the "little red dot" is being bullied!!!

as a little island country, no matter what we do, we are constantly being "targetted" by our larger dearest neighbour...

[1] S'pore wants to hang on to graft money: Jusuf Kalla
"JAKARTA - INDONESIAN Vice-President Jusuf Kalla has blamed Singapore for the slow progress in talks on concluding an extradition treaty, accusing it of seeking to hang on to billions in allegedly corrupt money siphoned out of the country by fleeing tycoons.

He made the remarks in response to a question by The Financial Times in an interview published yesterday.

The report focused largely on Indonesia's economic plans and prospects, with the Vice-President forecasting a growth rate of up to 7 per cent this year and promising another go at labour reforms.

But Mr Jusuf also lashed out at Singapore over the ongoing negotiations for an extradition treaty.

'Singapore often says there's so much corruption in Indonesia. But when we want to work together on combating corruption, they don't want to,' he was quoted as saying.

Singapore has maintained that it has no objection to signing an extradition treaty but that it will take time to work out the complex issues involved.

The Republic has also made it clear that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had agreed in 2005 that the treaty could only be signed together with a defence cooperation agreement. Talks on the defence pact have yet to be concluded.

But Mr Jusuf dismissed the explanation, The Financial Times reported. 'They're thinking on the business side,' he said. 'If this treaty is signed then the corrupt Indonesians won't want to live in Singapore any more.

'That's all it is. It strengthens Singapore's economy.'

The prevailing view in Indonesia is that corrupt businessmen and politicians hide - and park their illegal gains - in Singapore. "

[2] AIS, ShinSat may not last in S'pore hands: Thai minister
"MORE pressure piled on Shin Corp on Tuesday with its television subsidiary headed for bankruptcy and government seizure.

Strong comments from Thailand's Information and Communication Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyudom at the same time also raised doubts about the concessions now held by another two subsidiaries: Shin Satellite and mobile phone operator, Advanced Info Service (AIS).

'Both AIS and Shin Satellite may not last in Singapore hands for long,' said Dr Sitthichai in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires.

He was commenting on investigations into Shin Corp, which was bought over last year by a consortium led by Singapore's Temasek Holdings.

The telco giant yesterday announced its net profits fell 60 per cent last year, due to poor performance by its television, mobile phone and satellite operations.

On the same day, the Thai Cabinet gave notice that if Shin Corp's ITV station fails to pay 100 billion baht (S$4.29 billion) in concession fees and fines by March 6, its licence will be revoked.
The sum relates to a dispute over the terms of the concession. Analysts say such an amount far outweighs ITV's own net worth and the company is almost certain to be declared bankrupt and taken over by the government.

'If ITV can pay, they can continue operations, but if they can't, we have no choice,' said Finance Minister Piridyathorn Devakula on a possible government seizure.

A seizure will leave all six free-to-air Thai networks under the control of the government, which came to power following a coup against then-prime minister Thaksin Shinwatra last September.
The executive chairman of Shin Corp, Mr Boonklee Plangsiri, stepped down as chairman of ITV on Monday, a move analyst see as paving for a government takeover of its management.

Yesterday, the minister in the prime minister's office, Khunying Dhipawadee Meksawan, was appointed to take charge of running the station should its concession be revoked.

ITV staff - who number over 1,500 - were told there would be no layoffs but there would be a name change.

The pressure on Shin Corp has been growing along with rising Thai nationalist feelings following a controversial deal last year which saw a Temasek-led consortium buying over a controlling stake in the telco giant from Mr Thaksin's family.

'The regime has become increasingly hardline,' one analyst told The Straits Times, citing Dr Sitthichai's remarks on Shin Corp on Tuesday.

'(Temasek) broke the law,' the minister had told Dow Jones, referring to a probe into whether it had used a nominee company to control more of Shin Corp than allowed under Thai law. "

oh man, all these accusations have been escalating... where exactly did the singapore govt do wrong? or are these politicians trying to divert attention from their own problems to someone else? well.... who else better to pick on than the smallest country in the region? argh!!!!!!!

PS: no offence to people from these countries, i have lots of thai and indonesian friends who are great!

what is going on in the minds of these people!?

ok, felt a tinge of sadness when i read the straits times online earlier... what are teenagers and children doing nowadays?? well, i am not going into details, nothing to be proud of...

[1] Man snapped nude shots of 2 teens to extort cash, sex ; 14-year-old girls lured through Internet chatline

[2] Why kids need sex education? Girl, 9, pregnant

and all these are actually happening in singapore, a little safe heaven on which i grew up on... what is going in the minds of these people?! its sick, very sickening....usually i will probably joke about the interesting things published in the newspaper, but these? i feel so sad just by reading this....

interesting headlines (Straits Times Online 28 Feb 2007)

interesting news...

