Pleasureville

And I loved you so

2008-09-21T13:57:00.009+10:00

That's my Aunt with me when I was a little boy. Something tells me that I never really did grow out of being that little boy to her.

Chivonne texted me an hour before my constitutional law moot court on Friday that my aunt had passed on peacefully in Seremban.

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

I started this on the night I received the news but will only publish this when it happens. If anyone is reading this, yes… it had already happened. I had made the decision to turn off the machine. 8,000km away in Hobart.

No, I don’t feel terrible about this. I feel beyond what a mere misery could provide. It is consuming me with every deep scratch it sinks inside. At this moment, my experience is beyond any feeble mortal articulation.

Never have I found myself crying in such clear and consistent intervals when I was speaking to you over Chivonne’s mobile. All I heard was your labourous breathe punched in by the ventilator. Yes. I am still that boy whom needed you always and crying when you are not around.

I’m sorry that I cannot be there to hold your hands as you slip into that peaceful sleep.

I’m sorry that I was not around to warm your skin with my kiss when you entered the cold hospital room.

I’m sorry that I could not be there to see your smile over casual dinner.

I’m sorry that I did not hug you before I left for the airport that year.

I’m sorry that I am always stuck in the office when you called.

But… life was never meant to be reversible.

Thank you for telling me that it is alright.

Thank you for telling me that it is okay.

Thank you for never stopping to try to get me to dinner.

Thank you for assuring me that you will be there when I return.

Thank you for understanding that suddenly strangers are very important to me.

Thank you for loving me as one of your own and never stop believing in me.

I want to be with you and you are always inside me.

Lovingly yours,
Sheng
12th September 2008

This is for you. I know you like this song very much.

榕樹下 - 余天
曲︰遠藤實
詞︰慎芝

路邊一棵榕樹下　是我懷念的地方
晴朗的天空　涼爽的風
還有醉人的綠草香

和妳繞過小路彎彎　情人山坡看斜陽
晚霞照上妳的臉　情話綿綿說不完

啊　妳可想起榕樹下
可曾想起綠草香

路邊一棵榕樹下　是我見妳的地方
甜美的笑容　親切的話
還有默默的情意長

妳曾陪我留戀春光　盡情細訴心中願
幾個春天已過去　就是就是不能完

Options

2008-09-17T12:54:00.002+10:00

The existence of options does not necessarily correspond your range of choices in life. It merely demonstrates the width of your experiences.

Similarly, making a choice premised on rationality need not afford you the the shelter against what that would kill you inside.

Morning Rush Rush Rush

2008-09-01T09:27:00.003+10:00

I'm off to Melbourne and shall see you people in a couple of.. hmm...

days.

*grin*

Happy Birthday Singapore

2008-08-09T10:37:00.004+10:00

This song never failed to touch me... especially being so far from home.

家

The English Version

The Singapore Official version

作詞：木子
作曲：Dick Lee

每一次我感到徬徨
不自禁就會回頭望
我知道心中有個地方
一定會有一盞燈
照亮每一顆黑暗的心房
指引未來方向
沿著生命河流向前航
就能登陸理想

我的家收藏我的歡喜悲傷
只要燃點希望夢就會自由飛翔
我的家給我一雙堅定翅膀
我的夢不論在何方
一生的愛唯有家

再也不會感到徬徨
不會再失意回頭望
我要用心中一點燭光
燃放千萬戶輝煌
要讓繁華的城市更燦爛
世界和平共享
全任生命河流來導航
一起登陸理想

我的家收藏我的歡喜悲傷
只要燃點希望夢就會自由飛翔
我的家給我一雙堅定翅膀
我的夢不論在何方
一生的愛唯有家

一生的愛唯有家
世世代代溫暖的家

Life Expectancy

2008-08-06T11:14:00.002+10:00

Came across this on @llie's Blog after getting all frustrated that I can find nothing constructive on the Mercury. Anyhow, I got a great friend whom I believe is the probably greatest fan of the "Teenage Textbook". That book is probably his guiding bible during those days of confusing moments.

Got the great pleasure of briefly meeting Adrian Tan outside the chambers of the old High Court back in Singapore when he returned to practice. It was, I must say, a very interesting experience.

Below is the extract I got from Mr Wang's Blog

Life and How to Survive It by Adrian Tan

I must say thank you to the faculty and staff of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for inviting me to give your convocation address. It’s a wonderful honour and a privilege for me to speak here for ten minutes without fear of contradiction, defamation or retaliation. I say this as a Singaporean and more so as a husband.

My wife is a wonderful person and perfect in every way except one. She is the editor of a magazine. She corrects people for a living. She has honed her expert skills over a quarter of a century, mostly by practising at home during conversations between her and me.

On the other hand, I am a litigator. Essentially, I spend my day telling people how wrong they are. I make my living being disagreeable.

Nevertheless, there is perfect harmony in our matrimonial home. That is because when an editor and a litigator have an argument, the one who triumphs is always the wife.

And so I want to start by giving one piece of advice to the men: when you’ve already won her heart, you don’t need to win every argument.

Marriage is considered one milestone of life. Some of you may already be married. Some of you may never be married. Some of you will be married. Some of you will enjoy the experience so much, you will be married many, many times. Good for you.

The next big milestone in your life is today: your graduation. The end of education. You’re done learning.

You’ve probably been told the big lie that “Learning is a lifelong process” and that therefore you will continue studying and taking masters’ degrees and doctorates and professorships and so on. You know the sort of people who tell you that? Teachers. Don’t you think there is some measure of conflict of interest? They are in the business of learning, after all. Where would they be without you? They need you to be repeat customers.

The good news is that they’re wrong.

The bad news is that you don’t need further education because your entire life is over. It is gone. That may come as a shock to some of you. You’re in your teens or early twenties. People may tell you that you will live to be 70, 80, 90 years old. That is your life expectancy.

I love that term: life expectancy. We all understand the term to mean the average life span of a group of people. But I’m here to talk about a bigger idea, which is what you expect from your life.

You may be very happy to know that Singapore is currently ranked as the country with the third highest life expectancy. We are behind Andorra and Japan, and tied with San Marino. It seems quite clear why people in those countries, and ours, live so long. We share one thing in common: our football teams are all hopeless. There’s very little danger of any of our citizens having their pulses raised by watching us play in the World Cup. Spectators are more likely to be lulled into a gentle and restful nap.

Singaporeans have a life expectancy of 81.8 years. Singapore men live to an average of 79.21 years, while Singapore women live more than five years longer, probably to take into account the additional time they need to spend in the bathroom.

So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you’ll have another 40 years to go. Four decades in which to live long and prosper.

Bad news. Read the papers. There are people dropping dead when they’re 50, 40, 30 years old. Or quite possibly just after finishing their convocation. They would be very disappointed that they didn’t meet their life expectancy.

I’m here to tell you this. Forget about your life expectancy.

After all, it’s calculated based on an average. And you never, ever want to expect being average.

Revisit those expectations. You might be looking forward to working, falling in love, marrying, raising a family. You are told that, as graduates, you should expect to find a job paying so much, where your hours are so much, where your responsibilities are so much.

That is what is expected of you. And if you live up to it, it will be an awful waste.

If you expect that, you will be limiting yourself. You will be living your life according to boundaries set by average people. I have nothing against average people. But no one should aspire to be them. And you don’t need years of education by the best minds in Singapore to prepare you to be average.

What you should prepare for is mess. Life’s a mess. You are not entitled to expect anything from it. Life is not fair. Everything does not balance out in the end. Life happens, and you have no control over it. Good and bad things happen to you day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Your degree is a poor armour against fate.

Don’t expect anything. Erase all life expectancies. Just live. Your life is over as of today. At this point in time, you have grown as tall as you will ever be, you are physically the fittest you will ever be in your entire life and you are probably looking the best that you will ever look. This is as good as it gets. It is all downhill from here. Or up. No one knows.

What does this mean for you? It is good that your life is over.

Since your life is over, you are free. Let me tell you the many wonderful things that you can do when you are free.

The most important is this: do not work.

Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable.

Work kills. The Japanese have a term “Karoshi”, which means death from overwork. That’s the most dramatic form of how work can kill. But it can also kill you in more subtle ways. If you work, then day by day, bit by bit, your soul is chipped away, disintegrating until there’s nothing left. A rock has been ground into sand and dust.

There’s a common misconception that work is necessary. You will meet people working at miserable jobs. They tell you they are “making a living”. No, they’re not. They’re dying, frittering away their fast-extinguishing lives doing things which are, at best, meaningless and, at worst, harmful.

People will tell you that work ennobles you, that work lends you a certain dignity. Work makes you free. The slogan "Arbeit macht frei" was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. Utter nonsense.

Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort. You may never reach that end anyway.

Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play. Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often. Soon, that will have value in itself.

I like arguing, and I love language. So, I became a litigator. I enjoy it and I would do it for free. If I didn’t do that, I would’ve been in some other type of work that still involved writing fiction – probably a sports journalist.

So what should you do? You will find your own niche. I don’t imagine you will need to look very hard. By this time in your life, you will have a very good idea of what you will want to do. In fact, I’ll go further and say the ideal situation would be that you will not be able to stop yourself pursuing your passions. By this time you should know what your obsessions are. If you enjoy showing off your knowledge and feeling superior, you might become a teacher.

Find that pursuit that will energise you, consume you, become an obsession. Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm. If you don’t, you are working.

Most of you will end up in activities which involve communication. To those of you I have a second message: be wary of the truth. I’m not asking you to speak it, or write it, for there are times when it is dangerous or impossible to do those things. The truth has a great capacity to offend and injure, and you will find that the closer you are to someone, the more care you must take to disguise or even conceal the truth. Often, there is great virtue in being evasive, or equivocating. There is also great skill. Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences. It takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence.

In order to be wary of the truth, you must first know it. That requires great frankness to yourself. Never fool the person in the mirror.

I have told you that your life is over, that you should not work, and that you should avoid telling the truth. I now say this to you: be hated.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you? Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many. That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.

One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it’s often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one’s own convictions. It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions. Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average. That cannot be your role. There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself. Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong.

The other side of the coin is this: fall in love.

I didn’t say “be loved”. That requires too much compromise. If one changes one’s looks, personality and values, one can be loved by anyone.

Rather, I exhort you to love another human being. It may seem odd for me to tell you this. You may expect it to happen naturally, without deliberation. That is false. Modern society is anti-love. We’ve taken a microscope to everyone to bring out their flaws and shortcomings. It far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise. Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance. It is hard work – the only kind of work that I find palatable.

Loving someone has great benefits. There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness. In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way. We learn the truth worthlessness of material things. We celebrate being human. Loving is good for the soul.

Loving someone is therefore very important, and it is also important to choose the right person. Despite popular culture, love doesn’t happen by chance, at first sight, across a crowded dance floor. It grows slowly, sinking roots first before branching and blossoming. It is not a silly weed, but a mighty tree that weathers every storm.

You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart.

You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.

Finally, you will find that there is no half-measure when it comes to loving someone. You either don’t, or you do with every cell in your body, completely and utterly, without reservation or apology. It consumes you, and you are reborn, all the better for it.

Don’t work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.

You’re going to have a busy life. Thank goodness there’s no life expectancy.

Nice Nice?

2008-07-07T13:15:00.000+10:00

I am on a spree!!
That's worrying.

Hmmm....

