News Stories

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

Sanctions help to stoke Iran property boom but bubble feared
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9470LM20130508

Now we know where all the executives from Lehman/Bear Stearns went. The CIA hired them as political action officers in Iran. The movie Argo was probably shown to attract more of those executives out there to assist in liberating Persia.

Vexx, please tell your colleagues that it is the silliest yet most nefarious plan ever conceived.

Case of young wife’s gruesome murder grips China

The husband was young, rich, drove expensive cars and lived the high life. His wife was just 22, and the beautiful mother of his four-month old baby daughter.

The happily married couple seemed to live a perfect life – until young chinese wife Qi Kexin was found murdered in their home in Nanjing's Jianye District.

No arrest has been reported but according to Xian Dai Kuai Bao, a Nanjing newspaper run by national news agency Xinhua, local authorities suspect she was slashed to death by her drunk husband after a heated argument.

She had been attacked with a knife and sustained between 30 and 40 knife wounds on her body.

Her husband, 24-year-old Ji Xing Peng, had allegedly slashed Qi to death after an argument in which he accused her of infidelity and said that their daughter was not his.

Qi's horrific death has since attracted huge media and online attention in China, especially because her husband is from “second generation money”, a negative term used to describe a class of young rich who have inherited their money from parents but lead wasteful lives of excessive spending and irresponsible behaviour.

News reports following the murder revealed that Ji was a member of the Nanjing Super Car Club, drove a Lamborghini sports car and owned numerous luxury residences.

He was also described by friends and acquaintances as having hit his ex-wife after getting drunk and would refuse to work, instead spending up to RMB 100,000 a month playing video games and frequenting "gentlemen's clubs", where he would spend time and money on other women.

Netizens also unearthed Qi's microblog on popular China site "Weibo", where she uploaded photos of the couple in happier times at their lavish wedding and also snapshots of their four month daughter.

In one post, she writes about her New Year's wishes for 2013, saying that she hopes that her husband would love her more in the months to follow and that their daughter would grow up well.

The two are reported to have met about three years ago and were high school classmates who tied the knot after Qi found that she was expecting a baby.

Friends said that the marriage was unhappy, with Qi allegedly being locked up at her husband's family's home while he went out to gamble or to drink. They also said that domestic violence was common at their home as they quarreled about Ji's alleged extra-marital affairs and that Qi had asked for a divorce on more than one occasion.

[Endless Soul]

Hmm, that's the same name my sister-in-law has, and here I thought that was an uncommon name. Terrible way to go.

Endless "Bummer" Soul

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Vexx, please tell your colleagues that it is the silliest yet most nefarious plan ever conceived.

I thought than the ''general consensus'' was than Vexx was a MIB or working for the Black Project; when thoses two group started acting on the CIA's field ?

[JokerD]

Goldman catches Bloomberg reporters spying on terminal users

Reporters spying on bankers, who would have thought

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by JokerD

Goldman catches Bloomberg reporters spying on terminal users

Reporters spying on bankers, who would have thought

Technically speaking, the reporters have the "fair-use" policy since they use Bloomberg news for trends and event-spotting - it is like doing journalistic work on those who read your stuff. The problem arises from the conflict of interest : should the reporters report on their clients' use of data to make money, which is a sensitive issue as it can cause market turmoil if misreported even by the slightest bit?

Journalists are not traders; in fact, there are quite a number who are rather aloof to anything outside of their local exchanges, which makes it quite dangerous when they report on world economics. As much as I support the freedom of speech, I think it isn't right for journalists to propagate the self-fulfilling prophecies - there are still idiots who invest with a knee-jerk reaction on the news.

What do Singapore women really want?

You heard before, you’ll probably hear it again -- women are complicated.

A recent regional survey conducted by Singapore-based dating agency, Lunch Actually revealed that character and confidence are the factors that instantly attract women to men.

“In fact, there has been no change of this instant appeal of character and confidence in the past four years”, said Violet Lim, chief executive of Lunch Actually, at a media conference on Thursday.

A total of 1,900 people in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia were asked a series of dating questions in the biennial survey. Of those questioned, 788 were in Singapore.

Men in Singapore were brutally honest. For 28 per cent of them, a pretty face first attracts their attention, mostly. Being gentle and non-aggressive was appealing to 17 per cent of men surveyed.

