It's time to decide

Attention all Wusses and Pussies.

It's time to decide.

SPCA fun run. 4.8km. MacRitchie. 20th Aug.

AHM. 21km. Padang. 27th Aug.

In or out? Decide now!

Thanks Guys

Hey guys, thanks for coming down to see me off at the airport.

Anyway, end of the year, will it by samui or sydney?

I heard lots of great things from mark and ding + seow about samui...

btw, how in the world did subur talk my dad into bringing him down to the race course?

Funny video clip from one of Royston Tan's films..

This video's quite funny... heard it's only the front bit tho..

i was digging thru some old files on my home pc when i stumbled upon this:it's a design for a barker t-shirt that i did back in the good ol' days (why not, whilst we're reminiscing)...

i actually showed NEC, but he was concerned about the "negative image" that the word "maniac" had .... hah!

Balik Kampung

I will be going back to Sorong, Irian Jaya, this december. Will be for a couple of days (1+ week) for the sole purpose of fishing and island hoping. Anyone interested give a holler out on the chatbox. I was thinking of going to zanzibar, but it's BS and too $$$

Sec 4 biology is chicken feet.

Assholes

Letter from K BHAVANI
Press Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts

Your mr brown column, "S'poreans are fed, up with progress!" (June 30) poured sarcasm on many issues, including the recent General Household Survey, price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares, our IT plans, the Progress Package and means testing for special school fees.
The results of the General Household Survey were only available after the General Election. But similar data from the Household Expenditure Survey had been published last year before the election.
There was no reason to suppress the information. It confirmed what we had told Singaporeans all along, that globalisation would stretch out incomes.
mr brown must also know that price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares are the inevitable result of higher oil prices.
These were precisely the reasons for the Progress Package — to help lower income Singaporeans cope with higher costs of living.
Our IT plans are critical to Singapore's competitive position and will improve the job chances of individual Singaporeans. It is wrong of mr brown to make light of them.
As for means testing for special school fees, we understand mr brown's disappointment as the father of an autistic child. However, with means testing, we can devote more resources to families who need more help.
mr brown's views on all these issues distort the truth. They are polemics dressed up as analysis, blaming the Government for all that he is unhappy with. He offers no alternatives or solutions. His piece is calculated to encourage cynicism and despondency, which can only make things worse, not better, for those he professes to sympathise with.
mr brown is entitled to his views. But opinions which are widely circulated in a regular column in a serious newspaper should meet higher standards. Instead of a diatribe mr brown should offer constructive criticism and alternatives. And he should come out from behind his pseudonym to defend his views openly.
It is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion issues, or campaign for or against the Government. If a columnist presents himself as a non-political observer, while exploiting his access to the mass media to undermine the Government's standing with the electorate, then he is no longer a constructive critic, but a partisan player in politics.


See Mr Brown's letter here
http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2006/07/today_sporeans_.html#more

The world is such an interesting place

The Gaza minefield
ISRAEL is making Gaza pay dearly for the abduction of a 19-year-old Israeli soldier exactly a week ago. Five thousand Israeli troops, backed by armor, have ringed the Palestinian territory, waiting for the order to cross the border. As of Sunday the order for a major ground offensive has not come down, as Israeli officials allowed Egypt one last chance to secure the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit. But that hasn’t stopped Israeli aircraft, artillery and gunboats from pounding selected targets inside Gaza, including its power station, key bridges and the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniya.
Israel’s message to the ruling Hamas Party is clear: Send back Shalit alive or we will annihilate you. One Israeli newspaper reflected the government’s resolve. “If the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit does not return alive, there is no more Hamas government. Israel will erase this concept from the Middle Eastern political map,” the paper warned.
No one questions the capability of the Israeli army to unleash the dogs of war on Hamas. Israel has never tried to hide its contempt for the group, which has vowed to crush the Jewish nation. Hamas has sent its followers on suicide missions into the very heart of its hated neighbor. Now that it has risen to power in the Palestinian territories, the Israelis have all the more reason to feel apprehensive.
If Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert does give the order for ground forces to move into Gaza, it could set off repercussions that are bound to convulse the entire Middle East. For one thing, Syria will inevitably be drawn into the conflict. Israeli has long accused the Damascus government of coddling Hamas Already Israeli warplanes have made overflights in Syria over the past week. An attack on Syria could further stoke the already seething anger against Israel in the Arab world. Egypt, which has been playing the broker between the Israelis and the Palestinians, will have to take sides. Jordan, too, will have to make a crucial decision of its own.
Expectedly, Hamas will retaliate by launching more suicide attacks on Israel.
As the clouds of conflict gather, the shadow of a humanitarian crisis spreads in Gaza. Since the power station was knocked out last week, the territory’s 1.4 million inhabitants have been left without electricity. With the pumps not running, taps have run dry and the sewerage system is clogged up. Fuel deliveries from outside Gaza have been blocked by Israeli troops. Emergency generators for hospitals are about to give out, putting patients at risk.
Over the weekend the indications are the impasse over the release of Gilad Shalit is not about to be broken soon. The crisis is just beginning to enter its most dangerous phase. The protagonists must negotiate carefully through a diplomatic and political minefield and find a peaceful solution. Every effort must be made to prevent hell from breaking loose.