Negeri Sembilan (Malaysian) princess wants (Malaysian) Johor prince charged for allegedly assaulting her son
18 September 2009
KUALA LUMPUR: A royal feud between two Malaysian royal princes became public yesterday when a Negeri Sembilan princess demanded that a Johor prince be charged in court for holding her son at gunpoint following a bar brawl.
Tunku Dara Naquiah, daughter of the late Negeri Sembilan ruler Tuanku Ja’afar, also demanded RM50 million (S$20.4 million) from the Johor royal house for injuries inflicted on her son, Tunku Nadzimuddin.
The princess said her 37-year-old son ended up with a broken nose while his friend Shamshuddhuha Ishak, 40, was beaten unconscious.
The Negeri Sembilan family held a press conference yesterday to call attention to the case, claiming that the authorities had taken no action for 11 months. The brawl took place in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 25 last year.
Tunku Nadzimuddin, who was present at the press conference, charged that the Raja Muda of Johor, Tunku Ismail, had hit him in the face and pointed a gun at him. Tunku Nadzimuddin, also known as Jamie, said the Johor prince also ordered his bodyguards to beat up his friends.
Tunku Dara Naquiah said: ‘I just want justice to be done. This is using a gun, and I don’t believe that we should be carrying guns in this country.’
Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail, in a statement yesterday, said that 41 people had been questioned in connection with the incident but added that he had to exercise care and caution before charging anyone. He said that he understood there were attempts to resolve the matter amicably between the royal houses, emphasising however that this should not prejudice the police investigations or the work of the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
Tunku Nadzimuddin said the incident began after 1am on Oct 25 last year at the glitzy Heritage Mansion club.
He was there with his then girlfriend Nur Azini Kamal, 32, who is now his wife, and friends.
Tunku Ismail was also there with his friends.
Tunku Nadzimuddin said a scuffle broke out between Tunku Ismail’s group and another party, and his friend, Mr. Shamshuddhuha, was hit on the head by a bottle.
He said that his friends were assaulted by people who claimed to be the Johor prince’s bodyguards.
‘Two of my friends were injured,’ he said. ‘The club bouncer stopped the attack.’
He said they left the club, and he was contacted by someone who said the Raja Muda wanted to see him to apologise. That was after 3am.
They went to the nearby Crowne Plaza Hotel. Tunku Nadzimuddin said a few of them were forced into the lift, while the rest - including his girlfriend - were held in the lobby.
‘Once in the lift, Tunku Ismail, who was armed with a gun, viciously hit me on the head and face repeatedly,’ he said. ‘He also held the gun in a threatening manner, and pointed it to my head.’
Mr. Shamshuddhuha, who was also at the press conference, said he was beaten unconscious and dragged into a room. Tunku Nadzimuddin said he was forced into the same room on the 25th floor. He claimed that the Johor prince held the gun to his head until he left about 15 minutes later.
::Homework Crapbox::
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[Spirituality] - Atheism SuperBowl commercial
The girl at the end of the commercial, looks a little like Olivia Wilde.
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The problematic issue of foreigners in both PAP's and WP's plans
PAP says "we need more foreign workers". WP says "we need to stop bringing in foreign workers".
Neither plan will satisfy Singaporeans, because neither party directly addresses the real issue of why Singaporeans are unhappy with foreign workers.
Which is this :
Singaporeans happily welcome lowly-skilled foreign workers to take up lowly-skilled and lowly-paid jobs, eg. construction workers and cleaners.
Singaporeans hate highly-skilled foreigners to compete with locals for high-end and highly-paid jobs, eg. managers, executives, bankers, engineers.If either PAP or WP (or any party at all) are willing to implement policies to reduce the intake of foreigners competing for high-end jobs, while increasing the intake of foreigners willing to perform low-end jobs, this party would enjoy overwhelming victory at any election.
