I can’t believe it. miccheng actually bought cheapestfoodgowhere.com and redirected it to his blog after my last post entry.

I am so damn bl**dy disgusted.

Would you want to know how much the wanton mee (ed: the dialect spelling for 云吞面 is actually supposed to be wonton instead of the omniscient wanton that we see everyday, unless of course the wonton is provocative; sorry, digress again) in your neighbourhood sells for? Not just the nearby coffee shop, but all the coffee shops in your neighbourhood. Wait, make that all the coffee shops in Singapore (Johor and some say Batam?).

While I’m sure the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE) meant well… but if they are only going to compare on price, I wonder how effective it really will be, since stall owners can now cut down on quantity, or worse, quality - to give you that cheapest plate of wanton mee (sic) in your neighbourhood. At the end of the day, my take is that if the food is nice and price is reasonable, people will flock to your stall. Of course, having it cheap is a bonus, if not, then a reasonable price will do just as well.

And if the food is really good, but expensive, then it’ll just be a blue moon thing. Speaking of which, I’m hungry now… shucks…

FROM next month onwards, you can find out online just how much your favourite hawker dish should cost at your neighbourhood hawker centre or coffeeshop.

The Consumer Association of Singapore (Case)  will be publishing a survey of prices of food sold at cooked food stalls on its website next month, to help consumers make price comparisons.

Consumers can get data such as the average price of 10 popular dishes - from chicken rice to mee rebus in each neighbourhood.

The guide will also list the highest and lowest prices for each dish at stalls.

Over 30 mystery shoppers will visit stalls across the island for two weeks next month to carry out the survey.

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, president of Case, said this will not only give transparency to the prices and help consumers make better choices, but also deter hawkers from profiteering.

‘We don’t have an idea of how widespread profiteering is. This survey will give us an understanding of the magnitude of the problem,’ said Mr Yeo.

The consumer watchdog is concerned that some hawkers are raising prices as an excuse to cover higher costs of raw ingredients, such as rice and noodles.

This comes as the Ministry of Trade and Industry noted that more hawkers have raised their prices in the last two months.

Minister of Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan told Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao on Monday that 65 per cent of hawkers have maintained prices.

Two months ago, the ministry said it was 75 per cent.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry conducts price checks on 1,271 randomly chosen stalls in hawker centres and markets. Every two weeks, six to seven officers fan out to track price increases at these stalls.

Case has received 14 complaints on overcharging at hawker centres and coffeeshops since January, compared to 38 such calls for the whole of last year.

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 15th April 2008

Has it ever occurred to you in your primary school days that your teacher could have been a pirate? No… no the Captain Hook kind of pirate, but rather pirates of exam papers from other schools. Remember the ad?

You wouldn’t steal a car. You wouldn’t steal a handbag. You wouldn’t steal a mobile phone. You wouldn’t steal an exam paper. Exam paper piracy is stealing. Stealing is against the law. Piracy. It’s a crime.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the short clip, else I could link it here. Oh well.

Sorry, digressed.

Yes, it never once occurred to me in my primary school days that doing all the exam papers from other schools supported piracy. Of course, the ones that your teacher got it through friendly barter trading is probably alright. However, since I don’t exchange papers with other schools, I won’t know. Perhaps Miss Loi would know better? Is it illegal?

Pirated past exam papers now sold on CDs

FOR years, there has been a sizeable black market for old school exam papers, often a scholastic lifeline for students cramming for tests.

Now, the middlemen who illegally copy these papers have gone high-tech, offering their wares on CD for just a fraction of the hard-copy price.

Even though reproducing the papers amounts to copyright violation, these CDs are available in some bookshops and can also be ordered via e-mail, fax or SMS.

Despite warnings from the Education Ministry, some brazen sellers have even taken to passing out fliers touting these CDs that offer to ‘give your child a head start at school’ and help them ’score’.

With competition in schools becoming increasingly fierce, this is a problem that some educators said is not likely to go away.

‘It is very difficult to bring these vendors to task as there are so many…out there,’ said Nanyang Primary vice-principal Loh Yuh Por. ‘Also, the demand for such papers is high, so there will always be vendors who will come in to fill the gap.’

Covering subjects such as English, Mathematics, Science and Chinese, the CDs contain 10 to 12 papers from prominent schools such as Raffles Girls’ Primary, Tao Nan and Ai Tong. Sellers said there was a ready supply of the papers, which usually come from students.