马来西亚华人的中文 "水准"

2008-07-04T14:51:00.003+10:00

Saw this on my email and a friend's blog.
I know exactly who will be laughing off their seats when they read this. *LOL*

(p.s. you know I can do it too!)

中国人：今晚你有空吗？我没空！
马来西亚华人：今晚你得不得空？我不得空！

中国人：饼干受潮了…。
马来西亚华人：饼干'漏风'了…。

中国人：从上海去苏州要多少个小时？
马来西亚华人：从上海去苏州要几粒钟？

中国人：难道他不可以来吗？
马来西亚华人：你不给他不来啊？

中国人：周杰伦不喜欢穿内裤。
马来西亚华人：周杰伦不喜欢穿底裤。

中国人：我一向都是这样的
马来西亚人：我一路来都是这样的啦

中国人：我的手机掉进沟渠了。
马来西亚华人：我的手机掉进龙沟了。

中国人：这样你不是很不值得吗？
马来西亚人：这样你'马'很不 '歹'？

中国人：你真是聪明！
马来西亚华人：你真是pan nai！(源自马来语pandai，聪明的意思)

中国人：你安静！
马来西亚华人：你diam diam！(源自马来语diam，安静的意思)

中国人：我要去银行取款。
马来西亚华人：我要去银行'按钱'。

中国人：为什么？
马来西亚华人：做么？

中国人：你很强~
马来西亚华人：你很够力~

中国人：明天也叫他一起去吧！
马来西亚华人：明天叫'埋'他一起去！

中国人：我很郁闷~~~
马来西亚华人：我很'显'（sien）啊~~~~（'显'比郁闷的境界更高）

中国人：你再说我就打你！
马来西亚华人：你再说我就hood你！（有点粗俗的）

中国人：你在说什么？
马来西亚华人：你在说sommok？

中国人：你不要令我丢脸~
马来西亚华人：你不要'下水'我~

中国人：真被你气到…。
马来西亚华人：被你炸到…。

中国人：你别乱来~
马来西亚华人：你表乱乱来~

中国人：你很无聊
马来西亚华人：你很废

中国人：XX你
马来西亚华人：Kanasai（意思是像大便一样，骂人的话）

中国人：迫切
马来西亚华人：bek chek

中国人：我们一起吃这碗面~
马来西亚华人：我们'公司'吃这碗面~（源自马来语的kongsi，就是一起分享的意思）

中国人：我们结婚吧！
马来西亚华人：我们结'分'吧！（'婚'字受粤语影响，所以音不标准）

中国人：今天的天气很热~
马来西亚华人：今天的天气热到。。。。。。。。。。。。。。~~~~~~~（'到'字要拉长，然后没有下文了）

中国人：哇!
马来西亚华人：哇捞weh!!!!

中国人：我受不了他！
马来西亚华人：我behtahan他！

Yet Another New Toy to Come

2008-06-29T16:41:00.004+10:00

Product Features:

*MP3 Music Player
*Video Player (AVI/MPEG-4 Movie Files - The conversion program is included)
*Built in DIGITAL/VIDEO CAMERA! (1.3 Megapixels!)
*Built in External Speaker
*Built in MiniSD Slot (Allows you to use a MiniSD card for additional memory of up to an extra 4GB on your MP4 Player!)
*Built in FM Radio with 20 preset channel option
*Voice Recording with the BUILT IN microphone! (Records for Hours! Good for lectures too!)
*Voice Playback
*Record the Radio!!! And listen to it at a later date!
*View Photos (jpeg, gif, bmp)
*E-Book Function (Allows you to view Text Files, pretty good)
*Games (Tetris! *ponder*)

Additional Features:

*Any music file will fade out and the end of the song to make the listening experience more enjoyable
*The MP4 player can also be used as a USB Flash drive to store and transfer any files from your computer.
*Plug and Play (Hope it works with Vista)
*Anti-Shock enabled
*Power Off Function (The player turns off automatically within a specified time of inactivity)
*The large 2.8" Screen allows for more enjoyable movie playback (Porn!)
*Folder Support which makes it easier to organise your albums
*3.5mm Standard Australian Audio Plug (No need for adaptors! but I wonder what would happen when I get home)
*Built-in 1800 mAh Rechargeable Lithium Battery
*19 Built In Languages [English, Simple & Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Czech, Denmark, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Hebrew, Thai]
(Hell I wouldn't need that many but still good!)

Now for some Hardcore Statistics!

Product Dimensions ~ 95x56x14 mm (L x W x D)

Capacity ~ 8 GB (8000 MB - 1700 Songs Approximately)

Startup Time ~ Approximately 5 Seconds

Screen Size

2.8 Inch, 260K Full Colour High Speed TFT Display
320 x 240 Dot Matrix

MP3 Bit Rate ~ 8 MHz - 320 Kbps

FM Frequency ~ 87 - 108 MHz

MP3 Play Modes ~ Normal, Single Repeat, Play Folder, Repeat Folder, Shuffle Folder

Weight ~ Only 98 Grams!

Digital Camera ~ Built in!! (1.3 Megapixels)

Now I'm just waiting for the postman to knock on my door... yay!!!
*grin*

and here I am... naked in a corner.

2008-06-19T17:17:00.000+10:00

Snooped that from Facebook or somewhere.. pretty self explanatory.

A couple of things happened through the day and it's just not worth screaming about it. I am tired.

The Human Condition is a very scary thing.

----------------
Now playing: 周美欣 - You Are My Angel
via FoxyTunes

The Morality of Justice

2008-06-10T15:03:00.004+10:00

"To a certain degree, legal education can rather blind us to what is going on in cases, given the tendency to see law through law, rather than to ask the broader questions about whether the policy of the law is fair or sustainable outside the operation of legal rules"

Mason JK, 2007, “The Reproductive Tort”, Halsbury’s Laws of England Centenary Essays 2007, United Kingdom, pp 127 to 146 at p127 and note 2 with reference to Priaulx N “The Harm Paradox: Tort Law and the Unwanted Child in an Era of Choice” (2007)

I really would not regard this as critical but rather, reflective sum up of my academic experiences so far. The issue of policy has always been both a mysterious and hazardous legal domain to venture into, often running into the danger of facing dismissal remarks. Whilst so, it is of substantial risk (as a matter of exam techniques) not to give proper acknowledgment to its weighty effect on applicable law.

From a personal perspective, raising the issue of policy is a desperate attempt of any good counsels in trials. The Courts generally find great comfort operating within the well dug trench walls of established precedents. This is often even more evident in the decision of lower courts where in some jurisdiction, it is statutory mundane or practice directions to follow the decision of superior courts as closely as practicable.

So does this suggest that the privilege of policy discussion remains inevitably in the realm of superior Bench members and committed academics?

My respond is negative.

Policies, whether legal or political, revolves around the dynamics of morality. What then comprise 'Morality'? In its most spartan form, morality is a collation of acceptable personal responses to an action (often objectionable) of another. The tendency of the path of societal reaction in respond to an issue of public concern. This I boldly suggest is the soul of justice.

Whilst the relationship of justice and law remains both complex and in some situation vague, the vital motivator of any established justice system was the providence of a fair and just forum engineered towards effective dispute resolution. Where policy stands in adverse, the parties (whether with or without the assistance of counsels) ought to have vested rights to challenge it on the grounds of social morality. Simple reason, the Law cannot operate against the public will and in a democratic society,public will formulates policies. Not in the cold chambers of a conservative
Bench where strenuous exercise of book flipping is performed. Not behind the grey veil of academics where cynical observations are released.

It is in the warm rays of public eyes where public policy is rendered the slave.

Good O' Days of Zouk!!

2008-06-05T11:16:00.002+10:00

If anyone wants to know, yes... I do own a pair of tight bell bottom jeans. In white.

*wink*

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Social Justice

2008-06-03T02:09:00.003+10:00

To the world at large, the rule of evidence rust in adverse grains.

Hearsays bears an overriding effect over collaborations by the genuine few.

The quality of a person is determined by the gullible and ever suspicious mass under the influence of a vicious few.

As if, their undermining of one would elevate many from their slum of a conscience.

Let your peers judge.
They say
Let there be equity and conscience.
They say
Let there be justice!
They scream!

All in divorce from the reality supplemented only by the filth of public breath.

Alone... the Accused plead his deliverance of a sweet, inviting death.
An indulgence never to be granted by the jeering mob as he stagger in his shackled bleeding soul to a tribunal of echoes.

and I was an Art student.....

2008-05-17T11:48:00.002+10:00

Now, the education probably will not agree with me but for all I care. I did History and that makes me at least a self declared art student. Save for Audi (the specky chap on my right on top and left at the bottom) I have not seen most of them for ages and god that picture was taken 10 years ago!

From My Kitchen

2008-04-25T12:54:00.003+10:00

Agedashi Tofu

Nope I wasn't bored. Just felt like doing something I have not done for a while:P

29

2008-03-13T12:03:00.003+11:00

and it's my birthday today!! *brink*

Away From Her

2008-02-11T15:45:00.000+11:00

Trailer

Would ever forget me this way one day?

Huat Arh!!!!

2008-02-07T14:53:00.000+11:00

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

Mine didn't exactly started in best possible tradition. Dad was grumpy because mum was taking her time, we are stuck in an outdoor zi char place with middle aged uncles abusing cheap reds in the most horrid of manners, set menu was a major mistake, someone nearly dump a claypot of soup on my head and the list goes on.

One thing did turn out well. I had the longest conversation with dad for a long long time.

Now I just dread the thought of going back Hobart in a couple of weeks.

p.s. any mahjong anywhere?

How Trite

2008-02-01T16:00:00.000+11:00

"Litigation has become an inevitable stage in the life cycle - slightly beyond adolescence but before maturity. It is virtually impossible to survive litigation and remain solvent, but it is occasionally possible to endure it and remain sane. As a modern ordeal by torture, litigation excels: it is exorbitantly expensive, agonisingly slow, and exquisitely designed to avoid any resemblances to fairness or justice. Yet, in strange an devious ways, it does settle disputes - to everyone's dissatisfaction"

J.S Auerbach, "Welcome to Litigation" New Republic, 17th January 1981.