[1]Garlic does not lower cholesterol: Study
"CHICAGO - Eating garlic raw or in supplement form does not lower 'bad' cholesterol levels, despite widespread health claims for the pungent plant bulb, researchers said.

'It just doesn't work,' said Christopher Gardner of the Stanford Prevention Research Centre in California.

'There's no shortcut. You achieve good health through eating healthy food. There isn't a pill or an herb you can take to counteract an unhealthy diet,' he said.

Some of the claims that garlic lowers cholesterol emanate from laboratory experiments but there is no proof it reacts in the body the same way, Dr Gardner wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

In test tubes and some animal subjects the compound released from crushed garlic, allicin, has been found to inhibit the synthesis of cholesterol.

But in Dr Gardner's study of 192 subjects who had slightly elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the so-called bad cholesterol that tends to clog arteries, garlic had no impact."

WHAT!? all those years of munching on garlic...!

[2] Stefanie Sun robbed at gunpoint
"Taipei - Pop Queen Stefanie Sun assaulted by gangsters whilst filming a music video in Cairo, where she was robbed of an unknown amount of cash and made credit card payments of approximately S$13,000 while held at gunpoint by a local guide.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.

However, due to the seriousness of the incident, the group of 22 persons, which include Taiwanese and HongKong crew members and Sun's mother, were placed under the protection of the Singapore Embassy in Eygpt for the remainder of their stay there.

The Singapore Embassy brought Sun to a safe location after the incident."

well, the robber just missed his chance of a lifetime... if he had known who stefanie sun was...that explains the need to read your newspaper's entertainment section...

[3] Bizarre remarks land accused in mental hospital
"A WOMAN in court for stomping on a repossessor's car roof wrote a card to the judge, addressing him as 'dearest' and gushing that she liked his 'cuteness and sweetness'.

The judge, unmoved, on Tuesday sent her off to the Institute of Mental Health for three weeks.
Wong Nguek Chin, 45, was taken to court on a private summons by Mr See Song Chang, whose Honda Civic she is said to have damaged.

She could be jailed for up to two years for causing mischief - but the court has adjourned its decision pending a psychiatric report.

During the hearing, Wong, a bankrupt, claimed 'a force' had lifted her onto the car - a claim the judge found 'rather bizarre'.

Wong, who defended herself, was caught on video jumping up and down on the roof of Mr See's car.

She had claimed earlier that she did that because of the 'aggression of Mr See' and his colleagues, who allegedly rammed her Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII sports car when they turned up on Oct 21, 2003, to repossess it.

In court, however, she blamed the 'force'.

Her unusual behaviour extended to the documents she gave the court, too.

In a card to District Judge Eddy Tham, she called him 'dearest E.T.' and described herself as his 'special friend'.

'I enjoy your entertainment and drama and cuteness and sweetness and love,' she wrote.

The judge felt the woman's bizarre testimony, coupled with her equally bizarre remarks, had raised 'grave doubts' as to whether she was of sound mind.

Wong appeared not to understand the court's decision to send her for psychiatric assessment.

When the concerned judge tried explaining, all she said was: 'I take a lot of drugs. I am still on a lot of drugs.' "

never never fool around with a serious judge...in singapore we have this saying:" it's good to be smart, just don't be a smart aleck"

costs vs benefits

just did my sums on the coming move to germany to continue my 2nd 6-month period in europe, and i had a shock... well, i didnt expect to pay so much for this "exchange" program...

semester fees: 250 euros

tuition fees : 500 euros!!! (this was the unexpected expenditure... i was told by the coordinator at the international office of aveiro university, that once we pay the fees in aveiro...which is a mind-bogging 2500 euros for one year... we do not have to pay to the other universities anymore if we are to move over during the 2nd semester...bloody liar... either that, bloody communication breakdown...though i have a scholarship, but what is not spent on tuition fees can be better utilized as travelling budget)

flight tickets + train tickets: 150 euros

visa fees + miscellaneous: 300 euros

grand total: 1200 euros!!!!!!!!!

chance to take more technical modules and the chance to experience a brand new culture in germany: PRICELESS!

(sigh.... 1200 euros = 2400 singapore dollars = take-home pay of most of my working friends... )

on a happier note, easter weekend is coming up... thinking of going to berlin, when fabio suggested this (are you reading this alexis???):" lets go to turkey!!!!!!!" well, it may be expensive, but turkey? east meets west.... think i have to scrimp and save in march in order to afford this turkey trip... tough but definitely worthwhile...

metallic me...

after 2 weeks of intolerable misery of having to understand concepts of paramagnetism in the atomic scale, liquid and solid NMR, IR spectroscopy, semiconductors and stuff like that, i am finally starting to enjoy studying again... hahahaa.... think i am really a metallic person... concepts like recrystallization, recovery, phase diagrams etc sure can bring a smile to my face everytime without fail....

could metals be the area for me to further explore in my career path??

sunny sunny spain... here i come...

