The Day the Angel Died

Very Cute! Nice Work!

2005-10-04T01:50:00.000+08:00

(23:48:03) .: wowee we're showing each other pictures of the family
now; isn't that something like the mini-version of "meeting the
parents"
(23:51:22) Ben: i think that means you are engaged;)
(23:51:51) Ben: i need to go to sleep
(23:51:59) Ben: enjoy the rest of your date
(23:52:18) .: :o :P
(23:52:22) Ben: ur holding the torch for us both now...don't let the
fire go out...
(23:52:35) Ben: hehe
(23:52:36) .: i'll do my utmost
(23:52:40) .: wait
(23:52:47) .: see her family pic; she's the prettiest :)
(23:52:48) Ben: what
(23:53:02) Ben: there you go
(23:53:14) Offering to send IMG_1518.JPG to ben_meyer@hotmail.com
(23:53:16) Ben: quality my friend..u got some quality
(23:53:31) .: she's pretty, don't you think? hence my tingling self-doubt...
(23:54:32) Ben: she is second from the right no?
(23:54:51) Ben: very cute!!
(23:55:00) Ben: nice work!
(23:55:26) .: my tingling self-doubt stems not from my self-confidence
i think...
(23:55:38) .: but from my doubt that she can see the true man within...
(23:55:52) Ben: oh but she can
(23:55:52) .: in a world infested with superficial materialistic views? :(
(23:56:01) Ben: she is
(23:56:06) Ben: u have reached her young
(23:56:11) Ben: at a peak time
(23:56:29) Ben: before women begin thiking materialistically
(23:56:31) Ben: as well
(23:56:49) Ben: plus charissa from what i hear...seems to have a good
head on her shoulders
(23:58:32) Ben: ok...get back to work;) Have fun!!
(23:58:35) .: thanks, ben :)
(23:59:26) Ben logged out.

Re: Hello from fcard05

2005-10-03T22:12:00.000+08:00

Hi fcard05,

Very happy to hear from you. I'm dropping out of ojar
more and more every day. My last post "Rise from the
Ashes" bid farewell and wished all heartshattered ones
to hang on; I think that was all that we had to do to
survive this. Time is the rum of all things.

Your good news is also mine. I'm so happy that this
too is passing away right in front of you. Ojar's
motto rings true to the bones, "This, too shall pass."

I'm nearing the very end of this bridge of Pain now; 9
months after the Shatter.

I've also met someone here in Singapore, about 300km
away from where I was. We're on our 4th date this
Sunday; I think we're progressing well, with also no
rush from either side. She seems wise beyond her age
of 22. I, for one, have been through the nightly doses
of Guinness and Carlsberg Special Brew and daily 110kg
on the benchpress to pay for the price of this little
bit of wisdom.

I think it is for the best; that it will all end well.
Pain is required, so that we shall be the wiser.

Keep in touch, dear friend. Hold onto your strength;
you are a better person now, and NO ONE can ever take
that away from you...

--- "F. Cardinale" <fcard05@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hi rivers,
>
> Hope this note finds you happy and well. I haven't
> been on ojar too much lately but I always
> appreciated the interest you took in my situation
> and your words of wisdom. life is strange, indeed,
> here i am on the other side of the world from you
> and somehow, like you said, our paths crossed in our
> moment of sorrow. i just wanted to take the time to
> spread my good news around the world and i knew that
> you would appreciate what i'm about to say.
>
> my life has changed in profound and unexpected ways
> since i first logged on to ojar, what seems like
> years ago. yet the calendar says it's only been 2
> and a half months which makes my tale even more
> extraordinary to me. after being a stay at home dad
> for 3 years i landed the job i could only dream
> about. in my previous life, i was a compliance
> officer for a brokerage firm in Atlanta, Georgia
> with a focus on reviewing and approving
> marketing/advertising materials for compliance with
> industry rules and regulations. most firms don't
> dedicate that much manpower to the task, which makes
> it amazing that i have actually landed the same type
> of job here in Tampa, Florida. i started my new job
> on Monday and i have never been happier. the pay is
> lower than what i had hoped for, but it will provide
> enough for me to meet my needs.
>
> But the turning point in my story actually happened
> the week prior. two days after i accepted the
> position i met someone, who in the past i would have
> said turned my life around. but that's not true, i
> turned my life around, and it was some other power
> that brought us together one fateful evening. is
> there such a thing as two people that were meant to
> be together? despite everything i've been through i
> still believe in destiny. the girl that i have now
> been seeing makes me feel like i have never felt
> before. i wish i could put into words how well we
> have connected. we have spent entire nights together
> just talking and looking into each other's eyes
> until the sun comes up. we have spent entire
> evenings just dancing together at the local club. no
> pressure from either side to speed the process up,
> just two souls enjoying each other for a moment in
> time and maybe more. when i wake in the morning i
> now smile like i never smiled before... it's because
> i am finally happy with who i am and
> through that energy in life i have opened the doors
> to something that is leading toward the happiest
> days of my life. even in the spring time of our
> relationship i never felt this way about my
> ex-wife... i never felt the peaceful feeling that i
> am feeling now with this wonderful new person that
> has entered my life.
>
> well, i could go on forever... happiness has a way
> of making us want to talk about it. but i just
> wanted to share my story with you and thank you
> again. it's amazing how people can touch each
> other's lives without ever having met.
>
> Wishing you all the best,
>
> Frank "fcard05"
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! for Good
> Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina
> relief effort.

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

China's Moment

2005-09-24T05:23:00.000+08:00

http://tinyurl.com/c5nb3

Costello counts China as world's No.2 economy

2005-09-24T05:15:00.000+08:00

http://tinyurl.com/batjh

Does anyone hear it crash? hehe

2005-09-24T04:28:00.000+08:00

http://tinyurl.com/dr3cv

Superstar Virgo

2005-09-24T03:38:00.000+08:00

you have COMPATIBLE 9.0x set in your init.ora without having run the upgrade scripts.

2005-09-23T23:21:00.000+08:00

Bookmark Go to End

Doc ID: Note:163279.1
Subject: ORA-600 [qctstc2o1],[3],[1],[1],[1],[4000] During Database
Open after Upgrade
Type: PROBLEM
Status: PUBLISHED

Content Type: TEXT/X-HTML
Creation Date: 05-NOV-2001
Last Revision Date: 15-OCT-2002

Problem Description
-------------------

While opening your database for the first time in 9.0.1.0.0,
you receive an ORA-1092 in the session and in the alert:

ORA-600 [qctstc2o1], [3], [1], [1], [1], [4000]

1-NOV-2001 17:25:10.36:
Errors in file $3$DKA301:[V901.DB_901DB.TRACE]NODE_901DB_BG_SMON_009.TRC;
ORA-00604: error occurred at recursive SQL level 1
ORA-01001: invalid cursor
ORA-00604: error occurred at recursive SQL level 1
ORA-00942: table or view does not exist

The trace file of the session that did the open gets:

Current SQL statement for this session:
select value$ from sys.props$ where name = :1

kgerinv:471955 CALL ksedmp (^x10e3be0)
kgeasnmierr:472264 CALL kgerinv (^x246d780)
qctValidCharCol:288 CALL kgeasnmierr (^x246e
0193 0d0)
qctstc2o:2880267 CALL qctValidCharCol (^x
167c500)
qctcopn:2880509 CALL qctstc2o (^x167ccc0
)
qctcpqb:2879899 CALL qctcopn (^x167d1b0)
opitca:2892315 CALL qctcpqb (^x167b310)
kkssbt:2877257 CALL opitca (^x15731e0)
kksscl:2876245 CALL kkssbt (^xdbfca0)
kksfbc:2874951 CALL kksscl (^xdbd240)

Solution Description
--------------------

This error occurs if you have COMPATIBLE 9.0x set in your
init.ora without having run the upgrade scripts.

As it is too late at this point to switch COMPATIBLE back
to 8.1x (redo log file headers have already been updated),
you can set this event in order to open the database:

EVENT = "10619 trace name context forever, level 1"

This will allow you to open the database and continue the
upgrade.

Once the upgrade scripts have run, you can then remove
the event.

Explanation
-----------

This has been bugged in 1719656 and 1567377

References
----------

Additional Search Words
-----------------------

ORA-600 [qctstc2o1]

.
Copyright (c) 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved. Legal Notices and Terms of Use.

Oracle: Nice Guys Finish....

2005-09-23T23:19:00.000+08:00

http://tinyurl.com/8sl9k

Nice life, but that's why they're losing jobs ;(

2005-09-23T22:50:00.000+08:00

http://tinyurl.com/928el

Hehe - Deadly plague hits Warcraft world

2005-09-23T20:49:00.000+08:00

http://tinyurl.com/b3pwf

Craig Conway says Oracle low-balled PeopleSoft, then campaigned to drive down its stock price.

2005-09-23T20:47:00.000+08:00

http://tinyurl.com/dczbw

New Vatican Rule Said to Bar Gays as New Priests

2005-09-23T20:42:00.000+08:00

The New York Times
September 22, 2005
New Vatican Rule Said to Bar Gays as New Priests
By IAN FISHER and LAURIE GOODSTEIN

ROME, Sept. 21 - Homosexuals, even those who are celibate, will be
barred from becoming Roman Catholic priests, a church official said
Wednesday, under stricter rules soon to be released on one of the most
sensitive issues facing the church.

The official, said the question was not "if it will be published, but
when," referring to the new ruling about homosexuality in Catholic
seminaries, a topic that has stirred much recent rumor and worry in
the church. The official, who has authoritative knowledge of the new
rules, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the church's
policy of not commenting on unpublished reports.

He said that while Pope Benedict XVI had not yet signed the document,
it would probably be released in the next six weeks.

In addition to the new document, which will apply to the church
worldwide, Vatican investigators have been instructed to visit each of
the 229 seminaries in the United States.

Although work on the document began years ago under Pope John Paul II,
who died in April, its release will be a defining act in the young
papacy of Benedict, a conservative who said last spring that there was
a need to "purify" the church after the deeply damaging sex scandals
of the last several years.

The church official said the ban would pertain only to candidates for
the priesthood, not to those already ordained. He also said the
document did not represent any theological shift for the church, whose
catechism considers homosexuality "objectively disordered."

Although the document has not been released, hints of what it will say
are already drawing praise from some Catholics, who contend that such
a move is necessary to restore the church's credibility and who note
that church teaching bars homosexuals, active or not, from the
priesthood.

Other Catholics say, though, that the test should be celibacy, not
innate sexuality, and they predict resignations from the priesthood
that can worsen the church's deep shortage of clergy.

"I'm hearing that some men will choose to leave, because if they
don't, it would be like living a lie," said the Rev. Robert Silva,
president of the American National Federation of Priests' Councils,
who opposes a ban because it would be "extremely hurtful" to chaste
gay priests who are serving the church.

But the church official who discussed the expected new rules said the
document called for barring even celibate men who considered
themselves homosexual because of what he contended were the specific
temptations of seminaries.

"The difference is in the special atmosphere of the seminary," he
said. "In the seminary, you are surrounded by males, not females."

The issue of homosexuality in the priesthood and seminaries has long
been a difficult one, which the Vatican appears to be addressing,
particularly in the United States, on two apparently connected fronts.

The visits to the American seminaries cover a wide range of concerns,
but among those the investigators will be looking for is "evidence of
homosexuality" and whether seminarians are being properly prepared to
live celibately. Both the document and the investigation come under
the authority of the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education.

Taken together, the document and visits seem aimed at imposing a
stricter standard on both the atmosphere at seminaries and on whom
they accept as candidates for the priesthood. Archbishop J. Michael
Miller, the congregation's secretary, noted at a meeting in Baltimore
last week with more than 100 bishops, priests and lay people that the
new rules would come as no surprise because there was an existing
Vatican document barring homosexuals from the priesthood, according to
two church officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because
they felt there might be repercussions if they spoke for attribution.

Archbishop Miller appeared to be referring to a 1961 document that
recommended against ordaining anyone who has "perverse inclinations to
homosexuality or pederasty."

But that document has been overlooked by seminaries in the United
States for many years. Although practices vary, most American
seminaries in recent years have not uniformly rejected candidates with
a homosexual orientation, seminary officials say.

Instead, they try to ascertain case by case whether the candidate is
capable of living in a chaste and celibate manner, often rejecting
candidates who have been sexually active in the years before deciding
to join the priesthood.

Many gay men have entered the priesthood, though, and they are
increasingly open with their colleagues, their bishops and in some
cases, even with their parishioners, about their sexual orientation.
The Rev. Donald Cozzens, a former American seminary rector, contended
five years ago in his book "The Changing Face of the Priesthood" that
"the priesthood is or is becoming a gay profession."

James Hitchcock, a conservative Catholic and a professor of history at
St. Louis University, said some seminaries had reached the point of
being "openly welcoming of homosexuals" and "don't even regard
chastity necessary. "

"In that environment - and then you add to that the pedophilia
scandals - probably the Vatican thinks that strong medicine is
necessary for a serious disorder," said Mr. Hitchcock, who said he
would nonetheless favor a system that allows for rare cases to be
decided individually.

In fact, the degree to which the new rules would allow some slack
appears to be a major question. It seems clear that the rules will be
far more restrictive than current practice.

In what many church experts saw as a hint of the new rules, the
archbishop leading the seminary visits was quoted last week by The
National Catholic Register as saying even homosexuals not sexually
active for a decade or more should not be accepted into seminaries.

But the church official said the rules were not absolute. The very
definition of homosexuality, he said, is not fixed. And there may be
rare cases in which a prospective seminarian who is confused about his
sexuality might be accepted if the church decided he would still make
a suitable, celibate priest.

"There is room for this," he said.

Still, Father Silva of the Federation of Priests' Councils and three
other church officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because
they feared they would lose their jobs if they revealed dissension
within church ranks, said several influential American church leaders
had tried to persuade Vatican officials not to release a document
about gay seminarians because it would create more problems in the
priesthood than it would solve.

"People would do what they used to do, which is not be honest," said a
gay American priest and professor at a Catholic college who did not
want to be identified because he fears he could lose his church
position if his sexual orientation was known.

"The irony is, if you look at the exact ages and seminary graduating
classes of those priests who were convicted of sexual abuse in the
past few years, they were not on the whole people who entered
seminaries in the 1980's, when there began to be more openness about
homosexuality," he said. "These were people from the old closeted
days.

"So what the church is doing is repeating, in a weird way, the
conditions they had before that gave rise to the abuse crisis."

But any move to ban or limit gay men from serving as priests would
probably be popular among conservative Catholics, some of whom contend
that heterosexuals hesitate to enter the priesthood because they have
heard it is predominantly gay.

Mike Sullivan, of Catholics United for the Faith, a conservative
advocacy group, said his group would favor a ban because putting a
homosexual in an all-male seminary environment subjects that person to
too much temptation, and increases his likelihood for failure.

"It's not appropriate to put an alcoholic in a bar either," he said.

On the general issue of homosexuality, official Catholic teaching, as
explained in the catechism, says that while some people appear to have
a predilection toward same-sex attraction, homosexual acts are
impermissible and that homosexuals should remain chaste. But the
church has also counseled understanding, and in 1986, the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed then by Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, denounced the "unfounded and
demeaning assumption" that homosexuals could not control their sexual
behavior.

The church official said, however, that the church was entitled to
make its own decisions, based on theology, about who is allowed to be
a priest, comparing the issue to that of women, who are barred from
the priesthood as well.

"Being a priest is not a right," he said. "The Catholic Church never
ordains anyone on the conception of human rights."

Ian Fisher reported from Rome for this article, and Laurie Goodstein
from New York.

* Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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Once again, the rich get richer

2005-09-23T20:32:00.000+08:00

Sooo much mooo-lah http://tinyurl.com/ao884

Might be good to know? - Covering Your Assets In A Divorce

2005-09-23T20:27:00.000+08:00

Forbes.com

Legal
Covering Your Assets In A Divorce
Scott Reeves, 09.23.05, 6:00 AM ET

Bad marriages rarely make good divorces.

Torturing your soon-to-be ex in divorce court takes a little
imagination mixed with viciousness and great gobs of money. If you
want to make life miserable for the person, you can--often with the
help of your attorney, who has a vested interest in litigating every
little thing and running up the bill.

"Divorce is a simple division of assets," says Anthony Comparetto, an
attorney in St. Petersburg, Fla., and author of Stop Dirty Divorce
System. "But for many, divorce becomes a form of insanity. It quickly
becomes more of an emotional than a legal issue--and the numbers are
so simple."

Click here for seven traps to avoid if divorce turns nasty.
For some, there is no depth left unplumbed in divorce.

"I once had a woman run into my office and shout, 'He cut the
parakeet's feet off!' " Comparetto says. "The sad thing about divorce
is that it shows good people at the lowest, nastiest point of their
life. If you add a little pressure, some will explode."

If you want to be smart about divorce, do your homework and keep your
emotions out of it. Splitting is rough enough without the anger.

Personal finance is promising territory for mischief in the hands of a
nasty ex. You can fend off much of your ex's nastiness by taking some
basic steps, including:

-- Gather and organize all financial records and make copies of
everything, one for yourself and a second for your attorney.

-- Close, or at least freeze, access to all joint accounts.

-- Keep a written record of all expenses run up before and during
separation, including bills jointly paid and improvements made to the
house.

-- Document your net worth and keep a record of cash flow during separation.

-- If you suspect your soon-to-be ex is hiding assets, you may have to
hire a forensic accountant to sniff out the stash. Warning: This can
be expensive, and if your ex is unusually devious, there's no
guarantee of success.

-- Before you sit down to a settlement conference, make a list of all
items you want covered in the agreement. Consider the tax
ramifications of forced sales of stock or other investments, and
consult with your financial planner as needed.

-- If there's something you know your former spouse will want in the
property settlement, don't give it away in a futile gesture of
goodwill--use it as a bargaining chip and trade it for something you
want. The business side of divorce is hardball--and don't forget it.

-- Plan to settle out of court. The attorney fees will be
significantly less, and the majority of cases don't go to court. Check
the settlement against your wish list before signing off.

Closing joint credit accounts and opening an account in your name only
isn't difficult and should be done as soon as possible after you
decide to split. The Web sites of major banks offer excellent
information on the wise use of credit, including Wells Fargo (nyse:
WFC - news - people ), JPMorgan Chase (nyse: JPM - news - people ),
Bank of America (nyse: BAC - news - people ) and Citigroup (nyse: C -
news - people ).

Remember that divorce is governed by state law, and some details may
differ from state to state. There can be great variation in
interpretation or application of the law among judges in the same
courthouse, so ask around about temperament, attitudes toward men and
women, joint custody, alimony or moving to another state with the
children.

Most attorneys will be reluctant to disqualify a judge, because
they'll be back tomorrow with other cases. But if you have good reason
to believe a judge can't be fair in your case--and you've got to nail
it down because mere feelings won't cut it--insist that your attorney
file the needed papers to get your case transferred to another court.

If your attorney promises an outcome, it's time to get new
representation. No one can be certain how a judge will rule, and a
competent attorney will tell you only what's been done in other cases
and discuss likely outcomes.

Remember that your attorney is an advocate--not your friend or
confidant. Most attorneys don't want to hear the gory details.

Getting nasty is expensive, and it's nastiness--not division of
property--that leads to attorney's fees hitting $100,000 or more in
what should be a simple case. Estimates on the average cost of a
divorce in the U.S. range from $15,000 to $30,000.

"To avoid high attorney's bills, learn how to listen to your former
spouse and learn how to woo that person," Comparetto says. "Think back
to when you first dated--you listened to what each other said. The
marriage failed, in part, because the couple stopped listening to each
other. Listening is harder in divorce, especially if one or both
parties is angry. Find a way to listen, because it will lessen the
pain and keep the final bill down."

Think what you want in the divorce. For most, the answer is simple:
out of a dead relationship.

Most men want regular contact with their children, but few want to be
the custodial parent. If the kids are going to live with their mother,
she needs money to raise them and may need money to cover her expenses
until she returns to work. Two people who once loved each other and
love the children shouldn't have any trouble figuring this out.

Of course, divorce is rarely that simple. Comparetto says divorce
consumes about 60% of the time in civil court and has become a
multibillion-dollar industry complete with shrinks, mediators,
accountants and, for those who insist on being nasty to the nth
degree, private detectives. The matrimonial law work alone is a
staggering $28 billion-per-year industry.

"I no longer handle divorce," Comparetto says. "I saw the whole system
turn good people bad."

Click here for the slide show.
Leah Hoffmann contributed to this report.

Want to track news by this author or about this industry? Forbes
Attache makes it easy. Click here.

Singapore readying for remake of city-state

2005-09-23T20:09:00.000+08:00

Back to Home Page Print September 23, 2005
Singapore readying for remake of city-state

For the 478-year-old Jakarta, Singapore -- which began as a British
colonial trading port in 1819 -- might seem like a teenager in search
of an identity. But the truth is that the young city-state has a
strong vision of itself and its future. The Jakarta Post's Damar
Harsanto took a look at how Singapore's government is working to
improve the country during a recent trip to the city-state, which he
visited at the invitation of the Far East Organization Singapore Pte.
Ltd.

"We have to remake Singapore. Our economy, our education, our
mind-set, our city. It must be a totally different Singapore. Because
if its the same Singapore today, we're dead," said Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong during the annual National Day Rally in August.

Lee advised the country to look toward freewheeling Las Vegas for new direction.

"Out of nothing in a desert, they have built a city that forty million
people visit every year," said Lee, 53. "We don't want to become Las
Vegas but we should learn from their spirit."

His administration had just approved the construction of two casinos
in the resource-poor city-state by 2009.

A board of 3-D miniatures of the city master plan at Singapore's Urban
Redevelopment Authority (URA) shows all of the ongoing development
projects in the city-state, and which spaces are designed for public
facilities, green spaces and water reservoirs.

Touch-screen monitors are also available for visitors who want to
explore certain projects.

"Singaporeans can always be well-informed about what is happening in
city developments. They can even take part in the projects on offer
through an open-tender process," said Pudjo Wirawan, a marketing
executive with Singapore's largest private developer, the Far East
Organization.

He said most developers also enjoyed a feeling of security in their
business thanks to a guarantee by the government that every
development project will be seen through to the end.

The URA, which is open to the public during the week free of charge,
also displays tenders and notices for interested developers.

Aside from development projects, the center also provides detailed
guidelines for developers in the restoration of heritage buildings in
the city-state.

The center has been actively involved since the early 1970s in the
conservation of at least 71 areas throughout the island involving
historic buildings.

The Post also noted that a tender announcement was also made public by
the URA at a site on Somerset Road, where a board has been placed to
notify passers-by about the tender process for the planned Somerset
Commercial Development.

"Site area: 0.66 hectare + 0.23 hectare (subterranean space)," it
read, while informing interested parties to immediately file their
applications with the URA.

"Though it would be challenging, if the Jakarta administration made
public the information regarding developments in the city it would be
a great way to get residents involved in building a better city," said
Jakarta resident Dahlia Sardjono, who visited Singapore recently.

Scientists: You Can't Modify Hurricanes

2005-09-23T19:26:00.000+08:00

ABC News

Scientists Say Trying to Modify Hurricane Behavior Is Futile, Like
'Moving a Car With a Pea Shooter'
By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA AP Science Writer
The Associated Press

Sep. 23, 2005 - It sounds like a great idea: Let's just blast
hurricanes like Rita and Katrina out of the sky before they hurt more
people. Or, at least weaken the storms and steer them away from
cities.

Atmospheric scientists say it's wishful thinking that we could destroy
or even influence something as huge and powerful as a hurricane. They
abandoned such a quest years ago after more than two decades of
inconclusive government-sponsored research.

Private companies have conducted tests on a much smaller scale, but
have made little progress despite initially claiming to erase storm
clouds from the atmosphere.

"It would be like trying to move a car with a pea shooter," said
hydrometeorologist Matthew Kelsch of the National Center for
Atmospheric Research in Boulder. "The amount of energy involved in a
hurricane is far greater that anything we're going to impart to it."

The federal government's hurricane modification program was called
Project Stormfury. The idea was raised during the Eisenhower
administration after several major storms hit the East Coast in the
mid-1950s, killing 749 people and causing billions in damages.

But it wasn't until 1961 that initial tests were conducted on
Hurricane Esther with a Navy plane releasing silver iodide crystals.
Some reports indicate winds were reduced by 10 percent to 30 percent.

During Stormfury, scientists also seeded hurricanes in 1963, 1969 and
1971 over the open Atlantic Ocean far from land.

Researchers dropped silver iodide, a substance that serves as an
effective ice nuclei, into clouds just outside of the hurricane's
eyewall. The idea was that a new ring of clouds would form around the
artificial ice nuclei. The new clouds were supposed to change rain
patterns and form a new eyewall that would collapse the old one. The
reformed hurricane would spin more slowly and be less dangerous.

Sometimes, the experiments appeared to work. Hurricane Debbie in 1969
was seeded twice over four days by several aircraft. Researchers noted
that its intensity waxed and waned by up to 30 percent.

For cloud seeding to be successful, clouds must contain sufficient
supercooled water that is still liquid even though it is below 32
degrees Fahrenheit. Raindrops form when the artificial nuclei and the
supercooled water combine.

But scientists also learned that hurricanes contain less supercooled
water than other storm clouds, so seeding was unreliable. And,
hurricanes grow and dissipate all on their own, even forming new walls
of clouds called "concentric eyewall circles."

This made it impossible to determine whether storm reductions were the
result of human intervention. Project Stormfury was abandoned in the
1980s after spending hundreds of millions of dollars.

Other storm modification methods that have been suggested include
cooling the tropical ocean with icebergs and spreading particles or
films over the ocean surface to inhibit storms from evaporating heat
from the sea.

Occasionally, somebody suggests detonating a nuclear weapon to shatter a storm.

Researchers say hurricanes would dwarf such measures. For example,
Hurricane Rita measures about 400 miles across.

According to the center for atmospheric research, the heat energy
released by a hurricane equals 50 to 200 trillion watts or about the
same amount of energy released by exploding a 10-megaton nuclear bomb
every 20 minutes.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

instead of giving it another chance I should just be thankful I had the dance!

2005-09-23T19:08:00.000+08:00

Sony-BMG merger in EU challenge

2005-09-23T03:02:00.000+08:00

BBC NEWS

A European Commission decision to allow the merger of record giants
Sony and Bertelsmann (BMG) is being challenged by independent music
companies.

The case, before a one-day hearing at the European Court of First
Instance, contests the merger of two of the world's five biggest
record companies.

The commission made legal errors by allowing the move, says the
Independent Music Companies Association (Impala).

But the EU reportedly backed the merger as there was no case against it.

It had initially objected to the consolidation, but it was approved
without conditions in July.

The EU said initial concerns that the deal could lead to higher CD
prices and fewer customer choices were unfounded.

Consumer shift

The deal created the world's second largest record label, behind
Universal Music, and has meant 80% of the world's music is now owned
by four record companies.

But Sony-BMG, which is based in New York, has argued it is good for
the industry which has faced difficult trading conditions and a shift
in how music is bought by consumers.

The companies first announced their tie-up plans in November 2003,
saying the deal would be a merger of equals.

It brought together Sony stars such as Barbara Streisand and Beyonce
and BMG stars, including Elvis Presley and Christina Aguilera.

The problem lies where the playing field is not level due to severe
market access problems
Alison Wenham, Impala

Impala, which represents 2,500 indie labels, is arguing the commission
underestimated the impact the merger would have on online markets and
failed to take an overview of an industry already dominated by
recording giants.

It said it wanted the EU to "do its job as the guardian of real
competition, consumer value and choice and cultural diversity and more
importantly citizenship rights and obligations".

A court decision is expected in three to six months.

Alison Wenham, Impala vice-president said: "Creatively the
independents have the edge.

"They know they can compete if they have the same chance as the big companies.

"The problem lies where the playing field is not level due to severe
market access problems created by over-concentration in a cultural
industry."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/entertainment/music/4271800.stm

Published: 2005/09/22 15:26:17 GMT

Landlady's Little Parrot

2005-09-23T01:22:00.000+08:00

CEO: Oracle to Slow Shopping Spree for Now

2005-09-22T20:47:00.000+08:00

ABC News

CEO Says Oracle Probably Won't Make Any Major Acquisitions for at
Least Another Year
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
The Associated Press

Sep. 22, 2005 - Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison said Wednesday the
business software maker probably won't make another major acquisition
for at least another year to give the company ample time to assemble
all the pieces snapped up during a recent $18 billion shopping spree.

After that respite, Oracle will return to the takeover trail to
realize Ellison's long-term goal of more than doubling the company's
annual revenue to $30 billion, the CEO told reporters.

"I don't think that's an unreasonable target," Ellison said, if Oracle
grows "through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth."

Wednesday's media session, following a speech at Oracle's annual trade
show, marked the first time Ellison has met with reporters since
announcing plans last week to buy a longtime rival, Siebel Systems
Inc., for $5.85 billion.

That proposed marriage followed Oracle's $11.1 billion takeover late
last year of another fierce competitor, PeopleSoft Inc. In other
acquisitions completed this year, Oracle has bought Retek Inc. for
$665 million and an assortment of smaller software makers for
undisclosed amounts.

Although he refused to identify other takeover targets remaining on
his wish list, Ellison revealed that he is no longer interested in
buying BEA Systems Inc., a San Jose-based business software maker with
just over $1 billion in annual sales and a market value of about $3.5
billion.

"BEA was very high on our list, but they are less interesting to us
than they used to be," Ellison said.

Ellison engineered Oracle's expansion to increase its market share in
business applications software products that automate a wide range of
administrative tasks. A dominant force in database software for the
past two decades, Redwood Shores-based Oracle now wants to supplant
Germany's SAP AG as the world's largest maker of business applications
software.

Although SAP and Oracle appear well entrenched as the industry
leaders, Ellison expects both companies to face stiffer competition.

"I think the applications space will be diverse and complex five years
from now," Ellison said during his speech. He predicted Microsoft
Corp. and two rapidly growing online software makers, Salesforce.com
Inc. and NetSuite Inc., are poised to become "serious players."

Ellison made his remarks about the industry's competitive landscape as
Oracle gears up for an antitrust review of its Siebel deal. The
company needs regulators in both the United States and Europe to
conclude the takeover wouldn't diminish competition to ensure the
acquisition is completed in early 2006.

The U.S. Justice Department tried to block last year's PeopleSoft
takeover, but lost the battle in a monthlong trial after Oracle
persuaded a federal judge that it would continue to face robust
competition from many rivals, including Microsoft and Siebel.

Most industry analysts think it's unlikely U.S. regulators will
challenge the Siebel deal, given Oracle's antitrust victory last year.
Oracle executives, though, have predicted regulators will take a hard
look at the deal before ultimately approving the transaction.

