffered and "paid" for their sins in prison.. but do they deserve to be treated decently after what they have done?

In today's New Paper.. the balestier rapist who destroyed the lives of 3 girls from China looking forward to be better education in safe Singapore is now facing 28 years in Changi and 24 strokes of the famous cane..

so by year 2035.. when this beast walks out from Changi.. are we to embrace him back and treat him like one that deserves it? how would his 3 victims that had been suffering with the physical and emotion wounds for the past 28 years feel to see him on the street?

would forgiveness and acceptance be so easy? would he get the yellow ribbon?

I say NO to him for sure

*For fellow bloggers who do read me, i would like to see you blogging about the same topic and your feelings towards the project too.. thank you






Justice and Forgiveness, can they co-exist?

Of Presentations

Been doing quite a few presentations in office.. its almost being routine.. so routine that i decided to plug the routine out almost everytime and just add in the most recent facts and information.. hey, at least i don't repeat 100% of what i said the last time right?

Had my first academic marketing presentation since 2004.. haha.. almost 3 years.. WoW..

the difference is, back then, i was presenting to real staff from Cathay Cineleisure and months before that, my team was wow-ing the management from Singapore Cable Car with our proposals and visuals...

perhaps what has developed strongly through the years had been my extensive experience with photoshop and not forgetting the advancement in skills that comes from a mixture of willingness to try, sheer luck and experience..


So how did my presentation went?

Well, to say the least, we spend like 2 weeks preparing compared to the 4months plus that we had when i was poly.. group dynamics are different.. client is not "real" this round..

my hastily formed group(trust me, you won't have the time to search and scout slowly) managed to squeeze out 59 slides with strong visuals provided by me.. i have always held pride in my visuals and i would say i didn't disappoint myself this round..

the only negatives for me would be that i did not focus on the other aspects of the plan such as the budget spending and strengthening that key message.. still, i'm grateful and proud of the effort that my groupmates have put in despite that personal commitments and daily workload

once again, i did put pressure on the group to bring the presentation up one level as i strongly encourage not to use cue-cards nor hold the notes in the hand.. i know its not easy to remember things and not everyone can just crap off based on the few lines of word they see on the slides.. i know its not easy..

but please, do give it a try and upgrade your level, the next time you are doing a standup presentation, remove those cue-cards, spend more time looking into the eyes of your audience.. it'll do you untold wonders









Trust me

Of A Picture

A picture speaks a thousand words?































What say you?

Of Remembering How Decisions are Made

As the dust settles on the Ministers' pay hike issues and the gesture by PM and some MP(s) to donate their increment.. what now?

My question is, the next time your constituency gets to vote for a political party to represent you, would you remember this? Would the same cross be placed in the same box?

Let's be realistic here, the PAP will not get out of power, at least not when the GRC exist and not in the next election that must happen by 2012 if i'm correct..

It is important to note that despite the debate and public outcry about the pay rise, the benchmarking of minister salaries, the GDP bonus, there had be NO DIFFERENCE to the announced decision.. NO CHANGE

In today's parliament, we have some members speaking out against the pay hike:

NMP Siew Kum Hong:

..The benchmarking system puts that at risk. When we focus on salaries to the exclusion of the moral imperative and considerations of public duty and service, we endanger the moral authority of the government to lead..

..Ministers benefit from this economic growth through the GDP bonuses, even as many Singaporeans do not. There seems to be a certain degree of inequity here...

..If we have reached the stage where money is necessary to draw able Singaporeans into public office, then I think we might as well pack up now, because we would have failed


NCMP Slyvia Lim:
..the debate arouses a feeling of deja vu, harking back to the other transparent debate about whether to have casinos in Singapore. The revision was presented in Parliament in a form of Ministerial statement under Standing Order 44 where no vote will be taken. Not one thing said by any MP will change the decision of the government...