3 more weeks, 3 more exams papers, and i will be on my way to sunny spain!! not for very long, cos we need to move over to germany ta the end of march to settle the paperwork and register for the new semester at the technical university of hamburg-harburg (TUHH), but nevertheless it should be a nice 9 days where the sun will be the theme!!

ever since sickening kelvin decided to pull the plug on our 2-week backpacking trip switzerland/germany during the first 2 weeks of april, i have been casting my sight over places like southern portugal, neighbouring spain, and even the mysterious ireland (st patrick's festival) and scotland... well, ireland + scotland is the first choice, given the chance to party for 5 whole days during the festival and the opportunity to drive around scotland, but cost and the availability of accommodation in ireland put an end to those ambitious plans....

southern portugal + spain sounds good too.... but leandro said that certain parts of southern portugal are pretty inaccessible without a car, and that the landscape is pretty similar to the rest of portugal; that spain will be a better choice... so spain it is then!!!

spent 5 days in barcelona last summer, but this time round, my travel kaki alexis is a native speaker, so maybe i will have a lot more fun this time... dont get me wrong, we had plenty of fun last summer, but this time, we will be meeting some of alexis' friends in spain... so i may get to visit the less touristy places... my liking... =)

finally... chemistry exam is over...

finally, the chemistry paper is finally over!!! won't fail but definitely won't score....so its time for a short break before starting on the revision for the coming papers (10 days away... i must start earlier, dont wanna have that feeling of helplessness on the day before chemistry)

hmmm... its almost the end of febrary... whoa, thats fast... another 3 weeks and i will finish my exams, and after that i will be going somewhere... just to travel around the country maybe? wanted to join in the St Patricks' festival in dublin in march, but apparently i found out about this festival way too late, and all the accommodation are taken up, esp for the sat and sun... and i really mean ALL.... unless one is feeling rich enough to cough out 70 euros per pax for one night, one is confident that he will be able to "persuade" someone to bring him home for the night, otherwise there is no way i can get accommodation for the event in dublin... well, i just have to try going there next year instead... fingers crossed...

and i think i was stuck at home for too long, went out for coffee with leandro this morning, and i saw that flowers everywhere are blooming... a sure sign of the coming spring/summer and the guaranteed warm weather... hahahahaha... pity i wont be able to see hot summer portugal... but then again, portugal is just 3 hours' flight from germany, and its not too expensive to fly back for a visit... besides, i will definitely have accommodation...

tulips are blooming!!!! hmmm... i'm sure that all those tulips i saw are not from holland... but nevertheless, tulips are blooming!! hmmm.... 5 tulips for 2 euros? in singapore, tulips cost like 3-5 euros per stalk and they wither within 24 hours (from florist to whoever to dropping petals) but here, it lasts for days.... hahahaha... for all the girls out there in singapore, if you are wondering why guys seldom give you flowers, its becos its expensive and they dont last long... but if anyone of you is coming to visit me in europe, i will get flowers for you when i go pick you up from the airport/train station.... anyone interested?

and i got this picture from one of the magazine i was flipping through this morning... hahahahahha..... wtf?!

wrong attention...

the last 2 days were spent doing everything but studying....

yesterday...
the whole day was spent in lisbon cos we needed to apply for our visa and get it over and done with... since visa application usually take place only in the morning, and the trip to lisbon takes almost 3 hours.... that means we were at the aveiro train station at 6.30am in the morning... luckily, i have leandro to give me a trip there...

a return trip to lisbon + visa application fee = 70 euros.... damn expensive... ahahah....

and i got all the wrong attention... hahaha... according to fabio (we were inside this cafe chatting since the next train back to aveiro is like 1 hour away), that guy taking our orders said that i was cute... hahahah... and he asked for my name... like what fabio said... that guy is so "faggy" aka faggot... hahahah.... not good... where are the girls?!

today...
went to class at 9.30am... only to find out afterwards that the class will start at 11am instead... well, the whole class was there... hmmm.... could it be the case of one person (lecturer) getting the info wrong vs the entire class? well... nothing much we can do about it...

and my class representative pissed prof tito off... think i actually started this chain of reactions.... the class was discussing about the number of a particular ion inside the spinel structure... so i rattled off the answer casually, and when the prof was about to write the answer onto the board, class rep went:" pls, slow down... i dont understand.... ..... . . . ... . . . .. . . . . ... . . . . .. .. . . .. ." and lots of other stuff...

and the prof was like:" I HAVE NOT EVEN STARTED DISCUSSING THIS PART YET" and either you keep quiet or i will leave the class now..."

whoa... my fault??

homesick....

been making so many phone calls over the last 2 days that i need to purchase additional credits from skype...

