A very nice and thought provoking graphic presentation done by Jonathan Yuen on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. The atomic bomb which ended the World War II but at a huge cost. A timely reminder to us that nuclear bomb should be avoided no matter what.
(Enter site)
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Memoirs of Hijiyama
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Beijing Olympics 2008 highlight
Right now, I am watching the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics 2008. I did not follow the games everyday, but I think it would be memorable for many years to come. Our Singapore Table Tennis women's team won a silver Olympic medal, our first Olympic Games medal after 48 years' wait. Michael Phelps won a record 8 gold medals in one Games. I have selected 2 highlights..
Li Ning lit the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony. Very nice.
If not for Jason Lazek's awesome swim in the last leg of 4x100m relay, Michael Phelps would not have succeeded in winning 8 gold medals. Amazing!!!
Tussle over the Baby Package
Though I will not enjoy the benefits of Marriage and Parenthood Package, I cannot help but sympathize with parents who had their bundles of joy just before 17 Aug, especially if their babies were born on 15 or 16 Aug. I wonder how do the parents feel. Below is the story from both opposing sides:
Taken from a letter that appeared in the Straits Times Forum:
Backdate bonus perks to January this year
"WE REFER to the Government's change in qualifying date for the Baby Bonus and other incentive measures under the enhanced marriage and parenthood package yesterday ('Baby perks start now').
While we understand that the change is to allow expectant mothers who will have babies between Aug 17 and Jan 1 to enjoy the benefits, we would like to strongly highlight that this change in policy is unfair.
Many families who had first-borns between January and July this year, like ourselves, will not get to enjoy the benefits at all. Raising and educating a child in Singapore is an arduous task and we believe the Government understands that. However, with this change in policy, the total sum of incentives we lose out on can amount to some $7,000.
We would not enjoy the baby bonus of $3,000 plus $3,000 (dollar for dollar matching by the Government through the child development account) and the additional $1,000 increase.
For any low income family, this $7,000 makes a lot of difference. This disparity will seem even more jarring in years to come as our babies will eventually attend school together with those who would have enjoyed the $7,000 incentive.
Shouldn't these babies also enjoy the same benefits as their peers? Why should there be any disparity within the same cohort?
We therefore appeal to the Government to backdate the qualifying period to Jan 1 this year to allow all families with babies born this year to enjoy the same incentives.
We believe many families who are affected by this policy are currently appealing through various channels and we hope the government will consider this proposal."
What is the government's response?
Mr Wong, who is in charge of population matters, pointed out that back in 2004, the government had sent a clear signal months earlier that changes were afoot.
In December 2003, Lim Hng Kiang, then chairman of the Marriage and Parenthood Committee, had indicated that changes to the 2001 Marriage and Parenthood Package were on the cards and that couples should start planning for babies.
In February 2004, then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the new package would be completed before National Day.
Because of that, all administrative measures and adjustments were made between February and August that year.
Even then, legislation for the additional four weeks of maternity leave was only
completed two months later, on 1 October 2004, after the law was amended.
For this year, Mr Wong said, the first indication of a review came last month.
Details were released after the Prime Minister's National Day Rally this month for the measures to kick in next year, as the government needed time to effect the various legislative and administrative changes.
"Unlike in 2004, we could not set up the systems earlier as the measures were still being finalised up until the end of July 2008," said Mr Wong.
Mr Wong added that the government has tried to be as inclusive as possible.
And due to the strong appeal from parents-to-be, whose babies were due before 1 January next year, the government brought forward the qualifying date for the enhanced package to August 17, the date of the announcement by the Prime Minister.
Mr Wong said: "At any point in time when we make a decision to say this is the date, there will always be people who fall outside that date. That is unfortunate and I can understand their disappointment but we need to have a cut-off date somewhere, otherwise it will never end."
He urged Singaporean couples to see the package in totality as all things considered, parents will still receive significant support under the revised package.
Mr Wong said: "So, don't just look at what they don't get. I think they should look at what they will get but more importantly, look at the baby, look at their own children and enjoy their children!"
For parents whose babies were born before 17 August 2008, they would still be
eligible for the enhancements to the tax reliefs, childcare and infant care subsidies, and childcare and infant care leave.
What they will miss out is an additional $1,000 of baby bonus for the first two children, a co-payment of $6,000 for the first child, and an additional four weeks of maternity leave.
Mr Wong added that the set of financial incentives is not the magic bullet to solve Singapore's low Total Fertility Rate problem.
Success also depends on support from employers and Singaporeans themselves wanting to marry and have babies.
(*Source: Channelnewsasia*)
Rainy Sunday
Urgghh..Just when i want to go out, it is raining cats and dogs.