All About Lovin' You

2008-01-31T12:42:00.000+11:00

Well... one of favourite song all these time. =)

Click here

Ding Ding Tah Tah

2008-01-24T14:34:00.000+11:00

3月13日預言未來
宮位：雙魚座 21-23
雙魚座二
變動的水象

在3月13日出生的人總是非常的宿命，因為他們的一生比起別人多經歷了一些意想不到的事情。所以他們十分想念每件事情都是老天安排好的，而且，他們也會大膽地為這世界或別人的人生下預言。而且他們也常以這樣的方法態度來分析這個世界和種種的問題。

他們當中比較聰慧的人會被哲學與分析系統學所吸引﹔除此之外，他們還崇拜人類的智慧與才能，但是，他們更尊崇宇宙間的自然奧秘，因為相形比較之下人類還是很渺小的。

在這一天出生的人能夠熬過一生中許多天大的難關，不論是經濟上的或是心理上災難都打不倒他們，尤其對這一天出生的男性而言更是如此，不過由于他們很想念命運的安排，3月台票3日出生的人不管是男性或女性，都會無怨無悔地接受人生中的打擊，而且還能在打擊過后，繼續過著陸富有創造力與生產力的人生。而這些打擊也使他們了解到自己的能力和堅毅無比的耐性。因此，這類的挫折就像是命運對他們的考驗，使他們變得更為茁壯、成熟，也更有毅力與勇氣去面對未來的艱難險阻。3月13日出生的人甚至可以因此而更了解自己與人生的方向。

對3 月13日出生的人來說，他們最重視的是個人的成長與發展。因此，這一天出生的人几乎個個積極進取并且勇于向自我挑戰。不過，對玄學或形上學這類難以掌握的事物過度投入的話，或者想要掌握未知或是對還不了解的事情裝作了解，恐怕會有走火入魔的危險。話說回來，即使他們因此而失敗了，這些挫折仍然有助于個人的成長與發展。此外他們還有個心愿，就是期望能成為他人的啟發者，因此會主動地去找尋那些能因他們的啟示而受惠的人。

大致上來說，3月13日出生的人最好不要隨隨便便為身邊的人預測未來或者妄下斷言，因為他們很有可能會影響別人未來的發展。而他們所謂的自我預言，對他們而言，其實就是強烈的自我期許罷了。

幸運數字和守護星

3 月13日出生的人受到數字4（1+3=4）和深具爆發性與不規則性的天王星所統治。受數字4影響的人大多有叛逆、特異的信仰與想要改變的欲望。3月13日出生的人是在雙魚座主宰的期間出生的，所以他們個性中的靜態或抗拒的因子都被削弱了。因此，在這一天出生的人，不管他們愿不愿意，勢必是要被社會上的大事所改變。雖然13是很多人認為不吉利的數字，不過它也是一個很有力量的數字，所以必須謹慎地善用它的力量，否則便可能帶來自我毀滅的危機。

健康

3月13日出生的人發生意外的傾向很高。他們必須格外地留意四肢末端，尤其是腳和腳趾頭。適度而規律的運動是非常重要的，因為運動可以使這些飽含哲思及概念的人擁有健康。特別是那些不具競爭性的各項運動，如瑜珈、柔軟體操、大自然環境下的健行、游泳與太極或跳舞等等。3月13日出生的人得特別控制他們的飲食習慣，最好是多食用各種谷類、核果、水果，當然還有新鮮的蔬菜。在某些特別的情況下，高蛋白質的攝取也是很重要的。可能的話，尋求營養師、治療師或各種醫學專家的咨詢將很有說明。

建議

放輕松一點，不要永遠都那么認真。偶爾承認自己的無知也是一種解放。解決自己的問題，并且不要把問題轉嫁到他人身上。

名人

波西華羅威爾(Percival Lowell)10、20世紀天文學家，預言會發現冥王星。

日本演員吉永小百合，代表作《細雪》。

日本電視節目主持人田中義剛，代表作《TV電視冠軍》。

美太空人尤金塞南(Eugene A.Cernan)，他是阿波羅17號登陸月球行動的總指揮，也是在太空漫步的第二人。

俄國早期的抽象派畫家亞楞斯基(Alexei Von Jawlesky)，他的一系列抽象風景畫《無言之歌》，以窗外景致為主題，象征色彩和音樂的密切關系。

胡伯特(L.Ron Hubbard)作家、小說家及科紀作家，也是工程師暨哲學家。同時是美國科學論派教會的創立者。

德國作曲家及評論家休格活夫(Hugo Wolfe)，他以300首鋼琴伴奏的獨唱曲贏得和舒伯特、舒曼、伯拉姆斯、施特勞斯基齊名的崇高地位。
出版商兼慈善家華特安倫伯格(Walter H,Annenberg)，他出版了《電視指南》、《費城詢問報》，并創立安倫伯格傳播學校、曾任駐英大使。

塔羅牌

大秘儀塔羅牌中最容易被誤解的是第13張牌，也就是“死神”。我們很少依它字面意思去解讀，事實上它的積極意義是拋開過去，超越限制并持續成長。所以，這張牌是希望人們避免沮喪、悲觀或憂愁。

靜思語

時間的門會定期地開啟几條不同的道路，而每一條路都是值得探索的丰碩大道。
優點

包容、勇敢、投入。
缺點

觸角太遠、自大。

For more.... Click here.

Me in a nut shell

2008-01-13T15:33:00.000+11:00

Lets101 Quizzes - Fun Quiz

Realised that I have not committed myself on any post since 2008 started and so... the usual cut and paste stuff from somewhere. =P

(me stole this from someone. hee)

Counting Down

2007-12-29T11:38:00.000+11:00

ABBA Happy New Year

It's a tee wee early but...

Happy New Year everyone.

Where are you guys?

2007-12-29T11:29:00.000+11:00

Class 3B - 1988 - TBPS

Class 5A - 1990 - TBPS

Dear Queenie started this little mission on facebook to hunt down the guys from Tiong Bahru Primary School. Had been staring at the pictures for the past few hours.

Had it been that long?

p.s. anyone could locate me? =P

Some people just sing in the bathroom

2007-11-30T10:22:00.000+11:00

"I have for long remain my grace of silence but upon your most wretched presence before me, this is the most polite manner I could deliver this message across.

What you have done or have any intention to do forms no part to my state of business.

YOU shall NOT, for even a particle of a moment, lay the assumption that your faculty of logic gear the mechanics to the possibility of my performance of the same sort.

If you, SIR, have vested in you the most minute trace of dignity to afford salvage to your damned mongrel soul. PLEASE! Show yourself out from my jurisdiction of comfort and be gone EVER!"

As random as it comes. A stage scene just pop up in my head in the middle of a shower. Quick editing in my head while I was washing my butt and it was just painful trying to go through the whole episode in my head again (and hoping I would not forget anything before the opportunity to pen this down somewhere)

And yes. I did rehearse the delivery in most augish pommie sneer I could muster up. Hopefully I didn't scare anyone Q-ing for the toilet in the morning today. =P

Smashed out Night!

2007-11-23T01:27:00.000+11:00

Us getting ready. 2 bottles of 12 y.o. Canadian Club Whisky.

Joanie - our bottle spokewoman for the night.

and that's how it ended!!

The Faces of Social Justice

2007-11-12T13:29:00.000+11:00

(picture sources from various internet and newspaper articles)

Pakistani lawyers - the Bar and its duty to the People.

Four years in law school, many more in practice... have we forgotten to serve that voice which screamed in silence for justice. Have we forgotten that duty to place the spirit of humanity in its rightful throne to its people.

Have we forgotten.

I have a pimple on my forehead

2007-11-01T20:16:00.000+11:00

Some Test I grabbed off Jas since I am so stuffed with consti law.
CLICK HERE

Now... this is what it says about me.

Your view on yourself:
You are intelligent, honest and sweet. You are friendly to everybody and don't like conflict. Because you're so cheerful and fun people are naturally attracted to you and like to talk to you.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You are not looking merely for a girl/boyfriend - you are looking for your life partner. Perhaps you should be more open-minded about who you spend time with. The person you are looking for might hide their charm under their exterior.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:
Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

Your views on education
Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:
You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:
You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:
You are afraid of things that you cannot control. Sometimes you show your anger to cover up how you feel.

Who is your true self:
You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

Now my Working Style CLICK HERE

You are friendly, adaptable realists. You rely on what you see, hear, and know first-hand. You good-naturedly accept and use the facts around you. You look for a satisfying solution instead of trying to impose any "should" or "must" of your own. You are sure a satisfying solution will turn up once you have grasped all the facts.

You solve problems by being adaptable, and often can get other to adapt, too. People generally like you well enough to consider any compromise you suggest. You are unprejudiced open-minded, and tolerant of most everyone--including yourself. You take things as they are and thus may be very good at easing a tense situation and pulling conflicting factions together.

With your focus on the current situation and realistic acceptance of what exists, you can be a gifted problem solver. Because you are not necessarily bound by a need to follow standard procedures or preferred methods, you are often able to see ways of achieving a goal by "using" the existing rules, systems, or circumstances in new ways, rather than allowing them to be roadblocks.

You are actively curious about people, activities, food, objects, scenery, or anything new presented to your senses. Your expert abilities in using your senses may show in:

* a continuous ability to see the need of the moment and turn easily to meet it
* the ability to absorb, apply and remember great numbers of facts
* an artistic taste and judgement
* the handling of tools and materials

You make your decisions by using the personal values of feeling rather than the logical analysis of thinking. Your feeling makes you tactful, sympathetic, interested in people, and especially good at handling human contacts. You may be too easy in matters of discipline. You learn far more from first-hand experience than from books, and do better in actual situations than on written tests. Abstract ideas and theories are not likely to be trusted by you until you have been tested in experience. You may have to work harder than other people to achieve in school, but can do so when you see the relevance.

You do best in careers needing realism, action, and adaptability. Examples are health services, sales, design, transportation, entertainment, secretarial or office work, food service, supervising work groups, machine operation, and many kinds of troubleshooting.

You are strong in the art of living. You get a lot of fun out of life, which makes you good company. You enjoy your material possessions and take the time to acquire you. You find much enjoyment in good food, clothes, music, and art. You enjoy physical exercise and sports, and usually are good at these.

How effective you are depends on how much judgment you acquire. You may need to develop your feeling so that they can use your values to provide standards for your behavior, and direction and purpose in your lives. If your judgment is not developed enough to give you any character or stick-to-it-iveness, you are in danger of adapting mainly to your own love of a good time.

I like what it says so far but damn I so can't be bother with anything now.

Something not too bright.

2007-10-31T01:45:00.000+11:00

I realised I get a couple of conscious (no I'm not drunk all the time)idea from just replying my friends' blog.

Below is something I comment about how women like equality at work while fussing themselves over someone not giving their seats up or opening the door for them.

Comments?

"same question that bothered me for years since I first started to date!

From sources (several), somehow I figured that it's not the part of letting a female take the seat which plays the mind of a female. Rather, the very primitive female instinct of attraction to a male who is willing and able to withstand that little hardship & (of course) sacrifice to make her a wee bit more comfortable.

Might not articulate this in the most politically correct or acute way... but the very conduct of not performing the main stream 'gentlemanly' gesture makes a girl feel less important and (certainly) less attractive somehow. So really it's not anything otherwise than personal."

戲說乾隆

2007-10-23T15:21:00.000+11:00

問情

 來生再續緣

I just realised that I used to have a teenage crush on 趙雅芝.

*blush* hee.

and she still looks good at 53. *wink*

不能说的秘密

2007-10-23T11:02:00.000+11:00

I'm no big fan of Jay Chou but this song brought back some incredible memories. Of people whom I had shared something very special with. I suppose even when things didn't work out, I cannot deny that I did and probably still do love them in my own ways.

Who are we mortals to decide who we shall or shall not love but embrace the sweet dew of memories.

最美的不是下雨天
是曾與你躲過雨的屋檐

词:方文山曲:周杰伦

冷咖啡離開了杯墊
我忍住的情緒在很後面
拼命想挽回的從前
在我臉上依舊清晰可見

最美的不是下雨天
是曾與你躲過雨的屋檐(oh~~)
回憶的畫面
在蕩著秋千夢開始不甜

你說把愛漸漸放下會走更遠
又何必去改變你說過的誓言
你用你的指尖指示我說再見
想象你在身邊在完全失去之前

你說把愛漸漸放下會走更遠
或許命運的簽只讓我們遇見
只讓我們相戀這一季的秋天
飄落後才發現這幸福的碎片
要我怎麼撿

and here's the MP3

Something I posted elsewhere that trigger all that above:

"The essential difference between men and women I suppose we don't usually like the word respect in such circumstances. It slice. Not that we deem it to correct to hang on to things rather, having a relationship ended does not factually transient us into a stage of harsh denial that affection ever did exist.