everyone of us will tend to have our favorite cousin, uncle or aunt... been away from singapore for almost 5months... though it may not be that long, somehow i feel that that the impact of loneliness is the strongest during certain times of the year, be it your birthday, or some festival seasons... for me, lunar new year is certainly the season-of-loneliness for me... hahahaha...

i miss that reunion dinner (not the food, but its that atmosphere... okok, food is important too...)

i miss that annual everyone-let's-gather-at-granny's-place for a couple of days... during that time, all the uncles (older generation) will be having their mahjong session, whereas the younger generation will be in the room playing their computer game... usually its one-play-while-everyone-else-watches...hahahaha... seems like this never change... during my younger days, it worked the same way too.... as for us, the middle generation, we will be doing our annual catch-up regarding one another's life over the last one year... and of course, the social gambling...

i miss the lets-dress-nicely part too...

hmmm... i just miss everything about lunar new year... and when i called back, everyone at home seems, or rather sounds, so chirpy and excited... argh... i miss that too....

as for my friends, of course i didnt miss out on them too... well, i didnt manage to get everyone from the good-friends-list... but i did get most of the girls... hahahahah.... i seem to click better with the girls rather than the guys... maybe its just my nosy and gossipy nature... xueli (since 1991... all those trading of idol cards... thats the foundation of our friendship...), bee (hahahah... my rumoured girlfriend from uni), kit ah kit (one who always bully me, wonder why i didnt know her earlier....otherwise i will have more fun in my uni days) and lastly liting (always there to chat about everything... dont really hang out a lot with us, but makes a really good makan kaki... hahahaha)

and this makes me wonder how am i going to survive another lunar new year without coming back to singapore...?? likelihood is that i wont be coming back for next year's new year too... unless the new year is really early in january, which never seems to happen...

and the fact that i am mugging for my exams does not help... hahahah....

.........

argh.... i just dont know what to write anymore.... homesick.... ahhahahahaha....

................

update...

been pretty inactive recently, in terms of physically (exercising) and blog-wise... but here is a long entry....

[1] HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

feeling kinda sad that i wont be able to fly back for this period of good oily food and of course, the moolah (aka money money)... hmmm... since dont-know-when, the amount of money in the red packet has been pre-fixed to 10 bucks from each relatives... hahahhaha... heyy, even the GST is increasing... ahhaha.. maybe everyone should do a review of the amount in the red-packets... ahhahaha....to those back in singapore, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!! think i will be calling some of you people when i am free...

[2] my swollen toes are finally feeling better

after that trip to the doctor on thurs, i have been massaging my toes before bedtime... to help improve the blood circulation... so its recovering... no more itchy toes, though it is still red and swollen...

[3] think aveiro will look very pretty in another 2-3 weeks' time

took these pics of the trees along the road... i still haven found out the name for these flowers yet, but they looked really pretty... little pink flowers, and the trees are full of time... now is just a few trees, but another 2 weeks, i think the entire aveiro will be full of these little pink flowers... something like the cherry blossoms in japan?? will let you know in another few weeks...

[4] duckies duckies...

a female classmate of mine likes to go over to the little pond near to the language dept to feed these duckies... so everyday during lunch, she will collect lots of bread and stuff them into her bag... whoa, those who dont know her will probably think she is too poor to afford bread or something... ahhahaha... and when she was sick (poor thing) for the last one week, i joked that she must be suffering from "duckie flu" since UK is now being hit by the bird flu... heyys, portugal and UK are not really far away from each other...ah, did i mention that you dont even need to approach the ducks? you just have to stand along the road (some 20m from the pond) and once the ducks see you, they will start to waddle their way to you... ahhaha... one of these days, if i ever miss eating duck meat, i will ambush them when i feed them... ahhahaha...

[5] pretty sunset

sometimes during evening, you get to see the whole sun when it is cloudless... really pretty... and this sight will not be there for more than 15min, so i was really fortunate to capture this...

[6] escort / sex service

think i have mentioned before that call-girls will publicize their "service" on the newspaper... but to see an advert by a male escort... whoa....

one important advice: dont sleep just before you plan to go out...

overslept last night when i was supposed to go out partying with my classmates... woke up close to midnight, and hence decided to carry on sleeping instead... well, hope i didnt miss out on something fun last night at the club...

i am sooo dead... spent 10 days studying for one part, and nothing that i studied was tested...

in such a pissed mood now that i dont even have the mood to even cry....

"mock" CNY + trip to doctor

one last blog entry before my physics paper... had an "eventfully" last 2 days...

