For those who are reading this post, please do not think that I am that “ngeow” to give a few dollars to the fund.
The thing here is PRIVACY.
Recently, my wife received a mail from NKF Children’s medical fund.
Now, the funny thing is, they addressed my wife as Mdm, and they actually have her residential address.
Well, you may say that her address can be obtained easily at many places, like telephone book, but let it be known that we made it a point to keep her particulars anonymous publicly, or mails of such are always forwarded to her company’s address and not residence.
The only place I can think of that can give of such particulars is KK Hospital, where my wife gave birth to our son 1.5 years back!
I wrote in to NKF, asking for an answer, but they have not replied. Thats about 5 days ago.
Today, I have written another mail. If they still do not reply, I am going to make this public.
Pissing me off. What happened to privacy act and human rights in Singapore? So what if they are a charitable organisation? That does not give them the rights to get such information. Even the police, without a warrant from court, is allowed to do that!
WTF?!
Below is the mail I wrote to them:
==============
Hi,
this is the second time I am sending you this mail, and I am now =
DEMANDING for a reply.
If I do not get a reply with the answers I want, BEFORE 4th July 2005, I =
will forward this mail to the press instead for a public answer.
Best regards,
Wee Hang Yong
—– Original Message —–=20
From: Wee Hang Yong=20
To: cmf@nkfs.org=20
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2005 9:32 PM
Subject: mail received from you
To whom it may concern,
I am writing in with your mail “seeking support to assist and save the =
lives of thousands of children in Singapore”, dated 15th June 2005.
The mail was addressed to my wife, and I would seriously like to enquire =
into the ways you have obtained her particulars.
The reasons for my enquiry are:
1. my wife’s particulars are NOT listed anywhere publicly
2. you addressed my wife as Mdm, indicating that you KNOW that she is =
married
=20
This invasion of privacy is a MAJOR issue to me.
I would like to know where did you obtain her particulars from, whom =
gave you the authority to obtain such information, and whom disclosed =
these information to you.
Please take note that such acts is NOT tolerated, unless documentary =
proof is shown to me that we have explicitely given permission for such =
information to be disclosed.
Without further replies from you, legal action will be taken to protect =
me and my family.
I seriously hope that you will reply soon.
Best regards,
Wee Hang Yong
That is if you are in Singapore, Michigan.
Read an article in tomorrow.sg and got interested in the topic.
Did a search and found this:
http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/mi/singapore.html
extract: CLIMATE: snow in winter, hot in summer, cool in spring/autumn
and this
http://www.michmarkers.com/Pages/S0191.htm
Singapore can have snow naturally afterall….
So, I am back from Sri Lanka… not to aide the tsunami victims, but on a business trip, launching some machines there.
When I was there, I had dinner at this Chinese restaurant called 168. Typical South East Asian….
Anyway, the food there is RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE!
My cousin paid for the food, which I brought along a colleague of mine, but looking at the menu, my eyes popped out!
Xin Chou Bee Hoon (新州米粉) cost a whopping US$6.75! A typical meal would cost easily above US$50 for 2 person if they go a-la-carte.
and you know what?
I saw many… and let me say this again… MANY tsunami aide workers having dinner there… a-la-carte… night after night…..
where did these people get all the money from man? look… I am not saying that these people are using public funds for themselves… but even if they are using their own money…. maybe they should use the money for the victims?
I am not sure if I have posted this here before… but here goes…
saw this item on sale in a local computer forum…
you wun believe what goes on sale on-line now a days man…
for a direct link to the sale… click here…
I was on a cab rushing off to work today, and I paid and alighted the taxi, forgetting my phone at the back seat.
When I found out 10mins later, I quickly called my mobile and no one answered. I thought I was fucked.
Went down to the lobby, and to my surprise, the Taxi driver is there trying to locate me, describing me to the security guard!
It was peak hour, and he had to pay for the parking in the building while locating me.
I was like… wow…. This is customer delight….
