YOG 2010. Boom or Bane?

Singapore has won the bid to host the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010. But is this a boom or bane?

Let's look back at various high profile events held recently and perhaps we can have a glimpse of what is going to happen.

Just about a year and a half back, the IMF annual meeting was held in Singapore, several controversies happened, such as lack of transports, conflicts with the World Banks over the entry of activists. A news link here. Suntec City and Marina Square were pretty empty with sales dropping despite promotions and sales. CNA report here.
While claiming to be an economical boost to tourism, retail business during this period etc, it proves to be otherwise. End of the day, it still have to depends on the locals. See here. Also road closures put pressure on nearby traffic and affects the MRT, in general the whole public transport system is affected.

Next up is the F1 Grand Prix Singapore leg. Ticketing system is unable to cope with the high demand and basically you cannot buy tickets or wait a long long time to get your tickets. News source here. An apology was issue but made to locals only. The huge demand should be predicted and handled better but it seems like either complacency or not enough planning leads to a very basic and fundamental error.

Security issue is another moot point here. Current hottest news is the escape of one very special detainee, Mas Selamat Kastari, the leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah. A manhunt is underway and more than 24 hours have gone by and no signs of him. He escaped during a family visit by requesting a toilet visit and, presto, he is gone.

Can Singapore really able to host the YOG 2010 effectively? Will traffic comes to a standstill again? Will there really be economic benefits as the participants are youths? Adults during IMF meeting do not really spend that much, how about the teenagers etc? Their guardians?
Cost of infrastructure, to be borne by taxpayers who do not have much to gain from it?
With just one event, the ticketing agent screws it up so with multiple events, are they able to handle it? Sistic? They can screw up for Jay Chou's concert so screwing up so many events are highly possible.
Security? With this high profile security risk, it is more attractive to unfavorable attentions elsewhere. As this is an inaugural event, it will certainly attract more unwanted attention.

To me, as an ordinary citizen, there is no benefits at all. Cost of infrastructure will probably be passed down to the man-on-the-street, it wun benefit my company so you can forget about the bonus. Traffic gridlock will probably spoils weekend plans and daily commuting will spend more time. Seems like a lot of the students are being brain-washed into thinking - YOG 2010 = increased tourism = better economy = every1 earns more money. Naive thinking.

Eddie Izzard - Death Star Canteen

Funny joke abt Darth Vader at the Death Star Canteen.

How much are you earning?

At which percentile are you at?

Something for you to try and see how you are placed based on last year salary survey. Take a good look and try it out. Calculation is right here.
I change the age group to one above and from my higher loffy height, it plummets by 3 times~! Guess the age is managerial age liao and hence package is much better. Or maybe it included the MPs which make it ridiculously high.

Eduardo's broken leg

For those who like to leave a get well message for eduardo.

http://getwellsooneduardo.wordpress.com/messages-for-eduardo/

Heartfelt wishes to Eduardo

Nothing much to say and no gory pictures here. Eduardo broke his left leg after being kick in the shin by Martins Taylor in an EPL match, Birmingham vs Arsenal.

If you wish to leave a message for him, you can comment here or over at Arsenal.com

China soccer or wrestling?

What a joke.

This is a match during the East Asia Football Federation Cup.
The match is between Japan and China. Referee is from North Korea.
China in Red while Japan is in Blue.

A quick count shows that China team should have gotten a few red cards as the China players are not playing soccer or rather wrestling~!




A match between China woman soccer team and South Korea woman soccer team.

Rule the world !!!

Stardust trailer


Stardust soundtrack
Rule the world by Take That


Fan made MV


You light the skies, up above me
A star, so bright, you blind me, yeah
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t fade away, don’t fade away-

Oh

Yeah you and me we can ride on a star
If you stay with me girl
We can rule the world-
Yeah you and me we can light up the sky
If you stay by my side
We can rule the world-

If walls break down, I will comfort you
If angels cry, oh I’ll be there for you
You've saved my soul
Don’t leave me now, don’t leave me now

Oh

Yeah you and me we can ride on a star
If you stay with me girl
We can rule the world
Yeah you and me, we can light up the sky
If you stay by my side
We can rule the world-

Ooooooooh
All the stars are coming out tonight
They're lighting up the sky tonight
For you, for you
All the stars are coming out tonight
They’re lighting up the sky tonight
For you, for you-

Ooooooooh

Yeah you and me we can ride on a star
If you stay with me girl
We can rule the world
Yeah you and me, we can light up the sky
If you stay by my side
We can rule the world

All the stars are coming out tonight (oooooooh)
They’re lighting up the sky tonight
For you, for you-
All the stars are coming out tonight
They're lighting up the sky tonight
For you,for you-

All the stars, are coming out tonight
They're lighting up the sky tonight
For you, for you-
All the stars, are coming out tonight
They're lighting up the sky tonight
For you,for you-

Nice videos

US military silent drill.




Fantastic drum performance~!

Stats!

Just some update on stats on my blog.

First spike as mentioned previously is due to ODEX saga. More twists and turns now. Will try to blog on this later.

Somehow or rather it started to attract more ppl. A drill down reveals mainly due to ndsl R4 and aso Football Manager 2008. Nevertheless, stil manage to sustains around the same hit rate for about 3 months already so we see how things go.

weekly stats (clickable thumbnail)


monthly stats (clickable thumbnail)

Online earners

Besides holding down my main job, using some spare time, I try to earn some spare cash or stuff online. So far, not much success except for blogvertise.

Trying out a new way for passive money at shareapic picture gallery. Minimum payout is USD$10 and I have yet to reach it. Basically you earn money by uploading pics and letting people view the pics. The earning method is calculated by the number of views of the pics posted. Temporary suspended as the forum which I posted is currently down and a forum I visit does not allow such postings.

Not exactly an earner but just earning referral for discounts. Mainly deals in video games and accessories, DVDs etc. Based in Hong Kong, PlayAsia provides free delivery to SG. So good deals for Singaporeans.

Been doing online surveys for pts system. So far accumulation is not much but still okay lar. Time spent is not too much per surveys so still alright. If you want any invitations to these surveys, let me know. I get to earn and you get to earn also.

Another common one which I have only $0.30 so far hahah is emailcashpro. Most likely you should have heard of it etc. Basically see some advertisements to check some cash, referral system also. Some of the adverts as below. Will update this post when got more or a few other posts.

Some online shopping site
CNY call promotion
Should you as an investor go defensive in 2008?
Some chatline stuff
Investment tips I
Investment tips II
Mosaic Music Festival