Bernard Chong Seow Ming :
http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-letters/story/revise-foreign-labour-policy-help-sporeans-20130208Hariharan Gangadharan :
http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-letters/story/adopt-nuanced-approach-foreign-labour-20130208Goh Geok Teck :
http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-letters/story/the-four-groups-foreigners-20130208 -
[Japan] - Girl singer has her head forcibly shaven because she had sex with a boyfriend.
You wanna bet whether someone forcibly shaved her against her will? Although she confessed to doing it herself to atone for her 'sin' of having sex with a boyfriend, but corporate gangster-like bullying is so common in many such entertainment circles (whether Japan or Korea or HongKong or India, etc) you can bet someone (eg. her group's management) forcibly shaved her head against her will.
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/1598016/no_pop_star_should_shave_her_head_in_shame.html
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On a recent Singapore visit, Anak Raja (one of the Royal princes of Malaysia) broke several traffic offense and being stop by police. Anak Raja threatened Singaporean Malay Police.
Singapore Police threaten to lock up Anak Raja, Royal Police from Malaysia that follows negotiate with Singapore TP. TP agree to let off after Malaysia side agree they allow someone sober to drive the Ferrari instead.
"YOU COME INTO JOHOR AND I MAKE SURE YOU WILL BE IN TROUBLE"
These are the words of a Johor Prince towards a Singaporean Malay policeman which stopped the Prince car at 3am. Suspecting the driver drink driving after failing to stop for a few traffic light.
For awhile the black Ferrari with the car plate number JA*1 being follow and given warning by the TP, the car driven by the Prince stop. The Prince shout in anger when the police came close "YOU STUPID SINGAPORE POLICE, YOU DON'T KNOW WHO I AM?!?"
The Singaporean Malay police officer which is of Inspector rank, spoke sternly, "You had commited traffic offence and if you touch me, you will be locked up. This is Singapore with our Constitution and Laws."
Shortly after, a Pajero and other escort cars for the Prince stop. About 9 royal Malaysian bodyguards surrounded the police officer. One of them introduce himself as Inspector Shah from the Malaysian Royal Police. All this while, the prince continues to curse and swear from inside the car.To save the situation, Inspector Shah plead the Singapore TP to let go the prince, saying the young Muslim prince drank too much alcoholic liquor, while asking for "Professional Courtesy" from the Singapore Inspector.
Source : https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=367073800066300&set=pcb.367075640066116&type=1&theater
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http://guanyu9.blogspot.sg/2009/09/royal-battle-brews-in-malaysia.html
Royal battle brews in Malaysia
The Negeri Sembilan prince said they were bleeding, and held on for about 45 minutes until his mother and his uncle, Tunku Nadzaruddin, rescued them with help from four policemen after Ms. Nur Azini called her. Tunku Nadzimuddin said he and Mr. Shamshuddhuha lodged police reports soon after, and were treated at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
He insisted that the attack was unprovoked, saying that he did not know the Johor prince. The Negeri Sembilan royal family may file a civil suit against the Johor prince.
Tunku Ismail has denied all the allegations. His lawyer, Datuk Shafee Abdullah, told The Straits Times that the ‘aggressors’ at all times were from the Negeri Sembilan side. He also said there was never any ‘bodily contact’ between the Raja Muda and anyone on the other side.
The Johor prince will wait until after Ramadan to issue a statement out of respect for the holy month, according to Mr. Shafee. -
Singapore expats say assaulted by bodyguards of Malaysian royalty
KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — Four Singapore-based expatriates have alleged that they were attacked by bodyguards of a Malaysian royal family while on holiday at a Johor island.
Singapore’s The Straits Times reported today that the men were “brutally assaulted” within hours of arriving at Alang’s Rawa resort on Pulau Rawa, the second attack in seven years on the island with alleged links to Malaysian royalty.
According to the daily, the attack at the resort island off Mersing left a 28-year-old British man covered with injuries and his German friend in intensive care with bleeding in his brain.
