I am going Bangkok

I know about the military coup, but I am not going to waste all my money if it has no hint of violence.

Unfortunate timing ! And I hope nothing turns bad this weekend while I am there.

*~*~*~*~*

I wanted to write something about the IMF but I guess I am just too disillusioned and know too well that anything I write will make any difference.

I have stopped thinking that I can/will make any difference. And reading "patriotic" forum letters on the media and statements made by our esteemed leaders just makes me think that I can actually see the end of the world.

*~*~*~*~*

No, I shall not even remotely link what is happening in BKK to Singapore...

A Light Moment.

Taken off the Internet.. somewhere ...

New Zealand Police
Nga Piurihimana O Aotearoa

Ref: ******

15 June 2005

*****
AUCKLAND

Dear Sir/Madam

Records indicate that you are the owner of Holden registration number
******.

On Friday, 10 June 2005 your vehicle was seen exceeding the speed
limit at the junction of Shortland Street and Fields Lane, Auckland.
Evasive action taken by pedestrians. This incident took place at about
1:15 PM and has been reported to the police by way of the Community
Roadwatch program.

You may not have been the driver at the time and even if you were you
may feel that the driving was not in any way risky. However another
person was sufficiently alarmed by the driving to report the matter to
the Police. The other person's perception was that the way your
vehicle was driven at that time was not safe.

If you were not the driver at the time, we would ask that you bring
this matter to the driver's attention.

Yours sincerely,

Inspector Matt Fitzsimons
Officer in Charge: Police Infringement Bureau

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

21st June 2005

Officer in Charge
Police Infringement Bureau
New Zealand Police
PO Box 9147 Wellington

Attention : Inspector Matt Fitzsimons

Dear Sir.

RE: Police advice Ref ******

Thank you for your recent letter dated June 15th, 2005.

I appreciate that you are only following up on a report from a member
of the public but I feel the need to set the record straight as I have
been driving for the past 25 years all over the world without incident
and class myself as generally a good driver. Yes, I have had a few
speeding tickets during this time, but that doesn't necessarily
detract from a person's driving abilities.

I was indeed the driver of this Holden. I clearly remember this
incident because it happened on the eve of my 40th birthday and I
remember thinking that it was a miracle that I had made it to this
milestone despite there being numerous stupid people out there.

My car is an HSV Avalanche, which is a two tonne 300KW 5.7L V8 4WD
Holden station wagon with a performance braking package fitted to it.
Whenever this car is driven, the minimum forward lighting on it is the
halogen driving lights that sit below the front grill - this being
necessary because of the large number of dickhead drivers on the
Auckland motorway system.

On the afternoon of June 10th, my wife and I were on our way to
Auckland International airport to pick up some friends who had flown
over for my 40th birthday party that was being held the next day. We
were making a quick detour to my company offices when the incident
occurred.

I was already in the process of turning my car right into Fields Lane
from the western side of Shortland Street (Queen Street end) when I
was first introduced to Dumb Ass A and Dumb Ass B who both simply
stepped off the footpath to cross Fields Lane right in front of me.

At this particular point in time we now had said two tonne car, with
it's lights and right hand indicator on, having complete right of way
after giving way to the appropriate vehicle traffic.

We also now had two clowns who were happily chatting to each other,
completely ignorant of their surroundings, walking down Shortland
Street (south side) and when they reached the kurb they simply kept on
walking right into my path without even looking for traffic.

Note that this is not a pedestrian crossing of any kind.

The chances of these two being able to beat a car that was already
committed to turning were about that of Auckland being able to beat
Waikato in an NPC rugby match - slim to none.

As soon as I realised that Dumb Ass A and Dumb Ass B had a deathwish,
I hit the car horn and the brakes at the same time.

The three air horns which are located on the front left side of the
car (the very solid, pointy corner closest to Dumb Ass A and Dumb Ass
B) hit a single, beautiful note at about 100 decibels. Now 100
decibels is about 20 decibels louder than the Sprint Cars cars that
were deemed "too loud" for the Western Springs raceway, thereby
causing it to close because in Auckland at the moment we seem to have
an anti-motorsport, politically correct, left leaning, tree hugging,
land-rights-for-gay-whales City Council - but I digress.

Anyway, Dumb Ass A and Dumb Ass B now looked to the source of the
100dB noise and in doing so started to realise that stepping out in
front of two tonnes of General Motors metal that was bearing down on
them at about 30kmph with a set of 200W halogen spot lights now
burning their retinas and making the metal on metal sound of a Bosch
5.3 ABS system kicking in onto a set of 336 x 32mm AP Racing
ventilated and grooved front discs with HSV-embossed twin piston
Corvette front calipers (in HRT red) and 315 x 18mm ventilated and
grooved rear discs was perhaps not the smartest move they have either
individually or collectively ever made.

Put simply, they **** themselves & back-pedalled faster than an eight
year old at Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch, I pulled the car up in
time, wound the window down and let loose with some brilliant swear
words that one can only learn after serving at least 10 years in the
Army, and we all went on our merry way.