Ellison, one of the world's wealthiest men, also may have had a
financial incentive for flattering San Francisco-based Salesforce.com
and San Mateo-based NetSuite. He owns stakes in both companies.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

她昨天慶祝了二十二歲生日

2005-09-22T01:29:00.000+08:00

The Full-Time Advantage

2005-09-21T19:59:00.000+08:00

collegejournal

The Full-Time Advantage
Prevails for Job Hunters

By RONALD J. ALSOP
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

From The Wall Street Journal Online

Part-time, online and executive M.B.A. programs may be growing in
popularity, but the traditional full-time degree still rules with
corporate recruiters.

In the short run, students who take an alternative approach to a
full-time, two-year program are reducing their opportunity costs by
continuing to draw a paycheck. But they aren't necessarily getting the
degree that will most impress corporate recruiters and jump-start
their careers.

Given the choice, for example, Lori Massad generally will pick a
full-time graduate over a part-timer when she recruits for the
management-consulting firm Marakon Associates. She has an especially
keen perspective on different types of M.B.A. programs, having taught
both part-time and full-time students as an adjunct professor at New
York University's Stern School of Business.

"What I really like about full-time students is that their experience
mirrors the consulting experience," says Ms. Massad, chief talent
officer and partner at Marakon. "They have been brainstorming and
solving problems in teams with people who have different skills and
different styles, and they have developed a high level of focus and
intensity."

Despite the full-time advantage, however, some part-timers still can
make the cut at Marakon. Their redeeming attributes, Ms. Massad says,
would be experience as a consultant or general manager working with
teams, plus a broad network of business connections. "We like students
who have a strong network of referrals and can help build the
business," she says.

What's Missing

M.B.A. Lite-that's what many corporate recruiters call the various
alternatives to a full-time program. In The Wall Street Journal/Harris
Interactive survey, recruiters viewed all three of the major
alternative approaches, particularly online programs, as inferior to
full-time degrees. About 30% of recruiters said they don't believe
executive programs build students' skills nearly as well as full-time
programs, while slightly more-34%-found part-time programs much less
effective.

The verdict on online degrees is much more negative: About 80% of
recruiters said these programs aren't as effective in developing
skills as a full-time M.B.A. In fact, nearly 40% of recruiters rated
them as "not at all effective." Doina Timpau, a survey respondent and
competitive-intelligence manager for Shell Hydrogen BV in the
Netherlands, says what's missing from online programs is the valuable
student interaction. She often learned the most as an M.B.A. from
fellow students who brought abstract business problems to life for
her.

[briefcase]The Top Business Schools: Recruiters' Top Picks

Read the complete Journal report, including rankings, profiles of top
schools, a business-school search tool, an interactive chart comparing
the top schools and M.B.A. pay tables. Plus, hear a podcast interview
with Ronald Alsop, author of the new book, "The Wall Street Journal
Guide to the Top Business Schools 2006" (Random House Reference), on
the reasons behind the decline in applications to full-time M.B.A.
programs and the outlook for a turnaround. Plus, join a discussion
about the b-school rankings.

"It wasn't just the fact that people would talk about things they had
gone through, challenges they had faced and the ways in which they had
or hadn't dealt with them," she says. "It was also gesticulation,
facial expression, all those elements of nonverbal communication that
often count more than words themselves. You also develop relationships
for life; a sort of esprit de corps emerges that will stay with you to
the day when you pick up the phone to call an M.B.A. buddy for help or
to offer another your advice."

Richer Experience

Most recruiters agree with Ms. Timpau that the full-time M.B.A. is a
much richer experience-as much about clubs, guest speakers, close
interaction with classmates and professors, and networking with alumni
as it is about the curriculum. "Full-time students have made earning
the M.B.A. their job and are immersed 12 to 16 hours a day," says John
Lanning, a survey respondent and sales and marketing recruiting and
training manager at 3M Co. "Such full immersion provides significant
growth and development."

What recruiters think about alternative M.B.A. programs is
increasingly important to graduates. More executive and part-time
M.B.A. students are hoping to use their degrees as a ticket not only
to a better job but also to a different company. And they want the
same level of career-placement services as full-time students
traditionally have received.

Schools are responding to their demands by hiring staffers focused
exclusively on placement for part-time students-to provide job leads
and advice on networking, writing résumés and making a good impression
in interviews. As soon as he became associate dean for career
initiatives at the Anderson School at the University of California,
Los Angeles, Eric Mokover was "almost accosted," he says, by part-time
and executive M.B.A. students. He heard "loud and clear" that the
students needed help, and wasted little time improving career services
for them. "Fewer of them are sponsored by their companies today, and
many are looking to switch careers," says Mr. Mokover. "We realized
things have changed, so we had to change, too."

The changes are likely to accelerate. Applications to full-time
programs plummeted the past couple of years, while both part-time and
executive M.B.A. programs have fared better. This year, 72% of
full-time programs reported an application decline, compared with 43%
of part-time and 32% of executive programs, according to a survey by
the Graduate Management Admission Council, which administers the
Graduate Management Admission Test.

Given that trend, recruiters are forced to dig deeper to determine the
type and quality of M.B.A. degree an applicant possesses. After all,
résumés typically just list the letters M.B.A. without any further
description. "The title M.B.A. has to be taken with a grain of salt
today," says Scott Ford, a survey respondent and purchasing manager at
United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion unit.

Executive Rank

In most corporate recruiters' hierarchy, the full-time degree would be
on top, followed by the executive M.B.A., then the part-time program,
and on the bottom, the online option.

Executive M.B.A. programs get more respect than part-time evening
programs because the students tend to be more senior managers. Their
experience helps compensate for the less intense academic program.

Still, some recruiters are skeptical about the admission standards and
academic rigor of some costly executive M.B.A. programs. They believe
some schools would be reluctant to give low grades to anyone sponsored
by an employer, for fear the company would stop sending students. "The
dilemma business schools face is how to make money given the limited
class size of the full-time program," says Mykola Konrad, a survey
respondent and product manager at communication systems and services
provider Avaya Inc. "This dilemma is solved by executive education and
part-time programs."

Top-ranked schools promise the same faculty and curriculum for
alternative programs as their full-time programs offer. But other
schools seem to skimp a bit, with more online content and less
face-to-face interaction. One survey respondent characterized studying
for an executive degree as more like "surfing, not deep diving."
Another recruiter said "the depth of knowledge is not there" and
graduates end up with "a Swiss cheese diploma."

Sensitive to that stigma, some schools have started to avoid the usual
EMBA label and instead advertise their "M.B.A. program for
executives." It may seem like a piddling change, but in marketing,
perception is everything.

Although more executive M.B.A. graduates are seeking out recruiters,
Albert Niemi, dean of Southern Methodist University's Cox School of
Business, doesn't believe most recruiters have had enough experience
with such students to appreciate their value. "I believe there's a
built-in predisposition toward full-time students," he says. "They're
the ones recruiters are hiring, so they must be better." Part of the
reason recruiters don't realize the caliber of executive M.B.A.
students, he adds, may be that they often only see the weaker part of
the class. Many of the best executive M.B.A. grads stay with their
current employers, he says. "Some of our EMBAs' next job will be CFO,
and in seven or eight years, some will be CEO."

Part-Time Dissatisfaction

Part-time programs come next in the pecking order, with many
recruiters cynical about how much students attending school after a
long day of work gain from the experience.

"The focus isn't there-there's too much going on in a student's life
to drink in what is being taught," one survey respondent commented.
"Many go part-time just to get the three letters-M.B.A.-behind their
name." Some recruiters even said they would be more inclined to hire a
top performer at an undergraduate business school than a part-time
M.B.A. graduate.

[briefcase]Careers Q & A

Perri Capell offers advice to a reader considering an M.B.A. program
at a for-profit university.

Such recruiter opinions are producing some unhappy part-timers. When
the Graduate Management Admission Council surveyed M.B.A. alumni
recently, it found that only 17% of part-time graduates were extremely
satisfied that their degree had increased their career options.

Part-timers sometimes feel like second-class citizens when it comes to
recruiting. At NYU's Stern School, a Career Center for Working
Professionals provides part-timers with career counseling, a database
of job postings, networking events, mock-interview programs, and
seminars on such topics as job loss and career switching. But Stern
decided to bar part-timers from seeking interviews with campus
recruiters who are in the market primarily for full-time students.
That change riled some part-timers, who feel cheated. They contend
that they had enrolled at Stern believing they could sign up for
interviews with all on-campus recruiters.

Gary Fraser, associate dean for M.B.A. student affairs at Stern, has
heard the students' complaints and understands their perspective. But
he says the policy was changed because "hundreds of part-time students
went through the interviewing process with poor placement results." He
stresses that the change certainly "was not meant to punish the
part-time students." NYU found, Mr. Fraser says, that part-timers
weren't a good match for many recruiters who were looking for younger,
less experienced full-time students.

To be sure, not all recruiters devalue part-time M.B.A. graduates.
David Sanderson, the head of global recruiting at
management-consulting firm Bain & Co., finds that part-timers bring
more work experience, which often proves valuable. "There certainly
are trade-offs," he says. "Frankly, we look at individuals and their
accomplishments and capabilities, without distinguishing part-time
from full-time from executive."

Panning the Internet

In the Journal survey, recruiters reserved their most savage comments
for increasingly popular online M.B.A. degrees. "Come on," one
respondent said. "Anyone in the world can do an online M.B.A. It's a
commodity." Another said he had been asked to teach courses in online
programs for which he felt unqualified, leading him to conclude that
they are "scams."

While students certainly gain useful knowledge, there is much debate
over the value of learning in front of a computer screen. Recruiters
question the admissions standards at some programs that don't require
students to take the Graduate Management Admission Test. They also
complain that there's too little personal contact to develop critical
communication and teamwork skills.

"The value of interacting in dynamic, difficult team situations with a
peer set of highly motivated, intelligent, aspiring, successful
individuals is lost in the online setting," says Brad Nichol, a survey
respondent and consultant in New Jersey. To him, at least half the
value of his M.B.A. came from the high-quality international network
he built. "My network at London Business School was constructed on a
continual basis in the classroom, in professor's offices, in the pub,
on the sports field and on group trips," he says. "I don't believe
this is possible to achieve to the same degree online."

Solitary learning at a computer is indeed at odds with the trend in
M.B.A. education toward more, not less, contact with other students,
professors and business executives. What's more, business schools are
incorporating more practical content into the curriculum, such as
consulting projects for companies that require time and personal
interaction.

"As a full-time M.B.A. student, my analysis and strategy skills were
tested many times in business-case competitions," says survey
respondent Todd Wodzinski, a market development manager for Dow
Chemical Co.'s automotive business. "I felt like I had gained a true
gut feel for what worked and didn't work in the business world. I also
gained valuable experience leading teams full of different
personalities from different cultures."

He finds that colleagues and acquaintances who went the online route
often have more trouble delivering "real-world results" when they
can't depend on a textbook for the answer. "While they have
mechanically gone through the motions of earning the M.B.A.," he says,
"they lack the personal transformation that happens when immersed in a
full-time, on-campus program. Online degree earners tend to stay in
the mind-set of their previous job."

The head of an investment-management firm in Carmel, Calif., who
responded to the survey doesn't believe online M.B.A. programs attract
the right kind of students for his needs. "The investment field
attracts naturally competitive individuals," he says, "and generally
speaking, highly competitive individuals find a way to go to the top
schools to prove themselves and avoid the online options."

A Successful Blend?

While recruiters consider fully online programs an incomplete
education, they may find the increasingly popular practice of blending
online and classroom instruction more appealing. Duke University's
Fuqua School of Business is one of the most ardent proponents of
blended learning. "Interacting in a face-to-face fashion is critical"
for part of the program, says John Gallagher, associate dean for
executive programs. "That immersion with the entire group allows the
distance portion to function well."

Duke is sensitive about being linked with online M.B.A. programs with
lower academic standards, and even tends to avoid using the word
"online." Instead, it describes its programs as "Internet mediated" or
"Internet enabled."

Duke's euphemistic approach to online learning is understandable.
While Duke is certainly a respected institution, some marketers of
online degrees clearly amount to little more than diploma mills. Spam
emails promise people they'll earn more money if they "get a business
degree FAST." There was even a bogus operation that awarded an M.B.A.
to a cat.

Nevertheless, Mark Rice, dean of the Olin Graduate School of Business
at Babson College, believes many schools and recruiters are unaware of
the benefits of e-learning. For example, an online discussion wouldn't
seem to measure up to a lively classroom debate. But Dr. Rice argues
that discussions on the Internet can actually be more fruitful,
"because loudmouths can't dominate the way they do in a classroom,
where thoughtful people don't get a word in edgewise." Babson offers a
"fast-track M.B.A.," which combines Internet and classroom teaching
and allows students to finish the degree in 26 months, which is 10
months sooner than in the traditional part-time evening program.

"Online M.B.A.s may not have the same market power and cachet right
now as other types of degrees," says Dr. Rice. "But I predict that 10
years from now, there will be top managers at companies who did an
online program and who will be able to say it worked for them."

Email your comments to cjeditor@dowjones.com.

--September 21, 2005

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Made in China: Your Job, Your Future, Your Fortune

2005-09-21T02:09:00.000+08:00

ABC News

Sep. 20, 2005 - China's economy continues to skyrocket and, with it,
American fortunes have been won and lost. "Good Morning America's"
Bill Weir recently traveled to China and returned with a four-part
series: "Made in China: Your Job, Your Future, Your Fortune."

In the first installment, Weir examines China's transformation from a
developing country to a developing superpower and why Americans should
take notice.

Waking the Dragon

About 200 years ago, Napoleon returned from China and said of the
Asian continent, "That is a sleeping dragon. Let him sleep! If he
wakes, he will shake the world."

China seemed asleep in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when the
country was ravaged by civil unrest, famines, military defeats and
foreign occupation before the end of WWII when the Communists
established a socialist system with strict controls over everyday
life.

In 2005, the dragon is wide awake, and restless.

Meet Gwei-Ching. At first glance, he appears to represent the
traditional image of China. He is a cabbage farmer living in a tiny
house without plumbing, and supports his family on $20 a week.

But in the middle of a conversation with a vising reporter,
Gwei-Ching's cell phone rings. It is a sharp reminder that this
once-agricultural society is rapidly transforming into a new China.

"[M]ore people in China have cell phones than there are people in
America," explains Tom Friedman, a columnist for The New York Times
who has written several books on the developing world.

In the United States, there are nine urban centers with more than a
million people, China has 174; Chinese will soon pass English as the
most commonly used language on the Internet. With a population of 1.3
billion, Chinese outnumber Americans four to one, and their economy
has the potential to rush past America's as well.

Race to the Top

China is thinking big.

"China's not racing us to the bottom," says Friedman. "They're racing
us to the top. They don't want to work for General Motors. They want
to be General Motors."

Over the past 25 years, 400 million Chinese have risen out of $1 a day
poverty. The average citizen's income has quadrupled, and with
advancements in technology, many believe it is only a matter of time
before this "developing country" develops into a rival superpower.

At the Microsoft lab in Beijing, employees are not just assembling,
but also inventing software. A few miles away, at the Genomics Lab,
Chinese researchers are mapping the human genome.

"In science, there is no No. 2, only No. 1," said Darren Cai of
Genomics. "We use 24 hours, 7 days, compared to other people's 5 days,
8 hours, and that's how we can squeeze more out and getting a cost
advantage here in China."

To understand the warp speed at which this lab is operating, consider
this. When the SARS virus recently hit Asia, Genomics was able to
isolate the genetic makeup of the virus in a day and a half.

"The next great breakthrough in bioscience could some from a
15-year-old in Guangzho who downloads the human genome from Google
wirelessly while walking down the street," Friedman said.

Fading Red

The economic growth defies those of other communist countries.

"You can find a lot of things in China these days," said Richard
Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. "The one thing
that's really hard to find is a communist."

But certain aspects of communism remain, even if as restrictions
loosen; a free market does not mean freedom of religion, speech or
assembly.

At Tiananmen Square, 16 years after a deadly confrontation between
police and peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators, police could not
believe ABC News received permission to film in the square and became
angry when approached by reporters.

"After the Tiananmen massacre, the Chinese leadership said to its
people, 'OK, here's the deal folks. You can do whatever you want. You
can start whatever business you want. You can say in private whatever
you want. Just let us rule," Friedman said.

Hip Hop in Shanghai

As the economic picture in China transforms, so does the cultural landscape.

An old military factory that used to turn out uniforms, is now
producing the Chinese edition of Seventeen magazine for a generation
that relates to American values.

"They believe in self-expression," said Huang Hung, chief executive
officer of China Interactive Media group. "They believe in
individuality. They believe in pursuit of happiness for themselves."

At a trendy nightclub in Shanghai, the DJ who used to buy his favorite
music on the black market growing up, now makes a living spinning hip
hop above packed dance floors.

Slowly, the American Dream is becoming the Chinese Dream, but not
everyone is comfortable with the transformation.

"We are dealing with a takeover attempt by the most powerful communist
dictatorship in the world," James Woolsey, former director of the CIA,
recently told Congress.

Haass says the relationship is more complicated.

"You can't think just one thing about China," Haass said. "The
U.S.-China relationship, more than any other in the world, will
determine the character of the lives for you, me, our children and our
children's children."

Tomorrow Bill Weir examines "Made in China: Your Job."

China Rivals India in Services

2005-09-20T20:35:00.000+08:00

[Print] [Close]

China Rivals India in Services

Software outsourcing in Asia's billion-dollar-plus giants bears
distinctly different fruit.
September 5, 2005 Issue

China's burgeoning software outsourcing sector knows where its
advantages lie. When bidding against established Indian rivals for a
contract from an American or European company, "certain companies
encourage prospective clients to fly to India first, and then come
over to Beijing, Shanghai, or Shenzhen," says Dion Wiggins, a Hong
Kong-based analyst for Gartner Research.
'The Chinese are very good at learning by example and if the Indian
centers grow, I won't be surprised if China catches up fast.' –Partha
Iyengar, Gartner

- ADVERTISEMENT -

China's gleaming new cities are a surprise to some Westerners, who
still see millions of bicycles when they think of Beijing.

"Some [companies] are going as far as buying the ticket to India,"
says Mr. Wiggins, who focuses on the Asian software industry. "I don't
know of a case where it hasn't worked" to China's advantage.

As they've watched China transform itself into the global
manufacturing power nonpareil, boasting an infrastructure to shame
India's and attracting over a half-trillion dollars in foreign direct
investment, Indian politicians and business leaders have found solace
in the fact that India still has an advantage over China in its fleet
of software dreadnaughts: Wipro, Infosys, and Tata Consulting Services
(TCS). Each of the three, after all, employs over 40,000 people. Even
second-tier Indian IT services companies such as Satyam boast
headcounts of 20,000 or more, and are hiring engineers like there's no
tomorrow. China, meanwhile, has nothing comparable: Neusoft, China's
largest software outsourcing firm, currently employs 6,800.

But if recent forecasts by market research firms and industry analysts
are correct, India's days of software services supremacy are numbered.
The Global Outsourcing Report, released in March by Horasis, a
Geneva-based strategy consultancy focusing on globalization and Asia
strategy, and Going Global Ventures, a U.S.-based consulting and
venture advisory firm, predicts that China will overtake India to
become the No. 1 IT outsourcing country by 2010, which sends a chill
down Chennai's spine and raises hackles in Hyderabad. As competition
in the outsourcing business heats up between the Asian colossi, for
many Indian elites, fretting about China has gone from an armchair
pastime to a full-blown national obsession.

Sizing the Markets

Depending on how terms are defined, China is either already well on
its way to passing India or still hanging far, far behind. The
problem, simply put, is that much of the time Indian apples are being
compared to Chinese oranges.

For India, gleaning a sense of the size of the outsourcing industry is
a simple matter: "software exports," "outsourcing revenue," and
"offshore outsourcing revenue" can all be used more or less
interchangeably. In 2004, that total was about $17.2 billion,
according to India's National Association of Software and Services
Companies (NASSCOM). Demand for outsourced software services by
domestic Indian firms is growing, to be sure, and reached $4 billion
in 2004 from virtually nothing just five years ago, but Indian
companies are primarily focused on international customers.

Finding a comparable and meaningful measure for China's outsourcing
business is more problematic. The $2.8-billion figure for China's
software exports in 2004 from China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM)
includes, for example, not just offshore outsourcing for foreign
customers, but also embedded software produced in China for mobile
phones, home appliances, and other exported consumer electronics, says
Mu Shuhui, an analyst at Beijing-based market research firm CCID.

Total software outsourcing revenue in China includes both offshore
outsourcing and the very large domestic, or onshore, component.
Consider Neusoft, which derived 90 percent of its 2004 revenues of
$290 million from software services for domestic customers, including
China's four largest telecom carriers. However, it's nearly impossible
to draw a line between onshore and offshore outsourcing by Chinese
software firms: outsourcing expenditures by China-based subsidiaries
of multinationals are logged as onshore outsourcing, while offshore
outsourcing revenues often include payments to Chinese subsidiaries or
branches of foreign-owned IT services companies like IBM, Accenture,
and even the large Indian outsourcing companies that have set up shop
in China in recent years.

Based on CCID's estimate of the size of China's offshore outsourcing
market, about $633 million, and on McKinsey estimates of China's
onshore outsourcing at companies like Neusoft, 90 percent of China's
total outsourcing market—a figure of $6.6 billion—seems reasonable.

Different Models, Different Customers

India and China don't just measure their markets differently, their
markets are based on two very different models with very different
customer bases.

On the one hand, there is the now-familiar Indian model: nearly
exclusive in its outward focus, dominant in the lucrative North
American and European markets, and offering, in recent years, services
higher and higher up the value chain, including high-end product
development.

Then there is the Chinese model: focused to a large extent on China's
enormous domestic enterprise market, leveraging its proximity to the
manufacturing supply chain to provide embedded software for the
electronics industry, and, when it has looked abroad for business,
looking mainly to Japan.

According to CCID, Japan accounted for 64 percent of China's offshore
outsourcing market in 2004. "Most of Japan's outsourcing demand is for
embedded software: in cameras, cars, medical equipment, machine tools,
and so on," says Liu Jiren, founder and chairman of Neusoft. "More and
more will be done in China as more manufacturing is done in China.
Customers find that the supply chain is already in place in China, and
that software costs are lower," says Mr. Liu.

Stripped down to pure offshore outsourcing, as Chinese software
companies concede without hesitation, it's not even a contest—and
won't be for some time. CCID's figure of $633 million squares with a
report by China Import and Export Software magazine that says that in
2004, China's top 20 software exporters taken together only sold
$177.57 million—an average of $8.88 million per company.

"China will overtake India in the next decade? I don't think so," says
Walter Fang, vice president and CTO of Neusoft. He attributes robust
growth in China's outsourcing sector, which he puts at 52.1 percent
from 2001 to 2004, mostly to a low starting point. "We can continue at
these rates for the next three or four years. China has captured about
1.9 percent of the offshore outsourcing market compared to India's
34.1 percent. By 2010, China may capture 7 or 8 percent, at India's
expense, which will drop to 28 percent. That's still four times the
size of ours."

Li Yuanming, CEO of Dalian-based software outsourcing company HiSoft,
agrees. "If you count total software exports, then I do believe China
will catch India in a decade," he says. "But software exports count
companies like Huawei, Haier, and TCL… so if you take those out, then
China is still far behind by ten years." And Liu Jun, general manager
of Dalian-based DHC, one of China's top 3 software outsourcing firms,
says that for China to become a player in the North American market
will take longer still. "They have all the advantages in North
America: culture, language, and technology. We're not even a
competitor."

But those who look at the relatively small size of China's software
outsourcing sector are seeing only the tip of a very large iceberg.
Revenues in China's overall software sector—including both export and
domestic products, services, and embedded software—weighed in at $26.6
billion, substantially larger than India's outsourcing-led industry,
and 42 times the size of China's pure offshore outsourcing, according
to MOFCOM. It expects the total size of the China software sector to
reach $36.3 billion this year.

And many Chinese companies now involved in outsourcing had their
origins in software products for the domestic market. These include
not only enterprise software giants like Shenzhen-based Kingdee and
ERP specialists UFSoft, which have both launched outsourcing
divisions, but also Dalian-based DHC, which now derives about 80
percent of its revenue from outsourcing but started off nine years ago
selling software solutions to enterprises and governments.

There are some very compelling reasons for Chinese software companies
to go offshore. Domestic customers are reluctant to buy and reluctant
to pay once they do, says Ye Tao, COO and president of Objectiva
China, a software outsourcing company focused on vertical industries
such as financial services, telecommunications, and logistics.
Objectiva was acquired in July 2004 by Carlsbad, California-based
Document Sciences.

Talent Pools and Salary Levels

As a growing number of Chinese outsourcing companies staff up to
compete against Wipro, Infosys, and TCS, they're finding they can tap
into a very deep pool of software talent. "China graduates 2 million
engineers a year," says Gartner's Mr. Wiggins. India graduates about
half that number. "There's still a three- to eight-year lag in skill
set availability for project managers, database administrators,
architects, and senior tech leaders," he notes. "But China has the raw
numbers at the bottom end."

Says Chris Chen, CEO of Beijing-based software outsourcing company
Worksoft: "In two or three years, we'll have literally millions of
qualified people on the market."

Right now, labor cost savings in China aren't all that substantial,
especially given that seasoned leaders and project managers tend to be
more expensive in China than in India.

"A programmer with two years' experience is about 10 to 15 percent
cheaper in China than in India, but team leaders in China are about 15
to 20 percent more expensive," says Gartner analyst Partha Iyengar.
And prices vary greatly as you move out of major Chinese cities. "At
the moment Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen are about 5 to 10 percent
below Indian rates in Bangalore or Mumbai," says Cyrill Eltschinger,
CEO of Beijing-based IT outsourcing firm IT United. "If you work with
second-tier Chinese cities, they're easily 20 percent under Indian
rates."

Meanwhile, salaries for software engineers in India continue to
climb—rising by over 15 percent in the last two years, according to
Sunil Mehta, vice president at NASSCOM. Turnover is relatively high in
both countries, averaging 8 to 10 percent for the bigger Chinese
companies and between 9 and 12 percent in India.

An Orange with 8,000 Segments

China's outsourcing market remains highly fragmented, a problem
highlighted in a recent report by McKinsey entitled "Can China Compete
in IT Services?" The report notes that China's top 10 IT services
companies hold about 20 percent of the market, compared to India's top
10, which have roughly 45 percent market share. Consolidation is the
obvious solution: "China has about 8,000 software-services providers,"
says the McKinsey report, "and almost three-quarters of them have
fewer than 50 employees… only five have more than 2,000 employees."
But McKinsey's survey of software-services providers found that only
12 percent of managers in those firms see M&A or alliances as a
priority.

"It's difficult, but M&A is the way to growth," says Wang Bin, CEO of
Beijing-based Beyondsoft, which sees itself very much in the Indian
tradition of pure-play offshore outsourcing companies. "Right now many
different companies are talking, beginning with project-based
cooperation. But late this year and early next year we'll see
consolidation."

To make up for its relatively small size—Beyondsoft has a headcount of
800—Mr. Wang says that he has to focus his human resources on
individual projects. "It's a bit like war: we have to put more people
into the important battles. Then, when we win, we have a track record
and proven performance. If you're small, concentrate your strength."

Concentrated or not, some of the smaller-scale Chinese companies are
apt to be hit hard by the recent revaluation of the Chinese currency,
the renminbi. "A change of only 2 percent can mean a 20 percent
reduction in profits," says Liu Jun of DHC, which at a headcount of
1,800 ranks among the larger Chinese outsourcing companies. "The only
choice then is to raise prices. We currently have margins in the 20
percent range, but if that were to fall to say 10 percent, we would
really need to do a rethink."

Passive Aggression

Despite the obstacles that Chinese software services companies face,
the share of offshore software outsourcing now done in China for North
American and European customers continues to grow (see "China's
Offshore Software Outsourcing by Client Country," p TK). Chinese
companies can't—and don't—take credit for having won business away
from Indian competitors by pure merit. They have been, to a great
extent, the passive beneficiaries of a client-risk diversification
strategy.

DHC, says Mr. Liu, has seen business come its way from North American
clients that "don't want to put all their eggs in the Indian basket,"
as he puts it. "Despite our disadvantages, they'll want to give some
projects to Chinese companies," he says. "It's a strategic decision:
they realize that China is a large market that they want to tap into,
and develop and nurture relationships with Chinese companies."

With few exceptions, Chinese companies have made little effort in
trying to win foreign business outside of Japan, and that, more than
anything, is what's hampering development of the software outsourcing
business in the country, says IT United's Mr. Eltschinger. Attending
large outsourcing expositions in the United States or Europe, he says,
"you see many big Indian companies, Philippine companies, Romanian
companies, Czech companies—all with big pavilions. But you either see
no Chinese pavilion at all, or just one or two individual Chinese
companies. As a buyer, that doesn't reinforce your understanding that
China is ready for outsourcing. [China] needs to learn from its Indian
neighbor how to bring the value proposition of China outsourcing to
the doorsteps of the buyers."

Chinese companies are painfully aware that they need to market
themselves better, and many, including Beyondsoft, Neusoft, and DHC,
have either set up offices in the U.S. or have plans to do so soon.

But a few international sales offices aren't what is really needed to
raise the profile of Chinese software outsourcing, says Objectiva's
Mr. Ye.

"Where's the Chinese NASSCOM?" asks Mr. Ye, referring to the Indian
industry association. It's something that Mr. Wiggins wonders, too.
"One of the things that the Indians are fond of saying is that China
can't do English, and that's simply not true," says Mr. Wiggins. "But
there's no entity responding to that. There's no one in foreign
markets representing China."

The Indians in China

Meanwhile, Indian outsourcing companies are making sure they are
represented in China. Infosys and its fellow Indian outsourcing giants
are taking full, preemptive advantage of China's welcoming attitude
and setting up, in force, on the mainland. Part of the reason they're
coming is simply to follow existing multinational customers to China:
it's either serve them in China, or lose the business to a China-based
operation. Infosys' operation, based in Shanghai's Pudong Software
Park, now has a head count of 250, with a goal to reach a thousand by
March 2006. TCS has set up a large facility in Hangzhou with sales
offices in Shanghai and Beijing, and plans to expand aggressively.
Wipro, Satyam, and smaller companies like Cognizant, Zensar, and
Mphasis have already set up development centers in China while
companies like Patni and Polaris are in the process of doing so.

"Infosys is organized in China with the aim of creating the
second-largest development center outside of India," says Infosys
China CEO James Lin. "A good piece of the work here is our global
business—to share the load with India." A secondary goal, says Mr.
Lin, is to develop the Chinese market by servicing multinational
customers rather than the local market. And Japan? While eventually
the Indian companies also hope to use China as a platform to serve the
Japanese market, "We're not ready to go there yet," says Mr. Lin.

The Chinese are skeptical that Indian companies will make real inroads
into their territory. "It won't be easy for them to get into the local
market," says DHC's Mr. Liu. "There are big cultural differences, and
there just won't be many companies willing to give projects to Indian
companies. They recognize India as a competitor."

That may be true, but national pride didn't stop leading Chinese
telecom networking equipment vendors Huawei and ZTE from setting up
development centers in Bangalore.

Converge, Complement, or Compete?