“They grabbed my arm, surrounded me, and kicked me in my genitalia to disable me first, then the onslaught just happened,” the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying by The Straits Times.
The holidaymaker said he and his three friends, all in their 20s, were having dinner on Friday night when the Malaysian VIP arrived with “a lot of security” and “they started playing hip-hop music.”
According to the newspaper, the two victims were invited over for drinks including shots of tequila with the VIP, also in his 20s, and his cousin.
“He was friendly all along and showed no hostility at all. My friend was in mid-conversation with the VIP and his cousin when this aggressive-looking guy just slapped him out of nowhere.
“I don’t know what the nature of the conversation was, I was at the other end of the table, but there was something that was said that wasn’t ‘correct’,” he said.
According to the Brit, the German was followed to the bathroom by the bodyguards.
“I went to see what was going on, but got pushed out of the bathroom. I don’t know what happened in there, but he ran out like a bullet... through the bar and out onto the beach then into the forested area, and they chased him down,” he said.
He added that the remaining men then turned on him before he dashed into the sea, swimming back to shore only after the attackers had left.
He said he then returned to his room and alerted his other friends, but the attackers had caught up with the German man on another part of the island.
According to the newspaper, the group were asked to leave the island the next morning but not before they had settled their bills for the drinks and lodging.
“We were warned by a European lady working there that it was no longer safe. A boat was arranged for us in 10 minutes and we just left,” the Brit said.
The Straits Times also reported that although Alang’s Rawa confirmed that the victim and his friends were guests there, operations manager Fairus Ahmad denied the account, as did the manager of Rawa Safaris, the only other resort on the island.
“We have checked with all staff and management and they have confirmed that they do not know of any incident either,” Fairus was quoted as saying.
The newspaper reported that back in Singapore, the German man was placed in intensive care with bleeding in his brain and was moved to a normal ward yesterday.
In 2005, a group of six men, allegedly including a Johor prince, gate-crashed a Brazilian couple’s wedding at Pulau Rawa and attacked wedding guests with golf clubs and sharp objects.
Police detained four men, including a member of the Johor royal family in his 20s, but freed all of them on bail a few days later.
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I've often related this oh-so-true joke about dogs and cats :
Dog : Man feeds me, takes care of me, and loves me. Man must be God.
Cat : Man feeds me, takes care of me, and loves me. I must be God.
Here's a video which further confirms the different behaviours of dogs and cats.
This heart-warming video, which went viral recently, shows how a dog teaches its young the value of trust and loyalty. The video has since been shared and viewed many times, and has also garnered lots of positive comments.
The video shows a puppy which is afraid to go down a flight of steps. The puppy's parent dog goes up and down the stairs to encourage the young dog to take a leap of faith and traverse the stairway.
After much encouragement, and a gentle push or two, the young puppy finally goes down the flight of steps and is greeted with the delighted reactions of its parent and the person filming it.
The end of the video show a humorous take on how cats teach their young about the same values. It shows a kitten trying to go down a flight of steps, when its parent pushes it down from behind. The kitten is sent crashing down the stairs.
Click on the "video" link on this webpage :
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/1598120/heartwarming_video_shows_how_dogs_teaching_their_young.html -
NumeroUno posted :
The johor sultan is still the most powerful and the richest across all the sultans of Malaysia. He still controls the JMF (Johor Military Force) a private and active military unit who has heavy firearms and weapons and commandos amongst its rank and some of whom has seen action in Bosnia and Hercegovina serbian war. go to the main palace and you see his private army patrolling palace grounds. he also owns large plots of land within Singapore. wouldn't mess around with him as they literally are above the law in Malaysia. Those old enough know about "the bukit turf club horse helicopter incident" in 1990 and the diplomatc mess it created on both sides.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JMF_Elite_Forces
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Johor_Military_Force -
Kohliantye posted :
Members of the Malaysian Royalty, especially from the State of Johore, "zooms" in and out of Singapore regularly and in a dangerous manner.
