Batman son of Superman!

This is a real IC scan, folks.

United 4-0 Villa

Horton Hears a Who!

Singapore 2-0 Lebanon

And so Raddy's Lions get points on the board with a comfortable 2-0 home win over Lebanon, though it should've been more. Such profligacy in front of goal will be ruthless punished by the Uzbeks and Saudis and Indra and company really need to buck up.
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So early on in the campaign, and it's already make or break for the Lions. After an expected 2-0 loss to Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, Singapore must win its games against Lebanon to have any hope of progressing, home and away. We must then scrap for points against the higher-ranked Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan at Kallang and hope for an upset somewhere in Beirut. If anyone can do it, Raddy Avramovic can.

Freeze!

Singapore 0-0 Australia

Non-Mandarin speakers lose out in job market

I refer to Nur Rashidah's letter "Non-Mandarin speakers lose out in job market?" in The New Paper on 26 Mar 2008.

I think it is important to distinguish between preference and necessity, and blind equality and common business sense. I believe that most companies that stipulate prospective interviewees to be proficient in Mandarin are doing it out of necessity and are exercising their business sense. Although English is taught as first language in schools, it is also common that many Singaporeans are more proficient in their mother tongue. Given that there are over 70% Chinese in Singapore, it is fair to assume that a fairly large number of these companies' customers or clients are more comfortable in speaking Mandarin. It would be remiss of them to ignore that telling statistic and not ensure that most of their staff are proficient in their customers' lingua franca.

It is true that this requirement does not "benefit" non-Mandarin-speaking job-seekers, and they probably are losing out. It may also be "unfair" to them, but until Singapore truly manages to make English its first language in reality rather than ideology, I'm afraid this is likely to perpetuate.

Sweden 0-1 Brazil

Alexandre Pato scores with a sublime chip to give Brazil a 1-0 win over Sweden.

Journalist joins pro football team for a week

This has always been a dream - to measure yourself against the best in football and see where you really stand. Well, Jen Chang of ESPNSoccernet.com got that chance with Charleston Battery, a team in a division below the American MLS, and realised three things:
1. It's hard to call for the ball from a teammate when you have no idea what his name is.
2. It's hard to shake loose and even find space from pro defenders, especially in confined spaces.
3. Pro players keep the ball very well. It's almost a waste of time to try to grab it from them.

All true, and he makes more candid and self-depreciating observations here.

Have-Your Mascara-No

Javier Mascherano and Liverpool are livid at what they see as being made a scapegoat for Ashley Cole's referee-baiting over last weekend. In truth though, the Argentine hardman got everything he deserved, and maybe more is in store for him.

Since he got referee Steve Bennett's first booking, he was constantly taunting Bennett for the rest of his short time on the pitch, whether it was a United or Liverpool foul. His limited command of the English language was apparently limited to vulgarities and he got his unpleasant mug in Bennett's face every chance he got.

You could tell Bennett was exercising great patience, and his dissent over Fernando Torres' booking, however civilised, was the last straw.

Really, after being booked and knowing the emphasis on respecting referees, he should know better. He didn't and really has only himself to blame. How Xabi Alonso must wish he had put more effort into restraining him from stalking Bennett.

Just now

This must be one of the most misused phrases in the English language. Singaporeans have taken to mean something that happened in the past, but it actually means something happening presently. "I was about to take the dog for a walk just now. But it's started to rain." What Singaporeans mean is "just then".

French lesson

Jars of Clay's Much Afraid

Empty again
Sunken down so far
So scared to fall
I might not get up again

So I lay at your feet
All my brokenness
I carry all of my burdens to you

Chorus:
All of these things
I've held up in vain
No reason nor rhyme
Just the scars that remain
Of all of these things
I'm so much afraid
Scared out of my mind
By the demons I've made
Sweet Jesus, you never ever let me go
Oh, sweet Jesus, never ever let me go

So happy to love
Yet so far to go
You lead me on to where I've never been before

[Chorus]

Camilio Villegas - Spider-man of golf

A daughter's love

A father's love

Honesty

Letter published in The New Paper, 17 Mar 2008, p26
Some furore in The New Paper over how netizens were only to keen to say that they would not donate money to a Chinese national suffering from leukemia simply because he wasn't Singaporean. The crux of the article was the discrepancy between Singaporeans' opinion on an online poll and in a face-to-face (F2F) poll.