Many of us would still like to demonstrate that affection to that special another in our own ways. The respect we have (in our mysterious mind codings)was one with regards to the special relationship we once shared and not merely mutually for each other."

Why I fired my Secretary

2007-10-18T16:47:00.000+11:00

This is kind of a repeated circulation but I suppose it serve as a decent indication to someone. YOU know who you are you bastard! =P

Last week was my birthday and I didn't feel very well waking up on that morning. I went downstairs for breakfast hoping my wife would be pleasant and say, 'Happy Birthday!', and possibly have a small present for me.

As it turned out, she barely said good morning,let alone 'Happy Birthday.'
I thought... Well, that's marriage for you, but the kids.... They will remember.
My kids came bounding down stairs to breakfast and didn't say a word. So when I left for the office, I felt pretty low and somewhat despondent.

As I walked into my office, my secretary Jane said, 'Good Morning Boss, and by the way Happy Birthday ! ' It felt a little better that at least someone had remembered.
I worked until one o'clock , when Jane knocked on my door and said, 'You know, It's such a beautiful day outside, and it is your Birthday,what do you say we go out to lunch, just you and me.'

I said, 'Thanks, Jane, that's the greatest thing I've heard all day. Let's go !'
We went to lunch. But we didn't go where we normally would go. She chose instead a quite bistro with a private table. We had two martinis each and I enjoyed the meal tremendously. On the way back to the office, Jane said, 'You know, It's such a beautiful day... We don't need to go straight back to the office, Do We ?'

I responded, 'I guess not. What do you have in mind ?'
She said, 'Let's drop by my apartment, it's just around the corner.'
After arriving at her apartment, Jane turned to me and said, 'Boss, if you don't mind, I'm going to step into the bedroom for just a moment. I'll be right back.'
'Ok.' I nervously replied.

She went into the bedroom and, after a couple of minutes,she came out carrying a huge birthday cake ...

Followed by my wife,

my kids,

and dozens of my friends

and co-workers,

all singing 'Happy Birthday'.
And I just sat there...
On the couch...

Naked.

Wedding Woos

2007-10-16T03:11:00.000+11:00

I've got Yolanda's engagement party due sometime end December before she flies off with Josh to good old NYC and Yianlin's (whom ROM I missed) dinner end Jan'08.

Problem: I've to do a summer unit on ADR between the 2 important dates.

Life is unfortunately not a fairytale and even I work my sleeping hours off, I am not going to afford 2 flight tickets back home.

These are some of the 2 best girlfriends I had in Singapore. To the many extend that they never did mind the way I am (in particular my manners with girls :P) and got their boys to meet me. Many random happy memories roaming my mind now and I just missed them.

Anyhow, I'm shoving the decision on which to attend till after the exams. Yes dearies... I am as usual that random and don't tell me you girls don't like surprises!

Hobart 0230hrs

2007-10-16T02:29:00.000+11:00

Woke up to do my criminal readings but it's just not happening. So me just took a chick test thingy which I ripped off a friend.

SO WHAT IS YOUR LOVE LANGUAGE??

Well apparently my profile result works out to be:

Score Love Language
6 Words of Affirmation
10 Quality Time
4 Receiving of Gifts
5 Acts of Service
5 Physical Touch

Now.. how does that interpret works:

Your highest score indicates your primary love language. Your second highest score indicates your secondary love language. If two scores are identical, you are bilingual (you have two primary love languages). If the scores of your primary and your secondary language are close (for example, 10 & 9 respectfully), it indicates both are important to you. Whatever a significant other does to express love in either of these languages will get emotional points with you.

The highest possible score for any language is 12.

Having a clear picture of your primary & secondary love languages will explain much of your past behavior Think back over the past and ask yourself "What have I most often requested from significant others?" Chances are your answer will lie within the scope of your primary & secondary love languages. You have been requesting that which would meet your deepest need for emotional love.

For those who know me probably find the above application on me real hard to belief. *lol* I do have a flamboyant lifestyle (understatement) but yes, I do need so much time with her and afforded her (to which I believe she agrees) every minute I could possibly save up.

*stretch*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now.. Something for Jassie dear.

The Tasmanian Whisky I was talking about? Here are some information links and apparently, according to the source here, they have been in the market for a long long time. They are just not usually exported anywhere, including interstates, due to low production level or some weird reasons.

THE TASMANIAN DISTILLERY
These are priced along the range of Macallan in local bottle shop and I hope they tasted the price! Anyhow, I missed out the last bottle of Macallan 12 years going at A$69. Damn. *sulk* I also want that free gift.

LARK DISTILLERY
Oh they are the ones with very interesting blends like Bush Whisky! Shall steal some to taste from the restuarant! =P

Anyhow...

It took the locals forever to decide to allow export of Tasmanian abalone and oysters to the other states and when they did, they sold everything they got. To the extend, locals here have to IMPORT from Victoria their own oysters for consumption!

Having said that, once you tried the tassie oysters... no other oysters are close in caparisons after.

Have I told anyone my obessession with short hair girls?

2007-09-25T06:58:00.000+10:00

Self explanatory.

I love the strength they display. Ahhhh.... *drool*

What shall I say?

2007-09-19T23:20:00.000+10:00

Law ball is unfortunately over and done. I have yet the time (or effort) to sit down and go through the uploading process, so please forgive me. If anyone is at all interested, here's some I ripped from Debbie and Haz:

Alwin and I had a little catching up on Sunday after work and reckon one of us (that usually means me) should do a write up on the punch up thing after the ball. Anyhow, upon our joint consensus, it should be released here. So stay tuned.

~~~~
~~~~
~~~~
~~~~

Something not relevant to the above.

I've been writing, calling and telling but this doesn't seem to go through (your head in particular) in the diplomatic manner. So here,

Stop that self pity mechanism of yours. I can very well understand your need of having someone and / or something to rely on but that does not equal to:

a) self proclaim low self confidence/esteem - it is usually an opinion from others upon proper observation over time and it is just silly to even put through that statement. People who fits into such picture usually do not know that. Period.

b) lack of love - apart from being literally and unnecessarily mushy, your lack is no factual lack. You must first learn to accept the people around you and the way they love you. Getting stuck in that stupid self-contained notion of how love should or ought to be delivered and how everyone is not doing it for you is (I just cannot be any clearer) stupid. You are a spoiled brat so smell it. What you want but cannot get is not the same as not being factual existing.

c) obsession in self help book philosophy and quotes - I respect your choice to live your life and explain your conduct strictly according to some earthly being's or celestial statement. Please do not convince me to do the same. If it make sense to you, at this given point, I am living as a happier person than you are. I have enough quotes in law school.

d) depression - your doc is cheating your money. stop going to him. you do not have a psychiatric condition and your other health problems comes from your lifestyle and diet. stop using this to get everyone to agree with you and you should know I never did. If you are suffering from depression, half of law school are qualified for the defence of insanity.

I need my whisky.

~

It's that time of the year

2007-09-13T19:59:00.001+10:00

Where I put on a suit again. *wink* Can't wait for law ball and it's THIS Saturday!!!

That's Ying. =) Don't say more... who doesn't have a thing for pretty girl and she got short hair!!

Grace and nope, I'm not her groom.

A good friend whom I met recently. Usual problem with spelling Indian names so let's just call him VM.

Michael and Me. We are just so hungry at this point but then, who says we can't try to look good. =P

For the rest of MSS Night 2007, Please Click Here.

Wine Fair in Hobart

2007-09-06T11:20:00.000+10:00

and the summer is slipping in!!! Yay!!!

Southern Vineyards White Wine Weekend - 22 & 23 September, 12noon - 6pm (IXL Atrium, Hunter St)

Treat your taste buds and your senses at the tasting event of the year. An event for the enthusiast to novice alike. $10 covers tastings of 50 wines from 18 southern Tasmanian vineyards, tasting notes and take home glass.

Who's coming? *wink*

Under the Belt

2007-08-29T11:53:00.000+10:00

I dread the day when I would have to read the Hansard.
That's so under the belt to regard someone's personal disabilities as a form of political/parliamentary rebuttal.

They should move the parliament house to some caves with such primitive notion towards disabilities.

Aug 28, 2007
Outdoor events by political parties banned
A PERMIT application by the Workers' Party (WP) to hold a cycling event for its 50th anniversary was rejected because political parties are banned from organising outdoor activities.

This is a longstanding position, as outdoor gatherings by parties have the potential to cause a public disturbance, said Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee yesterday.

He was responding to Non-Constituency MP Sylvia Lim, who wanted to know why the WP could not get a police permit for a mass cycling event at East Coast Park.

Said Associate Professor Ho: 'The East Coast Park is a recreational park for Singaporeans and their families. It is not meant to be used by a political party to promote its cause.

'Apart from displacing the usual recreational users...it is an open area where there is greater potential for breach of the peace, public disorder and unruly behaviour.'

He said that police required political events to be held indoors or in stadiums where problems could be contained, adding that the WP could consider these venues. The policy applied to all political parties, he said.

To another question from Ms Lim, he said that even if the organisers were well behaved, others there might still cause problems.

To laughter, he added: 'Maybe cycle around the stadium.'

Then, WP MP Low Thia Khiang (Hougang) rose to ask why political events in public places were deemed to cause disturbances.

He also asked if Prof Ho considered cycling in a stadium a reasonable suggestion, and if the minister could designate a part of East Coast Park for sports by parties, just as Hong Lim Park became designated Speakers' Corner. Just before he sat down, Mr Low remarked: 'Cycling at Hong Lim Park? Don't tell me that, ah.'

To the first question, Prof Ho retorted: 'If you listened very carefully Mr Low, I don't know whether his hearing aid is with him because he wears one, I said there is a greater potential for law and order (problems).

'You may be well-behaving, but there may be other people whom you come across when you cycle who may stop you, may want to debate with you and that may attract a crowd, and therefore will result in problems the police want to avoid.'

Not Again.

2007-08-29T11:43:00.000+10:00

When was the last time we heard any positive from Temasek?

From The Times
August 27, 2007
Temasek loses £150m on its July investment in Barclays
Nick Hasell

Temasek, the Singapore investment vehicle that has emerged as a possible buyer of Nasdaq’s stake in the London Stock Exchange (LSE), has lost £150 million on its investment in Barclays in the space of a month.

The state-backed fund took a 2.1 per cent interest in the bank in late July as part of an equity refinancing to support Barclays’s €68 billion (£46 billion) bid for ABN Amro, the Dutch bank.

However, amid the turmoil in the world’s financial markets, shares in Barclays have fallen by 15 per cent from the price that Temasek agreed to pay, cutting the value of its holding from £970 million to £820 million.

Barclays closed at 611p last week, coming under fresh pressure on Friday after the resignation of Edward Cahill, who had run the bank’s collateralised debt obligations division.

Temasek paid 720p a share, with a commitment to invest a further £1.5 billion at 740p a share should the proposed merger with ABN Amro proceed. China Development Bank invested at the same time on the same terms and is sitting on a £220 million loss on its £1.5 billion stake.

It emerged this weekend that Temasek had expressed interest in the 30 per cent holding in the LSE being put up for sale by Nasdaq, potentially marking its first foray into Britain’s financial services sector beyond banks. Aside from Barclays, it has built a 15 per cent interest in Standard Chartered, the emerging markets bank.