I have been told that both the Malaysian and Singapore sides has special lanes reserved for these "VVIP".
The Johor Royalty has a bad reputation. Some of the atrocities committed by the late Sultan of Johore, who is a close friend of our top leader, are as follows:
1) Killed a young Indian lad (poor caddie) with a golf-stick, who laughed at him for missing the ball.
2) Shot dead a Chinese man as a "suspected" smuggler.
3) Sprayed certain "chemical" onto a member of another Malaysian Royalty who had problems with the JB Customs at their side. The chemical caused them to suffer from emasculation (groin injuries).
4) Violently assaulted and locked up the driver (in the kennels) who was involved in a fatal accident in which his mother (Sultan Aminah) was killed after Kulai. She was then in a Chevrolet limousine escorted by an entourage. This took place in 1970s. He later "banished" that driver from the State of Johor.
5) Locked up a Malaysian Customs officer in the dogs kennel for not allowing certain items from Singapore to be brought into Malaysia.
6) Assaulted a hockey coach.
7) Threatened an Indian doctor who treated that hockey coach.
8) The current Sultan also has a very bad reputation when he was the Raja Muda or Regent. There are many examples about his wrong-doings. Would make into a good book.After all these incidents, the Malaysian Cabinet (Mahathir) was then forced to introduce a Constitutional Amendment that "snipped the feathers" of these monarchs. It sort of demoted them as only able to exercise powers as head of Islam. Unlike Indira Gandhi that completely made the Maharajas "impotent" by taking away their fat salaries, the fat privy purses of Malaysian monarchs and their families remain to this day. Cost the rakyat hundreds of millions of ringgits to maintain these monarchs.
The deceased Sultan of Johore was convicted by Raja Azlan Shah, the Sultan of Perak, who was then the Lord President of Malaya (Chief Justice). He was placed on a 6 months "good-behaviour". Following this he ascended as the King of Malaysia. As a King he rode big motorcycles to the Merdeka Day Parade in KL.
The Sultan of Johor indeed own large tracts of land in Singapore (including the railway land), huge parcel of land at Clementi, Telok Blangah and Bukit Timah..
The deceased Sultan of Johore and the current one, have no inch of respect for the sovereignty of Singapore. The late Sultan use to blatantly fly his helicopter into the Singapore Polo Club grounds WITHOUT any "aerial clearance" from independent Singapore. Waiting for some air disaster to occur.
The deceased Sultan of JB loved gambling on horses at our Bukit Timah Turf Club. He also owned many race horses and was a good friend of the late EW Barker.
Our ministers make annual "pilgrimages" to his Hari Raya Open House, even up to the present time.
The present Sultan of Johore has many a times caused trouble while drunk at our Orchard Road bars.
His "body-guards" have no respect and regard for our local cops. They are an arrogant lot.
They may even be armed with guns.
The current Sultan has been a very reckless driver and would drive his flashy cars when intoxicated.
Are Singapore authorities waiting for a day when some drunk monarch from Malaysia or Brunei kills a few more young boys in one swift strike just like the case of the two innocent ones who recently died in Tamines Street 45.
Why are these people accorded so much respect?
Its possible for them (monarchs and bodyguards) to "smuggle" weapons and drugs into Singapore. Our Immigraion and Customs do NOT check them at all.
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Thank God for the internet, and for YouTube.
The song has been identified to be Within Temptation's "Ice Queen".
Wikipedia :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Queen_(song)Original Music Video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmLIE6ULtyUWith Lyrics :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YbhB_A_8fM -
First of all, communism at its core is simply an ideology that wants everyone to be treated equally and fairly. That they are tortured, persecuted and murdered, speaks of the fear-based nature of those in positions of political power who fear (mostly imagined rather than real) selfishly for their own power, and have no qualms over torturing and murdering (hundreds of thousands) of others to safeguard their own political power.
