I saw Death today!

At the foot of a block of HDB flats in Bishan.

A Chinese man in black shirt, light beige trouser with black socks and black shoes who has apparently committed suicide by jumping to his death.

Face smashed. Blood splattered. Body twistered. Legs spreaded. Shoes lying next to his head.

Had wanted to take a pic. Decided against it out of respect for the deceased. I am not the STOMP type either.

Medic came and checked for any sign of life.
I am amazed how she can do her job.
She was trying to keep her distance from the body.
Perhaps to preserve the integrity of the scene for the CSI team to move in.
Or perhaps she is still not used to it.

Police came and very politely and even said sorry to spectators as he put up the neon-green police-plastic tape surrounding the site.

The end of a human life. :(

ERP to go up by 50cts!!!

A friend reminded on the headline today at BT, "Major law firms raise charges, salaries."

But I wonder how many people work in law firms and for that matter, in major law firms to benefit from that salary increase.

"ERP to go up by 50cts" - While it did not make the headline, this certainly has a bigger impact on the larger population. The many thousands private vehicles, taxis and delivery vans will be TAXED more every day. Will this add further pressure to costs of running a business here and cost of living for a human being in Singapore? Do you know you just have another pay cut?

Why the increase? The worsening traffice situation.
Why the worsening situation? People are buying cars like nobody's business. COE and car prices are so low and people got jobs. Almost everybody can buy a car these days.

The government has relaxed its policy on car ownership but has tightened its belt on using the car that you own.

But is it a solution to raise the ERP rates to solve the problem?

These are man-made problems. What man can do, man can undo.

Pre-disease and Pre-crime?

Mr Khaw, the Minister for Health, was discussing whether to allow people to claim health screening charges from Medisave in Parliament recently. He said (if I have quoted him correctly) that too comprehensive (ie. expensive) a health screening package will go beyond the required and necessary tests. It would make the patients and the medical providers go into unproven "pre-disease" management and consequently higher costs.

Pre-disease management - to take the necessary medication now to prevent a disease (that has or may not occur yet) that you have been found out (from the tests) to have some affinity to.

I remember the movie (can't remember title) by Tom Cruise on "pre-crime". In the movie, he works in a special unit that goes around the country arresting people on the verge of committing crimes based on dreams by 3 gifted ones lying in some water.

Does "pre-disease" management hold water?

Sayonara to real Sushi, Sashimi and Ramen?

When you enter a Japanese food joint in Singapore, chances are you will be bombarded by some exclaimation deemed to be some Japanese greetings!!!

I am not sure whether they understand what they are murmuring. Definitely I don't. Then why do they do it? To create an artificial Japanese ambience that you are paying for!

In today's papers, we can read a writeup of the sushi chains, their ratings and the competitive environment in which they operate in.

There is also this method of running a restaurant nowadays. You may at first see a real Japanese doing the sushi and shashimi but that Japanese would be replaced eventually by a local.

The white radish dressing has been obseerved to have been replaced by red carrot dressing in one of this chain.

Even aunties working part-time in neighbourhood supermarkets are preparing sushi.

In last week's papers, I read about this Japanese who had been training under another Japanese for many years in Singapore. Both are now operating their respective restaurants here. The ex-trainee mentioned the many early mornings of sharpening knives. The presentation of every dish to every cut against the vein on a tuna slab are meticulously learned.

I have often asked myself who are these people manning the sushi counters in these chains.

Has Japanese food and culture been taken for a ride? Is commercialisation destroying an art form of many hundred years old?

The Japanese are not taking this lying down. I read that they are working out some form of accreditation to certify that you are operating a true "red" Japanese restaurant.

Maybe then you got to earn the right to serve "sushi, sashimi, ramen, .." in your restaurant.

Sayonara to the Land of the Rising Sun? Hope not.

"Take your medicine sooner," says Dad

"Am I sick, Dad?" asked the meek little girl ... :(

"And do you want to take medicine once or two times?" asked Dad.

The little girl seeks further clarification, "Dad, one time, more pain or, two times, more pain? If take medicine, then no more pain pain and no more medicine FOREVER?".

Dad, getting a bit flushed, said, "Let's be done once, finished. I think it's more straightforward."

The little girl stepped forward and swallowed the 2 teaspoons of medicine. :(...