However, Nasdaq, which has appointed UBS to handle the auction, has said previously that it would not sell its LSE stake to a single bidder. Under UK listing rules, ownership of a 30 per cent stake would automatically trigger a bid for the entire company.

The Nasdaq holding is expected to draw wide interest, with the New York Stock Exchange, now merged with Euronext Liffe, and Borse Dubai expected to enter the fray. The governments of Dubai and Singapore regularly compete for the same assets, most publicly last year in the struggle to buy P&O, the ports operator, which eventually was won by Dubai Ports World. Deutsche B�rse, which launched a bid for the LSE three years ago at £1.3 billion, is also seen as a contender.

This month Temasek reported the value of its portfolio as $108 billion. Since 2002 it has stepped up its plans to diversify its spread of assets, with a target of allocating one third of its portfolio to Singapore, a third to the rest of Asia and the remainder to developed countries. At present 78 per cent of its assets are within Asia, including Singapore.

For the 12 months to March 31, Temasek reported a total shareholder return of 27 per cent. Aside from this month’s setback on its Barclays stake, it has run into difficulties closer to home. Last year its $3.8 billion investment in Shin Corporation, of Thailand, the telecoms operator once owned by Thaksin Shinawatra, the country’s former prime minister and now the owner of Manchester City Football Club, lost about one third of its value.

Temasek could not be reached for comment.

NSW v Singapore on FOI

2007-08-29T11:12:00.000+10:00

As a preliminary, FOI = Freedom of Information. In Australia, the FOI Act 2000 (Cth) is the governing law with regards to most information held in custody of governmental officials.

For some useful background --> Please see Rick Snell's Website

Uni used Singapore laws to stop FOI bid
Harriet Alexander - Higher Education Reporter
August 29, 2007

THE University of NSW has used the secrecy laws of an authoritarian foreign regime to justify its decision not to release documents under freedom-of-information laws.

The university quoted the Official Secrets Act of Singapore in its refusal to release information about its failed UNSW Asia campus, which collapsed in June, stranding nearly 150 students and costing the university millions in compensation and lost revenue.

The university's freedom-of-information officer refused to release correspondence between the vice-chancellor, Fred Hilmer, and Singapore's Economic Development Board partly because it "may fall within the scope of the Official Secrets Act", a draconian piece of legislation that has been used to prosecute journalists, government officials and economists.

"Section 5 of the OSA makes it clear that disclosure of communications entrusted by a person holding office under the government to any person other than the person that is entrusted in confidence or authorised by the person holding office under the government will be guilty of an offence," the university's letter to the Herald said.

"In effect, the Singapore [Official Secrets Act] reinforces that the communications between UNSW and the Singapore EDB are confidential material and release of that material would result in disclosure of confidential communications made between UNSW and the Singapore EDB."

A spokeswoman said yesterday that the university was not relying on the Official Secrets Act in declining to release the documents, but indicating the degree of confidentiality the Singapore Government attached to them.

Reporters Without Borders ranks Singapore 146th out of 168 countries for media freedom.

The university was criticised for its decision to set up a campus in Singapore because of its harsh laws on public comment and dubious record on academic freedom. It replied at the time that the Singapore Government had assured it that academic freedom would be protected.

The university pulled out of its Singapore campus after just one semester, with the bill expected to climb into the tens of millions, including staff payouts, student compensation, contract termination penalties, lost revenue and legal claims.

The university had already spent $17.5 million when it decided to close UNSW Asia, but lost $15 million by not reaching expected enrolment numbers. It is wrangling with the Singapore Government over the liability for $13 million in grants.

The university has also refused access to documents about a sponsored academic chair, saying it contained commercially sensitive information it did not wish to reveal to its competitors.

The University of Sydney released an equivalent document in full.

But UNSW declined to release its agreement with the Neuroscience Institute of Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders for the establishment of a sponsored chair, citing the competitive market for private sector funding.

The Herald will appeal against the decisions.

TVB 难兄难弟

2007-08-26T11:38:00.000+10:00

Colourful Colourful 60s!!! My recent Obsession. =P
Sigh... there's no TVB rental shops in Hobart. *pout*

Is this for real???

2007-08-25T17:49:00.000+10:00

Well... Apparently it is!

Shall blog more later. Need to work.

*runs off*

In Love Again

2007-08-24T10:24:00.000+10:00

I don't really know who sang this but sounds really nice. =)

Link up to my multiply if you want the MP3 Copy

Hooo

O yea yea yea yea

When u smile
My life becomes a ray of light
Sing me a lullaby
To sleep at midnight

I’ll be hypnotized
when looked into your eyes
Turn off the room light
Let's Spend the night

Chorus
Take me to far away
Away to your secret place
Take my tears my fears
Take all my pain for which I'll repay
Someday with a kiss and say
Can't believe that I’m in love
In love again

When the stars don’t shine
And when the birds don’t fly
And when the flowers cry
And when the rain runs dry
When the violet's red and when the rose turn blue
Baby I’ll still be in love with u

Chorus X2

$11,650 a month as a junior? Damn!

2007-08-21T11:45:00.000+10:00

Pay lawyers more to keep them: Chief Justice
By Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 18 August 2007 2259 hrs

SINGAPORE: More young lawyers are switching careers, citing long hours, unrewarding pay and stress as reasons.

This causes a shortage of lawyers, and as the economy booms and the demand for law services goes up, the problem is becoming more acute.

How to address this problem?

"Pay them well," said Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, in his address to law students at the inaugural Singapore Legal Forum on Saturday.

"Our young lawyers enjoy a degree of professional and social freedom and mobility which lawyers of my generation have never experienced. Perhaps the solution is in the old fashion but still fashionable way of using carrots without the stick since the latter doesn't work. Pay them well. Greed works most of the time, even for the large majority of people in affluent societies," he said.

In recent years, even the best-paying firms in Singapore are seeing their young lawyers jumping ship to Hong Kong, where salaries for junior lawyers start at about S$11,650 a month.

In contrast, the big firms in Singapore pay junior lawyers just over $4,000.

A second law school has been established at the Singapore Management University.

Also, the NUS Law Faculty has increased its intake and firms are now allowed to hire foreign lawyers.

But the shortage has not eased yet.

Another issue of concern addressed at the Legal Forum is how to make the law more accessible to the public.

Laws may be available online but the language in which it is written makes it difficult for the layman to understand it.

So the Chief Justice said that he would ask the Law Academy's publishing committee to study the feasibility of publishing simplified law books.

While access to the law is important, access to justice is even more so.

This need will be provided by lawyers who do pro bono work, that is providing service free of charge.

But such services are currently confined to Community Court cases, and this year, more convicted offenders are appearing in High Court appeals without lawyers.

In his speech, the Chief Justice also addressed the issue of restoring confidence in the law profession, particularly after the high-profile case of lawyer David Rasif who fled with more than $12 million in clients' monies.

"We must be more discerning about what we read in the media. The facts do not suggest any loss of confidence in the legal profession," said the Chief Justice.

"On the contrary, our large and medium law firms are generally held in high regard in Singapore and in the region. All the ethical and professional lapses that I have come across in my 40 years in the law have emanated from small law firms. It's very unfortunate," he added.

Although only a small minority of lawyers in these firms have committed breach of trust, the Chief Justice stressed that all law students must be taught the importance of ethical values.

The forum was organised by the UK Singapore Law Students Society. - CNA/ir

Hardcore.

2007-08-21T11:25:00.000+10:00

Now just in case anyone was wondering how a regular constitutional law question looks like (which I sincerely have grievous doubt), here goes.

Disclaimer: Proceed at your own risk. The following article has already inflicted PTD on me. *twitch twitch.... drool*

Assignment Qn 2:

Western Australia has for years had an electoral system in which country seats have fewer voters than city seats. In 2006, it enacts an Electoral Redistribution Act which contains the following provisions:

Section 27 – In any redistribution, the Electoral Commission shall ensure that electorates in Area 1 (The whole of the State outside the Perth Metropolitan Area) have at least 50% of the number of electors of the largest electorate in Area 2 (The Perth Metropolitan Area).

Section 28 – In determining electoral boundaries, the Commission is to take into account topography, the sizes of proposed electorates, transport within proposed electoral boundaries, community of interest within each electorate; the need to ensure that all areas of the State are reasonably represented and the number of electors in each electorate.

Section 29 – No Act for the amendment or repeal of sections 27-29 of this Act is valid unless the proposed amendments or repeal are approved at a referendum by a majority of electors in a majority of electorates and by a majority of electors overall before the Act receives the royal assent.

In 2008, the parliament of WA passes the Electoral Redistribution Amendment Act, section 6 of which reads:
Section 29 of the Electoral Redistribution Act is repealed.

The Act passed both houses of parliament and received the royal assent without being put to a referendum.

In 2010, the parliament of WA passes the Electoral Redistribution Amendment Act (No 2), section 3 of which reads:

Section 27 of the Electoral Redistribution Act is repealed and the following section is substituted for it:
Section 27 - In any redistribution, the Electoral Commission shall ensure that all electorates have as near as is reasonably practical the same number of electors.

Jones, a member of parliament, challenges the validity of section 3 of the Electoral Redistribution Amendment Act (No 2). We are instructed to draft submissions on behalf of the West Australian government.

Those submissions will need to address the following issues:
1. is the Electoral Redistribution Amendment Act, section 6 a law on the constitution, powers and procedures of parliament; (In answering this question, assume that a repealing law is on the same subject matter as the law it repeals.)

2. If yes, did it have to comply with the procedure set out in section 29 of the Electoral Redistribution Act in order to be valid. (This will depend upon whether that procedure is a valid manner and form requirement.)

3. is the Electoral Redistribution Amendment Act (No 2), section 3 a law on the constitution, powers and procedures of parliament

4. If yes, did it have to comply with the procedure set out in section 29 of the Electoral Redistribution Act in order to be valid. (The answer to this question raises the same issues as the answer to question 2).

Will it make any difference to our submissions if at all relevant dates, a majority of electorates are in the Perth Metropolitan Area?

Criteria to be addressed in assessment
1. Ability to draft clear, concise submissions
2. Ability to identify arguments for and against submissions and their strengths and weaknesses.
3. Familiarity with the law on the issues in question;
4. Knowledge and understanding of the arguments of principle for and against the points in the Commonwealth’s submission
5. Academic writing skills, such as expression and punctuation, ability to present arguments clearly and logically and accurate and appropriate referencing

Got to submit 2000 words on this in 3 weeks. I need a religion. *sigh*

Love Seats

2007-08-21T11:14:00.001+10:00

I know it's not exactly the most friendly kind of furniture to have around but hey... it's still cool!! Though I think they could just lessen the tone of pink a little.

heh.

Finally I Won Something!

2007-08-20T11:19:00.000+10:00

Now I lost bid for this watch TWICE!!!

But.....

I GOT this on Saturday..... =p

Isn't she a beauty? *blink blink blink blink blink*
Heh. Shall start camping near my post box tonight till my parcel arrives from Sydney.

YAY!!!!!!

Speak Softly Love

2007-08-07T12:53:00.000+10:00

The Original MTV!!! How cool is that!