Kiran Karnik, president of NASSCOM, sees China's huge manufacturing
capability, especially in the area of consumer electronics, as
providing the ideal base for a complementary relationship with India's
software industry, particularly in areas like chip design,
telecommunications, and embedded software. But with its lead on India
in hardware only expanding, the embedded software market—which
currently represents 57 percent of Neusoft's business—is not something
Chinese firms will happily relinquish, and Indian firms are unlikely
to break in without difficulty.

With Japan, too, China has linguistic, cultural, and geographic
advantages that will be hard for any Indian firm to overcome. And few
Chinese firms are either willing or able to invest the resources
required to look further abroad when business opportunities closer to
home offer attractive alternatives.

While Indian companies may not make much headway serving the software
needs of domestic Chinese firms, India's own software industry is
developing, with needs of its own. "Experience gained in doing
software product releases will, in a few years time, lead many project
heads to think about starting their own software companies," says Ajay
Kela, president of Symphony Services India, an offshore software
development company. And by then, with a more mature venture capital
community in India ready to provide seed funds, Mr. Kela believes
there will be product companies that will start earning revenues in
multiples of what the software outsourcing firms are doing.

Respect bordering on awe of the big Indian firms runs deep among the
smaller Chinese software outsourcing outfits, and the presence of
those firms in China affords opportunities to observe them up close.
Already, in the larger geopolitical climate of Sino-Indian
rapprochement, Beijing is pushing Chinese firms to cooperate with
their new Indian neighbors. In June, Microsoft, the Zhongguancun
Software Park, and TCS inked a memorandum of understanding aimed at
creating a joint venture to serve Redmond and other clients out of
Beijing's Silicon Valley. TCS will hold a majority stake in the new
joint venture. "The Chinese are very good at learning by example and
if the Indian centers grow, I won't be surprised if China catches up
fast," says Gartner's Mr. Iyengar. "This is why the TCS agreement with
the Chinese government and Microsoft may turn out to be a landmark."

"It's a good deal for all parties involved," adds Mr. Wiggins. "The
government wants a showcase—a role model for how IT services can be
done. By partnering with TCS, and bringing them to Beijing in a big
way—not just as a sales office—the Zhongguancun Software Park gets a
marquee client in the service space. And Microsoft gets to demonstrate
further commitment to China, and gets better product support for its
products in China." For TCS, the benefits are obvious.

Tortoises and Hares

In the pace of its overall economic development, India has preferred
to see itself as the tortoise to China's hare. But when it comes to
software outsourcing, the reverse may be closer to the truth. Quietly,
and without drawing much attention to itself, China has maneuvered
into an enviable position.

The steady creation of a large domestic software market provides China
with a stable platform from which to stage forays into foreign
markets—a fallback position, something that Indian companies lack.
Beijing will build its outsourcing business on this sturdy platform,
suggests Neusoft's Mr. Liu.

"In the future, the Indian model will be present in China," says Mr.
Liu. "But that doesn't mean China will adopt the model. It will be a
value-added business, integrating with the Chinese model to make a new
model that does both."

Will China beat India to the finish line? "If China gets aggressive in
IT services, and assuming that Indian companies stand still, it's
possible that China can get ahead. But I don't see Indian companies
standing still," says Mr. Iyengar. "In fact, they are moving very
fast—and moving into new areas as demanded by customers."

Still, there are few who deny that a challenge is coming: it's just a
question of when.

"We play in different zones, if not in different leagues," says Mr.
Ye. "No China company can legitimately go to Goldman Sachs today and
say, 'give us a hundred-million-dollar contract,'" he admits. "But we
have the China wind behind us."
(c) 1993-2005 Red Herring, Inc. All rights reserved.

Atlantic storm names may go Greek

2005-09-20T19:53:00.000+08:00

List has only four names left for the year

By Peggy Mihelich
CNN

(CNN) -- Forecasters could run out of names for tropical storms and
hurricanes before the season ends November 30.

The Atlantic basin has seen 17 named storms since season began June 1,
and only four are left on the list.

What's a meteorologist to do if the names run out? Go Greek.

Should the Atlantic see more than 21 named storms "additional storms
will take names from the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta,
and so on," according to the National Hurricane Center Web site.

"We only have four names left on the list this year: Stan, Tammy,
Vince and Wilma. If we have a fifth storm it would be named Alpha,"
said Daniel Brown, a meteorologist at the center, which is based in
Miami, Florida.

At the beginning of each Atlantic storm season, the center publishes a
list of 21 storm names. They alternate male and female names in
alphabetical order.

The letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are skipped because not enough names
start with those letters, Brown said.

Hurricane Alpha would be a first for the hurricane center.

"There was one year in 1933 we actually had 21 storms. That's been the
most in the Atlantic. However, it was before we started naming storms"
Brown said.

The National Weather Service started naming storms in 1953 as way to
reduce confusion over the latitude-longitude naming method.

In 1979 Atlantic male names were included, putting to an end the
practice of naming hurricane's only after women.

What makes a good storm name? According to the National Weather
Service, short, distinctive given names work best.

The World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations agency based
in Geneva, Switzerland, now maintains lists of names for storm-prone
regions around the globe.

For the North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico region,
the list covers six years and rotates beginning every seventh year.

Names are changed if the storm causes extreme damage and loss of life.
Brown said Hurricane Katrina will "absolutely" be retired by the
organization.

Andrew, the name of the 1992 hurricane that according to the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration killed 23 people in south
Florida and three in the Bahamas and caused $26.5 billion in damage,
likewise has been retired.

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/19/storm.names/index.html?section=cnn_mostpopular

Dutch Can Relate to New Orleans Disaster

2005-09-20T19:51:00.000+08:00

Dutch Can Relate to New Orleans Disaster
Netherlands Toughened Dams, Levees After Deadly 1953 Storm

- Half of the Netherlands sits below sea level, so the tragedy in New
Orleans hits home with the Dutch.

They have been through it themselves: In 1953, a huge flood in the
Netherlands killed nearly 2,000 people and left 70,000 homeless.

Wim Schot, 78, saved more than 300 lives with his rowboat, seven
people at a time.

"I rowed for a week," Schot said.

When he saw the news from New Orleans, he said, his arms literally
started pumping.

"In his mind, he was saving the people, yes," said his wife, Inneke.

Extreme Protection

The flood led to dramatic changes. The Netherlands spent $8 billion
over 30 years fortifying the coastline with a sophisticated system of
dikes, dams and levees.

Dutch law now requires that coastal defenses protect against the worst
storm imaginable.

Ted Sluiter, a spokesman for Waterland Neeltje Jans, a recreational
park and information center set up at the base of a major dam, said
the hydraulic sea wall that is considered the crown jewel of the
system would protect the country against all but a biblical flood. The
dam is constructed in a way that protects the region's wetlands,
environmentally-sensitive areas that serve as natural storm buffers.

"Without those, Holland will just disappear," Sluiter said. "So, it
has to be a Dutch discipline, hydraulic engineering."

The hydraulic sea wall is 130 feet high and nearly six miles long.
It's basically a giant steel curtain that can be opened or closed,
depending on the water level. One dam alone took more than a decade to
build.

Down the North Sea coast, there's a giant door that can seal off
shipping lanes in an emergency. Each arm is as long as the Eiffel
Tower and twice as heavy. A computer is programmed to close the door
as soon as the water rises 6 feet.

The Dutch system is at least 50 times stronger than the coastal
defenses surrounding New Orleans.

"To the Dutch standards, New Orleans was not very well-protected,"
said Huib de Vriend, director of Delta Hydraulics, a company that puts
together the heavy machinery involved in some of the flood-control
projects.

'Into Something Positive'

But Dutch engineers admit it took the disaster of 1953 to focus their
country's attention. Perhaps, they say, Katrina will be America's
wake-up call.

"You can turn this flooding into something positive, [so] that people
will now be willing to spend the money that is needed to prevent this
next time," de Vriend said.

In Holland's experience, it will cost a fortune, but it's a bargain
compared to the cost of another flood.

ABC News' David Wright originally reported this story for "World News
Tonight" on Sept. 11, 2005.

All in a Year's Work

2005-09-20T18:03:00.000+08:00

Commentary: China takes another step toward financial maturity

2005-09-20T16:31:00.000+08:00

Commentary: China takes another step toward financial maturity
By William Pesek Jr. Bloomberg News
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2005

You've heard all the superlatives about China. How its potential is
boundless, how the place is run by brilliant master planners and how
it may dominate the global economy 25 years from now.

While there may be some truth in these statements, it's not clear how
Asia's No. 2 economy would reach its potential without a bond market.

One of India's biggest advantages over China is that it has a
relatively deep, developed secondary market for buying, selling and
trading securities, while China does not.

China needs a thriving bond market for two reasons.

One, to help clear bad loans from corporate balance sheets; and two,
to breathe life into the private sector, allowing companies to bypass
banks for financing. It's all about economic maturity.

The good news is that efforts to create one are gaining momentum. The
latest sign: China Development Bank, a state-owned lender that funds
public works projects, plans to sell 5.3 billion yuan, or $655
million, of asset-backed securities in the country's first such sale.

China's debt markets are still in their infancy. "It would take quite
a long time for this market to grow big, because existing rules and
regulations are far from being mature," said Li Xinhong, general
manager of China Lianhe Credit Ratings, a Beijing-based bond-rating
company.

China is a long way from developing the kind of bond-market
infrastructure found elsewhere.

India, for example, already has a U.S.-like network of primary dealers
that underwrite government debt sales, trade directly with the central
bank and create markets for investors. India also boasts an entire
yield curve of public securities with maturities as long as 30 years.

Yet China Development Bank's asset-backed deal shows that the process
is underway. In June, regulators picked it and China Construction
Bank, the nation's third-largest lender, for a pilot asset-backed
program, part of efforts to develop the market and reduce risks for
banks. The program's goal is 15 billion yuan worth of asset-backed
issuance in the near term.

Few goals are more important in China than weaning companies off their
reliance on bank loans. At the end of June, China's banks officially
had more than 1.59 trillion yuan, or $197 billion, of bad loans. The
real figure is probably much higher.

Bonds accounted for less than 1 percent of 837 billion yuan of
financing at companies in the first quarter, while bank loans
represent 70 percent of China's total fixed-asset investment,
according to central bank data.

This arrangement - banks doing the bond market's work - is helping to
create even more bad loans.

At a press conference last week, Wang Yanqing, director of the China
Banking Regulatory Commission, indicated that officials understand the
bigger implications of the new policy.

"This is a significant innovation in China's financial industry," Wang
said. It will bolster "the banks' capital-adequacy ratio and reduce
their bad loans."

Investors and companies rushing to China seem to pay little attention
to the fragile state of its financial system. One reason is wishful
thinking that China, where the economy is expanding at an annual rate
of at least 9 percent, will grow its way out of its nonperforming-loan
problem.

Such an approach does not work. Japan stuck with that failed strategy
for 10 years after its asset bubble burst in 1990. Not until early
this decade did Japan realize it had to address the problem with
policy changes.

One of the more important revisions came from the Bank of Japan. In
early 2003, it breathed life into Japan's asset-backed market by
announcing that it would buy securities held by banks and other
institutions. It encouraged companies to raise cash through sales of
assets like IOUs to other firms, offering an alternative source of
funds to banks.

The Bank of Japan's gamble was that buying asset-backed securities
outright might increase demand, driving up prices and encouraging more
companies to raise cash. That made more money available to companies
at lower cost. Until then, the central bank had only purchased
government bonds outright.

The power of such policies is clear. When banks are loaded down with
hundreds of billions of dollars of bad loans, they are reluctant to
lend even to their best customers. A vibrant asset-backed market
prompts them to package bad loans and sell them in the marketplace.

The result is a healthier banking system and a more flexible economy.

In China's case, banks are faced with a mismatch between assets, which
are held in long-term loans such as mortgages, and liabilities, which
are in the form of deposits that can be withdrawn at short notice.
Issuing asset-backed bonds lets banks convert loans into cash and
strengthen balance sheets.

In the age of globalization, where vast amounts of capital can be
moved around the world with a computer keystroke, functioning bond
markets are more important than ever.

Economies lacking them - like China's - end up shipping large
quantities of their financial reserves overseas when the money might
be better used at home. Those funds could finance economic
development, which might lead to greater investor and business
confidence.

While China has a long way to go in creating thriving debt markets,
it's reassuring to see that the process has started.

spent about 10 hours today reading your entire blog

2005-09-19T18:05:00.000+08:00

(2005-09-19 08:28:31) : I just wanted to say thanks for posting everything you posted
(2005-09-19 08:28:43) : I'm a random person who went through a similar situation
(2005-09-19 08:29:15) : No idea what the future holds but it helps to know that it happens to others, sometimes (sadly)
(16:59:46) riversandlakes8: hail
(16:59:53) : oh, hi
(17:00:01) riversandlakes8: i would like to think that it happens to everyone, just that some will never learn
(17:00:20) : i basically spent about 10 hours today reading your entire blog
(17:00:34) : and it gave me a whole lot of closure in some way. or at least a path to it
(17:00:43) riversandlakes8: or that some haven't, so they inflict this terrible pain on another they shared so closely for so many years blatantly
(17:00:53) riversandlakes8: thank you for reading my blog, buddy...
(17:01:01) riversandlakes8: i'm almost over the bridge now
(17:01:18) riversandlakes8: this singaporean girl is taking away my focus from the pain
(17:01:23) : yep .. my take after reading everything is "if she does not want it, if she could do this -- maybe she is not the one"
(17:01:26) riversandlakes8: there is not much of a pain left at all
(17:01:31) : and i was glad to read about the singaporean girl :)
(17:01:37) riversandlakes8: ;)
(17:02:01) logged in.
(17:02:29) : it's kind of like.. zhe ge nu ren bu ke yi yao?
(17:02:37) : i probably got that wrong hehe
(17:02:40) : but i really liked that quote
(17:02:59) riversandlakes8: you're chinese, buddy? :)
(17:03:04) riversandlakes8: that's what mommy said hehe
(17:03:23) riversandlakes8: it's like she'll kick my butt if i take her back, or still want her back :)
(17:03:33) : I just picked up a little mandarin here and there : )
(17:03:39) : i'm russian originally, but now live in the U.S.
(17:03:55) riversandlakes8: ni hao! :)
(17:03:59) : hao, hao

爱字怎么写

2005-09-18T05:54:00.000+08:00

阿杜《爱字怎么写》
分手后又过了几个夜
还是一个人等回家的地铁
我把你的名字写在掌心
握紧了拳头
像个傻瓜瞪着黑夜
街尾传出古老的音乐
我又过了一个冷飕飕的夜
忍受心中深处思念的威胁
所有爱的想法我全都拒绝
不要跟我说话
不要问我爱字怎么写
我猜世界上没有人能了解
不要欺骗自己
那些过往不过是幻觉
爱情的余味
能留存几个月
会有一天或者另一夜
我会跨过这条回忆的界线
你在另外一个男人的心里
或许终于得到他的永远
不要跟我说话
不要问我爱字怎么写
我猜世界上没有人能了解
不要欺骗自己
那些过往不过是幻觉
爱情的余味
能留存几个月
不要跟我说话
不要问我爱字怎么写
我猜世界上没有人能了解
不要欺骗自己
那些过往不过是幻觉
爱情的余味
能留存几个月
会有一天或者另一夜
我会跨过这条回忆的界线
你在另外一个男人的心里
或许终于得到他的永远

Threat posed by China exaggerated: analyst

2005-09-18T05:40:00.000+08:00

Correspondents Report - Threat posed by China exaggerated: analyst

[This is the print version of story
http://www.abc.net.au/correspondents/content/2005/s1462391.htm]

Correspondents Report - Sunday, 18 September , 2005
Reporter: Peta Donald
HAMISH ROBERTSON: While Japan may be preoccupied with how to reform
its institutions and revive its economy, policy makers in Tokyo are
also well aware of the seismic tremors rumbling through the whole of
East Asia as a result of the rapid rise of China.

Well, this has also been exercising the minds of hundreds of defence
analysts, who've come together in Canberra for a conference held by
the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Some speakers warned of the threat posed by China, as it moves to
replace the United States as the pre-eminent power in the region, and
starts to flex its muscles on issues such as reclaiming Taiwan.

But others argued that the threat posed by China has been exaggerated,
and that Beijing is much more interested in developing strong trade
relationships and dealing with the domestic consequences of economic
growth, like demands for a more democratic political system.

One speaker in that camp was Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of Public Policy
at the National University of Singapore.

He told our reporter Peta Donald that the guns are largely silent
across Asia, and are likely to remain so.

KISHORE MAHBUBANI: Well I think it's extremely significant, because if
you look at the Asia Pacific region, I mean, Asia Pacific region has
experienced some of the biggest wars of the century, you know – World
War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War – and other wars, in the
Pakistani War.

And now for the first time you have no major wars in the region, and
in fact no prospect also of a major war. I mean, there be minor
problems here and there, and that's a huge change in history of the
region.

And it's a result of what I call the arrival of the tidal wave of
commonsense in the region.

PETA DONALD: Why do you say there's no prospect of a war in the
region? We have the flashpoints between India and Pakistan, China and
Taiwan, North and South Korea.

KISHORE MAHBUBANI: Sure, yes, yes, you have potential flashpoints, and
there's always a danger. I guess that what I should have said is that
there is a possibility but a low probability of war in the region. In
fact, I would say that one of the greatest contributions the Europeans
have made to human civilisation is not just… is by achieving not just
zero war in Europe but zero prospect of war in Europe.

We do not have zero prospect of war in Asia yet. You have low
probability of war, but even that low probability is a significant
advance over what you saw in the past in the region.

PETA DONALD: Well let's talk about that probability, and the
possibility of peace continuing in the region. You say that the United
States is the greatest source of stability and also instability in the
region. Do you think that the United States will try to contain China
and inflame tensions in that relationship?

KISHORE MAHBUBANI: The US policy on China is now in a flux. There are
both, I guess, elements pushing towards stability and elements pushing
towards instability.

I mean, in terms of the elements pushing towards stability, there is
of course far greater trade and economic interdependence between China
and the United States. And both sides benefit from this. On the one
hand China has got a huge trade surplus with United States, on the
other hand the United States is able to sell billions of its treasury
bills to China, and in a sense it's a win-win partnership on the trade
and economic front.

But the challenge now is to ensure that this also remains on the other
political and security fronts too, which as you know there's some
degree of uncertainty about American anti policies towards China.

PETA DONALD: You talked about China's response to the United States,
and that China's response is to develop its trade relationships.

KISHORE MAHBUBANI: China's response to any potential policy of
encirclement is to in a sense share its prosperity with its
neighbours. And that's why there's the trade flows within China's
neighbours have grown up significantly in the past decade or so.

And this is the reason why China has proposed a Free Trade Agreement
with the South East Asian countries. And that Free Trade Agreement
will indeed be the, in some ways, the largest free trade agreement in
the world, because you'll have 1.2 billion people in China, and 500
million people in South East Asia.

PETA DONALD: What makes you so sure that China would like to avoid conflict?

KISHORE MAHBUBANI: The main reason why China would like to avoid
conflict is because they have enormous, enormous domestic challenges,
and I think transforming a society like China, modernising it,
transforming its political system, taking care of the social problems,
these are enormous challenges. So the last thing that China wants is
to be distracted by external problems now.

HAMISH ROBERTSON: Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School
of Public Policy, at the National University of Singapore. He was
speaking to Peta Donald.

China exports expected to pass U.S.

2005-09-18T04:01:00.000+08:00

Asia-Pacific News
China exports expected to pass U.S.
By UPI
Sep 17, 2005, 19:00 GMT

BEIJING, China (UPI) -- An international economic group predicts China
will grow to become the biggest exporter in the world and third
largest economy within five years.

The country is expected to surpass the United States as the world`s
largest exporter by the end of the decade.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
commended China for its economic reforms in its first ever review of
the country.

China, the seventh largest economy in the world, is expected to become
the largest in the middle of this century, The Times of London
reports.

The group expects China to keep up the 9.5 percent growth it has
experienced over the past 20 years.

The OECD recommends more reforms for continued development, including
an emphasis on spending money and regulating the private sector.

It also called on China to address its pollution problem. The OECD
said China has five of the ten most polluted cities in the world.

2005-09-18T02:43:00.000+08:00

Home - and I know now he isn't singing about hometown...

2005-09-18T02:11:00.000+08:00

Micheal Buble
Home

Another summer day
Is come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
Mmmmmmmm

Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh I miss you, you know

And I've been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
"I'm fine baby, how are you?"
Well I would send them but I know that it's just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that

Another aerorplane
Another sunny place
I'm lucky I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I've got to go home

Let me go home
I'm just too far from where you are
I wanna come home

And I feel just like I'm living someone else's life
It's like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
But this was not your dream
But you always believe in me

Another winter day has come
And gone away
And even Paris and Rome
And I wanna go home
Let me go home

And I'm surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel alone
Oh, let go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home
I've had my run
Baby, I'm done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It will all right
I'll be home tonight
I'm coming back home

什麼是您最真的夢﹖

2005-09-18T01:32:00.000+08:00

最真的夢
作詞：陳桂珠 / 作曲：羅大佑

今夜微風輕送把我的心吹動
多少塵封的往日情重回到我心中
往事隨風飄送把我的心刺痛
妳是那美夢難忘記深藏在記憶中

總是要歷經百轉和千迴才知情深意濃
總是要走遍千山和萬水才知何去何從
為何等到錯過多年以後才明白自己最真的夢

是否還記得我還是已忘了我
今夜微風輕送吹散了我的夢

Singapore aims to remain compelling location for MNCs

2005-09-16T02:52:00.000+08:00

Title : Singapore aims to remain compelling location for MNCs
By :
Date : 15 September 2005 1840 hrs (SST)
URL : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/168420/1/.html

BARCELONA, Spain : Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said Singapore could
remain a compelling location for multi-national companies in the
centre of a fast-growing region.

He said it was all about offering first world software that is
superior and upgrading its first world hardware.

Mr Lee was speaking at the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Shipping and
Industry in Spain.

He said being a small city state, Singapore accepts changes in the
economic environment as part of life.

If it tries to slow down or insulate itself from changes, it will
become irrelevant.

Mr Lee said the only response was to ride the changes by restructuring
the economy.

He said the next stage of growth would be more innovation-driven, and
Research and Development would be key.

Singapore's investment in R&D by both the public and private sectors
was 2.13 percent of gross domestic product in 2003.

Over the next five years, Singapore is targeting to raise the national
investment on R&D to at least three percent of GDP.

Mr Lee explained: "In the next stage, our growth will be more
innovation-driven. R&D will be key. To be competitive, companies have
to go beyond cost efficiency. They must compete on the basis of
knowledge, innovation and talent.

"To support such companies, our economy must generate new knowledge,
new intellectual property, and commercialise them. This is crucial,
because others in the region will upgrade from low-wage, low-tech to
medium-wage and higher-tech industries.

"More important than technological capabilities is the spirit of
innovation and enterprise. In an era of startling technological
change, it is the enterprising individuals, prepared to seize new
opportunities, the creators of new ideas and businesses who forge
ahead.

"Ordinary businessmen can make a living by being good followers, but
the rich rewards go to innovators and entrepreneurs.

"We have changed our rules and regulations to facilitate start-ups,
and lowered tax rates so that rewards for success are for the risk
takers.

"A competition law is in place to prevent cartel activities or abuse
of market power by larger firms.

"The education system is being changed to encourage a sense of inquiry
among our young, some of whom will grow up to be entrepreneurs who can
develop new economic niches.

"Singapore is now ranked number one in Asia for the quality of the
national business environment in the Global Competitiveness Report
2004-2005." - CNA/de

Ketchup I

2005-09-16T02:46:00.000+08:00

(02:27:55) : hey rivers
(02:27:59) : what's this link about :)
(02:28:26) : funnies
(02:28:30) : hehe
(02:30:06) : ic hey where are you now ?
(02:34:48) : i'm in singapore; don't tell anyone though :)
(02:34:56) : how are you?
(02:35:50) : am still in office
(02:35:53) : what do you think :(
(02:35:58) : doing PSR now hee!
(02:36:01) : same thing
(02:36:05) : then you can use the funny link
(02:36:06) : haha
(02:36:10) : ok will try
(02:36:14) Offering to send hu_sonfirst.mp3 to
(02:36:15) : wow didn't know you are in Singapore
(02:36:15) canceled the transfer of hu_sonfirst.mp3
(02:36:20) : how's life ?
(02:36:27) Offering to send hu_sonfirst.mp3 to
(02:36:28) canceled the transfer of hu_sonfirst.mp3
(02:36:51) : life's fine. been here about 1 month
(02:37:29) : ic
(02:37:30) : why don't you work from home? still no streamyx?!
(02:37:33) : hey you are still awake
(02:37:35) : yeah
(02:37:38) : can't sleep
(02:37:49) : ic not working tomorrow ?
(02:37:53) : besides i work in the afternoon shift 1400-2200
(02:38:04) : ic ok
(02:38:08) : and i live 3 minutes away from the office
(02:38:12) : wow
(02:38:16) : which part of Singapore
(02:38:24) : my sis stays in Aljunied Crescent
(02:38:24) : so i can wake up at 1345 hehe
(02:38:44) : i'm at yishun. do'nt know where the crescent is hehe
(02:39:34) : ic i have a cousin staying there too hee!
(02:39:39) : but haven been to singapore for a long time
(02:39:48) : maybe will give you a beep if I do go there
(02:39:54) : definitely
(02:40:04) : hee! i don't even have her hp no
(02:40:06) : :)
(02:40:14) : i have some friends in Singapore
(02:40:15) : email addy ler. not hp #
(02:40:23) : hehe
(02:40:23) : she is a housewife
(02:40:27) : IT illliterate :[
(02:40:51) : how's life?
(02:41:00) : as usual nothing much
(02:41:06) : still working late with razib and hassan
(02:41:16) : think I will need to change my working hour soon
(02:41:30) : why don't you get the wireless thing
(02:41:36) : yeah I need to ...
(02:41:37) : or broadband from maxis or something
(02:41:45) : but my house doesn't even have a fixe line
(02:41:48) : can you imagine
(02:41:58) : does wireless need a fixed line
(02:41:59) : trying to move to Tmn Desa soon hee!
(02:42:12) : my area doesnt have wireless too haha!
(02:42:33) : am putting my house for sale hee!
(02:42:51) : just because it doesn't have streamyx?!
(02:42:53) : hehe
(02:43:22) : yeah
(02:43:27) : get yourself broadband, man. what kind of life staying in
the office till 0300 yuks
(02:43:27) : no kidding
(02:43:36) : big time
(02:43:41) : then you drive at 0330 all tired
(02:43:45) : it's very dangerous man
(02:43:57) : 1 out of 10 times is all you need man
(02:44:01) : yup
(02:44:09) : don't think i will do this again
(02:44:13) : it's really crazee
(02:44:31) : you'd better not. ever since i've met you you've been at
0200 in the office!
(02:44:35) : terribe life, man
(02:45:02) : i promise I will be a better man come beginning next year :)
(02:45:07) : hey lawrence
(02:45:15) : thanks for dropping a link
(02:45:18) : will catch up again
(02:45:25) : knocking off now
(02:45:27) : :)
(02:45:34) : bye!

Hmm

2005-09-15T20:16:00.000+08:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-drain

Japan downplays Roh's demand

2005-09-15T19:34:00.000+08:00

Japan downplays Roh's demand
The Asahi Shimbun

The S. Korean leader says Tokyo should apologize for the past.

Tokyo put on a calm face to unusually sharp words from South Korean
President Roh Moo Hyun on Tuesday about Japan's colonial rule and what
many say is Japan's failure to appropriately settle the past.

In his speech at a ceremony marking the 86th anniversary of the Korean
uprising against Japan's colonial rule, Roh said: ``Japan should
investigate the truth of the past, sincerely apologize, rethink and
compensate where it is necessary to reach a reconciliation. That is
the universally accepted way of settling the past.''

Roh's sharp tone was rare for someone who said that he would not bring
up ``the history issue'' while in office when he met with Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi for a summit in July 2004 in Cheju Island,
South Korea.

The president also indicated that Seoul may help South Korean
individuals assert their right to claim compensation from the Japanese
government over suffering caused during the colonial rule.

Many Koreans were forced to work for the Japanese military and Korean
women made to work as ``comfort women.''

Under a bilateral treaty signed in 1965 after 14 years of
negotiations, Japan extended ``economic cooperation'' to South Korea
in exchange for Seoul giving up its claims for war reparations.

The Foreign Ministry takes the stand that the reparation issue between
the two nations was resolved long ago.

Asked for his reaction to Roh's remarks, Koizumi told reporters
Tuesday, ``He probably has domestic circumstances (that made him touch
on such issues).''

A Foreign Ministry official said, ``That was intended for the domestic
audience.''

Toranosuke Katayama, a Liberal Democratic Party member of the Upper
House, said: ``Support for the president is falling. The remarks are
probably in line with the mood in South Korea.''

Roh's remarks dash cold water on seemingly good relations between the
two countries, which are marking a ``friendship year'' and whose
leaders have reciprocated visits. Tokyo does not want to make ripples
at a time when it, Seoul and Washington have recently agreed to urge
Pyongyang to return to the six-nation talks on its nuclear ambitions.

In his speech, Roh also urged Japan to make efforts to improve
bilateral relations.

``The South Korean government has exercised self-restraint so as not
to fan the public's anger and hatred, but we cannot resolve the
(history) issue by just unilateral efforts,'' he said.

While Roh said he could understand the anger of the Japanese over the
abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korean agents in the late
1970s and early 1980s, he said that Japan should also understand
Koreans' anger about their suffering under Japanese colonial rule from
1910 to 1945.(IHT/Asahi: March 2,2005)

Woohoo

2005-09-15T18:13:00.000+08:00

ok, my first woman boss was just my previous job - and she was a horrible person. Like I told a fellow forumer over dinner, her perverse way of persuasion was this,

"I know CEOs and directors of software companies, and I can easily find out where you are going, and I can make life not-so-good for you...but I won't actually do it."
ALL because there was no freaking way on this 3rd rock from the sun that I was going to tell you I'm taking my career prospect one step further - to a Fortune 300 in Singapore! And for Heaven's sakes keep the knife at my throat and let me wriggle out of it, instead of making an empty stupid threat? :D

The other "horrific" stories about women bosses came from my trusted uncle who attributes it to women feeling like they have something to prove in a "man's world"? Do you think so?

But let me state that out of 4 men bosses, only 1 was truly respectable - even kind of fatherly. May I call the rest incompetent even though I have not been in their shoes (yet)?

Woo, before I get shot as a thread hijacker, Ling, incompetency begets firing...unless your firm happens to be a charitable organization?

;)

Geez, US$7250 per annum ain't a lot of mullah, isn't it?

2005-09-15T17:56:00.000+08:00

China's middle class ushered in at 60,000 yuan?

China's National Bureau of Statistics said in a survey that households
with an annual income ranging from 60,000 yuan (US$7,250) to 500,000
yuan should be categorized as middle class, as a growing number of
people enjoying higher living standards.