..Ministers are currently drawing $1.2m a year which divided by 12 is about $100,000 per month. How does it compare with the average person?..

..If we are seriously unable to interest good people into public office, we must ask why other countries can do it and we cannot. Is it just money, or the fact that we have not invested in creating a culture of high public-spiritedness?..

..As such, I cannot agree with the Members who see political office as yet another career choice. It must be more than a job, and the holder must be able to think of others besides himself..


Hougang MP, Mr Low Thia Khiang

..the public, like me, was not and is not convinced that the salary benchmark is fair and just! I see no point in wasting public resources debating on this salary issue every few years if the sole purpose of having this supposedly "debate" is just to pacify the people that the government has given it fair thought before approving the high salaries...

..By benchmarking civil servants' annual pay against individuals who have performed well during that year, there is an implicit assumption that civil servants and Ministers never make incorrect decisions - but are they truly super human beings forever error-free?..

..It is also ironic that we are consuming taxpayers' money and resources discussing how much more of a fraction of a million to pay civil servants and Ministers, while we haggle over additional tens of dollars to hand out to our needy and disadvantaged citizens...

..Even in the private sector, no organization can afford to keep paying increasingly higher salaries just to retain and attract top performers since resources are inevitably limited..


So we have it, 3 opposing voices, some gestures from MPs here and they, but an all out increment for our President, MM, SM, PM and Ministers without changes..


Will you remember that the opposing voices were so limited and the change non-existence as the administration's pay increase was announced just like that?

Would you remember?
Would you allow it to happen again?












Remember and remember it well i will

Of a Call of Duty

My deepest condolences to the families of the two PCG officers who died while on duty.

This is a timely reminder of the various risk involved for Police Officers in the execution of their duties, it is a job that only the dedicated can hold.

The public can only view a very narrow spectrum of police work, so the next time you see a police officer buying dinner or a police car parking along the road.. remember, that's not all that they do and they deserve more understanding and respect, you don't know anything until unfortunate incidents like this highlight the risk involved.. you don't know, so reserve your comments, give benefit of doubt.

This is also a time to look back and cherish your loved ones around you, for you might never know what will happen one day, spend everyday with happiness and forgiveness







Rest in peace

Of Relieved

I am so relieved..

Arsenal 2 -1 Bolton

Goal from ex-arsenal striker Anelka gave Bolton an early lead at the 11th minute
Equaliser from Rosicky on 31st minute mades things slightly better
Teenager ace Fabregras scored on 46th minute..

and all is safe..

Arsenal, 5 points clear in 4th spot with a game in hand, champion league beckoning.. heng ah











Kids playing in an adult's world..

Of Now what? and GDP Bonus

Scenario:

Big boss of a company, say CEO, approves a big pay hike for all key members that run the company, then one day later.. he says he will freeze his pay by donating his increments and reviews to charity..

why why why?

CNA:
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says he will hold his own salary at the present level for five years and will donate any increases in his salary during that period...


..The Prime Minister said that to make clear why he is doing this, and to give him the moral standing to defend this policy to Singaporeans, he will hold his own salary at its present level for five years. -Channelnewsasia

Moral standing yeah? So is the "great"leader agreeing now that his colleagues are too highly paid and thus it is immoral to accept such a hike?

What kind of message does this send? I will pay my key members more, but in order for me to defend this decision, i will donate my increment and review payments to charity

Clap. Clap. Clap.

If u can imagine, this is a typical turn-off, unenthusiastic way of clapping at someone..


Anyway, if you don't already know, there's the GDP Bonus too..
if economy does well of say 5-10% GDP growth, ministers get this GDP Bonus.. and the rate? 5-8 months of their pay!!!

so if economy do well, but hospital beds not enough(ministry of health), dengue outbreak still here and there(ministry of environment), unemployment rate is relatively high(ministry of manpower), indonesia/malaysia/thailand still have stormy relationship with us(ministry of foreign affairs)..

as long as the economy does well..

ministers heading the above ministries will still get their GDP bonus of 5-8 months!