Love Theme From "The Godfather" (Speak Softly Love)
Andy Williams
Music by Nino Rota and Lyrics by Larry Kusik
from the movie "The Godfather" starring Marlon Brando

(peak Billboard position # 34 in 1972)

Speak softly, love and hold me warm against your heart
I feel your words, the tender trembling moments start
Were in a world, our very own
Sharing a love that only few have ever known

Wine-colored days warmed by the sun
Deep velvet nights when we are one

Speak softly, love so no one hears us but the sky
The vows of love we make will live until we die
My life is yours and all becau-au-se
You came into my world with love so softly love

(instrumental interlude>

Wine-colored days warmed by the sun
Deep velvet nights when we are one

Speak softly, love so no one hears us but the sky
The vows of love we make will live until we die
My life is yours and all becau-au-se
You came into my world with love so softly love

Now... just as an alternative option:

Everything - Misia

2007-07-28T10:35:00.000+10:00

Click Here if the above doesn't work

Ha! Right!

2007-07-23T19:59:00.000+10:00

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are very passionate and quite temperamental. While you can be moody, you always crave comfort.

You are a grounded person, but you also leave room for imagination and dreams. You feet may be on the ground, but you're head is in the clouds.

You see yourself with pretty objective eyes. How you view yourself is almost exactly how other people view you.

Your near future is calm, relaxing, and pretty much what you want. And it's something you've been anticipating for a while now.

For you, falling in love is all about the adventure and uncertainty. You can only fall in love with someone who keeps you guessing.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

I'm running a temperature. *pout*

=(

非你莫属

2007-07-23T18:37:00.000+10:00

Video

<白>:你知道吗?☆
我很喜欢牵着你的手的感觉☆
发生什么样子我好希望再来一次☆
懂得让我微笑的人
再没有谁比你有天份
轻易闯进我的心门
明天的美梦你完成
整个宇宙
浩瀚无边的尽头
每颗渺小星球
全都绕着你走
爱我非你莫属
我只愿守护
由你给我的幸福
爱我非你莫属
也许会笑着哭
但那人是你所以
不怕苦
☆o0o0o0o0o0o☆
爱我非你莫属
我只愿守护
由你给我的幸福
爱我非你莫属
也许会笑着哭
但那人是你所以
不怕苦
那人是你所以
不怕苦...
0o0不怕苦☆...

For Rene. =P
Click here please.

I wanna watch this!!!

2007-07-18T00:29:00.001+10:00

THE CAMPAIGN TO CONFER THE PUBLIC SERVICE STAR ON JBJ
Opens 19 September 2007
Drama Centre Theatre @ National Library, Level 3

For people who had yet to watch "Invitation to Treat".... you really should. =P

What Rubbish!

2007-07-17T22:03:00.000+10:00

'Conspiracy theory' revived and rebutted

Tuesday • July 17, 2007

Derrick A Paulo
derrick@mediacorp.com.sg

SOME 20 years ago, former Workers' Party (WP) chief J B Jeyaretnam was fined for abusing his privileges as a Member of Parliament, by alleging executive interference in the judiciary.

Yesterday, Non-Constituency MP Sylvia Lim once again raised the spectre of possible influence by the Government.

Arguing against an amendment to the Constitution, which would allow the Prime Minister to nominate up to two members of the Legal Service Commission, the WP chairman said the change could "undermine public confidence in the neutrality of our courts".

The commission, which sits at the apex of the Legal Service, is in charge of personnel management issues, including the dismissal and disciplining of legal service officers.

Presenting the Bill to Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister and Law Minister S Jayakumar explained that the Prime Minister's powers would be consistent with his role in recommending appointees to the Public Service Commission and "his retaining responsibility of the Civil Service".

Added Prof Jayakumar: "Once (the Prime Minister) has nominated two members and they're appointed, his role ends there. Neither he or the other nominating members can direct the nominees to act or decide in any particular manner.

"They take decisions in concert with other Legal Service Commission members."

The commission can have up to nine members.

However, Ms Lim, who as an NCMP is unable to vote on constitutional matters, questioned the rationale for the change.

"(This) potentially gives the executive branch of the Government even more influence over critical career decisions of our judicial officers. My concern is that this can be interpreted as a regressive step for judicial independence," she said.

Her comments drew a sharp rebuke from Prof Jayakumar.

"Ms Sylvia Lim, through her speech, is in fact resurrecting ... a conspiracy theory," he said.

Mr Jeyaretnam's remarks led to a commission of inquiry into those specific allegations, as well as a committee formed by Parliament to look into whether he had abused his parliamentary privileges.

Both groups found him to be "wrong and unjustified in making those allegations", Prof Jayakumar reminded Ms Lim.

The most important test of the legal system, he added, is "the leadership in the Government, and whether the Government respects the integrity and independence of the judiciary". In the case of Singapore's judiciary, he said, the results can be seen in international rankings, which "year after year" place the Republic "among the top in the world".

Said Prof Jayakumar: "We have the system, it works. We're now fine-tuning it to work even better ... I say, let's keep what works and let's not besmirch the reputation we have so carefully built up over the years."

Offering a different perspective, Nominated MP Thio Li-Ann noted that although the Prime Minister would be given new powers, there would also be a "series of checks and balances" — the Elected President would have to approve those appointed by the Prime Minister.

The new laws also prevent MPs, trade unionists and office-holders in political associations, among others, from becoming members of the Legal Service Commission, noted Prof Thio, a constitutional law expert.

Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Indranee Rajah, a practising Senior Counsel, also singled out the President's role.

In remarks directed specifically at Ms Lim, who wanted security of tenure for Subordinate Court judges, like their High Court counterparts, Ms Rajah said: "We have no issue with the appointment of our High Court judges ... each and every one of them is appointed by the President acting in his discretion, on the advice of the PM."

Parliament voted 75 to 2 in favour of the changes. Both Opposition MPs Low Thia Khiang and Chiam See Tong voted against the Bill.

Weeeeeeeeeeeee....................!!!!

2007-07-12T14:20:00.000+10:00

Not sure what the hell it means but me got wheels! Bling Bling!!
*lol*

You are The Chariot

Triumph, Victory, Overcoming Obstacles.

The chariot is one of the most complex cards to define. On its most basic level, it implies war, a struggle, and an eventual, hard-won victory. Either over enemies, obstacles, nature, the beasts inside you, or to just get what you want. But there is a great deal more to it. The charioteer wears emblems of the sun, yet the sign behind this card is the moon. The chariot is all about motion, and yet it is often shown as stationary. It is a union of opposites, like the black and white steeds. They pull in different directions, but must be (and can be!) made to go together in one direction. Control is required over opposing emotions, wants, needs, people, circumstances; bring them together and give them a single direction, your direction. Confidence is also needed and, most especially, motivation. The card can, in fact, indicate new motivation or inspiration, which gets a stagnant situation moving again.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Something I ripped from J's webby

2007-07-11T12:18:00.000+10:00

For the records, I like my coffee black - naked of distractions.

What Your Latte Says About You

You are very decadent in all aspects of your life. You never scale back, and you always live large.

You can be quite silly at times, but you know when to buckle down and be serious.

Intense and energetic, you aren't completely happy unless you are bouncing off the walls.

You're addicted to caffeine. There's no denying it.

You are responsible, mature, and truly an adult. You're occasionally playful, but you find it hard to be carefree.

You are complex and philosophical, but you are never arrogant.

What Does Your Latte Say About You?

Seafoam Green?? WTF?!!!

2007-07-05T18:38:00.000+10:00

Pisces - Your Love Profile

Your positive traits:

You're very tuned into your lover's feelings - and always doing something caring.
Sweetness - you're the most romantic person your partner has ever met.
You get easily swept away and are a total delight to fall in love with.

Your negative traits:

You are super duper sensitive and find it hard to get out of a sad mood.
It's difficult for you to tell your sweetie no, even when you should.
You often tell your partner what they want to hear, instead of being honest.

Your ideal partner:

Is straight from a fairy tale - the man or woman of your dreams
Is a total romantic, with an artistic or creative side
Loves to express their love to you, in all sorts of unique ways

Your dating style:

Dreamy. You like traditional romantic dates, like picnics in the park and candlelight dinners.

Your seduction style:

Fearless - you try what your partner suggests, no matter how unusual.
Loving. You'll take your pleasure second, if necessary.
Internal. A lot of your enjoyment takes place within your head.

Tips for the future:

Be more realistic. Your romantic ideal is nice, but it may just not happen.
Let go of your fear of rejection - it's holding you back from being with your true love.
Open yourself up to a new love. The person you think you want make not be the one..

Best color to attract mate: Seafoam green

Best day for a date: Friday

What's Your Love Profile?

On Miscarriages - Part 1

2007-07-02T12:35:00.000+10:00

Let's just say I'm not exactly astonished by those ridiculous administrative sloppiness of both the AG and the relevant services.

However, I'm not in the best mood to continue from there. (Explains the title at this point)

Some people are just.. AAaaargggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! SO SHALLOW!

Miscarriage No 2

2007-07-02T12:33:00.000+10:00

Link to this article

HE was supposed to have received five strokes of the cane. But the 20-year-old allegedly got three extra strokes when he was thrown into jail for vandalism and moneylending.

Now, his mother is claiming that he is suffering from stress and trauma. And she wants compensation for the alleged mistake.

Madam Ho Gee Lin, 52, claimed that despite his pleas to the prison officers that they had made an error, they proceeded to cane him eight times.

He was sentenced in February to nine months' jail and five strokes of the cane.

While at the Queenstown Remand Prison, he discovered from his prisoner's identification card that he was to receive eight strokes instead of the five imposed by the court.

When he was sent to Admiralty West Prison a week later, he was given another identification card. It said the same thing.

He informed two prison officers separately, but they would not listen to him, his mother claimed yesterday.

Her account of what happened could not be verified because the authorities could not comment by press time.

Madam Ho said one of the officers asked him if he could read English and told him to read his sentence printed out on the card out loud. Her son did that.

Still, he told his mother that the officer insisted there was no mistake in the sentence.

On the morning of 29 Mar, the day he was scheduled to be caned, Madam Ho and her 32-year-old daughter, visited him.

'He told me about the eight strokes of the cane,' she said. 'We were surprised.'

After they left the prison at about 10.30am, Madam Ho claimed her daughter called the investigating officer in charge of her son's case.

He told them to check with the court that passed the sentence and gave them the number, Madam Ho said.

Her daughter then called the court.

'A man told her that my son should be given five strokes, not eight. He said he would call the prison to clarify.'

But the family did not hear from the court employee again as they had forgotten to leave their contact number, Madam Ho said.

The family assumed the matter had been settled, she added.

When they visited him two weeks later, he told them he had been caned eight times.

'My son said he nearly fainted from the caning. He was so scared he didn't even scream, but just kept on shivering.'

But Madam Ho said her son was asked to put his thumbprint on a document before the caning.

She said they do not know what was on the document. So why didn't he read it before he put his thumbprint on it?

ENGLISH VERY POOR

Madam Ho said: 'His English is very poor because he dropped out of school after Sec 1. Also, he had already complained to the same prison officer (overseeing the caning) about the matter before and nothing was done.'

On 21 May, nearly three months before he was due to be freed from Admiralty West Prison, Madam Ho said he was allowed to go on home detention. He was supposed to be freed on 7 Aug.

On 30 May, Madam Ho wrote to the prison authorities.

Five days later, she met a lawyer from the Attorney-General's Chambers at the Selarang DRC. She claimed the AGC offered her apologies and monetary compensation, which she declined to disclose.

In early June, on the advice of her ex-husband, Madam Ho hired lawyer Joseph Chen to look into taking legal action.

Madam Ho claimed her son, the youngest of three siblings, was a very different person after the caning.