The bureau defined the standard on a survey with 300,000
questionnaires released and conversions of international standards,
Cheng Xuebing, an NBS official, said.

"We set the number according to the World Bank's criteria of the
medium level of international GDP per capita, ranging from US$3,470 to
US$8,000, and transferred it after currency exchange, purchasing power
conversion and GDP per capital to average income conversion," Cheng
said.

"The proportion of middle class in China will expand to 45 percent in
2020 from 5 percent today."

The survey, which cost at least 6 million yuan, reflected only the
living standards in the urban areas, because people who earned that
much money mainly lived in cities, Cheng said.

Lu Dale, a Chinese University of Hong Kong professor, said it was too
easy to define middle class solely by income.

"It also depends on what kind of house one lives in, consumption
habits, living environment, education level, and social influence" Lu
said.

Under these terms, Hong Kong's middle class accounted for at most 20
to 25 percent of its total population, Lu said.

Source: China Daily

Could humans tackle hurricanes?

2005-09-15T17:41:00.000+08:00

Could humans tackle hurricanes?

* 10:58 14 September 2005
* NewScientist.com news service
* Justin Mullins

Tackling hurricanes before they make landfall by calming them down or
steering them off course may be a good way to prevent a storm striking
a city. Experts are working on numerous ways to do this but it may
take some time – and it has never been done before.

Hurricanes are fuelled by the warm waters they pass over. So hurricane
mitigation strategies all focus on depriving hurricanes of this fuel.

In April 2005, Moshe Alamaro at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, US, outlined a plan to use an array of floating jet
engines to trigger miniature cyclones in the atmosphere ahead of a
hurricane. The idea is to drain the ocean and atmosphere of energy
before the hurricane arrives. But critics point out that even a large
array of jet engines probably cannot inject enough energy into the
atmosphere to trigger even a tiny storm.

Another strategy is to cover the ocean ahead of the hurricane with a
thin layer of fish oil that disrupts the flow of energy into the
atmosphere. But experiments in 2002 by Kerry Emanuel, a hurricane
expert also at MIT, suggest that high winds would break up the oil
layer and prevent it from having an effect.

Then there is the idea of triggering storms with soot – which would
provide a nucleus for moisture in a cloud to form. In 1973, William
Gray, a hurricane expert at Colorado State University in Fort Collins,
suggested that the extra energy absorbed by soot could trigger smaller
storms. In 1958, the US Naval Research Laboratory carried out a series
of experiments to monitor clouds seeded with soot but the results were
inconclusive. The idea was to seed clouds inside a hurricane and
disrupt its inner structure and so weaken it.
Atmosphere of blame

Emanuel says the best idea may be to exploit the chaotic features of
weather systems to steer them away from populated centres, an idea put
forward by Ross Hoffman, a researcher at Atmospheric and Environmental
Research, a research and development company based in Lexington,
Massachusetts. The idea is based on the so-called butterfly effect –
that a small nudge to a chaotic system such as a hurricane could end
up having a big enough influence to knock it off course.

Meteorologists first need better hurricane measurements and models to
forecast the effect of any "nudge". They also need a way to do the
nudging, possibly with space-based reflectors to heat up the
atmosphere; something that Hoffman believes is a long way off.

But nudge a hurricane and the danger is that scientists may get blamed
and sued wherever it goes, a problem that could mire hurricane
mitigation attempts in numerous legal challenges. "You need to be able
to show that you're going to make things better," says Hoffman.

Emanuel agrees and says that hurricane steering creates hard choices.
"Choosing between a Category 3 hitting Pensacola and a Category 5
hitting New Orleans is easy. But the people of Pensacola may have
something to say about it."

We're NOT MCPs :D

2005-09-15T17:28:00.000+08:00

Meanwhile: British men finally get their say
Robert Taylor International Herald Tribune
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2005

LONDON When British journalist Neil Lyndon wrote an article promoting
men's rights in 1990, he soon regretted it. He became, in his own
words, "a pariah - a professional and social outcast." His income
plummeted and his friends and neighbors disowned him. Commentators
declared that he must be impotent, or be ashamed of being a man.
Nearly all agreed that he had "gone off his trolley."

Standing up to British feminist orthodoxy in the 1990s was akin to
mugging the elderly, and Lyndon suffered accordingly.

Fast forward to 2005, and the men's rights that Lyndon wrote about are
part of the mainstream. Pierce Brosnan produced and starred in a film
about a father's fight to see his children. Bob Geldoff has become a
tireless campaigner for divorced fathers. And recently, a
distinguished British television journalist, Michael Buerk, joined in
declaring: "Life is now lived in accordance with women's rules ... men
are merely sperm donors."

Buerk has suffered the tired rejoinder that he must be acting out of
personal pique, but he hasn't faced anything like the castigation that
Lyndon weathered a decade ago, and his views are being debated
sensibly.

Britain seems to be reaching a tipping point. Men can not only stand
up for themselves for the first time in a generation, but now they can
even right some perceived wrongs.

So what's changed since the 1990s? According to the campaigners, the
ways in which British men are discriminated against have become so
damaging that they simply can't be ignored any longer. If a man
marries and has children he has a one-in-three chance of losing his
home and a one-in-ten chance of losing contact with his children. Men
die, on average, seven years younger than women; the vast majority of
homeless people are men; and over three times as many men as women
commit suicide.

But the more fundamental answer is that Britain's men have gone
political. In 1990 Lyndon could rely on little organizational backing.
But since then the number of men's rights groups has exploded, with
the UK Men's Movement, ManKind, Families Need Fathers and
Fathers4Justice leading the way. At first these organizations acted
conservatively, putting the case for men in the fields of health,
education and the family law courts, and operated below the media
radar.

The turning point came when Fathers4Justice decided that real change
could occur only if the political agenda was grabbed and shaken. When
one of their campaigners dressed up as Batman and clambered along
Buckingham Palace's walls, he thrust the cause of men's rights into
the face of the public.

More importantly, the stunt made the government take notice. Tony
Blair's government only takes an issue seriously if it's on the front
pages - its ministers are more influenced by shenanigans than reasoned
debate. Once Fathers4Justice started pulling media stunts, all the
things that Lyndon was lambasted for suddenly became addressed by the
government. More money was spent on men's health issues. A refuge was
set up for male victims of domestic violence . And divorce courts are
taking the position of fathers more seriously.

The campaigners welcome this, but point out that it's just a start.
Lyndon's 1990 article focused on "the atmosphere of intolerance
surrounding men," and the way in which the British media portray men
as clumsy, lazy, cheap and desperate. This portrayal still exists. As
one example, the BBC had to apologize after airing a television
program called "Bring Your Husband to Heel," which showed women how to
use dog-training techniques to modify their husbands' behavior. Few
can imagine a similar program about controlling the behavior of women.

Still, things are changing to a degree undreamed of by the pioneers of
the men's movement. Men throughout the country are starting to defend
themselves. Even Neil Lyndon is back writing for the papers.

The test lies with a government that appears to speak through gritted
teeth when saying anything positive about men. One of Blair's earliest
innovations was to appoint a minister for women, so perhaps, having
examined the headlines, the prime minister will now give similar
representation to the other half of the population.

As for the minister for men, how about naming Lyndon?

(Robert Taylor is a London-based journalist. He was communications
director for ManKind between 2000 and 2001.)

Google Offers Stock at $295 Per Share

2005-09-15T17:10:00.000+08:00

Google Offers Stock at $295 Per Share
Google Prices Stock Offering of 14.16 Million Shares at $295, Giving
Investors Slight Discount
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
The Associated Press

Sep. 15, 2005 - Google Inc. priced a follow-up stock offering of 14.16
million shares at $295 late Wednesday, offering investors a slight
discount from the online search engine leader's recent market value.

Google's shares fell $8.68, or 2.8 percent, to close at $303 before
the company announced the pricing of stock. The shares are the first
that Google has sold since its highly anticipated initial public
offering at $85 a little over a year ago.

The follow-up sale will raise $4.18 billion and could generate even
more money if Google's investment bankers exercise an option to sell
an additional 600,000 shares.

After the offering, Mountain View-based Google expects to have nearly
$7.1 billion in cash, providing ample financial muscle for potential
acquisitions or thwarting potential competitive threats from its
larger rivals, Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

Google has not specified how it will use the money, leaving the
technology industry guessing wildly about where the influential
company's next move might lead.

Some analysts believe Google might be preparing for something truly
bold, like building a wireless network to extend the reach of its
search engine, while others think executives are merely capitalizing
on the company's lofty stock price to build a nest egg.

Like most young companies, Google has emphasized it has no plans to
pay a dividend.

Selling so much stock at once sometimes unnerves investors because it
dilutes a company's earnings per share, but Wall Street reacted
positively to this offering, just like it has to almost everything the
company has done since going public. Google's shares have surged by 8
percent since the company filed its plan for its latest offering a
month ago.

The steady appreciation reflects the stock market's belief that Google
will be as successful during the next few years as it has in its first
seven years of existence.

Since its start in a dorm room by former Stanford University graduate
students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google has quickly established
itself as a household word and a moneymaking machine. The company
earned $712 million on revenue of $2.6 billion during the first half
of this year, prompting some analysts to think its stock will soon
soar above $330.

As it is, Google's market value stands at $89 billion, based on the
292.8 million shares expected to be outstanding after its latest
offering. That makes it more valuable than older Internet companies
such as Yahoo and eBay Inc., but still behind heavyweights such as
Microsoft and Intel Corp.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

不值得

2005-09-15T06:57:00.000+08:00

不值得 - 夢飛船
曲︰林毅心
詞︰林毅心

＊除了想你　除了愛你
我什麼什麼都願意
翻開日記　整理〔打開〕心情
我真的真的想放棄
你始終沒有愛過　你在敷衍我
一次一次忽略我的感受
我真的感到力不從心　無力繼續

＃這感情　不值得我猶豫
不值得我考慮　不值得我愛過你
這種回憶　不值得我提起
不值得想起　不值得哭泣

＋這段感情　早就應該放棄
早就不該讓我浪費時間找奇蹟
這樣的你　不值得我恨你
不值得我為你而壞了心情

我決定不為你而毀了心
放棄愛你

重唱　＊,＃,＋

我決定不為你而毀了心
為你而放棄愛情　不為你而毀了心
我決定不為你而毀了心
放棄愛你

神啊救救我

2005-09-15T03:44:00.000+08:00

     神啊救救我 - 陳小春
  曲︰包小柏
  詞︰易家揚

  上帝會保佑我的　愛情總會來的
  我在夢中一切都有　可惜現實呀
  常常是相反的

  愛她的男人很多　那我又算什麼
  我在雨中喝著悶酒　反正幸福呀
  對我是奢侈的

＊心裡太清楚了　其實她不愛我
  奇怪　地球上怎麼會沒有人　看上我

＃神啊　救救我吧　一把年紀了
  一個愛人都沒有　孤獨是可憐的
  如果沒愛過　人生是黑白的

＋神啊　救救我吧　一個人晃了半輩子了
  為什麼　我這樣的男人哪
  就快要絕種　她呢　又在哪兒

  重唱　＊,＃,＋,＃,＋

  上帝會保佑我的

我決定不為你而毀了心If This One's Worth Loving

2005-09-15T02:56:00.000+08:00

i think she has taken to liking me more than a little by now. our IM session has become a nightly event ;) Just now she stayed till 0100, because perhaps noon classes tomorrow.
How do I tell her how much I like her really?

but i have reservations; i do not know if it's considered precaution or paranoia or outright nonsense :-\
i'm "visibly" preventing myself from liking her more, or to take the liking to the next possible level, waiting for the show of more affection from the other.

I'm afraid of being hurt again. The three words the b*tch said, almost 7 months ago, cut me the deepest anyone has ever - "Rivers, let me go."

Go away, useless woman.

Let me let go, and let me try and see if this one's worth loving :-\

2005-09-14T03:06:00.000+08:00

2005-09-14T03:02:00.000+08:00

2005-09-14T02:57:00.000+08:00

Samsung boss predicts death of hard drives

2005-09-13T18:33:00.000+08:00

12 September 2005
Samsung boss predicts death of hard drives

By Chris Mellor, Techworld

Hard drives are living on borrowed time and will be replaced with
solid-state Flash memory, according to Samsung's semi-conductor CEO Dr
Chang Gyu Hwang.

Hwang's company has just launched a 16Gb NAND Flash chip using 50nm
technology, something he used to make his prediction.

"NAND flash technology development continues to double density growth
on an average of every 12 months," Hwang stated. Which means his 16Gb
Flash chips will move up from mobile devices, like PDAs and MP3
players to laptop hard drives.

We will, he claimed, see laptop memory cards with 32GB of memory,
based on nineteen 16Gb flash chips. These will appear late in 2006 or
in 2007, based on mass production of the new Samsung chips in the
second part of 2006. Using a 50nm process means that the flash memory
uses just 0.00625 square microns per bit, 25 percent down on the
previous 60nm process.

By this time next year, if Samsung is right, we will be seeing a 32Gb
NAND chip, meaning 64GB memory cards. A year later there will be 128GB
memory cards. At this point NAND flash could cross over into desktop
PCS.

Although flash memory storage on notebooks will not fail from the same
kind of mechanical shocks that would kill a notebook hard drive, the
flash chips do have a finite life in read/write cycle terms. They
won't last for ever.

And of course there is the matter of memory card cost and power consumption.

I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and non-violence are as old as the hills

2005-09-13T18:14:00.000+08:00

Who really fought for independence?
Nicole Tan
Sep 12, 05 2:42pm

I read with great interest Joceline Tan's analysis 'The true fighters
for Merdeka' (Sept 7). I also read Ronnie Liu's 'The real fighters for
Merdeka' (Sept 3). The latter has provoked Umno Youth to challenge DAP
to repeat that statement in the Parliament.

Who's wrong or who's right? Let me juxtapose four individuals who
'fought' for independence, against each other and let you decide.

Mahatma Gandhi 'fought' for the independence of India from British
colonial rule, empowered by tens of millions of common Indians.
Throughout the struggle of the Indian campaign for home rule, he
opposed any form of terrorism or violence. He used the highest moral
standards. By means of non-violent civil disobedience or
demonstrations, Gandhi helped bring about India's independence from
British rule, inspiring other colonial peoples to work for their own
independence and ultimately dismantling the British Empire.

Lee Kuan Yew having observed the communists to be very totally
dedicated and devoted to their cause, collaborated with communists
like Fang Chuang Pi ('the Plen'), Lim Chin Siong and Fong Swee Suan.
Anti-colonialism was their common cause. While he preferred to play
within the existing legal framework by using pragmatism to achieve
Singapore's independence, the communists wanted to replace the
existing system with communist rule, which inevitably meant bloodshed.

Nonetheless, he played along with pro-communists' popularity. Once in
power, Lee Kuan Yew sought to dilute the influence of the communists
in a bigger population by merging with Malaya and at the same time
achieve independence from the British. Lee Kuan Yew later admitted
that it was the communists who supported him in becoming the prime
minister in 1959, in his memoirs. He defined the official position of
the PAP as being "non-communist" rather than "anti-communist".

During the constitutional struggle for independence, Tunku Abdul
Rahman did not adopt a manifesto denouncing colonialism. We cannot
deny the fact that Tunku was indeed a very senior civil servant of the
British government. He was part of the system. I guess the adage "if
you can't beat them, join them" comes to mind.

The difference is however, Tunku did not just to join them but he
chose to "fight" them within the system. Tunku used negotiations and
consultation in order to "fight" for independence. The Alliance, a
coalition of Umno; MCA and MIC, was formed as a formula for a stable
self-government. Of course, the pressure mounted by the Communist
Party of Malaya (CPM) and the Baling talks added weight to the
"fight".

Chin Peng "fought" the Japanese and British. He waged war against the
enemies and invaders. He chose the harder road of guerrilla warfare
because of he had gone through the ghastly period of the corrupt
British Military Administration in Malayan towns and villages and seen
the sufferings and poverty due the Japanese atrocities.

In fact, Maharajalela killed JWW Birch in Pasir Salak and he is now a
hero. CPM killed Sir Henry Gurney and they are now terrorists. Armed
struggle all over the world is rooted in a deeper cause, provoked by
discontentment arising from the breakdown of the socio-economic and
political system they are in.

The government has acknowledged that the CPM did play a part in
hastening the independence of Malaysia. Abdul Rahim Noor affirmed this
fact at the signing of the Haadyai Peace Accord of 1989 at the Lee
Garden Hotel. Communism failed in Malaysia because of the Briggs Plan;
infighting; and most importantly, there was no close and strong ally,
like what Vietnam had in China.

This is definitely a blessing in disguise. Joceline Tan is astute in
her observations that had the communists succeeded, the country would
have been a little communist state with Cultural Revolution and Great
Leap Forward to boot.

One interesting point I would like to highlight is that the CPM was
actually started in a little rubber estate in Kuala Pilah back in
April 30, 1930 presided over by Ho Chih-Min! I would gather that Kuala
Pilah might have more significance if the country swayed to the left,
hypothetically speaking of course. In fact, if the country had been
left to its own devices, it could have ended up like Vietnam and the
rest of the Indochina countries.

The smokescreen here is that both parties' (DAP and Umno Youth)
contention on the correctness of their argument. To me it is crystal
clear, they were all the true fighters against the colonial masters.
Fighting can be in many ways.

Whereas some individuals and parties resorted to violence and
guerrilla warfare, Gandhi resorted to non-violence civil disobedience;
Lee Kuan Yew resorted to a collaboration with the communists (ie, a
pseudo-communist means) for a democratic end; and Tunku Abdul Rahman
resorted to democratic means, preceded and hastened by the "fight" by
Dato' Bahaman, Mat Kilau, Mat Kelubi, Maharaja Lela, Chin Peng and
CPM, PKMM and API (although there was no collaboration) for a
democratic end.

The real test is not whether the "fighters" were jailed, killed or
maimed but whether they succeeded in achieving their goal. To me, they
were all true fighters as they contributed one way or another to
achieve their common goal: independence.

As Gandhi said: "I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and
non-violence are as old as the hills."

One Day I Might Move On

2005-09-13T16:06:00.000+08:00

[quote author=Mart link=topic=18450.msg165191#msg165191 date=1126443846]Hey it was great hearing from you riversandlakes! It is good to hear from other ojarians that their journey has come to an end and that they are starting a new journey. It gives me hope that one day I might move on.
Thank you!
Mart[/quote]

[quote author="fcard05"]Hi rivers,
Don't know if you remember me and my story of woe. Just saw your name pop up for the first time in a few weeks and wanted to take the time to say thanks. Your words and insight helped me through the toughest days of my life. I don't really post here too much anymore, at least not about my situation. I do pop in and offer advice as much as possible though. Not that I'm an expert now or anything, but thanks to people like you I'm able to pass on what I've learned over the last two months.
Take care and best of luck to you![/quote]

Clinton to China: Find New Energy Sources

2005-09-11T05:44:00.000+08:00

Clinton to China: Find New Energy Sources
Clinton Urges China to Find Alternative Energy Sources, Promote Internet
By ELAINE KURTENBACH
The Associated Press

Sep. 10, 2005 - Former President Clinton urged China on Saturday to
recognize the urgency of the environmental threats to its growth, and
to use the Internet as a tool to surmount them. But he remained silent
on the risks faced by those who use the Internet as a forum for
dissent.

"You will have to come to grips with significant challenges to your
growth," Clinton said at an Internet conference in this eastern resort
city. He warned that the energy consumption required to keep China's
economy growing at its recent rate of more than 9 percent is
"unsustainable."

China's oil imports have soared as it struggles to keep booming
industries growing. Its continued strong growth, and that of the rest
of the world, will depend on its ability to find alternative energy
sources and make better use of the resources it has, Clinton said.

"If we don't do it, it will eventually impose severe restraints on
economic growth and make future conflicts far more likely," Clinton
said. "It's not clear to me that there will be enough oil to produce
that growth according to traditional energy use patterns," he said.

Clinton, the keynote speaker at a conference hosted by Yahoo's new
Chinese partner, Alibaba.com, did not respond to questions from
reporters about demands by human rights activists that he raise the
case of a jailed Chinese journalist with his hosts.

Just days earlier, overseas-based human rights groups disclosed that
Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. had provided e-mail account
information that helped lead to journalist Shi Tao's conviction and
10-year prison sentence on state secrecy charges.

Other Chinese journalists have faced similar charges of violating
vague security laws as communist leaders struggle to maintain control
of information in the burgeoning Internet era.

Despite government information-sharing requirements and other
restrictions, Yahoo and its major rivals have been expanding their
presence in mainland China in hopes of reaching more of the country's
fast-growing population of Internet users, who now number more than
100 million.

The Internet is having "significant political and social consequences
and they cannot be erased," Clinton said. He noted that public demands
for information during the SARS outbreak two years earlier forced
authorities to take action to stem the epidemic, amid widespread
accusations of a government coverup.

But Clinton only alluded to the risks faced by Internet users who dare
to speak out.

"The political system's limits on freedom of speech ... have not
seemed to have any adverse consequences on e-commerce," he said. "It's
something you'll all have to watch and see your way through."

New York-based Human Rights in China and the Paris-based media
watchdog Reporters Without Borders sent an open letter to Clinton
urging him to bring up the case of Shi, the jailed journalist, during
his visit to China.

According to Reporters Without Borders, court papers show that Yahoo
Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd., part of Yahoo's global network, gave
Chinese investigators information that helped them trace a personal
Yahoo e-mail to Shi's computer.

It said Shi, a former journalist for the financial publication
Contemporary Business News, was convicted for sending notes on a
government circular spelling out restrictions on the media in the
e-mail. He was seized in November at his home in the northwestern
province of Shanxi.

Yahoo has defended its move, saying it is obliged to comply with
Chinese laws and regulations.

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, who also appeared at the forum, said the
demand for the information was "a legal order" and that the company
gets such requests from law enforcement agencies all the time, not
just in China.

But, he added, "I cannot talk about the details of this case."

The case is not the first in which a prominent high-tech company has
faced accusations of cooperating with Chinese authorities to gain
favor in a country expected to become an Internet gold mine.

Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., and two of its biggest rivals,
Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, previously have come under
attack for censoring online news sites and Web logs, or blogs,
featuring content that China's communist government wants to suppress.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

It's a new flat world out there

2005-09-11T03:08:00.000+08:00

It's a new flat world out there

Three-time Pulitzer Prize winner says India, China and Russia are
going to shape the 21st century and S'pore's wells won't run dry.

Weekend • September 10, 2005

Clement Mesenas
Foreign Editor
clement@newstoday.com.sg

Kids in the old days were told: Finish your dinner, there are millions
of people in Asia starving.

Today, with the IT explosion and globalisation which made possible the
outsourcing of jobs from the First World to the Third, kids are being
told: Finish your dinner, there are millions of people in India and
China who are starving — for your jobs.

The march of IT has made the world flatter. There are no walls, no
ceiling and no floor, according to New York Times foreign affairs
columnist Thomas L Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner whose
columns are syndicated to over 700 newspapers around the world.

Speaking on Friday to a packed audience of 1,100 at the Lee Kuan Yew
School of Public Policy, Mr Friedman did not pull any punches when he
said IT has swept away old thinking and old ways of how things should
be done.

One key prediction he made: The three billion people of India, China
and the Soviet Union are going to shape the history of the 21st
century because IT has made the world flat. He expounds this thinking
in his latest book, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st
Century.

Only fifteen years ago, India was virtually going bankrupt with only
$120 million left in its foreign reserves.

Today, globalisation and India's IT adroitness and its capacity to
reap the benefits of outsourcing has helped to swell the country's
reserves to a massive $125 billion.

"It's a cool thing now for Indians to no longer hope to get lucky in a
Green Card lottery. Now they can innovate in their own country without
having to emigrate to America," said Mr Friedman.

In China, tens of thousands of Japanese-speaking Chinese are writing
computer programs for Japan.

The world is changing to a flatter place, but is America, for one,
facing up to the reality? Not if one looks at the situation in
Louisiana, for example.

"What I found out on my visit to Bangalore made me sick — and it was
not because of the food, but because I felt that Americans were not
ready to tackle the reality that the global economic playing field was
being levelled," he said.

But if the levelling was benefiting Asia, what about Africa?

Mr Friedman was withering in his assessment of African leaders. Only
through better governance, which provides decent education to allow
Africans to exploit the global IT platform, will countries in that
continent be able to move forward, he said.

"Robert Mugabe has driven Zimbabwe into a ditch but no African leader
has the courage to state it like it is," he said.

South Africa, for another, has been saying for years said that the
Aids epidemic sweeping the country was the result of a Western
conspiracy.

In contrast, he cited Singapore and Taiwan — two countries with no
natural resources — but in which good governance has brought about
progress and prosperity.

"In this new flat world, you have to drill your people, not sand
dunes, and you will unleash their energy and their creativity," he
said.

Hence, Singapore and Taiwan will always have oil wells that won't run
dry. Education, a pet topic of his, starts in the home with parents,
he said.

"You have got to help children learn how to learn," he said, adding
that this might mean they may opt for the study of subjects as varied
as Greek mythology and calculus.

But they will become self-motivated and learn to love to learn and
acquire knowledge, he said.

"I'll place my bets on a person with a high CQ — curiosity quotient —
as I am sure he or she will trump a person with a high IQ, but may be
lazy for all you know," he said.

Copyright MediaCorp Press Ltd. All rights reserved.

愛字怎麼寫

2005-09-10T23:51:00.000+08:00

分手後又過了幾個秋
這是一個人等回家的地鐵
我把妳的名字寫在掌心裡
握緊了拳頭像個傻瓜瞪著黑夜
街尾傳出古老的音樂
我又過了一個冷颼颼的夜
忍受心中深處思念的威脅
所有愛的想法我全都拒絕
不要跟我說話不要問我愛字怎麼寫
我猜世界上沒有人能了解
不要欺騙自己那些過往不過是幻覺
愛情餘味能留存幾個月
會有一天或者另一夜我會跨過這條回憶的界線
妳在另外一個男人的心裡或許終於得到他的永遠

爱就是你

2005-09-10T03:52:00.000+08:00

歌曲：爱就是你 - 阿杜/马千珊(新歌)
歌手：阿杜

歌词：

男：想爱不敢爱无奈算不算是等待
女：期待我的爱每一天都浪漫精彩

男：无奈不明白怎样的爱才不伤害
女：想爱别等待谁管他曾经和未来

合：就在冷冷的城市里相遇和分手一起呼吸
什么（你的拥抱）样的拥抱刚刚好才不会让（我不逃）你想逃

合：总在孤独的深夜里分不清哪一个才是自己
能不能记得住你的好（对你的好）剩下的我都不要爱就是你

男：想爱不敢爱无奈算不算是等待
女：想爱别等待谁管他曾经和未来

合：如果重来选择离开我们也许就不会相爱
在茫茫人海留下淡淡的空白

I can't believe it's the same person!

2005-09-10T03:07:00.000+08:00

[quote author=PiscesGoddess link=topic=18450.msg164231#msg164231 date=1126273133]
Beautiful pic Rivers! So happy to hear you are doing well.. I know its been a long journey.. and yes..sometimes you do graduate from ojar without even knowing it.. a wonderful and bittersweet feeling all at the same time. Good luck on the journey ahead..You've already made it through the worst of times..Now its time for the sweet freedom of being whole again.

Congratulations on having the strength to forge ahead..I think you'll be just fine. ;D

hugs!

Pisces
[/quote]

Hi Samarra,

Thank you very much. I know I changed (for the better, let's hope
hehe), but hearing you say it makes me feel that perhaps I did change
more than I thought...

I wish you the same, truly. Personally, I think there's nothing wrong
with the intense Pain; it's just time...

[quote author="Samarra"]
Hey rivers,
Great posting!
I remember when I first came here and you were in so much
pain.....reading your posts now I can't believe it's the same person!

I'm so happy for you and I wish you only continued happiness....you deserve it!
Good Luck
Samarra
[/quote]

Heya Goddess,

Thank you for the kind words.

When searching and purging some old mails, I stumbled upon those mails I sent during the early days of Pain, trying to persuade her not to throw the years away.
I tried to glance away from the words, but my eyes fell on the picture I attached - of our shadows on the beach, holding each other close. It was taken on a prominent Malaysian beach, during the Muslim month of Ramadan.

I did a search of all emails addressed to her, selected all and deleted all. Then I went to the Deleted Items folder, selected all and clicked "Delete Forever." Count on Gmail to provide the dramatics ;) I already destroyed the CD-ROM containing our pictures weeks ago.

That was the last step. No more pain from the cheating. I don't want ever to be reminded on how I was wronged by a nice Chinese girl gone horribly wrong, nor how vengeance is mine, this life or the next.
You cannot hurt me anymore.
I am all set to start anew, both in life, career and love. No rush to any of these.

Bye memories, bye nostalgia.
Old R&L is gone, and the new one has set in.

愛字怎麼寫

2005-09-09T20:51:00.000+08:00

愛字怎麼寫
歌手：阿杜作曲：周傳雄
填詞：易家揚編曲：Kenn C
分手後又過了幾個夜
還是一個人等回家的地鐵
我把妳的名字寫在掌心裡
握緊了拳頭　像個傻瓜瞪著黑夜

街尾傳出古老的音樂
我又過了一個冷颼颼的夜
忍受心中深處思念的威脅
所有愛的想法　我全都拒絕

＊不要跟我說話
　不要問我愛字怎麼寫
　我猜世界上沒有人能了解
　不要欺騙自己
　那些過往　不過是幻覺
　愛情的餘味　能留存幾個月＊

＃會有一天或者另一夜
　我會跨過這條回憶的界線
　妳在另外一個男人的心裡
　或許終於得到　他的永遠＃

REPEAT＊＊＃

哈囉

2005-09-09T20:49:00.000+08:00

哈囉
歌手：周傳雄作曲：周傳雄
填詞：李瑞詢編曲：許華強
我等著見妳一面等過這些年
我想要匆匆容容說聲　好久不見
我一廂情願認定妳都不會變
那一年　那個春天

＊我想要說的全都寫在眼裡面
　我也曾想過一切可能滄海桑田
　風影纏綿　穿過長髮誰的思念
　牽掛的妳　走的那麼遠＊

＃哈囉　哭紅了雙眼
　哈囉　又過了一年
　哈囉　在天黑以前想的萬語千言
　哈囉　卻停在妳的臉

　哈囉　何必再相見
　哈囉　回不到從前
　哈囉　我瞞不了心痛的那麼明顯
　哈囉　難道這就是再見＃

AP: Disney Exec Says Hong Kong Park Ready

2005-09-09T20:32:00.000+08:00

AP: Disney Exec Says Hong Kong Park Ready
AP Interview: Disney President Says New Park in Hong Kong Is Giant
Step Into China
By WILLIAM FOREMAN
The Associated Press

Sep. 9, 2005 - Walt Disney Co. President Robert Iger said Friday that
Hong Kong Disneyland is "definitely ready" to open next week and
called it a giant step for the company's plans to break into China's
huge market.