(1) "mock celebration" of CNY...
hmmm... figure out that this is probably the closest to chinese food i can get in portugal... ever since i found out that i am going to germany in april for my 2nd semester, i did a stock-take on the amount of foodies that i needed to finish, otherwise i would have to leave everything to leandro... so, ginseng chicken soup is my CNY eve "dinner"... hmmm,,, its nice i think, serious... maybe i should just open a restaurant in portugal selling chinese soup... hahaha... masters in soup-making... MSc Souppie...**thanks to the sacrifice of 3 chickens.... = 6 drumsticks!** (2)No go or no toes...
have to decide between going through the trouble of visiting a doctor or hoping that my swollen toes will subside on its own... however after listening to fabio's comments, i think its time to visit a professional for his comments...the last 3 toes of each foot are swollen... some even turning purple... after the visit to the doctor... apparently, the swell was due to the cold weather... the first thing that she asked me after seeing my toes..." is this your first winter in europe?" i have to keep it warm and to take medication to prevent this thing from happening again... so, after i recover, i will have to take the same medicine in sept this year for 6 months to ensure that this type of thing will not occur again... hahahah... now i am really freaked out... if its due to the cold weather, does that mean i will be affected when i get to germany and denmark where the weather will be much colder than in portugal, even if its in summer... -_-"""""

just an update...

nothing interesting in my life besides the occasional "oohhh" or "ahhhh" when i tried to understand the concepts of magnetism/dielectric/polymer physics/semiconductor.... thats what happened during the last few days... sigh... now i understand why i dont really like to study in the first place...

while talking to a friend in my last trip back to singapore, i finally realised why i took up a higher education after graduation... hmmm... i dont know what i want to do for my career, so when the chance to spend 2 years abroad (all expenses paid for... well... almost...) arose, i grabbed it with both hands.... and now i am paying for my sin.... wahhahaha....

but nevertheless, i have to "create" some entertainment for myself during this period of stressful times....

(a) i won 17 euros in the euro lotto..!! well, the first prize is more than 9 digits... but at least i won something... hmm... thats a 750% profit over my initial outlay of 2 euros... so its not too bad... and leandro was joking:" @##$%^& chinese, people have been buying for so long but never won anything and you won 17 euros on your first try..." hahahah... beginner's luck... and in case you wonder where that 17euros went to, i "re-invested" them in food.... think nothing is more satisfying than eating.... true blue singaporean... =) (b) got bak gua air-flown to me!!! hahahha... but its just a few tiny pieces... but heyys, its better than nothing!! hahaha... think leandro will see me this saturday (lunar chinese new year eve) sitting on the ledge of the balcony, chewing on my little pieces of BBQ meat, looking at the mood and tears swelling up in the corners of my eyes.... wahahahha... so "drama"...

(c) think i have developed some kind of fetish... hahahah... for the washing machine....hahahaha... from the first time i started using the machine, i like to stand there and look at the spinning of the tub.... hahah...i will count the number of times the machine will spin-dry the clothes during a normal operation... and i will stand there for 10min just looking at it spin... and it seems like there is no chance of me stopping this habit anytime soon... hahaha... heyys, its a nice yellow washing machine!!

how large can a rabbit be...?

hmmm..... perhaps the only rabbits that i came across are those cute little ones you see in pet shops all over singapore, thus i can't imagine anyone actually eating them.... until i ACCIDENTIALLY eaten one myself in my first few days in portugal... thought it was chicken... well, it did tasted like chicken... and recalling the first time i saw dead rabbits at the butcher... de-skinned and ready to be cooked.... horrifying... **will post a pic out when i have the chance to... must make my way to the butcher with my camera...**

but let's not diverge from the main topic.... how big can a rabbit be? and what do you do with it??

"EBERSWALDE (Germany) - In a small corner of the former East Germany, a retired truck driver is hoping to alleviate the hunger of North Korea with his super-sized rabbits.

Mr Karl Szmolinsky, 67, has been breeding German grey giant bunnies - among the world's biggest - for more than 40 years.

But he caught the attention of the reclusive communist state last year when he won a competition in his home state of Brandenburg with a rabbit called Robert, weighing in at a hefty 10.5 kilogrammes.

Local newspaper coverage of the giant bunny was picked up by a North Korean television crew and word spread.

'A delegation from the North Korean embassy came to the house in November. They were interested in the rabbits and kept repeating in German, 'kilo, kilo, meat, meat',' Mr Szmolinsky said.

The rabbits are startlingly big - roughly the size of a small pig. 'One adult animal can feed a family of six,' Mr Szmolinsky said.

He struck a generous deal with the North Koreans, who bought 12 rabbits for 80 euros (S$160) each compared with the price he charges to German breeders of between 200 and 250 euros.

'I was delighted with their offer. I want to help the North Korean people because it's a very poor country,' he said.

'I'm doing this for the children and the people who are hungry, because having lived through the war as a child I know what hunger is,' he added"

source: Straits Times Online (12 Feb)

abortion to be made legal?

in case you people in singapore thought that europeans are very liberal, here is something that will surprise you... abortion is currently illegal in portugal!! so things may be about to change, cos today, portugese people have the chance to vote for abortion (<10weeks)...

