Thursday, February 25, 2010

You pay... for this?

Click on the image to view it in full size.
Source: hardwarezone forums

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

The bus stop vandal.

I was at the bus stop preparing to take the bus to work when I decided to check where the buses that left my home went to. As I went over to look at the bus guide, I saw this.

Someone had pasted two pieces of paper over the bus guide. They were stuck fast with some really strong glue so that their clean removal would be extremely difficult. I thought it was probably one of those notices asking for rooms to rent or offers for tuition, but it turned out to be neither. Here's what was written on them.

I know the second picture is a lot of text so I shall briefly explain what was written on it. It basically alleges that certain members of a certain family control all the big businesses in Singapore, by putting all their different relatives as directors. After that, this person goes on to allege that the ministers below this family set rules in favour of the family to facilitate the maximising of profits. Finally, he asks the family to return the money earned from the MRT business to the people.

I would really like to ask the person who did this - Do you seriously expect anyone to take you seriously? If not, please stop vandalising the bus stop sign because you are wasting taxpayers' money to clean up the damage, on top of inconveniencing users of the bus stop.

It is idiots like you who make life miserable for the people you claim to sympathise with. In no country in the world are governments obliged to provide free transportation systems, because if they did taxes would rise even further, and the poor, which I assume includes you, would suffer even more.

Do you even study economics or have an idea of how economic systems work? The only thing you know is how to complain that money isn't dropping from the sky.

The last I checked, the turnover of SMRT is $802.1 million for the financial year 2008. Where did you get the figure for billions from Mr Vandal? Out of your smart ass? Don't go telling me SMRT doesn't release accurate figures in their annual report because the next thing you're going to tell me is the board of SMRT hides money in milo tins all over their bungalows.

Sure, I'm sure SMRT could return all the money to the people. $802.1 million divided by 5 million people is about... $160. I tell you what uncle, let's just say SMRT gave everyone in Singapore $160 for the whole year and let the transport system run for free. Everyone rejoices. The next day the MRT breaks down and nobody can get to work. Soon we'll be eating rats off the streets.

I'm not trying to be pro-government, but just step back and see how little SMRT is really earning from each Singaporean citizen. It's basically slightly under 50 cents a day. I know people who earn more money than that from you every day. Like the canteen uncle who sells you drinks.

As for the rest of the allegations, it is very easy for you to say something, but without substantiation, I could say an elephant is pink. At least I would be right because this elephant is pink.
Thanks, I know I'm genius.

Every member of the public has a right to read a bus stop sign free of obstructions. I don't care if a certain family is earning too much money like you say. At least the country runs fine. If that is the price I have to pay, I'd gladly pay it. Stop vandalising the bus stop.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

the weird guy.

Once in a while, you meet weird people. The only scary part is when they turn out to be very very weird.

I was at my desk when I got a call from one of my superiors to check out someone who had been making a scene at reception. Apparently he wanted to complain to one of us about a dispute between him and his neighbours. Since I was the intern nearest to my supervisor, I got the job.

When I first saw the newsmaker, I had a bad feeling. Something told me there was something funny about this guy. The handshake confirmed it. His hand was cold and clammy for a guy. But a job was a job, so I sat down and listened to him talk.

Immediately, he asked that no matter what I did not quote his real name. After that, when he noticed a group of visitors behind me taking pictures in the lobby, he actually came over to sit beside me, saying that he was afraid of having his picture taken.

I went over to sit on the other side so I could continue the interview, and also because I really did not want to sit beside him. After the whole series of allegations, which included his neighbours assaulting him, police brutality and more, he asked that I did not put his real address in the article. He wanted me to put "somewhere in Singapore".

I told him that people only did that on STOMP. At this point, I was actually perusing his statements. I saw that one of the entries included "wrongful admission to IMH".

Well, I don't know how wrongful it was, but if the police consider you worthy of admission to IMH, there must be something wrong up there. Either that or they were trying to do the Man In Black erase memory thing, but they failed and somehow you remember, hence you were trying to tell me that there's a big conspiracy in the government to erase your memory because you know something they can't afford to let people know.

Yeah right. You think what, movie ah. I told him that everything was done, and he could leave. I then went back to office.

Four hours later, when I knocked off, he was still in the lobby. The only person sitting there.

I was so freaked, I just got the hell out of there as fast as I could.