Iger spoke to The Associated Press at the theme park while in the
background a singer rehearsed songs from "Mulan" and workers nearby
brushed green paint on fences ahead of Monday's scheduled opening.

During the past week, Disneyland has given tens of thousands of
visitors a sneak peek of the park on outlying Lantau Island, about a
30-minute subway ride from central Hong Kong. The crowds who were
allowed to try out the attractions during the "rehearsal days" have
complained about long lines at the rides and restaurants.

But Disneyland has refused to lower its maximum capacity of 30,000,
and Iger said he was pleased with the park's progress.

"The park is definitely ready for its grand opening," said Iger, who
will become the company's chief executive officer on Oct. 1, replacing
Michael Eisner.

Set against lush mountains, Disneyland is expected to draw about 3.6
million visitors within a year and up to 7.4 million annually after 15
years, the company has said. About 40 percent of the visitors are
expected to come from mainland China, Disney has said.

Iger said that the Chinese are less familiar with Disney compared to
people in other major markets, and that the Hong Kong park will be key
to igniting greater interest in Disney.

"We fully expect this is a giant step in the direction of growing the
company and all its Disney brands and businesses in this very populous
region," Iger said.

"This is the biggest venture that any, certainly any Western media
company has ever embarked on in this region not just in terms of the
scope from a financial perspective, but the commitment it has taken,
the detail, the planning, the technology and training," he said.

The park is a joint venture deal between Disney and the Hong Kong
government signed in 1999. Hong Kong taxpayers are forking over
HK$16.5 billion, or $2.1 billion, including costs for reclaiming land
and supporting infrastructure. The government has also extended a $782
million loan.

Disney has pitched in $314 million and $15.4 million in rent per year.

Iger said that Disney is a global brand but it has to become more of a
global company.

"Disney has achieved over the years a great brand breadth. We're known
throughout the world," he said. "But if you really analyze it, it is
mostly breadth and not as much depth as we'd like in certain markets.
This (Hong Kong Disneyland) is digging really deep in this market, and
it will create great depth for Disney for decades to come."

Iger said that Disney has been talking to the government in Shanghai
China's financial center about opening a park that wouldn't open until
at least 2010.

"Those discussions are ongoing," he said.

Eisner told the AP he was sure that Hong Kong Disneyland would be a
hit because the Chinese have such strong value for families.

The outgoing CEO said he was touched when he saw how thousands of
visitors were using digital cameras on their mobile phones to
photograph the fireworks show on Thursday night at the park's main
strip, Main Street, USA.

"Last night I went to Main Street to watch some of the shows and then
the fireworks. Seeing 15,000 people lined up on Main Street, with
probably 15,000 telephones photographing a fireworks show," he said.
"That to me was one of the most amazing things."

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Rise from the Ashes

2005-09-09T20:19:00.000+08:00

Been a long time since I've been back here. How are you guys doing?

It shall be my 3rd week here in Singapore by tomorrow. Without the
Employment Pass I would have been an illegal immigrant ;)

I'm getting stronger and stronger everyday. Just the occasional
hurting (just a teeny wee bit). Settling down to a routine I carved
out of nothing - work, then afternoon gyming, Saturdays dragonboat
practise, Sunday morning Masses, and maybe dates?

Going out with a 22-year-old Singaporean girl I met at
www.singaporeexpats.com this Sunday. Too bad there is absolutely no
decent movies at this time? Might just make her take me to a nice spot
for dinner at my treat...fair deal? ;)

One of the things that hurt is seeing people using this handphone,
which she gave me 2 years ago (but for which I paid her in cash a few
weeks after)
Why does this happen?

Guys and gals, one of these days I might just quit ojar altogether. I
might have graduated even without knowing it. I'm almost wholesome
now.
You will too, one fine day. No doubt about it. Just that when it's the
season of pain, it just is...
When in pain, like Mophead says, it's our tears of the clown...

Find me anytime on riversandlakes@hotmail.com and riversandlakes8@yahoo.com

May God bless you, Michael, for this wonderful brainchild of yours...

[img]http://www.occultopedia.com/images_/topic/phoenix_dark.jpg[/img]

Rise from the Ashes

2005-09-09T19:53:00.000+08:00

In ancient Egyptian mythology and in myths derived from it, the phoenix is a mythical sacred firebird.

Said to live for 500 or for 1461 years, the phoenix is a male bird with beautiful gold and red plumage. At the end of its life-cycle the phoenix builds itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix arises.

Singapore Bets $5 Billion Sentosa Island Will Lure Big Spenders

2005-09-09T19:44:00.000+08:00

Singapore Bets $5 Billion Sentosa Island Will Lure Big Spenders

Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore's resort island of Sentosa is getting
a golf tournament, a Forbes conference and an S$8 billion ($4.8
billion) revamp as part of a drive to invigorate the Southeast Asian
nation's image and lure business visitors.

Ten minutes by cable car from Singapore, Sentosa will add a S$2
billion theme park with a casino and a S$4 billion residential
development in the next five years. Today, world No. 7-ranked golfer
Adam Scott teed off in the second round of the Singapore Open at
Sentosa Golf Club, a year before Forbes Inc. moves its Global CEO
conference to Sentosa.

Facing competition from cities including Hong Kong and Shanghai,
Singapore is upgrading attractions and allowing roulette tables and
blackjack at two new integrated resorts in a bid to attract richer
tourists. Sentosa is central to Singapore's push to triple visitor
spending to S$30 billion within a decade.

``Having the integrated resorts changes the whole image,'' Chua Hak
Bin, an economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd., said in a phone
interview. ``We've seen the share of tourists sliding down as more
people go to Macau and now Disneyland Hong Kong. There'll be a lot
more attractions in Singapore.''

Walt Disney Co. is scheduled to open a theme park in Hong Kong Sept.
12, while gaming companies including Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage are
pouring more than $12 billion into building new casinos in Macau.

Connected to Singapore by a 710-meter (half-mile) causeway, Sentosa is
a 500-hectare (two square-mile) hodgepodge of golf courses, lush
jungle and attractions including an aquarium and butterfly park,
bordered by man-made beaches.

Merlion

A 37-meter-high statue of the Merlion -- Singapore's national symbol
-- watches over Sentosa and the procession of tankers in the Singapore
Strait that provides a backdrop to bathers. The Merlion has witnessed
plenty of construction in the past three years.

Sentosa Leisure Group, the government agency that runs the island, is
spending S$3 billion on infrastructure such as a new rail link and S$4
billion on a commercial and residential development at Sentosa Cove
that's due for completion by 2008.

The number of hotel rooms on Sentosa -- Malaysian for peace and
tranquility -- will increase five-fold to 4,000 by 2010, said Sentosa
Leisure Group Chief Executive Officer Darrell Metzger. He expects
visitor numbers to rise to 8 million in 2010 from 5.1 million last
year, bringing more than $1 billion in revenue.

Sports are part of the strategy. Sentosa Golf Club is hosting the
Singapore Open for the first time this week. The $2 million tournament
is the third-richest in Asia and features the Asian Tour's elite with
a smattering of international draws such as Scott and Lee Westwood.

`Major of Asia'

``It's the major of Asia,'' Asian Tour Chief Executive Louis Martin
said in an interview. ``It sets a different standard.''

For three years from 2006, the two-day Forbes CEO conference will take
place during the week before the tournament, an attempt to showcase
Singapore to the 400 attending executives and lure them onto the
course for some one-on-one lobbying.

This year's conference welcomed guests including Samuel A. DiPiazza,
global chief executive of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC, and Helmut
Panke, chairman of the board of management of Bayerische Motoren
Werke, the largest maker of luxury cars.

``The greater goal is to get those kinds of people that would want to
start up a business, relocate a business and headquarter out of
Singapore,'' Metzger said in an interview. ``It's a familiarization
tour for a large group of high-yield customers.''

`Cosmopolitan'

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said last month that Singapore needs to
``remake'' itself as ``vibrant and cosmopolitan, throbbing with energy
and excitement.'' The government lifted a four-decade ban on casinos
in April and will grant licenses for two.

Casino operators including Las Vegas Sands Corp., Harrah's
Entertainment Inc. and MGM Mirage have made bids. A S$2 billion resort
on Sentosa will have a convention center, theme park and hotels and
will be ready in 2009 or 2010, Metzger said.

Lee, son of Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of modern-day Singapore,
is trying to spur growth in the $110 billion economy as electronics
makers move jobs to lower-cost countries like China and Malaysia.

Singapore's 2.2 million business, exhibition and conference visitors
in 2004 accounted for about 30 percent of tourism receipts, the
Singapore Tourism Board said. The board expects the number of business
visitors to increase 15 percent annually over the next decade.

`Dullness'

Singapore held the sixth-highest number of international meetings in
2004 and the most in Asia, according to city rankings produced by the
Union of International Associations. Paris tops the list, with Seoul
in 10th.

The International Olympic Committee selected London as the 2012
Olympic host in Singapore in July and next year the World Bank will
hold a conference with more than 15,000 guests.

Singapore's share of Asia-Pacific's tourism revenue dropped by half in
the past decade. The two casino resorts would draw S$5 billion of
investments and create about 35,000 jobs on Sentosa and in the city's
downtown Marina Bayfront, the government said.

``We've got to take the dullness out of Singapore's image,'' said
Metzger, 58. ``The new resort will have an entertainment component
that should equal or surpass what Disney is doing for Hong Kong.''

To contact the reporter on this story:
Grant Clark in Singapore at gclark@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 8, 2005 20:40 EDT

"We together," said Nin. "I know my wife. No talk. Go away, go away. No talk."

2005-09-09T04:30:00.000+08:00

Officers Go House to House in New Orleans
Frustrated Officers Go House to House, Pleading With the Die-Hards
By DON BABWIN
The Associated Press

Sep. 8, 2005 - Standing on the worn front porch of his modest home in
flooded New Orleans, the old man refused to go.

Like the other holdouts in a city nearly emptied by Hurricane Katrina,
Chan Chun Nin, 75, had no running water. He had no electricity. And
the medicine supply for his 70-year-old wife, Mie, was dwindling.
Still, he would not move.

Do me a favor, said a state trooper: "Write your address and your name
down on a piece of paper and put it in your pocket. Because when you
die, we're going to need to know who we're picking up."

And so Louisiana Trooper Mike Wolfe and a dozen other police officers
turned around and walked down the street, continuing a frustrating
search in hopes of persuading somebody, anybody, to leave this
devastated city.

With the filthy Superdome refugee camp now a memory and after
countless storm survivors were plucked off rooftops, the evacuation
effort here has come to this: Small bands of police, many from out of
state, going door to door and pleading with the die-hards to leave.

New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has ordered law officers and the
military to evacuate the remaining 5,000 to 10,000 people in the city,
using force if necessary. But there have been no reports thus far of
forced evacuations.

On normally bustling and noisy streets, the only sound Wednesday came
from lumbering military trucks, helicopters flying overhead and the
banging on doors by Wolfe and a group of police officers who came from
Illinois to help.

Rifles in their hands, the officers moved carefully, almost as if they
were looking for some enemy and not frightened and confused people who
only want to protect what little they have.

"How do you walk away from everything you know?" wondered Jeff
Chudwin, the police chief in the Chicago suburb of Olympia Fields.
"This is their lives. And they're leaving everything. There's nothing
left."

Chudwin and his 12 colleagues saw one man Wednesday peeking out from a
second-floor window of his tattered New Orleans home. Three officers
entered the home, and the man said he had just returned to pick up
some belongings.

And there was the 87-year-old woman whom the officers found Wednesday
and gently persuaded to leave town. She was so weak, she needed help
to climb the steps into their truck. She left behind her two dogs and
carried her cash box with her.

Perhaps the most intriguing exchange the officers had Wednesday was
with Nin, who accepted a bottle of water from the men but flatly
refused to go.

"Sir, listen to me," Wolfe pleaded. "It's time to go."

But Nin instructed them three times to go away, saying they did not
understand the Bible. His wife appeared to want to go when one officer
asked if she wanted help, she said yes but her husband led her back
into the house.

"Do you want your wife to die?" asked Wolfe.

"We together," said Nin. "I know my wife. No talk. Go away, go away. No talk."

The officers wished him luck and walked away.

One said, "They're gonna die here."

FW: USER CALL | OVSD # 3,247,866 | Database Error

2005-09-09T02:06:00.001+08:00

-----Original Message-----
From: (Non-A-Singapore,ex1)
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2005 01:38
To: (Non-A-India,ex1)
Cc:
Subject: RE: USER CALL | OVSD # 3,247,866 | Database Error

Hi Gurpreet,

This means the number of records being deleted is way too many to be placed into the existing 2GB UNDO tablespace. As of now, the UNDO tablespace is approx 60% free, hence I've doubled its size, to 4GB.

Please retry and let us know if this ticket may be closed.

P/S: Please "Reply to All" when replying.

Best Regards,

Database Administrator
Hosting Database Competency Center (DBCC)

FW: USER CALL | OVSD # 3,248,444 | slums04/JADE - oracle [AUTO]

2005-09-09T02:06:00.000+08:00

-----Original Message-----
From: (Non-A-Singapore,ex1)
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2005 01:52
To:
Cc: (A-Americas,expdl1)
Subject: RE: USER CALL | OVSD # 3,248,444 | slums04/JADE - oracle [AUTO]

Hi Andi,

I believe almost all our machines now are secured with ssh connectivity only. Please google for putty - it's a free ssh client...

Please use this tns entry:

<ALIASNAME>=
(DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP) (HOST = slums04.lvld.agilent.com) (PORT = 1521))) (CONNECT_DATA = (SID = JADE)))

Please advise if ticket may be closed.

P/S: Please "Reply to All" when replying.

Best Regards,

Database Administrator
Hosting Database Competency Center (DBCC)

-----Original Message-----
From: (Non-A-BPI-AP,ex2)
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2005 01:07
To:
Cc: (A-Americas,expdl1)
Subject: USER CALL | OVSD # 3,248,444 | slums04/JADE - oracle [AUTO]

Hi,

We have received your ticket. Please use ssh to connect to the server. I am able to login to the server and DB is up and running

$ orastat -
2005/09/08-11:01:49 orastat | oraver=9.2.0 oraver_short=9.2 oraver_num=9.2 sqlcmd=sp arg=- arg2=
2005/09/08-11:01:49 orastat | ORACLE_SID=JADE ORACLE_HOME=/opt/oracle/product/9.2.0 - HP-UX slums04 B.11.11 U 9000/800 1778125583 unlimited-user license
2005/09/08-11:01:49 orastat | Version=3.05 Host=slums04 Company=
2005/09/08-11:01:49 orastat | - Instance Status
orastat | Status: OPEN
orastat | OpenMode: READWRITE
orastat | Started: 2005/09/06-23:50:16
orastat | HoursUp: 35.1925
orastat | Instance: JADE
orastat | OracleVer: 9.2.0.6.0 (64-bit)
orastat | ShutdownMode: NO
orastat | Parallel: NO
orastat | Logins: ALLOWED
orastat | Characterset: UTF8
orastat | CkptSCN: 354275
orastat | ArcSCN: 341315
orastat | CF Mode: CURRENT
orastat | DBID: 608437179
orastat | DBName: JADE

[oracle@slums04 ORACLE_SID=JADE]:/home/oracle

Please try and let me know if we can close the ticket.

Regards,

Database Administrator (DeSS Core)

I mean, how could you be once so good to each other and not being able to stay as friends?

2005-09-09T00:21:00.000+08:00

It's all logical and fine, ONLY IF there was no cheating involved, and
horrifying false pretenses of "space and time" and heartshattering
claims of confusion, only to accept more and more of the advances of
the other man.

I, for one, will have NO use of such a friendship...

Otherwise, why not! Can't paddle the dragonboat all by myself, can I? :D

[quote="Ling2"]I mean, how could you be once so good to each other and
not being able to stay as friends?[/quote]

Forcing Linux on a crap Presario laptop

2005-09-08T20:27:00.000+08:00

The Register

Biting the hand that feeds IT
The Register » Software »

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/01/07/forcing_linux_on_a_crap/
Forcing Linux on a crap Presario laptop
By Thomas C Greene in Washington (thomas.greene at theregister.co.uk)
Published Monday 7th January 2002 10:19 GMT

What a weekend it's been. I spent the better part of it installing
Linux on what has got to be the piss-poorest laptop computer ever
built. The comical piece of junk to which I refer is a Compaq 1200
series, which I bought quite deliberately for the road. I'm confident
it's unlikely to get stolen, and if it does, I'll be inclined to thank
the thief.

The Presario 1200 is an exceptionally poor candidate for Linux, having
been specifically designed to run Windows, and having every
conceivable money-saving dodge in place. It's grotesquely
underpowered, with 64MB of RAM. It's got a CMOS setup which forbids
tinkering past setting the time and boot order.

It's got a 'system restore' CD which Compaq is too cheap to put
Windows on. This is perhaps the single most unforgivable item in a
vast catalog of offenses. No, the Windows cabs are all taking up
much-needed space on the thing's puny 5GB hard disk. So nuts to you if
you fdisk the sucker and then fail to get Linux working decently and
have no choice but load Windows again. Compaq will sell you the CD
you'll need for that, the damnable cheap bastards.

Of course it's got a Winmodem in place of a real modem, and we all
know it's just about impossible to make one of those toys work with
Linux, thanks to the trade-secret paranoia of their manufacturers. And
we all know how badly broken the 2.4.x kernel is for PCMCIA, which I
insist on having.

But I did fdisk the little junker, and it did feel awfully good. And
then I set about forcing Linux down its ungrateful Windows-compatible
little throat.

Since I'd reviewed several of the most recent distros in terms of
their ease of installation and found Mandrake by far the friendliest,
I figured I'd take it easy on myself and start there. I do run SuSE on
my desktop and my wife's, but considering the number of quality
deficiencies Compaq saddled me with, I felt I could rely on Mandrake
to ease the pain.

How wrong I was. First off, it was impossible to run X by selecting my
actual video adapter, a crap item by Trident called the "CyberBlade"
(a bit like naming a toy poodle "Ripper" -- fine so long as the irony
is intentended).

After various attempts at making it work I finally had to load a
generic VGA adapter, which compromised my lame machine's performance
even more than Compaq intended. And once Mandrake was installed I had
to wrestle with the Winmodem, which turned out not so bad in the end.

The shitbox has a Conexant Winmodem, and this, it turns out, is the
only bit of luck I can report from the entire escapade. Conexant has
got a Linux
driver (http://www.mbsi.ca/hsflinux/), and it's actually effective.
The RPM didn't work for me, but the tarball did, so long as I deleted
/dev/modem before running the shell script. Which I did, on my fourth
or fifth attempt....

All right, so I got my pathetic Winmodem working. A fat lot of good
that does me at home with my preposterously slow,
dropped-every-ten-minutes connection to MSN. (I told you, the box is
primarily for the road. MSN is traveler-friendly, if not much else.)

No, I'd have to get my ethernet card working with my little DSL home
network. And at this point Mandrake beat me down.

I am not a quitter. I ran the two-mile, wrestled, and boxed in high
school; and these are three competitive endeavors one wins solely by
being more stubborn and willing to eat pain than one's opponents, who
are themselves extremely stubborn and willing to eat pain as well
(otherwise they'd be on the volleyball team, now wouldn't they).

Mandrake's idea of installing PCMCIA is to present you with a list of
drivers. You've got to install one of them, which it insists on
testing. The installer won't let you go further until it's satisfied
with your choice. Of course if none of them happens to work, well,
you'll just have to cancel.

I tried every driver that could possibly have worked, and Mandrake
rejected them all. I did research -- I found out which other cards
mine emulates. I was systematic. I was patient, stubborn, and willing
to eat pain.

I tried, and tried again. Nothing worked. So I jotted down a number of
drivers Mandrake had available for installation, and hiked up to my
nearest CompUSA, where I bought another bloody card, for which I knew
Mandrake had the drivers.

And I inserted it, and I attempted to install it, and Mandrake made a
sucker of me again. Thirty bucks I burned on a spare ethernet card.

So I did some more research, and found a boot image for Mandrake
tailored specifically for PCMCIA installation.

Ah, pay dirt.

This boot image immediately caused the lights on the card's connector
to light up. Surely I was minutes away from installing it. I booted
from the floppy and ran the Mandrake installation CD, and it crashed.

So i entered every safe-mode command I could think of -- ide=nodma,
lores, nofb, noauto, expert, text....

No good, no good, no good. I even tried them all at once. No good.

At that point I fdisked the little junker again.

And then I busted out SuSE, which actually is my favorite, though YaST
is undeniably clunky and entirely too present in the background. Linux
is Linux is Linux, but different distros have their advantages and
disadvantages. As distros go, SuSE is the most flexible one I've
tried.

So guess what? SuSE likes PCMCIA, even with the crap 2.4.x kernel.
There was no driver to choose; no bollocky 'test'. I just named it
eth0, gave it a generic 192.168.0.1 IP and 255.255.255.0 subnet mask
like any ethernet card, and that was that.

It understands the 'CyberBlade' as well, with no difficulties.

SuSE has no decent DSL support unless you're in Germany, but that's
not a problem if you're willing to tweak it. I did give the distro a
black mark for this in a previous review
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/22882.html), but that
was from the POV of my foil Harry Homeowner, who's likely to be
inconvenienced if not thwarted by such an omission.

As soon as I got SuSE installed, with eth0 painlessly configured, I
simply ran two nifty RPMs from Roaring Penguin
(http://www.roaringpenguin.com/), which make DSL in Linux ridiculously
easy whatever distro or homebrew setup you've got. I had the Compaq
shitbox on Verizon's mighty broadband pipes in minutes.

So now we're an all-SuSE household here at Chez Greene, and pretty
well delighted all around. We've got two desktops and one laptop, and
room on our little $100 router for another machine.

We're expecting it in March. (r)

United States of Shame

2005-09-08T19:53:00.000+08:00

September 3, 2005
United States of Shame
By MAUREEN DOWD

Stuff happens.

And when you combine limited government with incompetent government,
lethal stuff happens.

America is once more plunged into a snake pit of anarchy, death,
looting, raping, marauding thugs, suffering innocents, a shattered
infrastructure, a gutted police force, insufficient troop levels and
criminally negligent government planning. But this time it's happening
in America.

W. drove his budget-cutting Chevy to the levee, and it wasn't dry.
Bye, bye, American lives. "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach
of the levees," he told Diane Sawyer.

Shirt-sleeves rolled up, W. finally landed in Hell yesterday and
chuckled about his wild boozing days in "the great city" of N'Awlins.
He was clearly moved. "You know, I'm going to fly out of here in a
minute," he said on the runway at the New Orleans International
Airport, "but I want you to know that I'm not going to forget what
I've seen." Out of the cameras' range, and avoided by W., was a convoy
of thousands of sick and dying people, some sprawled on the floor or
dumped on baggage carousels at a makeshift M*A*S*H unit inside the
terminal.

Why does this self-styled "can do" president always lapse into such
lame "who could have known?" excuses.

Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us
by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the
trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs.

Who on earth could have known that an American invasion of Iraq would
spawn a brutal insurgency, terrorist recruiting boom and possible
civil war? Any official who bothered to read the C.I.A.'s prewar
reports.

Who on earth could have known that New Orleans's sinking levees were
at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the
endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy's uneasy fishbowl.

In June 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson
Parish, fretted to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans: "It appears that
the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland
security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay.
Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are
doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue
for us."

Not only was the money depleted by the Bush folly in Iraq; 30 percent
of the National Guard and about half its equipment are in Iraq.

Ron Fournier of The Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of
Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in
New Orleans last year. The White House carved it to about $40 million.
But President Bush and Congress agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-filled
highway bill with 6,000 pet projects, including a $231 million bridge
for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.

Just last year, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials
practiced how they would respond to a fake hurricane that caused
floods and stranded New Orleans residents. Imagine the feeble FEMA's
response to Katrina if they had not prepared.

Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he
trained for by running something called the International Arabian
Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there
were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of
Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.

Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in
Mobile, Ala., yesterday: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

It would be one thing if President Bush and his inner circle - Dick
Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming; Condi Rice was shoe shopping at
Ferragamo's on Fifth Avenue and attended "Spamalot" before bloggers
chased her back to Washington; and Andy Card was off in Maine - lacked
empathy but could get the job done. But it is a chilling lack of
empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could make
this administration implode.

When the president and vice president rashly shook off our allies and
our respect for international law to pursue a war built on lies, when
they sanctioned torture, they shook the faith of the world in American
ideals.

When they were deaf for so long to the horrific misery and cries for
help of the victims in New Orleans - most of them poor and black, like
those stuck at the back of the evacuation line yesterday while 700
guests and employees of the Hyatt Hotel were bused out first - they
shook the faith of all Americans in American ideals. And made us
ashamed.

Who are we if we can't take care of our own?

E-mail: liberties@nytimes.com

What, me worry?

2005-09-07T21:55:00.000+08:00

President Bush's Roots
Sept. 6, 2005

This column was written by John Nichols.Finally, we have discovered
the roots of George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism."

On the heels of the president's "What, me worry?" response to the
death, destruction and dislocation that followed upon Hurricane
Katrina comes the news of his mother's Labor Day visit with hurricane
evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston.

Commenting on the facilities that have been set up for the evacuees --
cots crammed side-by-side in a huge stadium where the lights never go
out and the sound of sobbing children never completely ceases --
former First Lady Barbara Bush concluded that the poor people of New
Orleans had lucked out.

"Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the
people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so
this, this is working very well for them," Mrs. Bush told American
Public Media's "Marketplace" program, before returning to her
multi-million dollar Houston home.

On the tape of the interview, Mrs. Bush chuckles audibly as she
observes just how great things are going for families that are
separated from loved ones, people who have been forced to abandon
their homes and the only community where they have ever lived, and
parents who are explaining to children that their pets, their toys and
in some cases their friends may be lost forever. Perhaps the former
first lady was amusing herself with the notion that evacuees without
bread could eat cake.

At the very least, she was expressing a measure of empathy
commensurate with that evidenced by her son during his fly-ins for
disaster-zone photo opportunities.

On Friday, when even Republican lawmakers were giving the federal
government an "F" for its response to the crisis, President Bush
heaped praise on embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency chief
Michael Brown. As thousands of victims of the hurricane continued to
plead for food, water, shelter, medical care and a way out of the
nightmare to which federal neglect had consigned them, Brown cheerily
announced that "people are getting the help they need."

Barbara Bush's son put his arm around the addled FEMA functionary and
declared, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Like mother, like son.

Even when a hurricane hits, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

By John Nichols
Reprinted with permission from The Nation.

White House Falls Out of Step

2005-09-07T21:52:00.000+08:00

ABC News
Newsview: White House Falls Out of Step
Newsview: White House Still Trying to Regain Footing Amid Criticism
Over Hurricane, Iraq
By JENNIFER LOVEN
The Associated Press

Sep. 7, 2005 - The Bush White House is known for its ability to remain
in control of its message and image, sliding out of crises with barely
a scratch. Not this time.

Despite day after day of appearances by President Bush aimed at
undoing the political damage from a poor response to Hurricane
Katrina, the White House has not been able to regain its footing,
already shaken by the war in Iraq and a death toll exceeding 1,880.

The administration on Tuesday struggled to deflect calls for an
accounting of who was responsible for a hurricane response that even
Bush acknowledged was inadequate. There were increasing calls for the
resignation or firing of Michael Brown, director of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency.

"I think it's clear we're in damage control now," said Norman
Ornstein, political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute think
tank.

It's a troubling position for Bush, already suffering the lowest
approval ratings of his presidency.

The mistakes have come one upon the other.

Even as Katrina was bearing down on the Gulf Coast that Sunday night
and early Monday, Aug. 28-29, and the National Hurricane Center was
warning of growing danger, the White House didn't alter the
president's plans to fly from his Texas ranch to the West to promote a
new Medicare prescription drug benefit.

By the time Bush landed in Arizona that Monday, the storm was
unleashing its fury on Louisiana and Mississippi. The president
inserted into his speech only a brief promise of prayers and federal
help.

He continued his schedule in California, and he didn't decide until
the next day that he should return to Washington. But it took him
another day to get there, as he flew back to Texas to spend another
night at his home before leaving for the White House.

Once the president was in Washington, the criticism only intensified.

While a drowned New Orleans descended into lawless misery, Bush
delivered remarks from the Rose Garden that were seen as flat and
corporate. It was a sharp contrast to the commanding, empathetic
president the public rallied around in the days after the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks.

In a television interview, Bush said mistakenly that nobody
anticipated the breach of the levees in a serious storm.

Even Monday's trip to the region was a redo, hurriedly arranged by the
White House over the weekend after lukewarm response to Bush's first
in-person visit to the Gulf Coast last Friday.

Bush had raised eyebrows on his first trip by, among other things,
picking Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. instead of the thousands of mostly
poor and black storm victims as an example of loss. "Out of the
rubbles of Trent Lott's house he's lost his entire house there's going
to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the
porch," Bush said with a laugh from an airplane hangar in Mobile, Ala.

In the same remarks, Bush gave FEMA chief Brown the face for many of
the inadequate federal response a hearty endorsement. "Brownie, you're
doing a heck of a job," Bush said.

Later in Biloxi, Miss., Bush tried to comfort two stunned women
wandering their neighborhood clutching Hefty bags, looking in vain for
something to salvage from the rubble of their home. He kept insisting
they could find help at a Salvation Army center down the street, even
after another bystander had informed him it had been destroyed.

And at his last stop that day, at the airport outside of New Orleans,
Bush lauded the increasingly desperate city as a great town because he
used go there and "enjoy myself occasionally too much."

Unlike his galvanizing appearance in the rubble of the World Trade
Center just days after the 2001 attacks, Bush has stayed far from the
epicenter of New Orleans' suffering. His only foray into the city was
to its edges to watch crews plugging one of the breached levees on
Friday.

On Monday, he skipped the hardest-hit coastal areas entirely, choosing
instead to visit Baton Rouge, the state capital about 80 miles
northwest of New Orleans, which sustained no damage. He also went to
Poplarville, Miss., to walk the streets of a middle-class neighborhood
that seemed to suffer little more than snapped trees, a couple
off-kilter carport roofs and a downed power line or two.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the president avoided New
Orleans to stay out of the way of search-and-rescue operations.

"It's going to be almost impossible to overcome the perception about
the president that he didn't show compassion and didn't get control of
the policy failures," American University political scientist James
Thurber said. "The vivid images that are coming across the television
are really destroying his image as a leader."

White House counselor Dan Bartlett said the president and his aides
are unconcerned for now about the unrelenting criticism.

"Emotions are running high. People are tired," Bartlett said. "If we
focused more of our attention on decisions that have already been
made, rather than on those before us, there's potential for making far
greater mistakes. ... We really don't have time to play the political
game right now."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Jennifer Loven has reported from Washington since 1993
and covers the White House for The Associated Press.