"PORTUGUESE voters today backed a proposal to liberalise the country's prohibitive abortion law, but not enough turned out to make the controversial referendum legally binding.

Although polls said between 57 and 62.6 per cent of those who took part wanted the change to one of the most restrictive laws in Europe, there was a huge abstention rate of between 54.6 and 61 per cent, polls for the three main television channels said.

More than half of the 8.7 million eligible voters in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation had to take part to make the result of the second abortion referendum in a decade binding.

The Socialist government has said however that it would pass legislation according to result of the referendum if the voter threshold was not met.

The government proposal was to give all women the right to an abortion up to the 10th week of pregnancy. Abortion is currently allowed in Portugal only in cases of rape, a malformed foetus or if the woman's wellbeing is in danger.

A woman can be jailed for up to three years for having an illegal abortion while those who perform them face up to eight years behind bars.

Within the European Union only Ireland, Malta and Poland have abortion laws that are similar or even more restrictive.

Prime Minister Jose Socrates, elected in a landslide in 2005, has promised to pass legislation changing the law if the turnout was too low to get an automatic change.

During the campaign Mr Socrates called backstreet abortions a "national shame" and cast the referendum as a test of Portugal's readiness for progress. "The choice placed before Portugal is whether it resigns itself to staying in the group of the most conservative countries or if it embraces modernity and joins the most developed nations," he said on Friday.Pro-abortion groups estimate that some 10,000 women are hospitalised, and several die every year from complications arising from botched backstreet abortions. Anti-abortion groups contest the figure. "

but being a predominantly catholic country, there are, of course, lots of resistance to this referendum...

"Opposition to change was led by the influential Catholic church which argued the government should do more to help women to have children instead of easing abortion restrictions.

One priest threatened Catholics who voted to ease the law with excommunication from the church. The Bishop of the northern city of Braganca likened abortion to the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

More than 90 per cent of Portugal's population identify themselves as being Roman Catholic although, as in other Catholic countries, regular church attendance is on the decline."

source: The Courier-Mail (11 Feb 07)

boring life

been living a boring life for the last one week... 24 hours a day have been divided into 4 main components: (a) cooking (b) playing my football manager 06/07 (c) preparing for my exams and lastly (d) sleeping... note that the 4 components are arranged alphabetically... in terms of numbers of hours spent, the list should read (a) sleeping (b) playing my game (c) cooking and finally (d)studying... with studying being the item that clocks the lowest number of hours...

in case you are wondering when are my exams... physics (16feb), chemistry (23 feb), metallic materials (6mar), processing technology (9 mar) and lastly microstructure & interfaces (16mar)

as for any notable (barely) interesting stuff i did over the week:

(i) clashed with that guy from my group...what would you do if one member of the group said:" i have no time! dont bother me with any of these anymore... i dont see how addition of these details will help in the report... you can do it if you think it is necessary..." that is the response i got from him when i requested for more info for his part of the report... and then, he had the bloody cheek to say this to me, while flashing his f**king teeth:" come on, vincent, dont be sooo pissed..."

(ii) bought a ticket for the euro millions... its like the singapore pools TOTO...just that the numbers of digits in the prize money differs... by several zeros!!!! the top prize money for this draw was (since it's over by now) 100millions euros!!!!!!!!!! 100,000,000 euros!!!!!!! converting back to singapore currency, you get 200,000,000 dollars... think that's more than enough to buy over.... err.... say... the company that you are working for now? wahahahaha... nice thinking about it... and in case anyone of you wonder if i won anything.... to win the top prize, you need to match 5 + 2 numbers (in singapore's case, you need 6)... i got 3 numbers matched....!!!!! so its 3+0.... not too sure whether that will entitle me to anything at all... wahahahah....

(iii) always wonder why the complexion of europeans always look so good... **think of all those eastern european models** now, i may have finally got the answer.... see pic below...been waiting for this apple to oxidize for the last 10 days... wahahahah... not joking here, this apple was half-eaten by leandro, hen he left it in the open for the last 10 days.... see how little oxidization has occurred? not too brown... in singapore, the apple will have turned dark brown in less than 12 hours, even if you put it into the fridge... so the air here must have been less oxidizing and thus less harmful to the skin... either this or that the food here have high levels of anti-oxidants... whatever it is, i am here for 2 years! hope that i will accumulate enough of these anti-oxidants for the rest of my life!! =)

(iv) been pondering over the location for my holidays... will have a 3-week holiday in march/april... so i will definitely go over to the southern part of portugal to get some sun... but that will take only 5 days at most... many ideas were thrown into the hat... england, spain, france, switzerland, scotland and even morocco! apparently some brazilian friends are planning to go there, but i think i will pass up on that... most likely the final destination will be in UK, preferably scotland or ireland, where i can do a bit of traveling by car... besides, its right-hand drive and the instructions are all in english, so there wont be any language barrier, besides the accent that is...