Thought the poster (on the left) is quite funny. If only our train or bus stations have such funny lighthearted posters. what have i been doing the whole morning. Besides reading the newspapers, i managed to find a code to hide the irritating navigation bar that one always find on a blogspot page. I also tried to find a new template but i gave up. simpla is beauty.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Sigur Rós - Surreal and Captivating
Sigur Rós is an icelandic band. In English, the band's name means Victory Rose. I have no idea what they are singing but I love their songs. In music, there is no language boundaries. They just released their latest studio album this year. Do go to Youtube and watch their music videos, which are quite nice and surreal. I have add a link to their live performance of a single from their latest album below.'Inní mér syngur vitleysingur’ - Official Video
Long Train Runnin' - Doobie Brothers
Yesterday, I dropped by Wala Wala to watch the EIC band perform. They save the best to the last set. They performed the Doobie Brothers "Long Train runnin'". It is an old song but still sounds so fantastic after all these years. Enjoy ...
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Beautiful Girl
I have been watching hallmark channel recently because i want to catch their advertisement for their movie "Beautiful Girl" which will be showing this sunday, 24 Aug 08 at 9pm on Hallmark channel. In the advertisement, the main character was singing a song titled "Beautiful Girl", not the INXS same titled song. Though she was only singing a portion of it, I like it immediately and I thought the lyrics were quite meaningful. From the song lyrics, you can guess what the plot is about. No matter how hard i try to search, i just could not find any video or mp3 of the song..Urrghh..I guess you can't find anything and everything on the net. I only manage to find the song lyrics...
Beautiful Girl
Here I am, a girl who found her way, to make the daydream come to life
Never let the non-believers have their say, I can only see the light
And if I had to-could not do it over again, cause this is life and I'm gonna live it
If I believe I'm beautiful and you believe I'm beautiful
I decide what's real to me but choose to see that
I know I am beautiful-Don't you know I'm beautiful
I am here to tell all the world-I'm a beautiful girl
Nothing you can say will shake my faith
Made up my mind and I'm not looking back
Well I know a curtain, for certain, will come down someday
But not before I've had the chance to say
I made my entrance
I believe I'm beautiful, you believe I'm beautiful
I decide what's real to me, I choose to see that
I know I am beautiful, Don't you know I'm beautiful
I am here to tell all the world...
That if I had two votes before me then let them ignore me
It's destiny but I must seize the day
If i believe
You believe
I choose to see that
I know I am beautiful, Don't you know I'm beautiful
I am here to tell all the world- I'm a beautiful girl
I'm a beautiful girl
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Jonathan Yuen
I love the website of this graphic designer, Jonathan Yuen. I especially love the Chinese words he used on his website, which are poetic and meaningful. His website provides an English translation but the meaning is not exactly the same. One who understands the Chinese language will know that it is difficult to capture her meaning in any other language. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Books to read before turning 30
I am turning 30 in december, so it's appropriate that i came across this list of 30 books everyone should read before they turn 30
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Interesting is everything
Look at this super cardboard box robot!! See more photos over here.
Everything is and can be interesting.
Monday, August 11, 2008
The Fountain & Death
I watched the Fountain on cable recently again. Recorded down on a DVD so that I can watch it again. It is a movie with 3 parallel storylines in 3 different time periods. To summarize, it is about a man's quest to save his loved one from dying and he tried to find a cure for deathdeath so that one can lives forever. The movie requires repeated viewing to fully comprehend the plot and it's really up to individual to interpret the storylines. One of the taglines of the movie was "What if you could live forever". I do not wish to live forever. We should not resist or fight or fear death. Instead, we can view death as a bridge that all living creatures, big or small, will need to cross, at one point in time, in their lives in order to enter their afterlife. I could recall Steve Jobs once said in his commencement speech to the new graduates at Stanford University that death is the best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears the old to make way for the new. How true.
check out the interview and other movie posters from the artist himself, Tomasz Opansinski, here: http://www.graphic-exchange.com/exellence/tomasz-opasinski.htm
Right now, i am listening to the Fountain commentary by the director, Darren Aronofsky. You can download it here
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Movie: The Lives of Others
I just watched a dvd, "The Lives of Others", a German movie. Highly recommended. The male protagonist in the movie was a captain working in the secret police of the old Berlin. He was teaching a lesson to the new trainees on how to identify an innocent person or a guilty person. He mentioned the best way to identify a guilty person is non stop interrogation. Ask the subject the same question again and again. Listen to the answer. If the answer is the same; word by word; every time, the person is a liar. A truthful person will reformulate the answer. Only a liar prepare the answer, so that he can fall back on the prepared answer when under pressure.
The reason for non stop interrogation is not just to tire the person physically, but most importantly, to make him mentally exhausted. When a person is mentally tired, he will tend to reveal information that will incriminate himself or the guilty parties. This is also the best time when the subject is at his most vulnerable state. That's why it is important for an investigator to be physically and mentally fit so that he will not miss out all these important "leaks". Once you miss them, you miss them forever.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Photography
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