The foreign legion

2005-09-06T19:25:00.000+08:00

The foreign legion

It's 50 years since the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent was first
broadcast - and more than 30 since John Simpson started reporting for
the corporation. Here he reflects on the strange, exhilarating and
often dangerous life of the foreign correspondent

Tuesday September 6, 2005
The Guardian

I got into the lift and pressed 3. Then I adjusted my tie in the
mirror. All males wore ties at the BBC in 1966, especially if they
were 22 and had only just started work. It was my second day at
Broadcasting House. The lift door opened, and I bumped into someone my
own age, someone I recognised from university: John Rutter, nowadays
the famous composer, but then doing a brief summer job at the BBC.
"Good area to be in, news," he said sagely. "You ought to be a foreign
correspondent; that's the best job there is."

The longer I worked there, the more I saw that Rutter was right. I
found out later that foreign correspondents were paid better than the
director general, since they didn't have to trouble with things such
as income tax in the countries where they were based, and were given
the most generous allowances. All that has long gone, of course; the
pickings are distinctly slim nowadays.

I would spot our foreign correspondents occasionally, stalking through
the newsroom and greeting people. They seemed impossibly glamorous.
Even their names were impressive: Erik de Mauny, Christopher Serpell,
FD Walker. Now I can see that what seemed like grandeur was probably
just a sense of embarrassment at knowing so few people back at
headquarters. I get the same feeling nowadays when I see the huddled
masses in the newsroom, working away at their terminals for programmes
I often haven't even heard of. It's not standoffishness, it's
bewilderment.

As a listener it was hard to tell much about the correspondents'
characters from the way they broadcast: they were so balanced and
impartial, it ironed out anything idiosyncratic. But there was one
programme where their real characters could shine through. From Our
Own Correspondent had been going for 11 years in 1966, and the 50th
anniversary book of dispatches, just published, shows that nothing
much has changed. Except, perhaps, the writing style; some of those
older correspondents were remarkably good.

"It's such a chancy business, this patrolling," said Anthony Lawrence,
reporting for FOOC from Vietnam in 1970. "You can go for months and
meet nothing, and then three times in one week you meet some awful
ambush or firefight. The man next to you goes down yelling with a leg
blown off; the platoon commander is bleeding to death against a tree.
It's over in 15 minutes, but it's a nightmare; and it may come again
tomorrow night."

Once, in 1968, I listened in to the great John Osman reading over his
account of being arrested and roughed up in what was then Salisbury,
Rhodesia. He was hopping mad. He had got some way through his pretty
sensational dispatch when a voice - that of the producer of FOOC
perhaps - interrupted: "Much too emotional, John. Remember, this is
the BBC." John started again, much more calmly, and the despatch was
all the stronger and more impressive for it.

What I admired most about the BBC's correspondents was their
independence of mind. In 1973, soon after I had become a foreign
correspondent, one of those intermittent internal rows which
occasionally sweep through the BBC had just begun. I have forgotten
the issue, but the management saw it as a question of better
housekeeping, while we saw it as a threat to just about everything we
stood for.

The BBC's foreign correspondents were summoned to a conference in
London, and the director general of the day, Charles Curran, addressed
us on the subject of the new policy. He was peremptory, and at the end
Charles Wheeler, the most senior and respected foreign correspondent
there, stood up and took issue with him. The head of correspondents
interrupted: "You can't speak to the DG like that." Wheeler turned to
him. "You pay us to put the toughest questions to presidents and prime
ministers; are you really saying we can't question our own boss?" Then
he did, with even greater ferocity.

Are the BBC's foreign correspondents, 30 years on, as good as these
people were? Well, they certainly hold the BBC's reputation in their
hands still, just as they always did; and the BBC's reputation hasn't
declined since that time. In fact, the main difference between the BBC
of the past and the BBC today is that it has gone from being one of a
number of medium-sized national broadcasters to becoming a dominant
force in the international media, perhaps the dominant force.

In 1972, when I became a foreign correspondent, the BBC was a small
player in television news, compared with the big American networks.
Now they have shrunk, and are rarely spotted on the international
scene; and good and principled though CNN still is, it does not have
the reach and scope of the BBC, nor the number or range of their
foreign correspondents.

A lot of other things have changed since 1972, of course. Since
satelliting our reports was so expensive, we usually had to ship our
film back to London, a hit-and-miss process which took at least a day
from anywhere outside western Europe. So by the time our reports
appeared they were a good 24 hours old, and had to be dressed up
(often rather deceitfully, I used to feel) as though they were still
valid. Out in the field, when you wrote your script, you had to do an
awful lot of guessing about how the events you were covering would
develop, and it was remarkably easy to get it wrong.

It was easy in those days for governments and policemen to stop you
covering important events. Film was expensive, so the cameramen had to
use it sparingly. More times than not the camera wouldn't be running
when something important happened. You often didn't know afterwards
exactly what pictures you had, and of course you couldn't view them in
those days. Developing the pictures locally was expensive and
unreliable; they would often come back bright blue or dark green,
badly scratched, or displaying a gigantic pubic-like hair which
flickered across each frame.

The easiest and cheapest way to get your film back to London was to
get ordinary passengers to hand-carry it. You had to beg them not to
open the can, even if a security official told them to, because the
film would be fogged. It wasn't very easy, even in those more innocent
days.

Now everything seems so smooth and efficient. And cheaper: instead of
the vast teams we travelled with - correspondent, producer, cameraman,
sound-recordist, lighting man and picture editor - there are just two:
a cameraman or woman who edits the pictures, and the correspondent. A
few of us are fortunate enough to have a producer, too. The work is
harder, but it is more satisfying.

Now, if we go somewhere like Iraq or Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia,
someone else has to come: a security adviser. In my case, it is
usually a superb ex-Royal Marine called Craig Summers. He is not
armed, though the BBC has taken the difficult decision to allow our
security advisers to carry guns in Iraq. So far, they have never had
to use them.

The BBC operation in Baghdad is remarkable. The permanent
correspondent is Caroline Hawley, who speaks fluent Arabic. She, and
the other correspondents who go there, do an impressive job. You have
to be careful, but one or more BBC teams go out on to the streets of
Baghdad just about every day; it's a matter of course. You just have
to make sure you don't stay in the same place for more than 10 or 15
minutes and start attracting unwelcome attention. It is distinctly
annoying to find that everyone back home thinks it is so dangerous
that you cower inside the bureau the whole time.

I go to Baghdad every three months or so, to see how things are
changing; each time the situation has been markedly more violent than
on my previous visit. This August the temperature was in the mid-50s
centigrade. Despite that, the BBC people probably work in worse
conditions than any of the other news organisations in Baghdad.
Operating on licence-fee payers' money tends to have that effect.

Would Anthony Lawrence and Charles Wheeler and the other great figures
of the BBC's past find things greatly changed now? Only, I think, in
technical terms; the actual business of reporting remains pretty much
the same. You have to arm-wrestle constantly with programme editors to
get your reports on air, but it has always been like that. In the
early 1980s I once had to call the director general to make sure an
important story was broadcast by a reluctant bulletin editor. I doubt
if that would be necessary today.

We still have endless battles with editors who think a minute and a
half (about 270 words) is long enough for a complicated story, but
that's not new either. Years ago an editor asked the talented and
famously laid-back correspondent Michael Cole if he could get his
story into a minute and three-quarters. "I could do you the second
world war in a minute and three-quarters," Michael drawled, "but you
might lose some of the detail."

The detail is what matters. If a report is too brief, people can't
understand what is happening; so why bother to broadcast it?
Explaining things is the basic purpose of reporting. That is why the
BBC correspondent's favourite programme is and has always been From
Our Own Correspondent. You don't lose the detail in FOOC: it
luxuriates there in full, florid complexity. Long may it survive.

An extract from John Simpson's report, Cape of Good Hope, May 5 1994

The other day there was a service of thanksgiving in St George's
Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town for the peaceful conclusion to the
elections. The congregation sang O God Our Help in Ages Past, with
that slightly apologetic note in the voice that marks the influence of
the English and their mild religious faith the world over. There were
Indians and coloured people and Africans and whites there, and their
words floated up to the roof of Sir Herbert Baker's incomparable piece
of Edwardian gothic.

In front of me were the rich stained glass and the delicately carved
granite, but I scarcely noticed them. Other images were running
through my mind: playing with my daughters on the beach at Cape Town
on Christmas Day 1977 alongside all the other white families, while a
row of black children sat on a low wall at the back of the beach,
watching the enjoyment they were forbidden, by law, to share.

I remembered our landlord showing us round the colonial bungalow we'd
just decided to rent in a pleasant suburban street in Johannesburg.

"We really must get this painted nicely," my wife had said, looking at
the squalid little hutch where the servants would live.

"These people are just animals," the Iandlord had retorted in his
heavy Austrian accent, "you'd be wasting your money."

And now here I was again in Cape Town, 16 years after I'd been based
here and watched the cruelty and wastefulness of the system that had
now been swept away by the ever-rolling stream of history. That
evening, I drove with my television crew to the beach to watch the
sunset - the beach on which I'd spent Christmas Day in 1977. They'd
knocked down the wall where the disconsolate black children had once
sat, and in the last light of the setting sun a young coloured couple
were drawing hearts in the sand and laughing when the waves washed
them out.

I've been fortunate to see many of the extraordinary changes that have
come over our world. But I haven't seen anything better or more
encouraging than what's been happening here.

· From Our Own Correspondent, edited by Tony Grant, is published by
Profile Books.

Re: Fwd: FW: Top reasons why ladies today are still single!!

2005-09-04T18:16:00.000+08:00

No, some ladies are single because they are bitches. Before I get flamed, the same goes for some
men.

--- Soong Leng <soongleng@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> Note: forwarded message attached.
>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________
> Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page
> http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
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> by ultra.time.com.my (SMSSMTP 4.0.0.59) with SMTP id M2005090113402903264
> ; Thu, 01 Sep 2005 13:40:29 +0800
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> SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6713);
> Thu, 1 Sep 2005 13:43:22 +0800
> Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
> MIME-Version: 1.0
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> charset="iso-8859-1"
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
> Subject: FW: Top reasons why ladies today are still single!!
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>
>
> TO SMART WOMEN WHO NEED A LAUGH AND TO THE GUYS YOU THINK CAN HANDLE IT!
>
>
> Top reasons why ladies today are still single!!
>
>
> 1. The nice men are ugly.
>
> 2. The handsome men are not nice.
>
> 3. The handsome and nice men are gay.
>
> 4. The handsome, nice and heterosexual men are married.
>
> 5. The men who are not so handsome, but are nice men, have no
> money.
>
> 6. The men who are not so handsome, but are nice men with money
> think we are only after their money.
>
> 7. The handsome men without money are after our money.
>
> 8. The handsome men, who are not so nice and somewhat heterosexual,
> don't think we are beautiful enough.
>
> 9. The men who think we are beautiful, that are heterosexual,
> somewhat nice and have money, are cowards.
>
> 10. The men who are somewhat handsome, somewhat nice and have some
> money and thank God are heterosexual, are shy and NEVER MAKE THE FIRST
> MOVE!!!!
>
> 11. The men who never make the first move, automatically lose
> interest in us when we take the initiative.
>
>
>
> NOW, WHO THE HELL UNDERSTANDS MEN?
>
>
> "Men are like a fine wine. They all start out like grapes, and it's our
> job to stomp on them and keep them in the dark until they mature into
> something you'd like to have dinner with."
>
>

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

Oil Sheikh's Audi - Made from the metal SILVER

2005-09-04T17:55:00.000+08:00

Count Dracula

2005-09-04T16:20:00.000+08:00

In the winter of 1436-1437, Dracul became prince of Wallachia (one of
the three Romanian provinces) and took up residence at the palace of
Tirgoviste, the princely capital. Vlad followed his father and lived
six years at the princely court. In 1442, in order to keep the Turks
at bay, Dracul sent his son Vlad and his younger brother Radu, to
Istanbul, as hostages of the Sultan Murad II. Vlad was held in there
until 1448. This Turkish captivity surely played an important role in
Dracula's upbringing; it must be at this period that he adopted a very
pessimistic view of life and learned the Turkish method of impalement
on stakes. The Turks set Vlad free after informing him of his father's
assassination in 1447. He also learned about his older brother's death
and how he had been tortured and buried alive by the boyars of
Tirgoviste.

When he was 17 years old, Vlad Tepes (Dracula), supported by a force
of Turkish cavalry and a contingent of troops lent to him by pasha
Mustafa Hassan, made his first major move toward seizing the
Wallachian throne. Vlad became the ruler of Wallachia in July of 1456.
During his six-year reign he committed many cruelties, and hence
established his controversial reputation.

His first major act of revenge was aimed at the boyars of Tirgoviste
for for not being loyal to his father. On Easter Sunday of what we
believe to be 1459, he arrested all the boyar families who had
participated at the princely feast. He impaled the older ones on
stakes while forcing the others to march from the capital to the town
of Poenari. This fifty-mile trek was quite grueling and no one was
permitted to rest until they reached destination. Dracula then ordered
boyars to build him a fortress on the ruins of an older outpost
overlooking the Arges River. Many died in the process, and Dracula
therefore succeeded in creating a new nobility and obtaining a
fortress for future emergencies. What is left today of the building is
identified as Poenari Fortress (Cetatea Poenari).

count

Vlad Tepes adopted the method of impaling criminals and enemies and
raising them aloft in the town square for all to see. Almost any
crime, from lying and stealing to killing, could be punished by
impalement. Being so confident in the effectiveness of his law,
Dracula placed a golden cup on display in the central square of
Tirgoviste. The cup could be used by thirsty travelers, but had to
remain on the square. According to the available historic sources, it
was never stolen and remained entirely unmolested throughout Vlad's
reign. Crime and corruption ceased; commerce and culture thrived, and
many Romanians to this day view Vlad Tepes as a hero for his fierce
insistence on honesty and order.

In the beginning of 1462, Vlad launched a campaign against the Turks
along the Danube River. It was quite risky, the military force of
Sultan Mehmed II being by far more powerful than the Wallachian army.
However, during the winter of 1462, Vlad was very successful and
managed to gain several victories. To punish Dracula, the Sultan
decided to launch a full-scale invasion of Wallachia. His other goal
was to transform this land into a Turkish province. He entered
Wallachia with an army three times larger than Dracula's. Finding
himself without allies, and forced to retreat towards Tirgoviste, Vlad
burned his own villages and poisoned the wells along the way, so that
the Turkish army would find nothing to eat or drink. Moreover, when
the Sultan, exhausted, finally reached the capital city, he was
confronted by a most gruesome sight: hundreds of stakes held the
remaining carcasses of Turkish captives, a horror scene which was
ultimately nicknamed the "Forest of the Impaled". This terror tactic
deliberately stage-managed by Dracula was definitely successful; the
scene had a strong effect on Mehmed's most stout-hearted officers, and
the Sultan, tired and hungry, decided to withdraw (it is worth
mentioning that even Victor Hugo, in his Legende des Siecles, recalls
this particular incident). Nevertheless, following his retreat from
Wallachian territory, Mehmed encouraged and supported Vlad's younger
brother Radu to take the Wallachian throne. At the head of a Turkish
army and joined by Vlad's detractors, Radu pursued his brother to
Poenari Castle on the Arges river. According to the legend, this is
when Dracula's wife, in order to escape capture, committed suicide by
hurling herself from the upper battlements, her body falling down the
precipice into the river below — a scene exploited by Francis Ford
Coppola's production. Vlad, who was definitely not the kind of man to
kill himself, managed to escape the siege of his fortress by using a
secret passage into the mountain. He was however, assassinated toward
the end of December 1476.

Ivan the Terrible

2005-09-04T16:19:00.000+08:00

Ivan the Terrible

Stalin admired him. The rest of Europe believed he was mad. What is
certain is that he was one of the most ruthless tyrants in history.

The name 'Ivan the Terrible' conjours up images of senseless cruelty
and paranoia. Yet, for many in Russia, he is a national hero. Ivan
appears to be a man of huge contradictions - a man of God who
personally tortured his victims and beat his own son to death; a
hardened despot who often behaved like a coward, asking his ally,
Elizabeth I of England, for political asylum; a man who believed
himself chosen to save the souls of his people, but who brutally put
thousands to death in carefully orchestrated purges.

Born in 1530, Ivan was only three when he inherited the Russian throne
following his father's death. At the age of seven, tragedy struck
again when his mother was poisoned by nobles at court. By his early
teens, he was already displaying some of his uglier traits. He would
throw live animals from towers and appeared to derive pleasure from
doing so.

Ivan was crowned Russia's first Tsar at the age of 17. Three weeks
later he married, having chosen his bride in a national virgin
competition. Virgins over the age of twelve were brought to the
Kremlin to be paraded before him. He chose Anastasia, the daughter of
a minor noble, and their marriage proved to be a very close one.

Ivan had huge ambitions for his new Imperial dynasty. He launched a
holy war against Russia's traditional enemy - the Tartars - showing no
mercy to these Muslim peoples and decimating their cultural heritage.
Ivan's conquest of Kazan and later Astrakhan and Siberia gave birth to
a sixteenth century personality cult glorifying him as the Orthodox
crusader.

His wife Anastasia helped to hold his cruelty in check, but in 1560
she died. He accused his nobles of poisoning her, and became even more
mentally unstable. Until recently, most scholars have dismissed Ivan's
accusation of murder as evidence of his paranoia. But recent forensic
tests on Anastasia's remains have revealed more than ten times the
normal levels of mercury in her hair. It is likely, that Anastasia was
indeed murdered, sending Ivan into a downward spiral of murder and
cruelty.

He set up a bodyguard that has been described as Russia's first
'secret police' - the Oprichniki - as a religious brotherhood sworn to
protecting God's Tsar. In reality, they became marauding thugs, ready
to commit any crime in the Tsar's name. Ivan sentenced thousands to
internal exile in far flung parts of the empire. Others were condemned
to death; their families and servants often killed as well. Ivan would
give detailed orders about the executions, using biblically inspired
tortures to reconstruct the sufferings of hell. More than 3,000 people
lost their lives in Ivan's attack on Novgorod alone. In a fit of rage,
Ivan struck his son and heir dead with his staff. Mad with sorrow and
guilt, he had a dramatic volte face, posthumously forgiving all those
he'd executed and paying for prayers to be said for their souls.
Before his death, Ivan was re-christened as the monk Jonah and buried
in his monk's habit - in the hope of finding ultimate forgiveness.

HAHAHA

2005-09-04T16:00:00.000+08:00

The Electric New Paper :
He offers sex tours
They track sex tourists
'You'll come back a different man'
S'pore matchmaker offers Vietnamese factory girls as escorts
HE runs a matchmaking agency that promises to find your life partner
in only six days.
By Dawn Chia
04 September 2005

HE runs a matchmaking agency that promises to find your life partner
in only six days.

If marriage is not on your mind, he has a sexier proposition: a sex holiday.

This agent's 'Sexplorer Tour' is possibly the first-ever sex tour
originating from Singapore.

He is boldly organising these tours to Vietnam even though the
authorities there are clamping down on prostitution. (See report on
next page.)

Customers who are not interested in marriage can opt to go on this
four-day, three-night whirlwind sex tour to seek mistresses or simply
for a weekend of fun.

Its itinerary comes with the usual city tours and meals, but what
makes this different from other holidays is that customers can choose
their own female Vietnamese escort to keep them company round the
clock.

The tour gives them the option of skipping all the sight-seeing
activities if customers prefer to 'spend time with their escorts in
their hotel rooms'.

The Sexplorer tour package, which is being marketed on the Internet,
costs $1,788 but customers who do not want the complementary
matchmaking session will get a discount of $150.

'You'll come back a different man!' screams the titillating, detailed
brochure, which The New Paper obtained from a potential client who
e-mailed to ask about the details.

The sex tour operator responded by sending the brochure and itinerary
to the client.

The organised sex tour is provided by a Singapore-registered
friendship, matchmaking and dating agency, that is based in the
operator's HDB flat in Hougang.

All it takes is a group of four, and the sex tour operator will fly
you to Ho Chi Minh city, on a Friday for a weekend 'tour with a
difference'.

The operator claims to have 13 years of experience in the matchmaking industry.

After several attempts, The New Paper managed to contact the operator
on the phone.

At first, he denied that he provides such a service.

But when we confronted him with more proof, he claimed he was helping
out his Vietnamese 'counterpart'.

Posing as an interested customer earlier, a special correspondent from
The New Paper called up the operator to find out more about his
'Sexplorer Tour'.

He was then invited to the sex tour operator's house for a
'face-to-face presentation'. (See report at right.)

The operator said that since February, at least four 'Sexplorer Tours'
have been organised.

A fifth has been scheduled from 9-12 Sep, after a normal matchmaking
tour (a six-day, five-night trip) which leaves Singapore today (3
Sep).

He claims his core business is to matchmake his customers, and that
such sex tours are only his sideline.

The four-day itinerary which he has planned for the 'Sexplorer Tour'
is jam-packed with activities, according to the itinerary.

On arrival, it said that the customer will be chauffered by a Mercedes
van for 'complementary matchmaking sessions' and then to select
part-time escorts.

STUDENT ESCORTS

These escorts are 'students, factory and office workers' who will them
company for '24 hours a day'.

The operator took pains to reassure the potential client that these
girls are different from those at the matchmaking session.

They are 'just as pretty but non-virgin', he reiterates in his e-mails.

'Virgin escorts are available (if you're lucky) at certain times', but
the sex tourist will have to pay an additional US$1,500 ($2,500) to
US$2,000, he wrote.

Medical certificates will be produced as proof of their chastity.

The package comes with accommodation at a three-star hotel, all meals,
refreshments and transport.

Days 2 and 3 will see the tourists pampered with saunas, spas, facials
and body massages.

They are also promised sight-seeing tours, shopping trips to the night
market, and a cabaret show at a leading nightclub.

To help the men get ready for 'another passionate night' and 'improved
blood circulation', the sex tour operator offers them cobra or viper
blood and snake gall bladder drinking sessions.

Those who wish to skip these activities can opt to stay with his
escort in the hotel.

In his e-mail to a potential customer, the sex tour operator also
wrote that customers could extend their stay.

His matchmaking agency's website and blogs display numerous
photographs of potential Vietnamese brides and wedding portraits of
success stories.

The sex tour operator wrote that he has about 300 'beautiful'
Vietnamese ladies from the village aged between 18 and 28 years.

In addition, he also claims to provide the lowest wedding packages - at $9,888.

He added that customers needed to pay $1,988 for the six-day trip
upfront, and they'd only pay the rest should they decide to pick a
bride at the end of the tour.

INTERNET AD

The New Paper understands that the sex tour operator also placed an
advertisement in Yahoo! Classifieds with the subject heading of 'Adult
Vietnam Tour'.

The advertisement urges interested parties who want to find out more
about the 'fully escourted (sic) tour to Ho Chi Minh city' to write in
for details and itinerary.

When interested parties e-mail him, he'd 'forewarn' the customer that
the 'Sexplorer Tour' is 'not the normal trip to Geylang and Batam'.

Sales pitch from HDB flat

THE scene was ordinary enough: a typical HDB flat in Hougang. But the
pitch would raise any heartlander's eyebrows.

Posing as a potential client, The New Paper's special correspondent
was invited to the tour operator's Hougang flat and given a
comprehensive sales pitch, complete with a video presentation.

Our correspondent had earlier called to make an appointment to find
out more about the 'Sexplorer Tour' as advertised on the Internet.

When asked, the operator said that the female escorts are above 18
years old and have day jobs as students, clerks or factory workers.

They are not prostitutes, he said, and accompany tourists only as a sideline.

The well-spoken man, who claimed to be 53 and married, said those who
go for the 'Sexplorer Tours' are usually in their 30s.

Our correspondent was then shown several photographs of couples who
were successfully matchmade and videos of two marriages.

The sex tour operator said that the 'Sexplorer Tours' are usually
piggy-backed on the normal matchmaking tours, so that he could keep
his operating costs down.

He'd offer those who don't manage to find a bride to go for the sex
tour to make their trip worthwhile. Those who took up the 'Sexplorer
Tour' offer had to pay $1,788.

He added that he deals with Vietnamese women as the cost of doing
business in Vietnam is lower. In addition, Vietnamese women have a
fairer complexion - a criteria his customers apparently look for.

IS IT 'SAFE'?

Asked if it was 'safe' to go on such sex tours, the sex tour operator
said he had it covered.

He claimed that he'd know of any raids at the hotels at least 12 hours
before they took place and, even if anything happened, some coffee
money would ensure there'd be no trouble at all.

However, hours after he met our special correspondent, the operator
denied being an organiser of such trips.

When The New Paper confronted him on the phone, he said curtly: 'I
don't know what you are talking about. Show me proof that I'm
organising such sex tours and bring the people who have been on the
trips to see me.

'Can anyone produce evidence that I've issued receipts for such trips?'

When we told him we had copies of his brochure and e-mail
correspondence with another client, he said: 'All I did was tell the
person who called that I could hook him up with a Vietnam counterpart
who could bring him to the 'Geylang in Vietnam'.

'I'm merely helping my Vietnam friends earn some commission. There's
nothing wrong with doing that.'

He insisted that he was not the one who had produced the brochure and
corresponded with interested parties via e-mails.

'Whoever is saying this has no proof. Somebody may be using my website
to send out these e-mails and brochures.

'I'd better change my password,' he said, before hanging up abruptly.

a bitch is a bitch is a bitch

2005-09-02T20:10:00.000+08:00

Conversation with @hotmail.com at 2005-09-02 18:48:04 on @hotmail.com (msn)
(18:47:32) : is it
(18:47:42) : your working place got a lot of muslim meh
(18:48:16) .: i mean the island is surrounded by muslims...
(18:48:29) .: www.ozdragon.org
(18:48:30) : oic hahahah
(18:48:32) : ya lo hehehe
(18:48:34) .: DRAGONBOAT!
(18:48:46) .: i hope the team accepts me...
(18:49:01) : is a club is it
(18:50:01) has closed the conversation window.
(18:51:06) .: no, dragonboat rowing!
(18:51:09) .: woohoo!
(18:51:15) .: time to show off some muscles ;)
(18:51:36) : hahaha
(18:51:41) .: i got methoxypro and creatine for50% cheaper here. but only for promotion ;(
(18:51:43) : show your cock better
(18:51:44) : hahahaha
(18:51:57) .: no ler. modern men show either brains or $
(18:51:58) : but one ton lah
(18:51:59) : hahahaha
(18:52:17) : shit la loe
(18:53:17) has closed the conversation window.
(18:53:50) .: hehehe
(18:54:00) : brother no money
(18:54:04) : how leh
(18:54:09) .: you think she'll come out if i ask her out?
(18:54:24) .: you're asking me? i'm the Little Potato Man...
(18:54:46) : who?
(18:54:51) : come on lah
(18:55:01) : you are not little potato
(18:55:06) : you are mr potato hahahaha
(18:55:11) .:
(18:55:19) .: hehe. i'm mr little potato ler
(18:55:21) : sure can one lah
(18:55:24) : how old is she
(18:55:29) : go for it man
(18:55:30) .: she's 22
(18:55:33) : never try never noe
(18:55:39) : good
(18:55:43) .: i'm DONE with OLDER MALAYSIAN BITCHES
(18:55:45) .: HAHAHA
(18:55:49) : young and dangerous
(18:56:09) : don for get to put one piece of condom in your wallet
(18:56:12) : incase you nedd it
(18:56:15) : need it
(18:56:15) .: i don't think she's even heard of gu wat chai or san kai or chan hoe nam or hung hing...
(18:56:29) .: oi, i'm a true blue litle potato man...
(18:57:27) : don pretend innocent lah hahahaha
(18:58:10) : world had change already my fren
(18:58:35) : throw away your religious thinking
(18:59:35) has closed the conversation window.
(18:59:49) .: the religious thinking actually protects myself also ler...
(19:00:12) .: i don't want to be chained before time. or before we can confirm on fidelity. or absence of BITCHINESS
(19:00:14) .: HAHAHA
(19:00:14) : cock lah
(19:00:17) : theOut! JY Deling @ 19:00:26
(19:00:34) : religious thinking will cross your mind
(19:00:34) : hahahaha
(19:01:00) : you must kong that girl first
(19:01:08) : then she is yours already
(19:01:15) : she cannot go anywhere mah
(19:02:15) has closed the conversation window.
(19:02:53) .: ever heard of divorce, brother.
(19:02:59) .: a bitch is a bitch is a bitch...
(19:03:15) .: kong or pregnant or 3 kids, shit happens. i've seen it on www.ojar.com
(19:03:35) .: most importantly, make sure it was love. love carefully.
Conversation with @hotmail.com at 2005-09-02 19:20:37 on @hotmail.com (msn)
(19:20:33) : oi
(19:20:40) .: heya
(19:20:44) .: who's that yellow duck?
(19:20:52) : must kong first
(19:20:57) : belif me
(19:21:03) .: hehehe don't do that to any girl.
(19:21:11) .: what if you are the one to change heart?
(19:21:23) : my fren
(19:21:28) .: i am a victim, but i won't be able to guarantee i am not a bitch myself!
(19:21:41) : is ok one
(19:21:54) : you see
(19:22:09) : kong is not something bad
(19:22:25) : sometimes girl also need it too my fren
(19:22:42) : not only for guys only
(19:22:58) .: my friend, when she goes overseas for 3 months, and she needs it, then she goes and finds a gigolo. is that okay?
(19:23:07) .: we're humans. not animals.
(19:23:20) : not saying like that
(19:23:28) : is different one lah
(19:24:00) : kong is also one of the way to keep their heart
(19:24:09) : not guarantee lah
(19:24:14) .: you forgot that i said a bitch is a bitch is a bitch?
(19:24:23) : no man
(19:24:24) .: or you don't agree that "a bitch is a bitch is a bitch"?
(19:24:31) : i know a few frens
(19:24:44) : sometimes they also talking kong stuff
(19:24:54) : or their ex
(19:25:07) .: i know hundreds from ojar.com. kong or not. bitches (guys and girls) still happen.
(19:25:24) : that is for western ppl
(19:25:24) .: and everyone still comes to ojar to ask WHY questions.
(19:25:27) : not asia ppl
(19:25:35) .: you're saying ALL asians are angels?
(19:25:43) : no
(19:25:50) : their culture are different
(19:25:54) .: who says ojar.com is full of westerners? you've not even been in there...
(19:26:01) : you can see all the hollywood stars
(19:26:10) .: so you're saying ALL hong kong stars are angels?
(19:26:12) : married for few month then divorce
(19:26:25) : or even engage also
(19:26:28) .: and you're also saying ALL married asians DO NOT divorce?!
(19:26:40) : today engage tomolo cancel
(19:26:48) .: for your information, my mom is a single mother. her mom is a single mother
(19:27:01) .: her elder sister is a single mother ( kanasai's mother).
(19:27:01) : asia ppl divorce rate are lower then western ppl
(19:27:19) .: don't live in your non-real statistics, friend.
(19:27:27) .: for your information, my mom is a single mother. her mom is a single mother
(19:27:29) .: her elder sister is a single mother ( kanasai's mother).
(19:27:29) : because this i a contrary of culture between western and asian
(19:27:41) .: are you listening?
(19:27:49) : i know man
(19:28:05) .: out of 5 daughters of my maternal grandma, 4 have unhappy marriages!
(19:28:24) : aiyah you can not base on that one mah
(19:28:31) .: so what are you saying? KONG will fix all problems?
(19:28:47) .: what's your term of profit/loss margin? kong first and then NOTHING to lose?
(19:28:55) .: how about the 10 years (from ojar)?
(19:28:59) .: how about YOUR heart?
(19:29:28) .: KONG fixes nothing. a bitch is a bitch is a bitch, my friend.
(19:29:30) : hello bro mariage problem maybe have a lot of undiscover factors
(19:29:57) : the world had change
(19:30:04) : last time ppl married at 16
(19:30:17) : now a day ppl married at 25++
(19:30:35) .: so?
(19:30:44) .: what has age got to do with your kong theorem?
(19:30:46) .: :P
(19:31:04) : have lah
(19:31:15) .: has it changed so much that you now can travel from KL to SG in 1 minute? NO!
(19:31:29) : belif me
(19:31:31) : kong first
(19:31:33) : hahahahah
(19:31:35) .: WHY?
(19:31:48) .: will it fix a bitch is a bitch is a bitch?
(19:31:52) : do you belif in eternity of love
(19:32:01) .: let me tell you what i believe
(19:32:10) : ok
(19:32:21) .: i believe it human beings as a whole DO NOT understand what ETERNITY is, nor FOREVER.
(19:32:31) .: we live a maximum of 150 years.
(19:32:35) : ok
(19:32:37) .: what do we know about FOREVER?!
(19:33:14) : ok lo seems there are no such thing
(19:33:17) : just kong first lah
(19:33:19) : hahahahaa
(19:33:24) : come on man
(19:33:33) : im not asking you to kong a hooker
(19:33:56) .: IF i have a change of heart after doing what you say, THEN I AM A HOOKER
(19:34:09) .: i cannot live with myself.
(19:34:13) .: can you?
(19:34:16) : what make you change of heart
(19:34:24) .: can anyone guarantee?
(19:34:24) : because of others girl
(19:34:36) : if that girl is a good girl
(19:34:41) : you won change heart one lah
(19:34:54) .: it's not a matter of good girl or not. maybe that good girl is not meant to be mine.
(19:35:03) .: maybe that good girl has turned into a BITCH.
(19:35:14) .: if i change, i change.
(19:35:18) .: good boy or not
(19:35:36) .: let me also tell you the ONE question i asked the VERY FIRST NIGHT
(19:35:45) .: THE VERY FIRST NIGHT SHE BECAME A BITCH
(19:35:56) .: I ASKED THE MOST RIGHT QUESTION OF ALL
(19:36:01) .: YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS?
(19:36:23) : ok
(19:36:26) : go a head
(19:36:44) .: the most RIGHT question of all questions i asked for the next SIX months
(19:37:06) .: "Is this kind of woman worth keeping at my side?"
(19:37:27) : you sees thing too seriously
(19:37:46) .: is this the kind of woman i think i should spend a lifetime with?
(19:37:55) .: is this the kind of woman i think should raise my kids?
(19:38:22) .: buddy, life is limited. you have only up to 55 years to work to save to feed yourself during the older days.
(19:38:36) .: there is NO TIME to play a fool around, not taking things seriously!
(19:38:37) : have you ask yourself did you do any mistake in the relation?
(19:38:57) .: NOTHING big enough to warrant CHEATING BY A BITCH.
(19:40:12) : sometimes you have to do case study of yourself
(19:41:01) .: most of the times, there is nothing to be done against fate
(19:41:07) .: a bitch is a bitch is a bitch
(19:41:32) .: she asked me to marry her 2 years ago. at that time i was 23, she's 26.
(19:41:46) .: I BELIEVE the same would have happened.
(19:42:01) .: what then, my friend? divorce? kids? taking 50% of my assets and ca$h?
(19:42:08) .: fights? LAWYERS?
(19:42:20) .: a bitch is a bitch is a bitch
(19:43:21) has closed the conversation window.
Conversation with @hotmail.com at 2005-09-02 19:46:31 on @hotmail.com (msn)
(19:45:37) : come on man
(19:45:38) : is ok
(19:45:48) : i can say that luckily you did not married her
(19:46:08) : anyway i find that you can find better girl than her
(19:46:49) .: i'm sure i can, bro.
(19:47:10) : she cannot lah
(19:47:18) : you ask your geog bro
(19:47:20) .: it's just inevitable the pain must be paid for
(19:47:39) : not worth lah
(19:47:45) : you are so young man
(19:47:50) : so many youth no worry
(19:47:53) : kong first
(19:47:55) .: do you not believe there is a price for everything?
(19:47:56) : belif me
(19:47:58) : kong first
(19:48:01) .: karma?
(19:48:14) : you see man
(19:48:25) : if you had choose punish by karma
(19:48:28) : is ok wat
(19:48:30) : hahahaha
(19:48:31) .: you sow what you reap?
(19:48:42) .: evil begets evil...
(19:48:47) .: do not evil.
(19:48:55) : im evil man
(19:49:15) : my english name is davemond
(19:49:19) .: need reboot man...hehe