(v) to stuffing myself silly with lots of mineral water and vitamin C... to attempt to recover from the cold... so... hmmm... think i am pretty alright now...

ok, have to get back to my books again... and oh, my report... **evil thoughts** thanks to that person, who apparently had no time.... lets all not do it, and see who will suffer most from that... wahahahahah.... nah nah, it's my report after all, and it does account for 50% of the final grade... so i just have to suffer a little more...

eventfully 48 hours...

looking back at the last 2 days... what have i achieved?

- fell victim to illnesses... shucks, what have i done to deserve this? exams are coming, and i have not even started mugging yet, and i fell sick... arghhh!!!

- finished (almost) 2 reports - microstructure & interfaces (submitted on monday), critical analysis and today, my mechanical properties group report (almost done, just waiting for the input of a classmate and i can conclude the report)

- successful converted myself to a rabbit... for my meals for the last 48 hours... 6 carrots, 2 broccoli and lots of green peas... hmmm... does rabbit love eggs and fish too? had 2 eggs + 3 tins of tuna + 1/5 bottle of olive oil.... hmmm... maybe a half rabbit + half human hybrid...

- absolutely no studying...

- 11 hours of sleep last night... + 2 hours of gaming...

interesting news...

its funnie how news published in the straits times became more interesting only when i left singapore... errrnnn... or could it be that i dont read the news so often? anyway... here are some of the more interesting stuff for today...

Vista dirt cheap on Latin American streets
"MEXICO CITY - Days after a beaming Bill Gates unveiled his much-vaunted Windows Vista software at a retail price of US$400 (S$612) for the premium version, Latin American street vendors are hawking pirate copies for under US$10.
At a sidewalk stall in Mexico City's grimy historic center, vendor Jose Luis offloaded cut-price copies of the software that cost Microsoft Corp US$6 billion to bring to market.
'Man, whatever it is, we get it damn quick here,' he said, taking two bootleg DVDs at 100 pesos (US$9) each out of a fake Puma backpack and slipping them into a plastic bag. "

Couple still hugging 5,000 years on **(talking about eternity)... this couple wins hands down...**
"ROME - Call it the eternal embrace. Archaeologists in Italy have discovered a couple buried 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, hugging each other.
'It's an extraordinary case,' said Ms Elena Menotti, who led the team on their dig near the northern city of Mantova.
'There has not been a double burial found in the Neolithic period, much less two people hugging - and they really are hugging,' she said.
Ms Menotti said she believed the two, almost certainly a man and a woman although that needs to be confirmed, died young because their teeth were mostly intact and not worn down. "

Kids who get less sleep weigh more
"WASHINGTON - Children who do not get enough sleep are more likely to be overweight than those who get more, according to a study published on Wednesday that tracked more than 2,000 US kids for five years.
Researchers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, used detailed diaries kept by families to examine children's sleep behavior and its relationship with weight.
'Children who get less sleep tend to weigh more five years later,' lead researcher Emily Snell said. "

Astronaut charged with attempted first-degree murder
"ORLANDO - A NASA astronaut accused of trying to kidnap a romantic rival for a space shuttle pilot's affections was charged with attempted first-degree murder on Tuesday and will remained jailed.
'The intent was there to do serious bodily injury or death,' Orlando Police Sgt Barb Jones, referring to a new steel mallet, knife, rubber tubing and large garbage bags that police found in Lisa Marie Nowak's possession.
Nowak, a 43-year-old Navy captain and married mother of three, had already been charged with attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary with battery, destruction of evidence and battery.
Police said Nowak drove 1,450 kilometres, donned a disguise and was armed with a pellet gun and pepper spray when she confronted a woman she believed was a competitor for the affections of Navy Cmdr William Oefelein, an unmarried fellow astronaut. "

of course, there are the sick news too...

Father poisoned kids to sue Campbell Soup
"MIAMI - A man pleaded guilty to poisoning his children in an attempt to extort Campbell Soup Co, federal prosecutors in Atlanta said.
William Allen Cunningham, now 41, fed his then-three-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter Campbell's soup to which he added substances such as lighter fluid and tranquilisers, which led to the children being hospitalised."

Accused Canadian serial killer says he wished to murder 75
"NEW WESTMINSTER - An accused serial killer boasted to an undercover cop that he killed almost 50 women, in a videotape screened at a mass murder trial in western Canada on Tuesday.
Later in the bizarre, lengthy jail cell conversation, Robert 'Willy' Pickton added he had wanted to 'do another 25 new ones', and boasted to the police about disposing of bodies at a rendering plant. "

Conclusion: Never fall in love with an astronaut; buy your pirated software in mexico; dont ever drink campbell soup offered by your dad, and lastly, sleep more... it helps to lose weight...