For women, however, character and confidence was their instant magnet at 27 per cent, though other survey questions reveal that some men may be struck off the list if they don’t meet other requirements.

The painful truth

Digging deeper into the Singapore stats reveals that while “character and confidence” in men was the biggest draw, 46 per cent of local women polled admitted they would not date men who earned less than them. Only 21 per cent of women were open to dating a man with a lower income. The rest were undecided.

Men however were more open to dating women who earned more -- 78 per cent of the men surveyed said they would give it a chance.

While 80 per cent of Singapore men surveyed were adventurous enough to date women with a higher educational level, their counterparts were less willing to date men who were less educated than them.

Only 29 per cent of Singapore women agreed to dating men regardless of their lower education level.

Love apparently also cannot take off if the men are shorter. 67 per cent of the women admitted that they would not date a shorter man. When asked, 43 per cent of the men said they were confident enough to date a taller woman.

Rise of e-stalking

While it's questionable if Facebook stalking can expose a person’s “character and confidence”, it sure can show you what someone looks like.

E-stalking has been on the rise with the infiltration of social media enabled smartphones in our back pockets and hand bags at all times. Over 70 per cent of Singaporeans surveyed admitted tracking the digital footprint of their potential dates.

Most of the detective work happens on Facebook, with 36 per cent of the women and 33 per cent of the men admitting to combing through Facebook profiles of potential dates.

“What is interesting is whilst many are e-stalking their potential dates, many are not conscious that they are also being e-stalked as well,” said Lim. “It is quite common and we are generally quite curious, but sometimes we tend to be very quick to judge.”

People have also been increasingly using online dating to find love. Survey results showed that 51 per cent of those surveyed in Singapore already use various dating websites such as eSynchrony, one of the online dating services provided under Lunch Actually Group.

Tech savvy but traditional

Though men and women embrace technology to spice up their dating routine, both still go back to basics when it comes to paying for the first date. A unanimous 87 per cent of Singapore men surveyed -- the highest percentage in all three Asian countries surveyed -- believed that they should pay for the first date. At 75 per cent, most of the Singapore women also thought that men should foot the bill for their first date.

Singaporeans are also less likely to date someone from another racial group. A minority 37 per cent of the women and 33 per cent of the men are open to inter-racial dating. They were more willing to date someone from another country or nationality though with 63 per cent and 68 percent of the women and men saying yes to cross-border love respectively.

How are we suppose to earn more than them when we are set back by 2 years of national service, drawing a measly allowance of less than half a thousand, and the time in national service is not regarded as official work experience?

[Chaos2Frozen]

...Find someone younger?

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

...Find someone younger?

Oh right! I could date schoolgirls! If they are not working, they can't earn a higher income than me!

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

...Find someone younger?

My sisters actually said that. When one of my brother-in-laws got into a bad relationship, they talk about how he is better off breaking off and find someone else. And that because he is a guy he has more prospects even if he had to find someone younger.

This isn't just the view of one sister, it is both of them. So the idea that bachelors can "find someone younger" is accepted by women it seems.

[Sumeragi]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

...Find someone younger?

Poor boys having to deal with conscription.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Poor boys having to deal with conscription.

...please don't look at me with those eyes

I like to think that those two years was my shounen character development training arc to teach me the power of Nakama.

And Saintess also benefits from not becoming an Akihabara slasher.... his words.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

How are we suppose to earn more than them when we are set back by 2 years of national service, drawing a measly allowance of less than half a thousand, and the time in national service is not regarded as official work experience?

Who cares. It's all meaningless anyway

[Ridwan]

I'll stick to casuals for the time being.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Poor boys having to deal with conscription.

Having a higher population density than SK and having the government sell out future prospects for reduced cost of making them, my opinion is that we have it worse off.

I don't know how bad is it in SK, so please correct me if I am wrong.

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

...please don't look at me with those eyes

I like to think that those two years was my shounen character development training arc to teach me the power of Nakama.

And Saintess also benefits from not becoming an Akihabara slasher.... his words.

Driving that immense rage of rejection by others into coming up on top? Yeah. It is so much easier to do than it looks. Now I know what this meant.

It is about what you believe in and understanding actually.

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

My sisters actually said that. When one of my brother-in-laws got into a bad relationship, they talk about how he is better off breaking off and find someone else. And that because he is a guy he has more prospects even if he had to find someone younger.