I can understand why the guy behind me had a heart murmur because an
HSV Avalanche can come to a complete stop from 100KM/H in about 6.3
seconds. We were both lucky that he didn't hit me as I braked because
Dumb Ass A and Dumb Ass B might have got run over after all.

In order for my car to have supposedly exceeded the 50kmph speed limit
that prevails within our fair city as I was making a complete 90
degree right-handed turn, both the car and my wife and I would have
been subjected to lateral G Forces of around .92 Gs.

I can assure you that had I actually attempted to carry out such a
manoeuvre as your letter suggests, my wife would have given me a
rather significant slap up side of my head followed by a
not-insignificant lecture and I would have had to spend the rest of
the weekend on the couch.

If you get a chance to talk to whichever one of Dumb Ass A or Dumb Ass
B who had the perception "that the way my vehicle was being driven was
not safe", could you ask them if they would much rather have had the
number plate of the car embedded in their skull due to being mowed
down as a result of their own stupidity.

You may also wish to point out to this person that just because the
City Council also killed any chance of an Auckland City street race,
that decision didn't also suddenly give pedestrians super-human powers
to simply ignore any of the existing rules in the Road Code.

The fact that Dumb Ass A and Dumb Ass B were able to lodge a complaint
with your office is both a testament to the quality of Holden HSV
braking systems and my own lightning quick reflexes. I would therefore
like to be rewarded for this outstanding display of driving skills
with lower petrol prices and a better corporate tax rate. Can you see
what you could do for me here and please get back to me.

This incident does prove one thing though - in order to have smart
people in this world, you need to have dumb asses by which to gauge
them.

Thank you for your time and I am happy to discuss further

Regards,

*****

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Zealand Police
Nga Pirihimana O Aotearoa
29 June 2005

*****
Auckland

Dear *****

RE: Roadwatch Report ******

Thank you for your letter dated the 21st June 2005, concerning the
driving matter on the 10th June 2005 in Auckland,

I certainly appreciate what you have written, I note the points in
your letter (not the descriptions), there are always two sides to one
story, we are not to know that until like in this situation, you have
brought in another side of the story.

I have attached your letter to our file.

Any further enquiries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

LW ADAMS-REID
Senior Constable E319
Roadwatch, Wellington.
(Ph 04 381 0046)
Safer Communities Together

Am I Disillusioned ? Part 2

http://www.littlespeck.com/content/people/CTrendsPeople-060909.htm

Am I Disillusioned ?

I have been very cranky and fault-finding lately, but one issue remained a mystery to me.

I have always been "concerned" (being politically sensitive here) about the sheer volume of foreigners in Singapore (and I am definitely not talking about tourists). Nothing personal, just that I think it is the effects of our policies.

Many a times, when walking along the streets, I feel that I had been mysteriously transported to another country. What's worse is that it happens not in Chinatown, nor Little India, but right at local coffee shops in the heartlands.

And then I took a serious look at myself. Am I being discriminating ? I tried to think back at the times that I had encounters with foreigners.

Malaysians ? I can tell, but not much resentment or other feelings. Probably I think Malaysian and Singaporeans are not much different and we have been moving around freely.

Thais, Filipinos, Indonesians ? Other than students, most are low-wage workers. I don't feel much. I don't feel that they are invading. I don't feel much, actually.

Indians ? Can't tell FTs from local Indians. Other than the obvious labourers. The only time I discrimate them is when there are enough of them around me that reeks of unwashed sweating bodies. And come to think of it, it is not their race that I am against, just the odour. I would feel the same if the odour were to come from a bunch of Chinese construction workers (be they Singaporeans or Malaysians).

MLC (Main Land Chinese) ? Yes ! These are the people that irritates me the most. I can't give an exact reason. Is it their LOUD presence ? Is it their INTRUSIVE behavour ? I really do not know. Or am I just a nationalist (as opposed to a racist), that I dislike all MLCs ? What is it that they did to me that I dislike ? This is something I want to find out.

Someone told me it is their loudness, and their way of imposing their culture onto us. A little bit of truth in it, just like how I would hate to sit in a bus along Little India when all the Indian workers decided to re-enact a scene from a bus in Bangalore by squeezing beyond the laws of physics.

But that can't be the whole thing. I still do not automatically dislike all Indian workers, just during those irritating moments.

But for the MLCs, they have hit my nerves so much, that the moment they open their mouths, I feel irritated. Or maybe, it is true that I hate their loud, obnoxious way of speaking ?

Something for me to ponder over...

I am no longer a teen....

You are about 20 years old

The teen repellent will no longer foil you, but you can still hear some pretty high tones. The highest pitched ultrasonic mosquito ringtone that I can hear is 16.7kHz

Find out which ringtones you can hear!

Ok. This, officially, shall be my aging test from now on. Lets see when I will turn officially deaf.