Seriously, if not for him, I would have lost pictures of my wife and I, my baby, voice recording of my son’s first vocal voice, business contacts, appointments, and much much more!
Unfortunately, I was really in a rush and had not taken note of his car plate. It was a Blue Comfort Cab for sure, and I am sure his name is Tony Eyo.
I am that sure because of a note left in his taxi:
this is what it reads:
Dear Passenger,
I am pleased to offer the following concession:
1. those aged between 70-89 years old – half of taxi fare and aged 90 years old and above – taxi fare free
2. handicapped – half of taxi fare
3. job seekers (on the way to interview) – half of taxi fare
4. magazines
In addition, you can request your favorite radio station channel too.
(Note: any unsatisfactory service, you can ask for free trip)
This is another personalised service brought to you by Tony Eyo
These services are independant of comfort cab.
Thank you for taking comfort cab.
Wishing you a blessed day (God blessed you all the way).
I tell you, whatever he did here, is much effective than what the government has done to counter the recession, and also social welfare of Singapore…. maybe we should make him the PM…..
did you know that the NEL uses MS Windows as its operating system to run the whole show?
I guess that is why we get all the delays and all…..
Anyway, the TVs on the NEL…. have you noticed their placements?
Even when sitting down, I can only see three-quarter of the TV screen….
talk about being a white elephant…..
Dug up from history…. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/analysis/030801_buangkok.htm
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LTA’s puzzling line of reasoning: If it is more costly to build a train station later, why wasn’t the station between HarbourFront and Outram Park built?
By: Lee Han Shih
First published: 1 August 03, TODAY
|
| Remember the grassroots leader who drove his Mercedes to a charity event to get free textbooks? Even if you ignore the morality of the issue – the books were meant for the needy and not for someone who owns a Mercedes – it was a dumb move anyway, as the money he lost on the wear and tear of the car, and the petrol he used, exceeded the value of whatever books he managed to grab at the event.
For years, this was the best example of how Singaporeans can be penny-wise but pound-foolish. Then, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) came along with its decision on the Buangkok MRT station.
Buangkok, in the Hougang area, is one of 16 stations on the $5-billion North-East MRT Line (NEL). The line was built by the LTA and operated by publicly-listed SBS Transit.
Three days before the NEL began its commercial run on June 20, SBS suddenly announced that it had decided not to open the Buangkok station because it did not think there would be enough traffic to justify the trains stopping there.
Predictably, the residents of Buangkok raised a howl. After all, if the Government had spent $5 billion to build a railway, what was the reason for not opening one or more stations there? Isn’t that a waste of public money?
No, the LTA answered. It said the low traffic volume in Buangkok meant that SBS stood to lose $1 million to $2 million a year if it opened the station and that would translate into higher fares for commuters.
The LTA also went to some length to defend the building – but not the using – of Buangkok station. It said that even if some of the stations are not used for the time being, it was much cheaper to build all the stations along the NEL at one go. Putting up 16 stations for the NEL and opening only 14 of them (the Woodleigh station is also closed) is, therefore, the best use of public funds, it said.
This was the same argument the LTA presented its boss, Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong. On July 13, Mr Yeo told reporters that Woodleigh station may not open for seven to eight years – “if you don’t build it now and you build it later, it’s going to be a lot, lot more expensive”. Putting up MRT stations by stages was not a good way to use public money, the Minister added.
Now the LTA has contradicted itself – and Mr Yeo as well – in a letter to The Straits Times on Wednesday. Answering a reader’s query on why there was no station between Outram Park (designated NE3) and Harbour-Front (NE1), the LTA said the distance between the two stations is 2.6km and “is much longer than the average station spacing”.
It added that it had made provisions to build a station in between (presumably to be called NE2), but “we have not built it as there is no current need to do so”. But “in the long run … (changes) may justify another MRT station being built”.
Excuse me? The LTA did not build NE2 because there was no traffic, but it built Buangkok and Woodleigh stations anyway despite the lack of traffic for these two stations.