The End. We hope.

Premium Bus Services - a step forward?

A colleague commented recently I do a put a lot of monies in the cash card in my car. I said I got no choice given the many trips through gantries and parking machines. Silently, the monies got "tiihh! tiihh!" away.

For me to go to the city in the morning, I am very fortunate to have to go through 3 gantries.

The premium bus service would be a welcome relief for me from the gantries, parking machines and crowd if I were to be working in city.

The Public Transport Council (PTC) requires that the buses to be air-conditioned with all passengers seated and having to pay 1.5x the fare of BASIC bus service.

With the exception of requiring seated passengers (I guess for safety reason), why does the PTC need to regulate the pricing and even air-conditioning.
What is this reference point of "basic bus service"? Who is providing that basic service?
Can these buses pick up passengers from bus terminals or stop all over the place?
Do we need to specify the temperature of the aircon as well?

Despite my concerns, I do believe the premium bus service is still a step forward.

Can we now consider the next step ie. providing very basic looping bus service for elderly, children and aunties going to and fro from town centre and flats.

the day after tomorrow

send shivers up my spine...

At the very night when the movie was being shown on tv, the thermometer in my room showed a dip to 24.7C.

Maybe the environment was watching the movie with me and showed its presence by dipping its temperature. It was chilling indeed!!!

I went to chat with my children after the movie. I tried to explain global warming to them. With Singapore being an island, will the island be submerged by rising sea level?

I apologised to my children for what the adults are doing to the environment today. I also said sorry for the world that we, the adults, will hand over to them in the future.

My friends , we have to treat the natural resources responsibly.

Don't borrow from our future to feed ourselves today.

Which group do you belong to?

There are 2 groups of people in the world on any product or service.

There are folks that want (need!) an iPhone, and those that couldn't care less. And of course it's not just Apple and it's not just phones.

Immediately after its introduction by Mr Steve Job, Apple is served with a notice that it has violated someone's (can't remember name of company) right on the name "iPhone". Apparently Apple had been in talk with that party on the use of the name prior to its launch. Thus it is a calculated move by Apple to proceed despite probable protest.

This phone is priced in upper range and will not be here for another year. It carries the hope of Mr Job and Apple for the next profit miracle. All the best to your venture!

Well friends, I am in the careless group on this one. Good morning ...

How to best name a business?

I am reading this new book, "small is the new big" from Seth Godin. Share with you his criteria.

• A brand name is a peg where people can attach all attributes of your business.


• Should not relate too much to the category your business is in.


• Pick a real English word, or a string of them. "Amazon" is good but "Altus" is bad.


• Be easy to spell and pronounce. "Prius" is bad.


• Don't get too obsess about getting a short web name. "Nickel" is bad and "NickelVenture" is better.


• Attach a great tagline.

A Taiwanese girl's perspective

Last Friday evening, I had an interesting conversation with the girlfriend of my friend. She is from Taiwan, very well travelled and an entrepreneur. My friend met her while he was on a term assignment in Taiwan.

Our conversation drifted to the topic of how she became my friend's girlfriend. She said she had to ward off a few competitors to "win" him.

I asked her how. She sent a bouquet of 100 roses to his office. Pls note the flowers are from a she to a he. I never had a bouquet delivered to me lei. Haizzz! I asked what for. Besides trying to win his heart, she was using the flowers to mark her "territory". Wow!!!

There were possible competition from the many ladies in his office. She said he would be a highly demanded "trophy" as he was a single in a senior management position, charming, with good taste for food and music and from Singapore.

I asked her what else she likes about my friend.

She said she likes him because he is not careful. Huh??? Apparently he is not very good at hiding things from her. She found a diary of a girl he had dated in his Boss jacket. After the initial explosion between them and after some re-thinking by her, she concluded that it was a ploy set up by a competing girl intended to wreck the relationship. I said wow again! Taiwanese girls so scheming type meh? Like from those Taiwanese TV series :)

A rare feature of him not found in Taiwanese men (that smitten her heart) was the fact that he was almost always at home when she called him during weekends. "At home during weekends", she stressed.

As we finished our bottle of Chilean red "Antares", we adjourned to teh tarik and prawn noodles for more deep insights of their relationship.

My best wishes to you, my old friend.