Good grief









Who wants to be a Minister? Better than millionaire know..

Of No increase really..

If you have friends or relatives that are in the civil service and you are about to go congratulate them for their pay rise.. stop.

To be exact, try not to mention it even

While the media reports and the way Mr Teo C H has structed his sentences.. i believe that you are not wrong to think that all civil servants just had a pay increment of about 5-8%..

that would generally mean that if someone is earning 1000 in the civil service monthly now, that person would be drawing 1050 next month..

correct?

Wrong, Wrong, WRONG

what he/she gets is a once-off payment that depend on performance(this is of course, subjective). So this "pay rise" is in fact a once-off payout in order for this people to have their salaries close the gap on the industry..

some people might just go on and on about how such bonus would be greater than a small amount of monthly increase.. what these people do not see is that the monthly salary is used for calculates of mid-year and end-year bonuses.. that would be the difference.. not to mention the calculation for loans, credit card application etc..

basically, if this once-off payment is so great, then why are our ministers getting a real pay rise increase instead of this once-off payment?


By our wise old man's word.. Denmark, Finland and Switzerland can afford a medicore government, we can't..

What a price to pay

After the revision, our top 4 men in Singapore(President, MM, SM, PM) will earn a combined 12.38 million singapore dollars..

divided over 4 men.. thats like $33,917 per day..








The rich get richer, the poor.. who cares?

Of a sunday morning

Sunday morning, 10am..

as i sit in the cold air con room listening to an Associate Professor from the Curtin University.. thoughts ran through my mind.. its a sunday morning, and yeah.. i'm really at a class learning more about Consumer Behaviour.. i guess this is what it means to be a part time student.. all the time that used to belong to me after work is commitment to studies now..

non-discretionary time.. haha

interesting concepts and theories i have learnt today.. maybe just a pointer or two that might improve your marketing knowledge:


Endorser : Some who is paid to represent a company/product..
eg. Jackie Chan and California Fitness.. Fiona Xie and that jewellery

Spokesperson: Someone who is NOT paid to represent a company/product but still promotes the cause of the company/product
eg. Celebrities involved with the World Wildlife Foundation, Unicef etc

Endorser and Spokesperson should therefore not be used interchangeably








Knowledge affects beliefs which forms attitudes that affects intention

Of Windows Vista - Part II

What do you do when you think that Vista cannot meet your expectations? I moved backwards, tried installing WinXP into my system, all seems well, but deep down, i was concerned that the various drivers that Fujitsu provided was never really going to work with winXP, such is the power of marketing for Vista and it has greatly reduce the freedom to switch

And well, as predicted, i was unable to get all the drivers working properly on winXP and poof, back to Vista..

Is it all true that MS Officer2003 cannot work on the Vista platform?

If its all true, then add more weight to my cognitive dissonance please.. all these consumer behaviour study is cramping up my brain.. got to keep going..







Vista vista on the screen, who's the fairest of the all?

Of Windows Vista n Lappy

Windows Vista! The next big thing? I hardly think so. This is the first time i am blogging through the windows vista system. Well, i managed to lay my hands on this original version because i bought a new laptop. (means i have to curb my spending henceforth)

What's so great about windows vista i say, been using the OS for about 3 days and i am seriously considering switching back in WinXP for now.. i won't say i'm anti-new technology, but the lack of distinct advantages is quite obvious..

did i mention that the system feels laggy even? yes my laptop runs at 1.8 when my super overheating desktop PC hits at 3.0.. but still, i expect more.. especially after dishing out my money for this new tool..

Brief Specs:

Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo, 1.8Ghz
2 GB RAM
100 GB HD
Windows Vista Home Premium
DVDR
5-in-1 card reader
Integrated Bluetooth
15.4 inch widescreen








its the (free upgrade) Fujitsu A6020VP