The CDs cost as little as $28 for four subjects, compared to $50 to $70 for the print versions, according to checks by The Straits Times. They are typically hand-delivered to the customer within two to three working days.

Most of the sellers contacted by The Straits Times declined to comment. However, many parents have been buying the CDs for their children.

Mrs Z. Chong, a secretary in her 40s, ordered a CD for her son - who is in Primary 4 - after receiving a flier in her mailbox.

Speaking in Mandarin, she said: ‘With the CD, we can print the papers again for more practice till he gets all the answers right.’

Another parent, Madam Noraidah S., 37, who received copies from a friend, said the CDs took up less space than the bulky print copies.

‘You don’t have to keep the whole stack of papers at home and you can print what you want,’ added the housewife, who has two daughters aged eight and 10.

A seller, who wanted to be known only as Mr Koh, said the CDs have become popular because an increasing number of Singaporeans were tech-savvy.

‘The world has changed, so we have to change,’ said Mr Koh.

Declining to reveal details, he said he sells ‘a few hundred copies’ of the CDs near exam periods.

The Ministry of Education said the sale of illegally copied exam papers was intellectual property theft.

Schools can take the necessary action to assert their copyright over their own exam papers, said the ministry.

However, some schools seem to be taking a hands-off approach.

The principal of Raffles Girls’ Primary, Ms Tan Siok Cheng, said pursuing copycats would cost time that was better spent on other things.

‘Although it is an infringement of copyright and intellectual property, if other children benefit from it, it’s okay,’ said Ms Tan. ‘I’m happy that our papers are recognised to be of good quality. It stretches our teachers to set better papers.’

Ms Tan said, however, that she was concerned about the authenticity and cost of the illegally copied exam papers.

She added that her school had been exchanging papers with many other schools, but people who photocopy them should seek permission before hawking these tests.

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 15th April 2008

At first read, I was wondering why the couple mentioned in the article were charged for sedition and undesired publications. If what was said in the news was true, then there’s no reason to charge the couple - unless giving evangelistic materials to someone of another religion is an offence. Then again… who gives evangelistic materials to someone of the same religion?

So I did a google on it. The closest terms that came up from the article was "The Little Bride". Still, I found nothing except this.

Apparently, this "little bride" article is some work by a guy called Jack Chick, whose past series of evangelical comics and cartoons had been controversial. Mr Wang noted that access to the latter’s materials are banned, so I won’t even attempt it.

Religion is becoming a touchy issue lately again. Actually it’s always been. However with this recent charge, I guess it’s about time people get cautious of what they are distributing. Trust me. Anything can become seditious.

A COUPLE were charged on Tuesday with distributing a seditious publication to two others.

Ong Kian Cheong, 49, and Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, 44, are alleged to have distributed The Little Bride, an evangelistic material, to Sembawang resident Irwan Ariffin last Oct 19.

They are also said to have distributed the same publication to one Madam Farharti Ahmad at her home in Woodlands on March 6 last year .

It is not clear why they face the Sedition Act and the Undesirable Publication Act when the publication is the same.

Ong, who works in a telecommunications company, and his wife, a bank employee, were represented by Mr Selva K. Naidu.

The police prosecutor sought an adjournment of the case pending a Health Sciences Authority on handwriting specimen.

The couple were freed on $10,000 bail each. Their passports were impounded.

The case will be mentioned on April 29.

Under the Sedition Act, the maximum penalty is a $5,000 fine and/or a jail term of up to three years.

The maximum penalty under the Undesirable Publication Act is a fine of up to $5,000 and/or up to 12 months.

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 15th April 2008

Ok. Enough about gays, dykes and what-not-homosexuals. No voting people out, no against not voting people out and what not. Let’s talk about something that apparently a group of people like. BJs. Yes, BJs. I have never had a BJ before and when DK (oh, he’s going to kill me) found out, he was so surprised… so shocked. In fact, he was so shocked that he asked, "Are you sure you never had a BJ before?!?!" (Yes, the "?!?!" could be heard in his tone).

With pretty much a straight face, I affirmed that.

Well, for all those who joins me in this, perhaps shrinking league, I have the answer for all of you; and me included. There will be free BJs given out purportedly by a group of people, guys and girls. You want more info? For your eyes only… =)

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