'He used to be active, but since he returned, he lost sleep, became forgetful and stressed. He even started seeing and hearing things.'

In early June, Madam Ho said she took her son to see a psychiatrist. He was also warded at Adam Road Hospital for four days.

She showed us the report, from a private psychiatrist. It said that the extra strokes caused stress and trauma to Madam Ho's son.

On her claims that the AGC offered her compensation, she said: 'I rejected it because my hospital bills came up to a few thousand dollars. And my son's future is unknown.

'I want to sue not just because of the money, but because I want justice for my son.

'He told the prison officers on the first day he was jailed that he wasn't supposed to get eight strokes.

'He was to be caned only two weeks later, so why didn't they use the time to check?

'He's still so young. I don't know how long he'll take to recover.'

Miscarriage No 1

2007-07-02T12:30:00.000+10:00

June 30, 2007
Jailed robber revealed to have low IQ
Ex-teacher queried why it was not considered in sentencing after reading trial report; court orders mental evaluation
By Khushwant Singh

A TEACHER'S chance reading of a newspaper report about the trial of a former pupil has prompted an appeal process that could result in the 20-year-old man convicted of robbery avoiding a prison sentence.

Reading about the case, Mrs Vasantha Povil wondered why there was no mention of the fact that Emmanuel Munisamy was mentally retarded, and decided to do something about it.

During the appeal yesterday, Justice V.K. Rajah ordered a further psychological evaluation to see if Emmanuel was suitable for reformative training.

Emmanuel is being represented by Mr T.U. Naidu, a lawyer Mrs Povil called after reading the newspaper report.

In February, District Judge See Kee Oon had ordered Emmanuel to be jailed for eight years and three months for two counts of robbery and hurting a police officer. He was also to be caned 24 times. The judge decided against reformative training because of previous convictions for theft and threatening a policeman.

The district court was not told that Emmanuel had a low IQ. When Mr Naidu mentioned this at the appeal on April 17, the prosecution asked for an adjournment to determine his mental condition.

In his report submitted to the High Court yesterday, prison psychologist Daniel Koh found that Emmanuel had an IQ of 66, which he described as being in the 'extremely low range of intellectual ability'.

In another report, Dr Tan Soo Teng, the prison psychiatrist, noted Emmanuel was 'mildly intellectual deficient and that this mental retardation would have compromised his ability to assess and analyse the meaning of events around him'.

Arguing that the sentence should stay, Deputy Public Prosecutor Christina Koh said that Emmanuel was a danger to society as he was a serial offender.

'It's hoped that this fairly long jail sentence and the 24 strokes of the cane would deter him from re-offending,' she said.

Mr Kumar argued that if Emmanuel's previous lawyer knew of his client's mental condition, he would surely have asked for the case to be heard in the Community Court.

Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong set up the Community Court last June to deal with offenders with special needs, including those with mental disabilities.

Noting that imprisonment was not a long-term solution, Justice Rajah noted that 'we should try to set him on the right path as his low IQ makes him susceptible to peer influence'.

The court will make a decision next month after reading the psychological report.

Throughout the hearing, Emmanuel sat in the dock looking as if he was trying very hard to follow the proceedings.

At age six, he was enrolled in a normal school. But he was moved to the Chaoyang School for children with low IQs when he was in Primary 3.

He also did not complete his national service as he was discharged for absenting himself without permission repeatedly.

Mrs Povil, who had taught Emmanuel for three years at Chaoyang School, contacted Mr Naidu, a volunteer with the Association for Persons with Special Needs, after reading about her former student in The New Paper.

She also remembers him winning a medal at the Special Olympics in the United States in 1999.

The 54-year-old teacher said: 'I was surprised that the sentence was so harsh and that there was no mention that he was of low IQ, so I thought I'd better bring it up.'

khush@sph.com.sg

AV Wage Schedule

2007-07-01T15:11:00.001+10:00

Now don't get too excited and start on anything. It's good to learn new things on a daily basis and for me, on a yearly basis. *wink*

Wonder if the industry was affected by piracy. :P

RIGHT......

2007-06-25T22:50:00.001+10:00

You Are 84% Sexy

Your Sex Appeal Is: Off the Charts!

Let's face it... you're one of the sexiest people around. And you don't let anyone forget it.
You're crazy hot, and you deliver on what you promise. You are definitely one wild ride.

How Much Sex Appeal Do You Have?

Mood Swings. Heh.

2007-06-21T23:03:00.000+10:00

Comment which I have posted on a friend's blog just moments ago

On Mens Rea (MR):

I suppose MR was never structured to be a precision tool in law to determine one's criminal liabilities/responsibilities. Rather, it provides a spectrum to accommodate social (or any other for that matter) sentiments and views on the occasion facts and events of any particular case into the chain of judicial decision making process.

One primary function of MR, which I assume to suggest, was to knock in a personalised touch into the hard walls of the criminal law system (which largely is concerned with the Actus Reus or AR). Thus when the general presumption i.e. the requirement of the coincide of AR and MR sets in, it creates a fluid balance in between and that I think produces what we generally label as criminal responsibility.

As a further note:

I suppose she was right in identifying that it is really difficult to reconcile the fact that someone could actually 'not know' what they are doing or had intended to do. My approach above might sound a bit (understatement) abstract to some but let's look at the basics:

1) When only AR is present, one might still be criminally liable i.e. the rebuttal of the common law presumption of MR --> absolute or strict liabilities

2) Where only MR is present, in absence of AR and in my humble knowledge, criminal responsibilities would not suffice.

Thus the logic of my cited approach. Make sense? *ponder*

Er... comments? anyone? =)

How sad =(

2007-06-21T16:59:00.000+10:00

Your Birthdate: March 13

You don't love lightly. For you, love is always a serious undertaking.
However, you are able to love many types of people. You can bring out the best in almost anyone.
Love surprises you often. You never know when or where you'll find it next.

Number of True Loves You'll Have: 1

Number of Times You'll Have Your Heart Broken: 5

You are most compatible with people born on the 4th, 13th, 22nd, and 31st of the month.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean For Your Love Life?

My Weekend Project

2007-06-21T11:18:00.000+10:00

Been browsing recipes online for the entire morning. No I don't think Dr Stokes would like that preceding the priority of my soon-to-due Administrative Law essay.

Arh well.. *shrug*

Click here for Olive Garden's Chianti Braised Short Ribs!

I don't know about you guys but I fancy cook shows over books anytime!!! =P

Slight update: Never knew one could cook with Vodka :P

Not a big fan of White though....

2007-06-19T06:23:00.000+10:00

You Are Chardonnay

Fresh, spirited, and classic - you have many facets to your personality.
You can be sweet and light. Or deep and complex.
You have a little bit of something to offer everyone... no wonder you're so popular.
Approachable and never smug, you are easy to get to know (and love!).

Deep down you are: Dependable and modest

Your partying style: Understated and polite

Your company is enjoyed best with: Cold or wild meat

What Kind of Wine Are You?

For the record, I loved the kiwi's sauvignon blanc. Courtesy of dearest YR. =)
Melvin left an hour ago for Sydney then KL and I'm one nice friend down in Hobart. Very complex feeling of emptiness in the house, I mean after all we've been housemates for the past semester and he was really decent company.

Well, have fun in Singapore when you are there chap!! *wink*

Now Now...

2007-06-15T09:54:00.000+10:00

Professionalism has very little to do with your job.
It is an unique personal attribute whose articulations were often echoed by many and its spirit embraced by only the truely few.

~ Dixon Soh, after a couple of brandy since 0800hrs (Hobart). It's cold in Hobart people. :P

My new found fling.. sorry and goodbye Dogville!

Summary Judgement... Yes I am evil :P

2007-06-08T12:30:00.000+10:00

1. Thank you Counsels for your kind assistance to this court. In considering this application before me, I was asked to decide whether the Respondents, the Lindisfarne Council, decision of not granting a licence to the Applicants, the Iraq Out Now Coalition (IONC), to stage a public march on Anzac Day, ought to be set aside due to the following reasons:

(i) That the Respondents had practiced actual biasness in coming to the decision in issue; or on the alternative,

(ii) That there were reasonable grounds for the Applicants to apprehend biasness from the Respondents in coming to the decision in issue.

2. As a matter of housekeeping and clarity, the contentions in Para 1 of my judgement were alleged (by the Applicants) to be found, by evidence, from the public press release by five (5) out of the thirteen (13) members sitting in the Respondents council.

3. Further, the Applicants contended that the contents of the said public press release served an indication or strong suggestions that the decision in issue was made only guided by political views of part or all members in the Respondent council and therefore underlines procedural unfairness and that the decision in issue was prejudicial and directed at the political nature of the Applicants.

4. Whilst counsels for both parties had adopted a similar set of authorities, there were great polarities in the interpretation of the same. As a general point, there was no disagreement raise at this stage that this court is vested with the power to exercise a decision on the current application for prohibition by virtue of Section 75 (v) of the Constituion.

5. As a summary of the law, the test of reasonable apprehension of biasness is one of objective and found to be in the same standards between administrative, quasi-judicial and judicial decision makers (R v Gough [1993] AC 646). This position was affirmed in Hot Holdings v Creasy (2002) 210 CLR 438 and had clearly put forth firmly that the point of view of the observer is an important factor for the court to assess.

6. In making a proper finding of the contentions as put forth by the Applicants and the evidence produced before this court, I found great assistance in the judgement of Gleeson CJ in Hot Holdings. He was cited in the case that in assessment of the required test of reasonable apprehension of biasness, the observer and in this case the Applicants must have complete and absolute knowledge of the process in which the decision in issue was made out and the alleged biasness or apprehension of biasness must point towards part or parts of the entire process in issue. It was further emphasized that the knowledge cannot be selectively acquired or adopted by the observer.

7. In Hot Holdings, there was a real contentious issue with the report which the principle decision maker relied on in coming to a decision. Here before my esteem colleagues and me, it is clear that the Applicants’ action was centered on the press release and the possible impact it had on the decision in issue. There was no strong and if not concrete evidence to suggest, by the Applicants, that either the part of the decision making process that could possibly be tainted by the political views of the 5 members of the Respondents council or that the said views of the 5 members were instrumental in the outcome of the decision in issue.

8. I was also guided by Kitto J obiter in Mobil Oil Australia Pty Ltd v Federal Commissioner of Taxation [1963] 113 CLR 475 at 504:

“What the law requires in the discharge of a quasi-judicial function is judicial fairness… what is fair in a given situation depends on the circumstances.”

I am inclined to adopt the interpretation in Century Metal and Mining NL v Yeomans (100) ALR 383 and Minister for Immigration v Mok Gek Bouy (1994) 127 ALR 223 that it refers to all factors relevant to the whole of the circumstances.

9. I agreed with the Respondents counsel that all 13 members were given equal weights and voting rights to the decision in issue. Whilst I concur with Kirby J in Hot Holdings, I am not prepared to investigate into the meeting minutes of that faithful day, I am persuaded by the Respondents contention that in making a decision towards a matter of the given nature, there would be numerous concerns i.e. the public sentiments, the nature of the date of march, the traditions of Australia and its practice in Lindisfare, the allocation of resources & etc by the administrators beyond the political inclination of some of its members. As a further note, I have also not find that those considerations to be inconsistent with the spirit and purpose of Local Highway Act.