This isn't just the view of one sister, it is both of them. So the idea that bachelors can "find someone younger" is accepted by women it seems.

I disagree if we are to look at short-sighted kids (mentally and emotionally). Sure lolis are soft and cuddly, but I would prefer someone who is more in touch with actuality with focus more on future and prospect building rather than bags and shoes.

Originally Posted by Cosmic Eagle

Who cares. It's all meaningless anyway

You will regret that statement. Trust me.

[willx]

Originally Posted by Ridwan

I'll stick to casuals for the time being.

Sometimes the ship sails before you're even aware the ship exists ..

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

You will regret that statement. Trust me.

I've never found whether one has a life partner to be anything meaningful or important when people just use each other these days

More often than not, one will love one's closest closest friends more than one's life partner.

[JokerD]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

How are we suppose to earn more than them when we are set back by 2 years of national service, drawing a measly allowance of less than half a thousand, and the time in national service is not regarded as official work experience?

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Poor boys having to deal with conscription.

NS for women a hot topic among youths at Singapore Conversation

Giving women the option to serve National Service (NS) emerged as one of the top ideas for forging a stronger national identity at an Our Singapore Conversation (OSC) session on Friday night.

As many as five who stood up to air their views on the subject supported the move in one form or another - including 16-year-old Raffles Girls' School student Heng Jia Min, who insisted she and her fellow Singaporean women were no less "willing to die for the country".

A sole dissenter, Mr Azri Zulfarhan, 26, felt that women were already making significant contributions without serving NS.

The 110 young people - representing schools and other youth groups - gathered at The Grassroots Club for a discussion on Singapore's national identity and volunteerism. The session was organised by the People's Association.

Well, I don't think it'll ever happen though.

[SaintessHeart]

Letting the ladies do NS would be a disaster - this would mean only the alpha males will get the girls when they start seeking the strongest and smartest thinking that they are all alpha females and deserve the right.

The local females are pretty much looking down on us guys simply because we are not as capable - the importing of foreign talent is a disaster because through sieving, they will always end up better than most of us. How are we suppose to outdo someone whom by nature's selection, is stronger, smarter and has more experience?

With regards to job opportunities, being a service-oriented industry, we males are at a huge disadvantage because charm plays in important part in it, something which females excel at to make up for their lack of natural physical strength and ability. It is a nature way of keeping the balance, and there is hardly any playing field left for men when everything is about image and "selling of self".

Originally Posted by Cosmic Eagle

I've never found whether one has a life partner to be anything meaningful or important when people just use each other these days

More often than not, one will love one's closest closest friends more than one's life partner.

There you have it. There are two kinds of utility - temporary and permanent. If that is your definition of friendship, how useful do you want to be to the people around you?

In intelligence works, there is a term called "trusted source", which solely means someone who is paid and actually delivers. That system by itself, is personal honor, useful and works both ways, that even operators are willing to risk to keep these to themselves and protect them.

There are some things that are worth believing in. It is up to you to choose which one you want to take in.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Having a whole bunch of unwilling female recruits would complicate things even further =_=

As it is right now things are pretty watered down for the softies, I can't imagine how much more would be compromised for them.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

Having a whole bunch of unwilling female recruits would complicate things even further =_=

I don't know. That is a girls' issue. I think it would be best to ask what girls and their peers think of actual military training.

As it is right now things are pretty watered down for the softies, I can't imagine how much more would be compromised for them.

Our new obstacle course is so goddamn fucking sissy! The low ropes are really low (5m reduced to 2m), no more agility based speed training bridge crossing, and no sheperd's gate where people actually bash themselves in their helmets from a wrong flip. I'd say replace it with a sea circuit and incorporate free POW water-torture training.

Btw sea circuit rocks. I could do it over-and-over again all day.

[JokerD]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

Having a whole bunch of unwilling female recruits would complicate things even further =_=

As it is right now things are pretty watered down for the softies, I can't imagine how much more would be compromised for them.

I wouldn't say unwilling since the article stated "option to serve National Service" To me, that means they need to volunteer. (BTW, females CAN volunteer to do NS) But the need to build up a separate support infrastructure for females would make me question if this is feasible.

As an example, I only remember 1 female toilet per dormitory block in Tekong (the island for Basic Military Training) I think this is the case for the other military bases as well.