If, as Mr Yeo said, it could be “a lot, lot more expensive” to build a station later, shouldn’t the LTA have built NE2 together with the rest of the stations and save the public “a lot of money”?
There is more. The Buangkok station cost $80 million to build and is good for perhaps 20 years. This means a depreciation of an average of $4 million a year – regardless of whether the station is open or closed. If the Buangkok station is open, the annual $4 million depreciation is spent to serve the public. If it is closed – as it is now – the $4 million goes down the drain.
So, why is the LTA willing to keep Buangkok closed and let $4 million go to waste every year so that SBS can save $1 million to $2 million?
The LTA may argue that it could not command SBS, a commercial concern, to open the station and incur a loss from doing so.
But why not? SBS made a commercial decision to operate the NEL and if it overestimated the ridership and ended up making a loss, this is what business is all about.
The losses should be borne by SBS and its shareholders, and not by raising fares or closing one of more stations so that SBS can recover from its mistake and make money from the operation.
Why, in other words, should commuters and residents of Buangkok suffer for a bad decision made by SBS?
Of all the issues left unanswered over the Buangkok station, this is the most puzzling: The willingness of the LTA to help a commercial concern like SBS make money.
SBS made a commitment to run the North-East Line. If it can’t do the job, it is the LTA’s duty to take the line back and give it to someone who can.
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For those who drives, I guess you are aware that at the junction of Cross Street and Eu Tong Sen Street, just outside China Town Point, the traffic is ALWAYS heavy, especially during peak hours.
So one fine day, I was driving along that road, and wanted to turn right to Eu Tong Sen Street, to get into CTE/AYE. And what do you know?
This blardy Police car, stop right there and then, WITHOUT ANY prior indication. He just stops there and wait…. for whatever reason.
It took me and other cars behind me another good 5 mins to filter into the lane next to us just to get infront of him.
When I passed by them, The police sitting on the passenger side just looked at me like nothing happened.
I wonder if they know they passed the Basic Theory Test*…. best one… they are police somemore!
If its a a passenger car, I am pretty sure he would have been booked for it….
So… Police can lah??
* http://afsafety.kirtland.af.mil/AFSC/RDBMS/Ground/feedback/driving/singapore.htm
A double yellow line along the curb or an unbroken white centerline means no curbside parking. Fines range from S$50.00 upward.
I was feeling perfectly ok yesterday when I was going to work. Talked, laughed, coffee, breakfast…. everything was fine.
And at approximately 9am, I started to feel really cold. Sun was shining into the office, and damn, the air cons are making me feel cold! First time in my life…
At 11am the cold is unbearable, and I feel my forehead…. ok leh… no fever leh…
12:20… cannot make it liao… see doctor opposite my office.
37.5*C, slight fever. Enlarged Tonsil. No cough, no nose block, aching muscles and joints.
Doc gave me half day MC, Panadol, and some lozenges…
reached home, was still joking with my wife, and I went for a nap.
4pm, I felt like I was dying. 39.3e4*C.
I cannot sit up from my bed, and needed my wife to help. And just by sitting up, I feel breathless.
Although covered in 2 blankets and all windows and doors closed in my room, I ain’t sweating a drop.
7pm, I totally lost it.
Went to the doctor, he was laughing at the medicine the earlier doctor gave, saying that its a joke…
He gave me 2 jabs in my butt, which cost mt $90!
Stood up, and I fainted! Not 100e lah…. but already hearing humming sound, and am breaking cold sweat.
Sat down and laid on the sofa. felt much better after about 15mins of rest.
And what do you know?
My body ache is gone, I can walk, and I dun feel cold anymore!
Asked the doctor if that was a jab for relieving fever, but he said no.
He is not stupid enough to do that since it will wear off in 4 hours, and the fever will return with vengeance.
The jab was for curing tonsillitis.
Well, its $90 worth, and it sure is effective.
Got another day of MC as fever is still there, but not that serious.
Doctor was great, but Tonsillitis is a bitch….