10. On the other hand, the Applicants were unsuccessful in relating their contentions in evidence and convince me that the statements made by the 5 members, as pointed out, were instrumental or at least of high importance in process that might influence the final outcome altogether or have reasonably raised a claim of biasness in the process. Thus, I do not find that the Respondent had not practiced actual biasness in the process.

11. In addressing the Applicants’ alternative arguments, whilst I agree with the principles found in Re Macquarie University, ex parte Ong (1989) 12 NSWLR 113, I find it necessary to distinguish the facts of that case from the matter before this court. A letter from the VC was circulated to all [emphasis put] members of the inquisition panel and the main focus of that case was whether the inquiries as performed by the said panel were fair based on such undue influence. Nothing in this application indicated or suggest of a contamination of process of the nature found in Ong.

12. It was firmly established in R v Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, ex parte Angliss Group, that in determination of whether the decision makers had come to a conclusion with an unprejudiced mind, that mind need not necessarily be one which has not given thought to the subject matter or one which having thought through it, has not formed any views or inclination of mind upon or with respect to it.

13. Also in Angliss Group, the court found the duty of the members in the committee was to have considered every relevant factors and arguments that may be addressed to them. Here, I am satisfied that the Respondents have performed that required necessary duty on that faithful meeting where the decision in issue was produced and find no reasonable grounds for the Applicant to apprehend biasness from the process of decision making by the Respondents.

14. I did not find the Stollery Principles cited in the various authorities of much assistant to the current application. I am of the opinion that it would only be relevant if the Applicants had applied to appear before the Respondents to have their case heard or that there was a need for them to be heard under the relevant legislation.

15. The Applicants have not, both in their submission and evidence, pointed out clearly to this court that there was clear and substantial conflict of interest within the members of the Respondents council or had made out their case that their political inclination was the principle factor that had influence and impact on the outcome of the decision in issue that might or had resulted in procedural unfairness.

16. I must further and firmly address that the court is not the ideal forum to iron out political differences. It would amount to an abuse of process and unnecessary litigation and should be discouraged. It is my opinion that an issue of such nature should be addressed to a different forum which the Applicants had seemingly failed to either consider or employed.

17. In a similar premise, albeit the non requirement of nicety and political correctness in law, I would however caution the Respondents that given the nature of their offices, they ought to be more prudent in making certain public comments.

18. For the reason cited above, I therefore find for the Respondents and dismiss this application with cost to the Respondents.

19. Special Leave for appeal denied.

Dixon Soh J
*wink*

My First Written Judgement

2007-05-22T13:05:00.000+10:00

Heh... I reckon it's nice to play the judge role once in a while and make some personal *ahem* judicial opinions. I fancy this whole cheap thrill power trip thing. =P

Having said that, I am just so not enjoying the judicial review part of the administrative law module. It's just so... arrrggghhhhhhh!!!! *pull hair*

Okie... back to work on my written judgement. Shall post it up once I think I'm satisfied with it.

Cheers people!!

p.s. Grace, the hideous looking house with purple walls is the one I drew for the test.
You can find me in a hammock between the trees on the right corner. *wink*

My House =)

2007-04-20T06:51:00.000+10:00

Click here to view my house!!!

6 am in the morning and I'm really glad to see someone online *wink*

*stretch* 5hrs of lectures in law school and let's see how much they love to crucify me today.

Good Day Mate!!

My New Toy!!!

2007-04-18T18:07:00.000+10:00

Motorola Z3... ahhh....... the feel of a real phone.

Muar

2007-04-12T20:49:00.000+10:00

Interesting :P

Click here for link

Another one

The Lost Rebels Inside

2007-04-12T03:16:00.000+10:00

From left: Alex avoiding being blown away, Jovian in perfect hakka stance and moi just being the usual ass

Blazing wind ~ Plunged Temperature ~ 4,000 feet above sea level ~ Silly boys

Enough said and no... it wasn't Dutch courage. =P But nevertheless, we are mindful not to arouse the elderly crowd up in Mt Wellington and that includes elderly men. You never know when they decide to come out of the closet. Heh.

自古多情空余恨...

2007-01-18T14:13:00.000+11:00

*giggles*

Japanese Cops Vs the Dark Vader

2007-01-14T15:27:00.000+11:00

Smooth E

2007-01-12T17:22:00.000+11:00

Gentle dreams of one's teenage years *wink*

Technical difficulties? Click HERE

poke poke

2007-01-09T18:43:00.000+11:00

Dear "Friend"

Thank you for your gracious allowance. I have ponder upon things and assessed the situation so far.

Nope... it is not happening. =)

Dixon

Weird

2007-01-08T19:14:00.000+11:00

I have people asking me all morning how I feel getting home.

All I could say was that it had been a tough 3 weeks and further disappointment came when I was informed (in a rather literal manner) that I am an inconvenient option to meet up just earlier this morning. Guess this trip pretty much diminished most of the reasons why I would spend thousands and fly hours to get home again. I guess I have to re-evaluate and justify me relations with many people.

Having said that, there are those who remain a large part of my life here in Singapore. That seriously tilt things to a more positive note till I fly back later in February. To the bunch of you... Thank you.

As for the strange episode on Saturday, I shall call chris in Sydney up later this evening and see what we can make out of it. As far as I am concerned, I really have no idea how having people coming late for a brunch and in turn extending the session by 2 hrs could lead to such aggression. I am not prepared to fight an unnecessary electronic war with my peers. Let's try to be civil about things and work it out.

Oh Herrroooo.........

2007-01-03T17:12:00.000+11:00

I've jammed this off Chinfee. That silly woman is alway full of interesting thoughts. heh.

Sunday, December 3
"Pearls of Wisdom" - Dave Barry

Fourteen Things That It Took Me Over 50 Years To Learn by Dave Barry

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

5. You should not confuse your career with your life.

6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

7. Never lick a steak knife.

8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.

12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.

13. A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)

14. Your friends love you anyway.

Thought for the day: Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

Added to Lucidcafé on April 28, 2003

Last Long Weekend for 2006

2006-12-30T23:45:00.000+11:00

So this is what Ms Jolene Lai think of us

Clubbing anywhere? Anyone?

To that someone who was sitting near me somewhere out there

2006-12-29T15:07:00.000+11:00

Being in law school does not mean that you must be intelligent.
Rather, it simply denote that you are a pretty hardworking chap armed with a very cruel sense of humour.

How's everyone? =)

First two of the many coming weeks in Singapore

2006-12-24T17:29:00.000+11:00

Not having the most fantastic time of my life. There are some really disappointing events which tore my guts and heart out.

Anyhow...

Merry Christmas *smile*

I feel so cold =(

2006-10-31T14:57:00.000+11:00

It snowed in Hobart over the weekend, in the middle of Spring!!
So its pretty much back to winter weather now and exams are just so not helping. *pout*

Can't wait for summer sun. Beer and Bar-B. *wink*

Mindless Chatter

2006-10-24T18:38:00.000+11:00

Just completed my last final German essay and I thought... ahhh.. to hell with what went to my mind.

Anyhow, here goes.... *wink*

Entre
Spring Onion Salad bathed with a generous dash of lemon juice, soy sauce and extra virgin sasame oil. :P

Topped with an oven tossed Snow Cod in butter, sea salt and pepper.

Soup
Mushrooms in clear chinese vegetable consomme. Enjoy the light hint of garlic swirled into perfection by a buttery fleur d'oeuf.

Salad
Leafy garden drown in appetizing Balsamic Vinegar and Olive oil. Thin Radish Vermicelli gives the much needed fresh crunch for a warm evening.

Main
Lamb marinated in Sparkling Pinor Noir gently grilled over oven grazed garlics.

Served with a side of Carrot stew and boiled Brocolli.

Dessert
Vanilla ice cream, cuddled by freshly whipped cream and chocolate shavings, served in aromatic Espresso. Sweet finish with splashes of good old baileys irish cream.

Wine, coffee or me?

Sigh..

2006-09-25T17:10:00.000+10:00

Somehow... I suddenly missed home so much

The Link

Talking Cock in Parliament

2006-09-25T16:43:00.000+10:00

Well Well done Ruby!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCsZdbfBuSY

Sexual Consent Form

2006-09-25T15:59:00.000+10:00

ha ha.... I so wish I could get jobs like these!!!

The Link

OK... I was bored...

2006-08-25T14:34:00.000+10:00

Your Seduction Style: The Charmer

You're a master at intimate conversation and verbal enticement.

You seduce with words, by getting people to open up to you.

By establishing this deep connection quickly, people feel under your power.

And then you've got them exactly where you want them!

What Is Your Seduction Style?

Something from my inbox

2006-08-07T19:35:00.000+10:00

For all the March babies out there. heh.

Abstract thoughts. Loves reality and abstract. Intelligent and clever. Changing personality. Attractive. Sexiest out of everyone. Temperamental. Quiet, shy and humble. Honest And loyal. Determined to reach goals. Loves freedom. Rebellious when restricted. Loves aggressiveness. Too sensitive and easily hurt. Gets angry really easily but does not show it. Dislikes unnecessary things. Loves making friends but rarely shows it. HORNY. Daring and stubborn. Ambitious. Realizing dreams and hopes. Sharp. Loves entertainment and leisure. Romantic on the inside not outside. Superstitious and ludicrous. Spendthrift. Tries to learn to show emotions.

Stars Award

2006-07-04T17:23:00.000+10:00

The Link

Ha Ha... Never did see this when I was in Singapore!! :P
Are they married or anything? anyone?

Japanese Toilets

2006-06-23T17:38:00.000+10:00

My God... the part at the beach is so funny!!

Click here if you have difficulties viewing it.

Tickles Me

2006-06-23T14:06:00.000+10:00

You're single because you don't want to commit

Why Are You Still Single?

Brought to you by Tickle

GODFATHER IV

2006-06-19T15:39:00.000+10:00

I AM WAITING!! *anxious little mobster*

Salamanca

2006-06-15T17:55:00.000+10:00

Rene and moi on a chirpy Saturday morning. *BIG GRIN*

Machiavellian Intelligence

2006-06-13T13:41:00.000+10:00

"an understanding that apparent cruelties and vice may be essential to maintaining stability and power"

True reflection of modern public administration and in recent time, extended to foreign policies.

Unarmed Combat

2006-06-13T10:29:00.000+10:00

Specnaz Training Video

Love the technique where he employed the natural tension of the rifle and sling. Take POW without compromising combat readiness in the field. Very effective for retriever mission.

Eeek!!! faint

2006-06-13T10:27:00.000+10:00

Someone once asked what would keep me off majong. This will. Period.

EGO TRIP

2006-06-08T11:23:00.000+10:00

The game is simple

enter "http//xxxx.youaremighty.com/" ---> xxxx being your name

Feel the effect :P

Mine's here... Dixon Mighty

Singapore Ah Beng Rap

2006-06-01T13:11:00.000+10:00

The Clip (You need to sign up.. classified adult theme *duh!*)

A frame from the infamous Eric Khoo short film "15". My sources informed me that most of the verb used are pretty accurate. =)

Days of my Army Life

2006-06-01T13:00:00.000+10:00

Taiwan 2001 - with Johnson enjoying the hospitality of Singapore Navy.

BMT - With Eric - Posing for our new standard issue water bottles *wink*

Video: Knock It Down

Echos from the past... hahaha... literally.
Have fun!!

When it's all foggy at Sandy Bay

2006-05-29T17:59:00.001+10:00

Took this from my balcony a couple of weeks ago. Visit me soon?? :P