Dragon Boat

2005-09-02T14:06:00.000+08:00

From THREE O'CLOCK on a Saturday arvo you will see a group of enthusiastic individuals surfacing, all geared up and ready to go by the beach at Kallang Riverside Park. Apart from keeping their fitness levels up and meeting their friends, it's also a way for them to shed away those extra 'kilos'...

Practice sessions usually last up to an hour and half. Closer to the competitions (in June and November), we tend to train a little longer and definietely harder. For the more competitve members we have additional training on Sunday mornings at 9:30am starting with some fitness training followed by an intensive session on the water.

China, India urged to team up

2005-09-02T09:35:00.000+08:00

China, India urged to team up
Florence Chong
02sep05

CHINA and India could make up a "super economic bloc" of 2 billion people if they aimed to complement rather than compete with each other, a business forum was told yesterday.

Leading Asian business executives at the Forbes CEO forum in Sydney urged the two giants to look to closer co-operation.

Singapore-based Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, economic adviser, Asia/Pacific region, for MasterCard, said that as China moved up the economic value chain it would require industrial designs and innovation to go the next step.

"The obvious place to look ... is India," he said.

Ratan Tata, chairman of India's largest industrial conglomerate the Tata Group, acknowledged that China was much further ahead of India in manufacturing.

But on the "skills side", India was developing "a strong knowledge base", Mr Tata said.

If India could marry the productivity and scale of China's manufacturing base, it could create a highly efficient economic engine with a combined market of 2 billion people, Mr Tata said.

Mr Wong echoed this view, saying there were the makings of an economic superpower of the 21st century in a combination of the attributes of the two nations.

He said India's youthful population would complement China's ageing population, now the third-oldest in Asia after Japan and Hong Kong.

Mr Wong said India and China would present a potential outbound tourist market of 1 billion people by 2020.

He said that people began travelling when their per capita income reached $US5000 ($6670) a year.

Mr Wong said that, on current estimates, within 15 years a total of 1 billion people in India and China would have achieved that income level and have begun to travel.

The bulk of the travel initially would be within Asia, he said.

The overall spend on travel and tourism by Asia's economies was projected to reach $US165 billion by 2014 -- equivalent to Hong Kong's current gross domestic product (in 2004 dollar terms) and 1.5 times Singapore's, Mr Wong said.

Mr Vincent Lo, chairman of leading Chinese property company Shui On Land, said there were many practical problems in getting the two countries to co-operate closely.

He said such an idea looked good on paper, but in reality would be difficult to achieve.

Mr Lo said Australia should "invite investors from both these markets to come and help spur growth further in Australia".

Mr Lo, who studied at Sydney University, said: "Australia is a very attractive country and Sydney is a beautiful city but the market's simply too small.

"I studied here for six years and ... if you can expand the market I'm sure all of us will be keen to make our investments."

Walker's World: Italy plays with euro fire

2005-09-01T09:27:00.000+08:00

www.wpherald.com
Walker's World: Italy plays with euro fire
By Martin Walker
UPI Editor
Published August 31, 2005

Despite his undoubted entertainment value, the world does not usually pay much attention to flamboyant Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, even when he holds one of his summits with his chum Russian President Vladimir Putin. But this week's brief encounter at the Black Sea resort of Sochi deserves the serious consideration that banking circles in London and Frankfurt and Paris are already giving to Berlusconi's subsequent news conference.

The questions were not about Italian-Russian relations, or even about Chechnya or the Russian-Chinese military exercises in the Pacific. The Italian journalists focused mainly on Italy's own grim economic situation, and Berlusconi's stubborn defense of his policies.

"Things could not have been done better," Berlusconi said. "There isn't one decision taken that I consider a mistake in hindsight. There are many that I couldn't take I would have wanted to because on one occasion one party will refuse and on another, another of the parties will refuse."

But then came the real meat of the affair, Berlusconi's careful distancing of himself from the euro. Many Italians consider the euro to be the source of their economic difficulties, and trace their decline back to the 1997 decision of Romano Prodi's left-liberal government to abandon the lira and take Italy into the single European currency, whatever the strain on the Italian economy.

The problems of the euro, and particularly the high exchange rate at which the lira entered the eurozone, Berlusconi said, were nothing to do with him.

"First of all the euro with that exchange rate was approved by Prodi. From this point of view, it is therefore Prodi's euro," Berlusconi began.

"Secondly, the appreciation of the euro is not up to us, and this put our exports in difficulty. Thirdly, we do not regulate oil prices," he added.

"Fourthly, the expansion of supply from Far Eastern and Eastern European countries on the global market too does not depend upon us. In my opinion, our economy is resisting, and then, what's the real GDP? I've never seen it out and about, because it is often hidden -- we have to consider that the real Italy also includes the hidden economy."

There is a political context here. In June, Roberto Maroni, Berlusconi's welfare minister from the Northern League party, declared the euro was a "disaster" for Italy and a "product of a European model whose failure we are witnessing with concern."

Then Berlusconi told a party rally, gearing up for next year's elections when Prodi is likely to be his main challenger, that "Prodi's euro has screwed everybody."

The markets are beginning to weigh the possibility that this is more than just political sniping, and Berlusconi -- in the heat of a hard-fought political campaign -- might indeed try to take Italy out of the euro.

Since Germany and Italy, along with the French, Dutch, Greeks, Belgians, Finns and others, all use the same currency that has a common interest rate set by the independent European Central Bank, the bonds issued by the various eurozone countries to raise money to finance their budget deficits ought to carry the same interest.

But they don't, because their markets have less confidence in Italian (or Greek or Portuguese) bonds than they do in German or Finnish bonds. The Italian bonds pay roughly 0.2 percent more interest because of the prospect Italy will leave the euro and bring back the lira, and then devalue the lira and pay off the bonds in devalued money, leaving the holders of Italian bonds in the same unenviable position as those foolish enough to buy Argentine bonds five years ago.

Very large amounts of money could be lost, because the total Italian government debt now stands at $1.5 trillion -- representing 106 percent of Italy's gross domestic product. (The entry requirements for joining the euro currency were that the annual budget deficit be less than 3 percent of GDP, which Prodi's government just managed to achieve in the relevant year by cooking the books, and that the total government debt be less than 60 percent of GDP. A political decision was taken to give Italy a waiver on this requirement.)

There is another factor to consider. Many European banks, particularly the lumbering German mortgage banks (which are backed by a state guarantee), have been arbitraging the interest rate differential between German and Italian euro bonds to the tune of hundreds of billions of euros. An Italian devaluation would thus throw the entire German (and thus the European) banking system into serious crisis.

None of this will come as news to bankers, many of who have been frightening themselves by taking along the research paper "European Meltdown" that was prepared by the HSBC banking group, the first bank publicly to question the future of the euro. The paper argues convincingly that Italy, Germany and the Netherlands would all benefit if they left the euro, because of the mounting strains of keeping a single interest rate when the stagnant Italian economy needs lower interest rates and the booming Irish and Finnish economies need a higher one. Other bankers have been looking at the new edition of "Mann on the Legal Aspect of Money," the classic text on international monetary law, which says Italy could indeed leave the euro, launch its own new and swiftly devalued currency, and would not be liable to compensate the fleeced bondholders in British or U.S. courts.

This is where politics becomes important. Berlusconi may now be able to blackmail the European Central Bank into lowering interest rates, to help Italy, because he can threaten a meltdown. Certainly he seems to be preparing the Italian public for the prospect of leaving the euro. But the impact of such a surrender to Italian blackmail would be dreadful for the credibility of the Bank and of the euro. The markets would be appalled, the voters in Germany, the Netherlands and France would be infuriated, and the euro would go into calamitous decline, along with the prospects of European solidarity.

Italy's prime minister, desperate to win re-election and crush Prodi and "his" euro, is playing with financial fire. This could be a long, hot autumn in the markets.

Return to the article

FX Asia:Surplus, Brunei Buffer Singapore Dlr Vs Oil Rise

2005-09-01T09:26:00.000+08:00

Thursday September 1, 12:00 AM
FX Asia:Surplus, Brunei Buffer Singapore Dlr Vs Oil Rise

(This article was originally published 0830 GMT Wednesday.) .
By Ron Harui .
A Dow Jones Newswires Column

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Singapore has no oil reserves and relies totally on imports for its daily oil needs.

I AM

I AM SEEKING

With photo
Yet the Singapore dollar's falls in recent weeks have been less severe than many of its Asian counterparts whose economies are as a whole facing risks from the relentless march upward in global oil prices.

The Singapore dollar has fallen about 2.6% against the U.S. dollar over the past few weeks, about midway between the performances of its neighbors. The Indonesian rupiah is down 15.6% during the same period, while the Philippine peso has only slipped a marginal 1.2% versus the U.S. dollar.

Analysts said Singapore's huge surpluses in trade and other accounts, sound government economic policies, and to an extent, its currency link with oil-rich Brunei, are big positives buffering the economy - and its currency - against the impact of record oil prices.

According to Irene Cheung, analyst at ABN AMRO Asia Securities, "(Singapore) is not really the most vulnerable" economy in Asia as its daily imports of 700,000 barrels of crude oil represent only a small portion of the city-state's total imports.

In contrast, several its neighbors are already feeling the heat that scorching oil prices are bringing to their economies. For one, oil producer and Asia's sole member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Indonesia, is scrambling to calm markets as a weak rupiah, pressured by heavy oil imports, encourages investors to head for the door.

Elsewhere, healthy trade accounts built up after the 1997-1998 crisis are threatening to dip into the red as the costs of oil imports soar. Concerns are also growing over whether budding growth in emerging Asia - among the heaviest oil guzzlers globally - will falter if oil prices continue to scale new heights and stifle global demand.

"Although our global economic team hasn't yet fully assessed the impact of this (oil) shock on regional economies, we believe that, if sustained, the current oil spike could trim global GDP (gross domestic product) growth by around 1.5 percentage points over 2006 and 2007," said Morgan Stanley in a research report.

Even Oil-Exporting Malaysia Vulnerable

This week, the front month crude oil contract soared to a new peak of US$70.85 a barrel in intraday trading on Tuesday while the Singapore dollar fell to a five-week low of S$1.6880 versus the dollar on the same day. At 0750 GMT Wednesday, the Nymex October crude futures contract was up from the New York close at $70.37 a barrel in Access trading, and the dollar was at S$1.6856.

For Singapore, said Morgan Stanley's head of global foreign exchange research, Stephen Jen, a US$10 permanent increase in oil prices shaves an estimated 1.4 percentage points off GDP growth.

"Even a net oil exporter like Malaysia could be hurt from an oil price rise if its manufacturing sector is hurt by this adverse supply shock," Jen added.

But, said ABN's Cheung, "Japan, China, Singapore and Korea enjoyed a large surplus in their basic balances, thus giving them a comfortable cushion against high oil prices."

Singapore, she said, recorded an estimated US$22.02 billion surplus in what she calls its basic balance - consisting of current account, net foreign direct investment and net portfolio flows - last year. With an estimated monthly average basic balance surplus of US$2.2 billion in the first half of this year, Singapore will "continue to enjoy this comfortable cushion in its basic balance," Cheung added.

The government's recent measures to boost Singapore's residential property market are another factor that could mitigate the potential negative impact from high oil prices by protecting domestic demand, said some economists.

Last month, the government unveiled incentives including allowing home buyers to borrow up to 90% of the value of their properties, up from 80%, as well as lowering the minimum cash downpayment to 5% of the property value from 10%, with the balance coming out of their compulsory pension savings.

"This makes the presence of offsetting factors increasingly crucial, whether it be tax cuts as in Australia, infrastructure projects as in Thailand, housing incentives as in Singapore," Morgan Stanley said.

Brunei Connection

Singapore's economy has also become less dependent on oil during the past decade, suggesting a weakening in the traditional inverse relationship between oil prices and the economy, according to a National University of Singapore study conducted late last year.

NUS found that oil comprised 88% of Singapore's energy consumption in 2003, with natural gas - mainly from Indonesia - accounting for the rest. In 1991, oil represented 100% of Singapore's energy consumption.

The shift to greater use of natural gas is a result of Singapore's policies aimed at reducing carbon dioxide and sulfur emissions, ensuring energy security, and promoting the country as a regional hub for an integrated gas pipeline network. It set a target of 60% of the country's electricity to be generated from natural gas by 2012, a goal which was met in 2003, a year after the target was set.

Then there's the Brunei connection.

Singapore and Brunei have tied their currencies at par since 1967, meaning the Singapore and Brunei dollars track each other perfectly via Brunei's currency board system. The Singapore dollar is also legal tender in Brunei and vice versa.

As an oil exporter, Brunei's currency stands to gain on bullish oil market prospects. Goldman Sachs said in a research report that it has raised its forecast for West Texas Intermediate crude to US$67 a barrel for the rest of 2005 and to US$68 a barrel in 2006, from US$53.5 a barrel and US$55.0 a barrel, respectively.

According to the Brunei Economic Bulletin, the nation's total exports increased 3.1% on quarter to BND2.38 billion in the January-March period. Of total exports, oil and gas contributed 93.3%.

Petroleum exports rose 2% to BND1.43 billion from the fourth quarter and 32.1% from a year ago. The increase was due to higher oil prices, which averaged US$50.43 a barrel in the first quarter versus US$46.70 a barrel in the fourth quarter and US$35.6 a barrel in the first quarter of 2004.

Brunei has extensive petroleum and natural gas fields, and its per capita GDP is one of the highest in the developing world.

. -By Ron Harui, Dow Jones Newswires; 65-6415-4150; Ron.harui@dowjones.com . (Ron Harui, an Asia-Pacific foreign exchange correspondent in Singapore for Dow Jones Newswires, previously reported from Japan.)
-Edited by Lim Mui Khi

FW: OVSD: 3141201 - DB Backup Failures for edevtib2 --FYI

2005-09-01T09:05:00.000+08:00

Database Administrator
Agilent Technologies, Inc.
1900 Garden Of The Gods Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80907

FW: RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 up, with Oracle 10g R2

2005-08-31T19:47:00.000+08:00

From:
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 7:47 PM
To:
Cc:
Subject: RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 up, with Oracle 10g R2

Root password similar as before...

The 10g silent software installation was done with /var/opt/oracle/software/database/response/custom.rsp

Difference with original custom.rsp.org:

35c35
< UNIX_GROUP_NAME=dba
---
> UNIX_GROUP_NAME=<Value Unspecified>
62c62
< ORACLE_HOME=/opt/oracle/product/10.2.0
---
> ORACLE_HOME=<Value Required>
70c70
< ORACLE_HOME_NAME=ORA1020
---
> ORACLE_HOME_NAME=<Value Required>
181c181
< SHOW_ROOTSH_CONFIRMATION=false
---
> SHOW_ROOTSH_CONFIRMATION=true
458c458
< s_nameForDBAGrp=dba
---
> s_nameForDBAGrp=<Value Required>
470c470
< s_nameForOPERGrp=dba
---
> s_nameForOPERGrp=<Value Required>
502c502
< varSelect=3
---
> varSelect=1

Best Regards,

Database Administrator
Hosting Database Competency Center (DBCC)

My name is Maximus Dessimus Merdius...and I will have my vengeance...in this life of the next.