After decades of repression under the dictatorship of Suharto, who rose to power after a bloody purge of communists and Chinese in the late 1960s, Chinese-Indonesians are now accepted in mainstream society of the largely Muslim nation.
Suharto, who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for more than three decades until 1998, banned Chinese languages and symbols, and forced Chinese-Indonesians to change their names.
His rule began after an anti-Communist purge in 1965-1966, in which at least 500,000 people considered communists or sympathisers – mostly ethnic Chinese – were tortured and killed. Rights activists say up to two million perished.
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1 more page..
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You gotta love Wikipedia. The World's Knowledge At Your Fingertips.
Wikipedia on Suharto :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto -
Featured in Far East Organization's TV advertisement for the Hillsta condominium.
Louise Dowd & Richard Salmon's "Chasing the Sun" :
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Louise+Dowd+%26+Richard+Salmon+-+Chasing+The+Sun -
This loving couple should do a Hilarion Reading. Actually, every couple should do a Hilarion Reading.
Posted on 13 Feb 2013
Love Story: Adam lost one arm, with the other paralysed -- but Ally still stood by him
Adam seemed to have lost everything when he had to have his right arm amputated after an accident, with the other arm left paralysed. However, little did he know that it was a 'blessing in disguise', as it led him to the love of his life, Ally.
Adam shares his love story:
"I was born normal, but a few years ago, I met with a road accident, while on the way to work, that left me with an amputated right arm and paralysed left arm.
"I was just starting my career as a marine engineer, and as someone young, I was devastated with the turn-of-events, as I had everything going for me.
"After I was discharged from the hospital, while undergoing intensive occupational therapy and being confined at home, and with all my friends busy with their new careers and starting families of their own, I turned to online social networking platform, to make new friends and to find someone to correspond with, without having to face the person personally as I was embarrassed with my new abnormal physique.
"That was where I got acquainted with Ms. Ally Kuan Lee Siang.
"I was surprised that she was very open-minded who was willing to accept me as a friend, despite my condition, unlike many who rejected and turned away.
"During our months of exchanging e-mails and messages, I found her to be an understanding, encouraging and a very supportive person.
"She was always there to listen, giving me advice and cheering me-up with her humour.
"Then one day, I was suggested by my doctor to take-up running to improve my stamina and endurance to prepare me for the next operation which will have me on the operating table for very long hours.
"I then told Ally about the doctor’s suggestion, and my fear and shyness of being seen in the public.
"So she suggested that she will accompany me by jogging beside me which again took me by surprised as she had told me before, during our correspondence, that she is a person that dislikes sports especially running and she dislikes perspiring. I took up her offer.
"I was very shy, as it was the first time we saw each other in-person, and the first time I’m exposing myself in the public, but her friendliness and her candidness dispel my shyness.
"The first time that I tried to jog, I felt very awkward with my new physical form.
"The running gait was very weird, I almost tripped a few times but Ally was always there to prevent me from falling, as she held my left paralysed arm firmly.
"Throughout my maiden jog after the accident, she will kept giving me positive words, chatting with me and making me laugh, even though at times she was struggling with catching her own breath and being very uncomfortable with the perspiration trickling down her face, which I know the sole purpose was to distract me from the public stares and to boost my confidence. But it did help me.
"The next two months, she kept knocking on my house door, almost every other day, pulling me out from the bed and couch to jog with her despite her own busy schedule with work and taking care of her family.
"Then one day, she suggested that I participate in the Swissotel Vertical Marathon to help with my confidence of being seen in public as well as to have some fun. And to make sure I participate in the event, she registered and paid the participation fee for me.
"So as not to disappoint her, and also to make sure that I’m able to run-up the 73 storeys, I started to train running up the stairs in my 14-storeys block.
"Again, the first time, I had problems adjusting running-up vertically, and this time, I did had a tripped and I got a very bad cut in mouth and on my nose.
"I was bleeding almost profusely. Again, Ally came to my aid by applying ice packs, antiseptic creams and etc.