Trip to Guimarães

ok everyone, in case you thought that i (a)went missing or (b) died in my sleep, here i am again... busy with reports and assignments over the last few days, that's why the blog went un-updated...

hmmm... despite the tight schedule, i took a day out to visit Guimarães and Braga over the weekend, and here are the nice pics... to me, porto is the prettiest city so far in portugal, but Guimarães is really nice too.... i just couldn't resist the chance to have fun!!!

trip to the Guimarães castle and the Ducal... this place is said to be the home of the first king of portugal.... castle first followed by palace...

also, how can i miss out the stature of the first king! and the guy next to it (fabio), he's the king" of our class, in terms of alcohol consumption... wahahahhaha

and look!!! the king was a german!!! no thanks to the czech guys... really fun and crazy...

and after that, we went to the old town of Guimarães, which is like sooooo breathtaking!!

went to visit Bom Jesus de Braga... some old convent... that place... one of the best view that you can have... and i almost forgot to mention, we took this cable car too... Joao (our guide) was mentioning that we have no girls in our cable car... wahahaha... the gay cabin.... lastly, to at least prove my existance....

my EMMS class representative

my EMMS class representative is....

an old man!!
a serious man!!

maybe its the culture of his home country (which i shall not talk about), but the way he acts can sometimes be misinterpreted as rude...

in a low deep voice......
"prrooofessor... go back to the previous slide...."

or

everytime we end a seminar by some industry personnel...
"on the behalf of my professors and classmates of this EMMS, i, as the elected class representative, would like to thank you for....."

and now, this one had me laughing.... in a email sent to a prof to request for a later date for our report submission...
"Professor, this is just a request, please not a mandate. So bear with us."

oh man, this guy.......... -_-""""

some pics of the beach i go to on most weekends... facing the altantic ocean feels so good... but as i was looking through all the pics i took, they seem so plain.... cos of the vastness of the ocean, capturing nice still-images is so difficult... but nevertheless, here are a few of them....

gate-way leading to the ocean....

the town facing the beach

it's time for haircut again... =(

staring into the mirror, i realized that my hair is getting long... time for a haircut soon i supposed... but after that "terrifying" experience with the hairdressor in nov 06, i think there is a invisible force keeping me away from any hairdresser...

recalling.... sometime in nov 06...

ME:hi! do you speak english? i will like to have a haircut...
LADY: ########################### (shaking her head at the same time)
another lady customer, who was paying up at the cashier, said:" oh, she cant understand english, but i can translate for you..." so i gave a brief description of what i will like....
CUSTOMER (to the hairdresser):"##### ############"
LADY:"########## ######## (nodding her head)"

some time later... with me seated on the hair, bracing myself for a new haircut...
LADY:"########### ####### (waving the scissors in front of me, and taking a bit of my hair; apparently she is asking me what length of my hair i like to cut...)#### #############"
ME:"ahhhhhhh... this length, no! no! no! not too long (using hand gestures at the same time)"

10min later....
there i was sitting in front of the mirror... staring blankly at myself... whahahaha....

now, you understand why i didnt want to go for a haircut in portugal again... ahahahah...

flaw in EMMS curriculum

ok, some bitching...

after studying (or rather slacking through) this emms masters course for the last 4 months, i came to realize that there is a major flaw in the curriculum... "we are studying too much stuff!!!" i mean, not that i am complaining because of laziness, it's just that there are simply too much details squeezed into each module...

for example, prof abadie took 1 whole semester to cover the concepts of polymer chemistry (and here, i don't mean the undergraduate module, talking about his PHD modules), here in aveiro, the prof took 3 lessons....

another example, based on the materials physics module alone, we have 6 -7 different professors, each one of them specializing in one area... so that translates into 6-10 different reference books for that single module alone...

i know, some of you may argue:" but you are doing a masters course and that you must be able to work independently", but what’s the point of covering the basics of everything, and expecting us to be able to understand the concepts in the exams? i see NO point in this... and when someone ask me whether i understand, err...say NMR, i can only say:" heard of this, got 6 hours on this, but beyond that, i cant explain anything about NMR to you?" see what i mean...

maybe i am simply feeling frustrated cos of all the deadlines for the reports... hmmm... and exams are coming soon... catarina (the portugese phd student in my chemistry class) was saying the exact same things to me too... see, its not just me...

never a hardworking student to start with, think its time to start studying smart....in ntu, i just have to focus on certain stuff such as calculations and the applications cos i know that's what the professors usually go for, but here in aveiro, think i have to study in detail the concepts instead... well, that's my study plan... hope i am right, i don’t want to retake the papers again in the july special exam period...

"if i can't pass now, what chance do i have after 6months of totally ignoring the module?"