Wednesday, October 24, 2007
News Over News

MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC Charles Chong brought some humour to the chamber on Tuesday when he pointed out the gender bias in some sections of the Penal Code, where the offences applied only to the men.

He called for these sections to be updated. It is currently an offence for a man to entice a married woman away from her husband. Mr Chong said: "However, a woman who entices a married man away from his wife, which I think is more often the case, committed no crime. "Perhaps she might have earned a bad reputation, but she is not guilty of any offence under the Penal Code."

Well well. You think its possible to remove 100% of gender bias? Comeon. It is a plain clear fact that there is no equality between a man and a woman. So. What is there to talk about?

Biasness is widely implemented thoughout everywhere. From a minute unit of a household family, to a huge corporation, up to an actual country. It is part of life. If you can't possibly remove it, then don't even think about going into the specific parts such as gender bias. That will sure to put a spark into gender bias argument in many areas right in Singapore. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want that to happen.

I must say that the debating topics have been really interesting. It's a no wonder that got me following close to the news. Hur..

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3G mobile phone users in Singapore can now watch television news reports while on the move. The new service, by Channel NewsAsia for SingTel subscribers, is part of MediaCorp's strategy to deliver news not just on air and online but also on demand and on the go. This new service provides video clips compacted into one-minute news reports to your mobile phone, helping you keep up with the latest news wherever you are.

Haha... this is good. WalkerGal will soon be more updated with news even without her lenovo. Well. But. This new scheme is only currently available to Singtel Mobile users. Nvm.. It will soon be opened to Starhub and M1. Let's just wait and see.

Recently the price for my E65 dropped so much!! Everywhere is promoting it.. Goodness. I better find a phone that no one is using. =P

Uniqueness! Recently there is this Sony Ericsson P1i... It got me thinking about it...

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Singapore's best known adventurer Khoo Swee Chiow has ambitions for yet another quest – he is off to clock his next record, this time on inline skates. He has scaled Mt. Everest – twice, visited both the North and South Poles, cycled from Singapore to Beijing and set a Guinness World Record for the Longest Scuba Submergence in a Controlled Environment.

Khoo is attempting to break the Guinness World Record for Longest Journey on Skates, currently at 4,175 kilometres, with a 6,000 km skating feat. The journey is scheduled for 100 days, and he will travel through major cities in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, before finally ending in Singapore in late January 2008.

"I have been to many beautiful places in the world – South Pole, North Pole, Everest... and one doesn't have to go very far nowadays to read about glaciers melting and all that," he explained. "I think it's (a cause) very close to my heart because these are beautiful places. We should try to preserve them for our children."

Surprisingly, Khoo could not skate well a year ago. For this trip, he hired a coach to teach him the sport for nine months. The adventurer, who also attempted Mt. Everest without aid of oxygen tanks on his second climb, claims he loves challenges, and sees the process of learning an unfamiliar sport a great part of the adventure itself.

"I think the over-riding motivation is that life is really short. You're only young once and you've only got one shot. So just try and do it, if not when you're old, you will have lots of regret."

Wow. Mister. I admire you!! Awesomely cool. Your focus and courage is truely something that we can all learn from. Yes. Life is really short.. I'm only young once. Only get to experience this 2007 once. I've only one shot. So I'll try my best to do it. I don't wanna live a life of regrets.

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Beijing News

China on Wednesday launched its first lunar orbiter in an event broadcast on national television, with the mission a key step in the nation's plans to put a man on the moon by 2020. The lunar orbiter took off around 6:05 pm local time (1005 GMT) from a launch centre in southwestern China's Sichuan province for what is slated to be a one-year expedition to explore and map the moon.

This launch comes after Japan last month launched its first lunar probe and ahead of a planned similar mission by India next year. In the months leading up to the launch, one of the chief scientists in China's moon programme, Ouyang Ziyuan, also pointed to the broader message a successful mission would send to the Chinese people and the world. "As lunar exploration embodies our overall national strength, it is very significant for raising our international prestige and our national unity," Ouyang told the ruling Communist Party's mouthpiece, the People's Daily.

Ahh. Oh. Did I mention? The lunar orbiter that China had launched is named Chang'e I (Chang' Er). It is named after a Chinese fairy who flew to the moon. Well. Hurhur.. I had a good laugh when I read that. Hehe.. Truely tickled me. But hey.. I'm very proud to be a Chinese. Sorry if you don't like Chinese.. You can press Alt - F4 to exit from here.

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Taipei News

Taiwan's ruling party kicked off an intensive campaign to win public support for the island's bid to join the United Nations, despite stern warnings from Washington and Beijing. The round-island marathon aims to garner support for Taiwan's application for United Nations membership under the name 'Taiwan'. This is seen by mainland China as yet another move toward independence by President Chen.

"Using the name 'Taiwan' to enter UN is not only the wish of Taiwan people, it is also a display of sovereignty. Taiwan was never a province of PRC. We are separate from the mainland," said President Chen.

Sigh. WELL. When will there be a stop? Forget it. I'm not keen to know when. But I hope I'll have a chance to explore Taiwan one day.

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London News

Users of the popular social networking website Facebook were warned on Wednesday that they were putting themselves at risk of identity fraud by posting even a handful of their details online. According to the BBC's consumer rights television programme Watchdog, set to air later Wednesday, fraudsters could open bank accounts and receive credit cards armed simply with the information found on a user's Facebook page.

"A lot of people using Facebook are trying to increase the size of their network and want to have as many friends as possible -- to the point where they'll befriend people they don't even know," a programme spokeswoman said. Facebook claims that some 200,000 people sign up to Facebook every day, and the site has more than 42 million members -- it decided last month to publicly list its members' profiles on search engines such as Google and Yahoo!, unless a user actively opts out of the scheme.

Hey people. I hope you all know how vulnerable is the Internet. You ought to know anything you put online, should be safe enough that its just sufficient for friends. Please do not anyhow click to accept friend requests. You could just be the next easy preyed on victim.

As a rule of thumb, always make sure you don't disclose your personal information online unless you really don't mind letting people know. Well-taken risks is always truely admired but senseless thoughts is stupidity.