SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES

After Dennis Ng's passing on , I was very surprised to still see his photo in an advertisement of his seminar on TODAY newspapers. However I think this ad was still published as it was already paid and scheduled.

Stephen R Covey passed on today after he sustained cycling-related injuries some time back. I believe many readers should be quite familiar with this US motivational speaker who authored best sellers like “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and “The 8 th Habit”.

SAF introduced a new rank called the Chief Warrant Officer with effect from today. This new rank will allow SAF's promising Senior Warrant Officers to advance to the next rank and assume higher responsibilities.

In the ongoing court case involving Kong Hee, it was released that $22 million has been channeled to help Sun Ho's music career. I am not sure how it has helped Sun Ho as I still think Sun Ho is still not popular in the US despites even having the support of her church members. Local female singers like Kit Chan, Sun Yan Zi, Tanya Chua and Oliva Ong are seemed more famous and they are also invited to sing National Day songs.

Yesterday night, when I switched on the TV to tune in to the news of the day, I was immediately greeted by the top news of the day: Pastor Kong Hee of City Harvest church was arrested with 4 other church members for misappropriations of the church funds! Then the TV detailed, using infographics how the alleged misused funds flowed from one account to the other account and how the funds split into parts and even more parts which then flowed from one account into another or others.

Prominent Pastor and Founder of City Harvest church, Kong Hee has been arrested together with four members of the church for criminal breach of trust and falsification of the church's accounts. The sum of money in question: $23 million dollars.

Osama bin Laden was finally killed on 1 May 2011, US time by US security forces. The world has waited for close to 10 years before Osama, the world's most notorious terrorist was finally brought to justice. After the 9-11 attack on 11 Sep 2011, there were the Aghanistan war, Iraqi war, the many beheadings of American and other nationals, scores of both large and small-scale terrorist attacks around the world, heightened security measures at all ports and installations in the world and on key events and installations and also fear in the world.

I have been to Japan once with my wife, to Hokkaido to be exact. I was charmed by Japan: its healthy and fresh seafood, its onsens or hot springs, its immaculately hardworking, gracious and civic-conscious people as well as its show-stopping natural scenary. I love Japan very very much as I am a person who embraces a natural lifestyle, a neat person too who partake in healthy food, enjoy the different four seasons and I so much want to be a farmer in Hokkaido, leading a simple life, away from the extremely stressful and hectic life in Singapore!

Amidst the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake, the Japanese authorities are busy controlling the radioactive leakage from the nuclear plants impacted by the earthquakes. To me, this latest episode of one of the nature's greatest destructions is like a scene straight from a horror science fiction plot: earthquakes sparking tsunamis, nuclear plants explosion, infernos, floods, devastations of human and properties everywhere, volcanoes and more!

One of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, Mount Karangetang erupted after the massive Japanese earthquake! Indeed the doomsday scenes depicted in the movie "2012" is not that remote.

A massive earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter Scale hit Japan this afternoon! When I saw the images on TV, I was shocked! The TV images that greeted me were exactly similar to the scenes from the movie "2012" which I watched before!

I am appalled at the sea of change sweeping the Arab countries. The regimes of Tunisia and Egypt fell within days of a sea of revolt, driven secularly, aided by the new media such as Facebook and Twitter. Years of hard regime have fuelled displeasure, discontent among the people. Years of suppression, years of oppression by the regimes have sparked the revolts by the people for the people.

As reported in today's headline news, Singapore Fertility Rate has dropped to record low. I am not surprised by the low fertility rate.

Assange, if I get the name correctly,of the founder of Wiki Leaks, has found enormous fame worldwide recently for the dissemination of confidential information through his Wiki Leaks websites. I am not Asange but I would like to share with all of you my very personal Wiki Leaks.

I read of another gang fight in Singapore, this time, it was a group of gangsters pouncing on another group of youths in the Bukit Batok/Gombak area. Gang fights in Singapore has hogged the limelight lately after a youth was killed in a “staring” dispute at Downtown East. I think these gangsters are mostly delinquent youth who have joined gangs or triads because such association would lend a touch of power or superiority to them; most of these youths do not fare well in studies and suffer from a low self-esteem. Gang-links seem to give some little achievement to these youths that they crave.

I read in today's news the plans to redevelop Bedok. Some iconic landmarks of Bedok will be torn down so as to be relocated and make way for new developments. Features to be torn down include the swimming complex, the stadium as well as some other food centres.

Paul the psychic Octopus who created headlines around the world with his amazing and accurate prediction of the World Cup 2010 results earlier this year, has passed on.

Bear Ad stunt by Phillips has raised a storm in Singapore! I believe the Bear Ad is not that distasteful. It just happens that the video was shot at night. If the video was shot in the day, netizens would have scrutinized that the bear was a fake.

The Woodlands murder murderer has finally been caught! The woodlands murderer is responsible for the murder of a woman on the night of mid-autumn, kniving the poor woman to death while she was with her child. This murderer was also responsible for a spate of 3 brutal attacks on females in the northen region of Singapore. All victims were females in their late 20s and early 30s, sporting a shoulder-length hair.

To add on to the post made about the same topic yesterday, I was thinking perhaps the SAF could inject an ‘oomph’ factor into IPPT and RT training for NS men, making training attractive for them.