2005-08-31T19:40:00.000+08:00

Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 10:55:49 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(10:55:56) .: why some decided to stay... http://tinyurl.com/89c6n
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 11:07:11 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(11:06:30) Ben: i wonder if anyone never goes back
(11:06:30) Ben: who left
(11:06:30) Ben: what is to go back to?
(11:07:58) .: there'a always insurance to collect from, then rebuild? and also fed gov's assistance, like in previous hurricanes, no?
(11:08:22) Ben: yeah i know
(11:09:00) Ben: but no major metropolitan center has ever been washed away likethis
(11:09:07) Ben: new orleans is home to so much
(11:09:12) .: i see
(11:09:36) .: resilience will see through it all...
(11:09:36) Ben: great food, birth of jazz, cajun country, mardi gras
(11:09:46) .: if just because there's no where else to call home...
(11:10:00) Ben: The music scen there is awesome
(11:10:14) .: cajun sounds familiar, but i cannot seem to attach a picture to the name. what is it?
(11:10:25) Ben: one of my favorite cities in the US...or at least t was
(11:10:41) .: music scene at new orleans? i see...
(11:11:28) .: can no technology fight against hurricanes? there've been billions of damages and loss to this particular beast of nature...
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 11:14:02 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(11:13:59) Ben: like what?
(11:13:59) Ben: do we have anything to battle any kind of natural diasters besides warning systems?
(11:14:27) Ben: Our earth simulator has helped with forecasting i think
(11:14:36) Ben: super computers that is
(11:14:46) Ben: but outside of that....???
(11:15:21) .: on second thought, you are right. there IS nothing against natural disasters but warning systems...
(11:15:34) .: even warning systems might not be in place in many parts of the world...
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 11:16:29 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(11:16:24) Ben: yeah
(11:16:40) Ben: tornados are the worst
(11:16:56) Ben: you don't get them in asia right?
(11:17:12) .: no tornadoes here. our worst thus far in my lifetime was the tsunami...
(11:17:36) .: phuket is still boycotted by most asians, for fear of the ghosts walking around looking for their unburied flesh. seriously.
(11:18:03) .: without proper burial, a soul is doomed to wander the earth...
(11:18:42) .: krakatoa was pretty bad a century ago? sunk an entire island underwater?
(11:18:53) .: and changed the climates of the world...
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 12:30:06 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(12:29:17) Ben: are u serious about phuket?
(12:29:17) Ben: people are afraid?
(12:30:37) .: yes, i am. and it's news to BBC. i for one ain't going there, even if there's 90% discount...
(12:31:11) Ben: really?
(12:31:18) Ben: is that a religious thing?
(12:32:03) Ben: when you say most asians are you referring to buddhists?
(12:36:46) .: i'm catholic, and i'm not going also...
(12:37:01) .: better safe than sorry?
(12:37:18) Ben: earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, terrorist attack
(12:37:26) Ben: this world is going to shit
(12:37:38) .: one big shit...hehe
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 12:38:09 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(12:38:23) .: holy shit. whoever buys a S$15,000 road bike?!
(12:38:35) .: http://tinyurl.com/962x9
(12:39:03) Ben: they blocked access
(12:39:06) Ben: i hate this shit
(12:39:14) Ben: how do i overide blocked sites
(12:39:42) .: what's the screen you get? reason for blocking?
(12:39:43) Ben: they block anything to do with gaming, fantasy, sports, and other stuff at work
(12:39:43) Ben: any ideas?
(12:40:31) Ben: The WWW site (URL) that you tried to access seems to be nothing to do with your business. If you need to access to the site for your business, please submit us to make the access available.
(12:40:41) Ben: i think they do it by keyword
(12:41:11) .: HAHAHA
(12:41:23) Ben: whats so funny?
(12:41:34) .: "The WWW site (URL) that you tried to access seems to be nothing to do with your business."
(12:41:37) .: HAHAHA
(12:42:02) Ben: like that huh?
(12:42:07) Ben: they create an access log too
(12:42:13) Ben: i must have hundreds of them
(12:43:26) .: this must be the work of aproxy server. i don't know how to bypass 'em...
(12:43:44) Ben: i think thats what it is
(12:43:55) Ben: you don't know
(12:44:00) Ben: im almost positive
(12:44:04) .: so i figure i'll get an old model road bke.
(12:44:11) .: who cares about the latest and the grandest
(12:44:15) Ben: they block it through a proxy
(12:44:31) Ben: i think thats fair
(12:45:20) .: just this morning i saw an adult riding a very small bike - about 30cm in diameter on the wheels, i think
(12:45:44) .: what good is it when it's so small. by the time i get to the gym it'll be good to ride back, for it's all tiring!
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 14:04:18 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(13:18:44) Ben: do you split days when you work out (isolate certain groups) or just do everything?...Im looking to change up my routine a bit...geting sick of chest/tris, back/bis, shoulder/leg?
(13:46:10) Ben: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/08/30/katrinas_real_name/
(14:05:01) .: supposed to split, but back then i was just nuts. trying hard to hurt myself to forget the pain...
(14:05:22) .: from now on i will focus on different muscle groups on different days. after all, with daily visit, we can do so...
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 14:29:49 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(14:29:26) Ben: what about human growth hormone?
(14:29:26) Ben: better than roids!
(14:30:50) .: very expensive, i heard? and from what i read, once taken, it must always be continued
(14:31:01) .: because the human body cannot produce such amounts on its own
(14:31:05) Ben: hmm
(14:31:11) Ben: oh
(14:31:11) .: is it for sale?
(14:31:16) .: can try, though? hehehe
(14:31:17) Ben: but just maintaining
(14:31:21) Ben: haha
(14:31:32) Ben: its what baseball players are taking
(14:31:38) .: i've honestly never seen testosterone for sale?
(14:32:09) Ben: cant be tested for
(14:32:18) Ben: ever heard of andro?
(14:32:26) Ben: you can buy it at GNC
(14:32:32) .: lemme see
(14:32:34) .: hehee
(14:32:35) Ben: pretty much the same as testosterone
(14:32:56) Ben: im serious
(14:33:02) Ben: my friend was on it
(14:33:30) .: how did he do?
(14:33:30) Ben: he was taking ripped fuel, andro, creatine, protein, and aminos
(14:33:45) Ben: i took ripped fuel a few times
(14:33:51) Ben: got me so edgy
(14:33:55) .: oh, yeah, i need to get some aminos. but the fruit punch from gnc sucks big time
(14:34:02) Ben: i went and got a cup of water
(14:34:12) .: i prefer the orange flavor from Nature's Blessing
(14:34:47) Ben: and was drinking it...so jettery i just squeezed the cup so hard i cracked it and the water just spilled everywhere
(14:34:50) .: whoa " Until more is known, andro should be used only with a doctor’s supervision."
(14:34:50) Ben: jittery
(14:35:01) .: http://tinyurl.com/avwuj
(14:35:11) Ben: andro is bad stuff
(14:35:22) .: ooh, BAD stuff? hehe
(14:35:50) Ben: it works though
(14:35:56) Ben: not the best for you i imagine
(14:36:14) Ben: makes you aggressive like roids
(14:36:31) Ben: ever see "the program"
(14:36:44) Ben: tyra banks, omar epps
(14:36:52) Ben: american football move
(14:36:55) Ben: movie
(14:36:58) .: some trials say it's not beneficial as claimed, yet screws the heart and increase risk of cancer?! http://tinyurl.com/7jov9
(14:37:22) .: the only football movie i remember was with Tom Cruise one?
(14:37:29) .: hehehe the young Tom Cruise?
(14:37:42) .: " Worse Than Useless"?
(14:37:53) Ben: haha
(14:38:05) Ben: well...i guess we can scratch that one off the list
(14:38:24) .: yeah, i can tell you methoxypro and creatine works a punch...
(14:38:31) .: and also amino fuels
(14:38:42) .: what's this "ripped fuel"?
(14:38:59) Ben: do they sell it in singapore
(14:39:00) .: what can give us the rip we want except by tonning?!
(14:39:17) Ben: its essentially effederine
(14:39:28) Ben: speed
(14:39:38) Ben: better known as adrenaline
(14:39:48) Ben: speeds up your metabolism
(14:39:53) .: it's a fat burner?
(14:40:02) Ben: i think its banned in the US now
(14:40:09) Ben: was a diet drug
(14:40:15) Ben: gave people heart attacks
(14:40:39) .: man, more bad stuf...i wanna live forever...
(14:40:43) Ben: but ripped fuel was used for energy
(14:40:53) Ben: before workouts
(14:41:00) Ben: get the extra pump
(14:41:08) Ben: especially for heavy lifting
(14:41:12) Ben: esplosion lifting
(14:41:19) Ben: american football
(14:41:21) .: i see...
(14:41:24) Ben: for the short muscles
(14:41:35) Ben: i took it a couple times
(14:41:40) .: any good?
(14:41:43) Ben: felt almost out of control
(14:41:58) .: how so? what did you mean by being jittery?
(14:42:05) Ben: so much tension you have to just release on the weights
(14:42:29) .: man, check this out :O http://tinyurl.com/9s29a
(14:43:08) Ben: haha
(14:43:25) .: the website seems legitimate?
(14:43:39) .: NCAHF has learned of two recent deaths that are blamed on the dietary supplement Ripped Fuel. http://tinyurl.com/a2cx2
(14:43:52) .: so many bad news on ripped fuel; it's almost like steroids!
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 14:45:15 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(14:45:05) Ben: i told u..bad stuff
(14:45:05) Ben: creatine and protein are natural
(14:45:08) Ben: but then again so is testosterone
(14:45:32) Ben: and coke...hehe
(14:45:33) .: ripped fuel isn't natural?
(14:45:42) .: coca-cola or cocain? hehe
(14:46:03) Ben: i meant naturally found in the body
(14:46:15) Ben: on the other hand coke isn't either
(14:46:27) Ben: but its all over singapore right?
(14:46:34) Ben: are you gonna get flogged?
(14:46:57) Ben: how does crime compare as well as the legal system with Malasia
(14:47:07) Ben: Malaysia
(14:48:39) .: man, i think cocaine will get me hung...
(14:48:45) Ben: haha
(14:49:02) Ben: i think thats what most americans associate with singapore
(14:49:04) .: the malaysian legal system is the puppet of the executive branch...
(14:49:09) Ben: no gum chewing
(14:49:17) Ben: and flogging
(14:49:18) .: both singapore and malaysia will hang drug traffickers
(14:49:35) Ben: Return to Paradise
(14:49:47) .: for what they do to the victims, i support this whole-heartedly.
(14:50:07) Ben: support what?
(14:50:15) .: i think the US DEA doesn't have the full support of the legal system as it should have
(14:50:26) .: support death penalty against drug traffickers...
(14:50:53) Ben: yeah...you gotta wonder
(14:51:05) Ben: if they are getting paid off
(14:51:19) Ben: im sure some of the dea is in bed with traffickers
(14:51:39) .: it's very, very profitable stuff...
(14:51:46) Ben: don't they saw you lose consciousness on teh 5th flog
(14:51:58) Ben: i've been flogged once
(14:52:03) Ben: only one time
(14:52:11) Ben: i couldn't sit down for like a week
(14:52:21) Ben: black and blue for a fe weeks
(14:52:30) Ben: painful shit
(14:52:40) Ben: hehe
(14:53:03) Ben: u've seen traffic right?
(14:53:09) .: traffic?
(14:53:15) .: what did you do for the flog?
(14:53:18) Ben: brings up a lot of intertsing points
(14:53:40) Ben: kind of a ritual
(14:53:43) .: rapists get flogged, unless they are over 60 years old or something
(14:54:15) Ben: it was only once
(14:54:37) Ben: traffic is a movie
(14:54:43) Ben: with michael douglad
(14:54:54) Ben: pretty much plays mccafferty
(14:55:06) Ben: steven soderberg
(14:55:15) Ben: u should check it out
(14:55:36) .: i wonder where i can get affordable movies now in singapore. might need to travel to johor hehe
(14:56:01) Ben: rip them
(14:56:08) Ben: what do you use?
(14:56:22) Ben: are laws tough on pirating and ripping
(14:56:34) Ben: US has cracked down
(14:56:40) Ben: japan is still open
(14:56:46) Ben: edonkey
(14:58:22) .: there're lots of news singapore cracking down on pirates.
(14:58:34) .: said "NO WAY!"
(14:58:35) .: hehe
(14:59:28) Ben: oh
(14:59:46) .: johor bahru is our only salvation hehe
(15:00:06) Ben: japan movies are crazy expensive
(15:00:11) Ben: 20-30 bucks
(15:00:18) Ben: 18 dollars to go to the cinema
(15:00:24) Ben: highest prices in the world
(15:01:18) .: US$18?! shit, that's like MYR 60!
(15:01:27) .: so no movies for first dates, huh?
(15:01:39) .: in singapore it's like MYR 20 ;(
(15:02:04) Ben: insane right
(15:02:10) Ben: i can get a discount
(15:02:14) Ben: about 13
(15:02:26) .: WHY?
(15:02:39) .: don't they tell you your white YEN is no good at the cinemas?
(15:02:40) .: hehehe
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 15:05:27 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(15:05:10) Ben: yeah right
(15:05:16) Ben: company discounts
(15:05:17) Ben: i still have my student ID too
(15:05:37) Ben: there is a exchange student discount at one vrgin cinema
(15:05:38) Ben: only 10 dollars
(15:06:46) .: i wonder what to do on singaporean dates...
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 15:07:49 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(15:07:11) Ben: what do you mean
(15:07:19) Ben: Give her a flogging, but of course...hehe
(15:08:30) .: movies are expensive, i no longer have a car to pick her up - only dinners are left...
(15:08:34) Ben: aren't there nice parks, cafes etc...
(15:08:36) .: walk in the park? cycling?
(15:09:04) Ben: bike rides once you get a bike
(15:09:05) Ben: beach?
(15:09:07) Ben: boats?
(15:09:25) .: not much of beaches here...
(15:09:30) Ben: oh
(15:09:39) .: windows slowign down to a crawl. don't know why. brb...
(15:09:48) Ben: ok
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 15:18:52 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(15:19:22) .: the slowdown was caused by symantec antivirus scanning...
(15:19:36) .: well, there're no buttons to close it, so reboot was the only option hehe
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 15:41:36 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(15:40:36) Ben: is dating better in malaysia options wise?
(15:40:46) Ben: as far as things to do
(15:41:11) Ben: i can't believe you don't get to show you around...get a tour...that would be awesome!
(15:42:03) .: that's an idea. and when i did say it's hehehe
(15:42:26) .: well, in malaysia i drive a car, so it's the picking the girl up, movies are cheap at MYR8, the malls are bigger, etc.
(15:42:44) .: of course, i don't know for sure malls here are smaller?
(15:42:58) .: back there i make MYR 7,000 a month...
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 15:44:40 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(15:44:33) Ben: whoa
(15:45:05) .: you're kidding me. BBM like you makes double or triple that figure?
(15:45:36) Ben: no way
(15:46:06) Ben: The LPM is really just a decoy
(15:46:18) Ben: we now all know who the real BBM is...hehe
(15:46:49) .: how much do you think your boss makes?
(15:47:05) Ben: my boss
(15:47:09) Ben: hmm...
(15:47:19) Ben: 80-100??
(15:47:39) .: K a year?! that's so little for BBBM...
(15:47:40) Ben: a year
(15:47:51) Ben: yeah
(15:47:53) .: are you sure you didn't miss a 0 at the back?
(15:47:58) Ben: i told you..you had me confused
(15:48:11) Ben: not in this company
(15:48:15) Ben: makers don't pay
(15:48:34) Ben: cheap fuckers
(15:49:31) Ben: college grads get 1700 a month...you can hardly live on that in Tokyo
(15:50:25) .: when i was in california, the IT manager said fresh grads used to get US$3000 a month!
(15:50:34) Ben: yeah
(15:50:39) Ben: cheap...i told you
(15:50:49) .: i had to work TWO years to reach US$3000! ;(
(15:51:06) Ben: yeah
(15:51:30) .: damn, what am i saying. i meant i had to work TWO years to hit MYR 3000! ;(
(15:51:41) Ben: the tides have turned have they not BBM!
(15:52:06) Ben: hehe
(15:52:30) Ben: if i were with a foreign firm id be doing much better
(15:52:49) Ben: I'm not really an expat
(15:52:54) Ben: Local hire
(15:54:27) Ben: 3000 MYR goes pretty far though i would imagine
(15:56:11) .: but english definition of expat is that a foreigner who works overseas...
(15:56:55) .: http://tinyurl.com/dzr4s i'm sure they won't ban this website?
(15:57:17) Ben: i know the definition
(15:58:00) Ben: i guess i associate the term expat more with someone "brought in" from overseas
(15:58:18) Ben: i.e. package, rent, schooling for childen, etc...
(15:58:20) .: yeah, that's what i found on the net also
(15:58:23) Ben: big time salary
(15:58:27) Ben: all that
(15:58:32) .: indeed! those information is everywhere...
(15:58:37) Ben: thats not me...though i know some people
(15:58:47) Ben: this one guy i know who works for a bank
(15:58:47) .: VERY big salary!
(15:58:49) Ben: 39
(15:59:01) Ben: his rent (paid by the company)
(15:59:11) Ben: get this...10K a month
(15:59:15) Ben: what a joke
(15:59:23) Ben: its just gluttony
(15:59:25) Ben: what a watse
(15:59:29) Ben: waste
(15:59:46) .: there're people asking if S$2,000 is going to get a good apartment in singaporeexpats.com!
(16:00:08) Ben: he is a managing director of morgan stanley though
(16:00:15) .: what do they do to deserve such a huge paycheck? especially those golf-playing CEOs?
(16:00:31) .: by all means, if they're really good, pay the mountains,
(16:00:36) Ben: gotta wonder
(16:00:38) .: but the CEOs I've seen here...
(16:00:46) Ben: i think some are
(16:00:52) .: they're in the office all the time - NOT even playing golf!
(16:01:02) Ben: they make the company the money back..at least some do
(16:01:17) Ben: a lot of what you hire i have heard is their network
(16:01:26) Ben: connections are so much
(16:01:30) Ben: in many cases
(16:01:48) Ben: of course that alone isnt worth crap but...
(16:02:45) .: then when business stops coming in, the 13-year guy next cubicle got fired ;(
(16:02:55) .: next cube, means he was my peer
(16:03:17) .: and i SEE the senior managemetn's reserved parking at B1 remains?
(16:04:06) Ben: yeah...makes you wonder
(16:04:23) Ben: staff right?
(16:04:34) Ben: an expense when viewed by management
(16:04:43) Ben: don't "make money" for the company
(16:05:18) Ben: but absolutely necessary...its screwed up
(16:05:43) Ben: one of my friend always complains about that
(16:06:47) .: your friend in senior mgmt complains always about cost center? ;(
(16:07:04) Ben: no
(16:07:13) Ben: he isnt sr.
(16:07:24) Ben: does IT for Merrill Lynch
(16:08:14) Ben: epecially in a company that all they do is make money right?
(16:10:05) .: well, in essence, all companies are only profit-making entities...
(16:10:18) Ben: right
(16:10:19) .: hence, loyalty to such entities is virtual suicide...
(16:10:45) Ben: except in japan
(16:10:58) Ben: where people take care of that themselves
(16:12:54) Ben: lifetime employment
(16:14:13) .: isn't even that is not happenign anymore - slowly?
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 16:15:55 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(16:15:20) Ben: but only early retirement
(16:15:20) Ben: no layoffs
(16:15:36) Ben: nortel layed off 2/3 of their workforce
(16:15:46) Ben: as business shifted from networks
(16:15:57) Ben: we are still at the same number
(16:16:50) Ben: labor laws protect employees too much
(16:17:30) Ben: we should be firing all our network engineers and hiring new SI engineers...but they feel too loyal to them as well
(16:17:30) Ben: confusing
(16:17:53) .: mgmt feel too loyal to network engineers?!
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 16:19:53 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(16:18:29) Ben: people dont get fired
(16:18:29) Ben: to anyone
(16:18:30) Ben: they get moved or retrained
(16:20:16) Ben: its the general management philosphy
(16:20:25) .: from what i've heard in malaysia and singapore, retrain means to fire at a later time...
(16:20:32) Ben: each year our company has major reorganizations
(16:20:41) .: a firm i used to work for is doing that to its singaporeanemployees, after setting up the KL office
(16:20:46) .: the E2open in my resume...
(16:21:15) .: they're "transferring" the singaporean employees to Singapore Computer Services...for 6 months
(16:22:14) Ben: so people who have no marketing experience get shifted to the marketing dept. and from the marketing to sales, to finance etc..
(16:22:16) Ben: its screwed up
(16:22:25) Ben: fucks with productivity in a major way
(16:22:40) Ben: people have to learn new jobs and you lose people with expertise
(16:22:55) Ben: but they believe it makes for good management
(16:23:06) Ben: maybe in the 80's but if they haven't noticed
(16:23:11) Ben: companies arent performing the way they used to
(16:23:37) .: retrain is as good as killing my career prospects, imho
(16:23:48) .: I DECIDE WHAT I WANT TO DO, AND WHO I WANT TO BE
(16:23:49) Ben: yeah
(16:23:55) .: NOT A BUNCH OF GREY-HAIRED STRANGERS!
(16:23:58) Ben: people are too afraid to leave as well
(16:24:01) Ben: exactly
(16:24:03) .: NOT EVEN MY MOM DECIDES MY FUTURE!
(16:24:09) Ben: people are told to move
(16:24:11) Ben: and they have to
(16:24:28) .: BESIDES, WHAT DO THESE GRAY-HAIRED STRANGERS KNOW ABOUT ME AND MY INTERESTS? ONLY I HAVE MY BEST INTERESTS AT HEART...
(16:24:46) Ben: ive met so many people who are unhappy but refuse to move
(16:24:53) Ben: two reasons...security and image i think
(16:24:55) .: so, from what i've been reading and observing, loyalty will never be part of my legacy hehe
(16:24:56) Ben: identity
(16:24:59) Ben: and fear
(16:25:29) Ben: "without job or company, who are" mentality
(16:25:37) Ben: I'm talking super trasional view here
(16:25:40) Ben: traditional
(16:25:44) .: i'm a sponge, besides being a potato, and when the bucket i'm in has proven to be too small to contain me, i'll move to a bigger bucket...
(16:25:44) Ben: not everyone
(16:26:22) Ben: but thats the atmosphere to some extent
(16:26:29) Ben: not a place to grow old
(16:26:37) Ben: experience yes...grow old..hells no
(16:31:37) .: i do my work, get paid, and that's it.
(16:31:47) .: who has the right to ask for more (as in pepsi)? hehe
(16:31:59) .: if i was loyal, will the firm be loyal in return?
(16:32:18) .: because i do not cheat, hence i have all the right to expect the bitch to not to cheat, and she did...
Conversation with ben_meyer@hotmail.com at 2005-08-31 16:35:17 on riversandlakes@hotmail.com (msn)
(16:35:15) Ben: most companies dont have loyalty totheir employees
(16:35:15) Ben: thats why they get the same in return
(16:35:38) Ben: it is still such an odd phenomenon
(16:35:49) .: that should and must be the way. yet i've seen some employees being loyal and didn't have it returned.
(16:36:02) .: either these people are stupid, or just incompetent to go elsewhere ;(
(16:36:10) Ben: someone who was the most important creature to me in this universe now might as well be dead
(16:40:03) .: even in death, i want her to pay back her dues, then i shall rest in peace...
(16:40:33) Ben: but how does one pay one's dues?
(16:40:59) .: she must suffer the same amount i did; not a penny of pain more, not a penny less.
(16:41:04) .: fair?
(16:41:11) Ben: of course it is
(16:41:20) Ben: I agree with yo wholeheartedly
(16:41:28) Ben: but is that paying ones dues
(16:41:35) Ben: no one does that voluntarily
(16:41:46) .: though as an immature woman, i don't know what avenues she can go to without 100kg benchpress and nightly guinness
(16:42:13) .: go insane? well, if that's the way to go to pay the price, then so be it.
(16:42:33) .: of course not, unless one is masochistic
(16:42:51) .: as sure as a calf finds it mother, so shall karma find its doer
(16:43:06) .: 5,000 years of such events will not lie to us
(16:43:18) Ben: hope so
(16:43:35) Ben: do you believe in the bible?
(16:43:39) Ben: heaven and hell?
(16:43:53) Ben: I do the former, not the latter
(16:44:04) .: i want to believe
(16:44:13) Ben: i live the way i do not for fear of the next life
(16:44:31) Ben: but to be the best person i can be in this one
(16:45:20) .: of course, immature bitch will go, "I didn't know! it just happened!", but i'll be damned if God allows that kind of damned excuse.
(16:45:22) Ben: People should be "good people"because thats the way we all should behave..treat each other...etc..
(16:45:37) .: treat others as one would like to be treated.
(16:45:44) Ben: well she wasn't exactly religious
(16:45:58) Ben: technically buddhist
(16:46:08) Ben: but like everyone here it means zero to them
(16:46:37) Ben: does god punish those who are not his followers though?
(16:46:40) Ben: i guess so
(16:46:57) Ben: i need to believe he doesn't discriminate
(16:47:43) .: dont' worry, karma will find them. trust me on this...
(16:47:55) .: the danger is that we hold on and stand still waiting for this to happen.
(16:47:58) .: don't wait
(16:48:03) Ben: "and i will get my revenge in this life or the next"
(16:48:08) .: move on. chase that girl. fight that career prospect.
(16:48:10) .: go places!
(16:48:22) .: "and i will get my revenge in this life or the next"
(16:48:41) Ben: im not....when revenge happens i will be far away
(16:49:05) Ben: and she will realize she was responsible for crushing her own dream
(16:49:21) Ben: It's a mistake he clearly was willing to make
(16:49:23) Ben: she
(16:49:28) .: My name is Maximus Dessimus Merdius...father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance...in this life of the next.
(16:49:47) Ben: yeah
(16:50:00) Ben: i played that music a ton after i broke up
(16:50:03) Ben: from the final scene
(16:50:09) Ben: made me go crazy
(16:50:13) .: she played hide and seek so well during the entire fiasco
(16:50:15) Ben: but somehow soothing
(16:50:21) Ben: I balled like mad
(16:50:51) .: if i didn't steal that final dinner with her family, we would have broken up entirely on the phone (which she was afraid to pick up for fear of the OM)
(16:51:11) .: i hate this woman very much. i really cannot wait for vengeance via karma
(16:51:21) .: for i shall not take it upon myself and make a martyr out of her
(16:51:31) .: and out of respect for her very fine folks
(16:51:45) Ben: but what about "an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth"
(16:51:52) .: besides, karma, does a by far better job than any man can!
(16:51:53) Ben: isn't it our right?
(16:52:08) .: karma has the expertise, Ben hehe
(16:52:09) Ben: In Muslim nations, women are killed for infidelity
(16:52:29) Ben: hehe
(16:52:37) .: but i also know this burning hatred will only burn me up from within
(16:52:43) Ben: true...i am a mere novice when it comes to such mattters
(16:52:57) .: how fair is it to transfer this hatred and suspicion to the next (perhaps) fine woman?
(16:53:35) Ben: unfortunately she will also bear part of the burden for my healing
(16:54:17) .: My name is Maximus Dessimus Merdius...father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance...in this life of the next.
(16:54:40) Ben: how ironic that she was hurt after i broke up with her because i didn't want to contact with her directly
(16:54:49) Ben: i asked my friend to get my family arlum back
(16:55:09) Ben: and she attacked me for not having the decency to contact her directly
(16:55:15) Ben: she wrote "I am not a thief"
(16:55:34) Ben: well then why did it take her 2.5 months to return it
(16:55:36) .: no, but you made me a thief of our memories
(16:55:44) Ben: only after me asking her
(16:57:04) Ben: and then she returns the wallet i gave her for valentines day...just to spite me...the passive aggressive...with a note "I pray for your health and happiness. Best of luck"
(16:57:10) Ben: the audacity!
(16:57:46) .: 怀念的小偷 this chinese song sings about a girl who always tells the guy to cherish the relationship and not to break her heart, but in the end...
(16:58:15) Ben: the guilt for sure was pent up..."I am not a theif" and then returning the gift that she says "she cannot accept"
(16:58:24) .: how do they live with themselves, knowing they consciously asked for a one-sided commitment?
(16:58:34) Ben: she breaks his heart?
(16:58:36) .: commit to me, and i will seek out others
(16:59:03) .: curious, did she write in japanese or english?
(16:59:15) Ben: i translated for you
(16:59:16) .: do you guys communicate mainly in japanese or english?
(16:59:25) Ben: her english was not so good
(16:59:30) Ben: mostly japanese
(16:59:40) Ben: she almost never spoke english
(16:59:47) .: do you pick up your mastery of japanese entirely in these 3 years?
(16:59:49) Ben: but could understand quite well
(16:59:54) Ben: yeah
(17:00:06) Ben: i dont know mastery
(17:00:09) .: see what living as an expat can do to one's language...amazing
(17:00:30) Ben: but japanese isn't osmosis
(17:00:39) Ben: not like other languages
(17:00:46) Ben: any of the asian ones
(17:00:48) .: whaddya mean?
(17:00:58) Ben: with writing systems and all so different
(17:01:12) Ben: at least with romance languages you can read the words
(17:01:24) Ben: in japanese one charcater can have 8 sounds
(17:01:35) Ben: depending on the combination
(17:01:35) .: the girl broke the guy's heart, and he sang the song...applies to me, so my brother said. "that's your song."
(17:01:40) .: yeah, thanks, bro.
(17:02:24) Ben: thats a great song to have
(17:02:25) Ben: hehe
(17:02:50) .: so next time, she needs to work doubly hard.
(17:03:06) Ben: yeah
(17:03:06) .: i will not be hurt this deep again...
(17:03:14) Ben: i ain't comitting any time soon
(17:03:24) Ben: but i think thats impossible
(17:03:31) .: another 4 years, i'll be 29! my liver will die more easily...
(17:03:33) Ben: we will never fear such pain again
(17:04:00) Ben: emotions like anything else are always most intense out of the womb
(17:04:36) .: you are right.
(17:05:47) Ben: what i fear is whether i will be able to loveso deep again
(17:05:48) .: should we make it clear to the next ones that "space and time" will mean O.V.E.R.
(17:05:56) Ben: maybe that is restricted for blood only
(17:06:16) Ben: i will
(17:06:22) Ben: i won't say that
(17:06:26) Ben: but if it happens
(17:06:28) .: i believe you will. humans are very resilient...
(17:06:29) Ben: i will end it
(17:06:57) .: when the mist is over, and you walk out of the hurricane...it's sunshine again. inevitably.
(17:07:00) Ben: resiliency will prevent me from the pain not allow me to love i believe
(17:07:19) Ben: the innocence has been lost
(17:07:35) .: resilience will ensure you walk out of this Valley and be wholesome again. as such, when the right one comes along, you can give again...
(17:08:03) .: perhaps the innocense is part of the price to pay for the enrichment of life as a whole ;(
(17:08:38) Ben: the thing that made it so hard for me...when i met her my japanese was crap...i knew nothing of the culture...no family, secuirty..she was the key to the city....now of course i am completely self sufficient andhave been for some time
(17:09:01) Ben: but that made it all the more painful...something she cannot possibly comprehend
(17:09:15) .: so she "kinda" invested time and effort in you...
(17:09:28) .: AND WHO SHREDDED IT ALL?!
(17:09:55) Ben: Yeah...
(17:09:58) .: IF THAT'S NOT STUPIDITY WHAT IS?!
(17:09:59) Ben: exactly
(17:10:16) .: can one person do all these things and not appreciate?
(17:10:27) .: the years spent? the efforts to get closer and closer?
(17:10:36) .: AND NOT BE APPRECIATIVE OF WHAT WAS BUILT?!
(17:10:44) Ben: she wanted to get married and was worried about her getting old...so you go and cheat and start a new relationship??????????
(17:11:13) Ben: WHERE IS THE LOGIC????
(17:11:28) .: EXACTLY. hence imho, that's just a bad, bad lie. as you well know, bad and not-well-thought-out lies are just terribly hollow
(17:11:40) Ben: I was thinking about our anniversaries together
(17:12:20) .: Ben, that's just something she tells her friends so she won't look bad in front of them. Yet, paper covers no fire. Truth has the habit of spearing its ugly head when least expected.
(17:12:35) .: "He won't commit to me, so i had to cheat" HAHAHA
(17:12:47) .: of course, she will never ever admit to cheating.
(17:13:17) Ben: not to anyone else
(17:13:18) .: From a mutual friend, the one who attacked me for not staying as her friend, i heard that ALL she told the friend was, "He won't be my friend."
(17:13:20) Ben: she did to me
(17:13:37) .: Just that single sentence and it DOES SO MUCH LOOK LIKE I AM THE EVIL VILLAIN AND SATAN INCARNATE!
(17:14:15) Ben: Denial is all one needs to say
(17:14:25) Ben: i asked her how many times she cheated
(17:14:33) Ben: she said this was the first
(17:14:35) Ben: yeah right
(17:14:50) .: so she admitted to cheating? hahaha
(17:15:03) Ben: yeah
(17:15:05) .: with that who will believe anything else that comes after that confessioN?!
(17:15:09) Ben: i had proof
(17:15:39) Ben: she admitted it only after about 50 lies during the previous 20 minutes
(17:15:43) Ben: it was ludicrous
(17:15:56) .: very capable, no, these bitches?
(17:16:28) Ben: and i told you she even lied to him saying "I cant wait to introduce you to my brother. This will be the first time i introduce a bf to him"
(17:16:30) Ben: HAHA
(17:16:40) Ben: We hung out like 10 times
(17:17:09) .: you did, and taht's also considered skillful...
(17:17:18) .: such wasted talent.
(17:17:29) Ben: what is skillful?
(17:17:35) .: used to LIE?
(17:18:06) .: another that my bitch (as referring to my case, not of possessiveness) said to our friend was that "We've not gone out yet."
(17:18:23) Ben: Part of me hates the fact that I know he is also an american
(17:18:29) Ben: yeah right
(17:18:45) .: At that time, in the deepest of the Valley, i thought it meant I HAD ANOTHER CHANCE
(17:19:27) .: LITTLE DID I KNOW, ABOUT TWO DAYS LATER, THROUGH SO MUCH THOUGHT, THAT I REALIZE IT'S TOLD SO SHE DOESN'T LOOK BAD IN FRONT OF EVERYONE ELSE
(17:19:42) Ben: me too...she swore they had cut contact the "friend and her"
(17:20:00) Ben: after their "two meetings"
(17:20:01) .: i'm impressed at the amount of information my little potato head could churn out in the deepest of Pain
(17:20:01) Ben: haha
(17:20:31) .: and i'm further impressed all of them were confirmed in due time, and also via ojarians' stories...
(17:21:02) Ben: yeah...i think women are weak in general
(17:21:07) Ben: notto be trusted
(17:21:11) Ben: rebecca
(17:21:41) .: at that time, proving selfishness beyond all doubt, she WAS ACTUALLY WORRIED ABOUT REPUTATION, instead of shattering a man's heart - someone she shared everything with for the past 4 YEARS.
(17:21:47) .: AMAZING. GLORIOUS! HAHAHA
(17:21:48) Ben: women have always been liars
(17:21:54) Ben: look at the bible
(17:22:15) .: IN A WAY, IT'S PERVERSE - VERY PERVERSE...
(17:22:36) Ben: Seriously...that shows just hwo selfish she really is
(17:23:37) .: OH, BOY, IF THE TRUTH GOT OUT, WHAT WOULD OTHERS THINK OF ME?!
(17:23:38) Ben: are women better liars than men?
(17:23:41) .: OH, BOY, OH, BOY
(17:23:50) Ben: which truth?
(17:23:57) .: THE TRUTH THAT SHE CHEATED
(17:24:00) .: OH, BOY, OH, BOY
(17:24:01) Ben: how she treated you
(17:24:15) Ben: The truth got out in my case
(17:24:20) Ben: no one seemed to care
(17:24:22) .: SO I'D BETTER SAY I DIDN'T CHEAT, BECAUSE I BROKE UP WITH THIS MAN BEFORE I WENT OUT WITH ANOTHER!
(17:24:34) .: WOOHOO!
(17:24:35) Ben: well i wont say that
(17:24:36) .: I'M SO SMART!
(17:24:54) Ben: hehe
(17:25:08) Ben: That's the sad part isn't it.
(17:25:26) Ben: They both thought they had the golden plan
(17:25:40) .: I SAVED MY REPUTATION, SHATTERED THAT GUY'S HEART, AND I GOT ANOTHER MAN! WOOHOO!
(17:25:50) .: YES! I'M BRILLIANT!
(17:26:00) .: hehehe, okay, i'll stop now with "My name is Maximus Dessimus Merdius...father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance...in this life of the next."
(17:26:08) Ben: The sick part was she was planning on waiting for me to give up and say "I can't wait any longer" so then she could claim "you don't love me"
(17:26:26) Ben: she even said to me at one point "I didnt think youwere gonna last 4 months"
(17:26:32) Ben: of time and space
(17:26:36) .: Somehow they turned "space and time" to work so well for them...
(17:26:42) Ben: yeah
(17:26:56) Ben: four months of that shit
(17:27:11) .: SO NEXT TIME, BEN, I IMPLORE YOU TO CUT IT CLEAN UPON HEARING A "SPACE AND TIME" REQUEST...
(17:27:13) Ben: that was such a different kind of pain
(17:27:31) .: hopefully, we won't hear such a request after marriage? ;(
(17:27:34) Ben: before i knew for sure of the cheating...it was still just torture..the falling
(17:27:40) Ben: I will
(17:27:55) Ben: I emplore you to do the same
(17:28:18) .: I SHALL.
(17:28:25) Ben: implore
(17:28:43) .: let's rehearse
(17:28:49) .: i need time to think about us. i'm confused.
(17:28:55) .: THOSE WERE HER EXACT WORDS
(17:29:18) .: NO, IT'S OVER. SPACE AND TIME REQUEST IS NOT MINE TO GIVE. DO NOT EVER CONTACT ME AGAIN.
(17:29:22) .: HEHEHE
(17:30:17) Ben: haha
(17:30:31) .: My name is Maximus Dessimus Merdius...father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance...in this life of the next.
(17:30:38) Ben: had i not given it though
(17:30:43) Ben: would she still be with me
(17:30:49) Ben: would she have gambled so>
(17:30:50) Ben: ?
(17:31:02) .: the Q should be, do you want her to be with you?
(17:31:05) Ben: she would still be at merely date #3 at that point
(17:31:10) Ben: I know
(17:31:12) .: hindsight is always 20/20
(17:31:12) Ben: of course it is
(17:31:43) .: don't we always wonder what we are made of? gold? silver? titanium? or mud?
(17:31:59) .: now that we find out she's made of shit...
(17:32:46) .: i can honestly say i do not want her in my life anymore. i'm beyond that. just the memories that i've had of a first love torture me now and then.
(17:32:50) Ben: HEHE
(17:32:52) Ben: LOL
(17:32:53) .: couples hugging in the gym, the mall...
(17:33:05) Ben: yeah i know
(17:33:16) Ben: that doesn't bother me
(17:33:18) Ben: anymore
(17:33:23) .: hence i kind of seek second love to erase the first love...;(
(17:33:41) Ben: i told you that at one point i couldn't even watch shrek without crying
(17:33:49) Ben: the love scene between an oger and a pig is it?
(17:33:54) Ben: I was so pathetic
(17:34:10) Ben: I don't seek a second love
(17:34:19) Ben: i have never saiught ouut love until recently
(17:34:24) Ben: i dont want to do that
(17:34:33) .: i struggled for breath literally upon hearing "Love will go on" by Celine Dion
(17:34:45) .: even though that song and movie was aeons ago, and before the 4 years
(17:34:56) Ben: do some dein some degree when i do not have the inclination to seek out love, i will be healed
(17:35:21) Ben: yeah i know
(17:35:39) Ben: gotta cut celine dion out
(17:35:49) .: she's out
(17:35:51) .: hehe
(17:36:25) .: like bjs said, i was such a wuss back then
(17:36:43) .: not anymore. i'm macho and i'm climbing up the ladder!
(17:37:59) .: My name is Maximus Dessimus Merdius...father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance...in this life of the next.

(17:38:15) Ben: Bjs isnt doing as great as i hoped
(17:38:17) Ben: in arizona
(17:38:23) Ben: but still in pain
(17:38:23) .: what happeend?!
(17:38:38) Ben: dreams
(17:38:40) .: IT WILL GET BETTER. NEW SKIES ARE EVERYTHING...
(17:38:43) Ben: nightmares
(17:38:51) Ben: i think it should
(17:39:02) .: when everything's alien, it'll get better faster.
(17:39:12) .: still needs time, but much shorter time...
(17:39:20) Ben: anyway...i gotta go home and study
(17:39:26) .: ok, bye!
(17:39:26) Ben: see u a little later on
(17:39:30) .: i'm off now
(17:39:41) .: to get methoxypro for bro. he'll come down here in a month's time
(17:39:50) .: RM130 rocks
(17:39:59) Ben: nice
(17:40:23) Ben: shit...i lost this IM window...can you mail me the text?
(17:40:42) .: ?
(17:41:03) Ben: my messenger didn't save it
(17:41:08) Ben: whatever no big deal
(17:41:21) Ben: got an old version
(17:41:30) .: oh, history.
(17:41:32) .: i've got it.
(17:41:35) Ben: yeah
(17:41:39) .: i'll email to ben_meyers@hotmail.com
(17:41:40) .: hehehe
(17:41:56) Ben: yeah..exacty,...hehe
(17:42:01) Ben: thanks...later
(17:42:06) Ben has gone away.
(17:42:07) Ben is no longer away.
(17:42:11) Ben logged out.