In the online poll, 80% of respondents said they WOULDN'T donate. In the F2F one, 90% said they WOULD. This is a swing of opinion that is unfathomable. Psychologists say that this is a result of something they call social desirability - interviewees give answers they think the interviewer wants to hear, so as to be accepted by him/her. Even if this was true, this is virtually a 180-degree turnaround!

I don't think by any measure that netizens are more honest - on the contrary, I think the World Wide Web's anonymity has conceived a very vocal minority emboldened by a false sense of bravado to respond to all issues cynically, so as to gain the approval of their peers. It's apparently a popular thing to be anti-establishment, so we hear. Press these people in a F2F interview, and you'll hear a different story.

I conclude that in a poll of opinion, the medium is very important. While anonymity has been proven to be important to honesty in an interview, the rather flippant nature of the netizens' response suggests that online polls and forums aren't the way to go either. Netizens (I hate that word) can easily hide behind fictitious nicknames and avatars and post whatever they want, which is what has happened here. Are they more truthful? No.

I believe the answer lies somewhere in between - an anonymous phone interview perhaps? That's one for the researchers to think about.
Source: The New Paper, 14 Mar 2008, p10

Dead Sea mud

Was walking in Raffles City when I got stopped with the familiar eczema question. "Here we go again," I thought. Happened to be this non-Asian guy, and we were waiting for Angela to choose jelly bean flavours, so why not?

Turned out he was selling mud from the Dead Sea, supposedly packed with minerals. I tried it on my wrist and must say I could feel the sulphur opening up my pores and everything, and perhaps absorbing the toxins and whatnot.

I was very impressed with his (he was a Jew named Ziv) unimposing attitude. We Singaporeans have much to learn. As he put it, when he tried to sell something, some Singaporeans tried to sell him something too!

Anyhow, it's a discounted $60 for 750ml of it. Expensive for mud, surely, but I was close to giving it a shot. But on Ziv's advice, I'm gonna do some research first. =]

You can find out more, like I did, at http://www.cleopatraschoice.com/dead-sea-mud-benefits.php

Global warming? What global warming?

While Singapore is in the throes of global warming and rising sea levels, it is perhaps ironic that we have experienced one of our coldest days and months since 1934. 13 Mar 2008 (Thu) was one of the coldest days on record - 21.8C - but I couldn't even remember it. We have record rainfall this month of March, when it is usually preposterously hot, as well as a record low mean temperature of about 25C. What gives? But I'm not complaining - I LOVE THE DRIZZLES!

Mas Selamat Kasturi's escape

Prison Break has its MS (Michael Scofield). Now Singapore has our very own MS: Mas Selamat. By now, you should have heard that Mas Selamat bin Kasturi, the former leader of Jemaah Islamiyah's (JI) Singapore branch, has escaped. While that is worrying enough, the way he escaped is even more worrying.

Firstly, this guy limps real slow. Apparently, he escaped from the not-so-high-security Whitley Road Detention Centre when he was being brought to the toilet. As Angela attests, having gone there on a learning journey recently, there are guards, high fences, cameras and other security features. Are you telling me he gave the guard the slip, hobbled to the gate in prisoner garb and ran away into the forest with no guards in hot pursuit? And that during the time he escaped at 1605hrs, no one raised the alarm?

Something tells me it must be an inside job. How do you explain the relative ease with which he escaped? It's Prison Break on a B-grade scale. According to Minster for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng, an investigation is underway. An explanation is due. I believe heads will roll.

I was also quite perturbed by a guy interviewed at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal for his views on the affair. "I don't feel anything much. Just disappointed, that's all." Oh, I see. Why exactly do you feel disappointed? Did you personally contribute something to his security which explains your disappointment in the lapse? Such apathy.