"I almost wanted to give-up running altogether after that incident, but with Ally’s encouragements and determination to make sure that I overcome any obstacles that came my way, I was back at the stairs the very next day.
"After a couple month of training, though I know it was insufficient, I was determined to do my best to complete the 73-storeys challenge and do it at a respectable timing, to make Ally and myself proud.
"But to both of our surprise, not only did I manage to complete the run at a good timing, I managed to outrun many able-runners to come in the 76th position out of 297 participants in my category, and being the first disabled participant to compete and complete the challenge.
"Then another surprise came. My achievement was noticed by the Singapore Disability Sports Council and I was invited to train with the National Disabled Track & Field Team.
"I accepted the invitation and train with the team with Ally coming down to watch me train almost every training session.
"After just three short months of training with the team, I was chosen and given the chance to represent the country in competing in an overseas track & field competition.
"I was overjoyed but worried at the same time as I had to find a caregiver to accompany me to assist me with my basic needs for the 10-day trip.
"Without hesitation, Ally volunteered to be my caregiver even though she had already planned on using her work's annual leave for a trip with her friends.
"With her sacrifice and support, I came back to Singapore with a gold and a silver medal for both my track events.
"Due to my success, I was again chosen to represent the country in an even bigger competition, the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
"I was thrilled and again, just like before, I had worries in finding a caregiver for this trip.
"As Ally had used-up all her work leave, I tried searching for other people to be my caregiver but to no avail.
"Ally tried to request from her employer for unpaid leaves to accompany me but her request was denied. Seeing that I will not be able to participate in one of the biggest sporting event in the world without a caregiver, Ally tendered her resignation to be my caregiver once again.
"I was shocked and touched by her sacrifice and when I asked her why she resigned even though she had worked in that company for a long time, she replied that a new job can always be found but the opportunity of participating in such a big scale event and being chosen to represent the country is once in a lifetime opportunity which must be seized.
"Though I only managed to finish in the sixth position for the Commonwealth Games, she was very proud of my achievement.
"Now, after I have left the National Disabled Track & Field Team, and doing my own runs, participating in local running events such as marathons, ultra-marathons and even recently, participating in triathlon events, to raise the public-awareness about disability sports, and, raising awareness and funds for other good causes and for charities, as well as to inspire people, Ally is always by my side to lend her support, and even at times, join me for runs to help me with my cause.
"Although we had known each other for a few years now, Ally had not only been my friend, but she has been my pillar of strength, and, a source of inspiration, confidence and believe. She is the reason that I'm able to pick myself up after the accident and turn my life around for the better.
"I won't be the person I am today without her.
"We became so close, that three months ago, on November 16 2012, we tied the knot.
"As I have used-up all my savings to pay for my hospital bills, and with still having mountains of outstanding bills to clear, we only had a one-table dinner wedding with family members and a couple of very close friends.
"We exchanged vows and wedding bands which cost less than SGD300 for a pair.
"Even though the wedding was very humbly small, and I only managed to give her a plain ring without any diamond, and don't have any possibility of a honeymoon, Ally told me that she is very contented, and she look forward to continue to care for me and support me for the rest of our lives together.
"Ally, thank you so much for everything that you have done for me. You are more than just my best friend and my wife, you are my everything.
"You are the blessing in disguise that I've been searching for all these while.
"Because of the things that you have done for me during my most difficult period of my life, I'm now 'paying-it-forward' to help those in need and sharing the blessing that I receive from you with others."
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[Feb 2013] - 3,500 Moonies participate in mass weddings
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21489381From other news sites
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Sky News Moonies Marry In South Korean Mass Wedding 2 hrs ago
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South China Morning Post* Thousands of 'Moonies' marry in first mass wedding after founder's death 6 hrs ago
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TheStar.com.my Thousands marry in first 'post-Moon' mass wedding 8 hrs ago
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AFP First Moon church mass wedding since founder's death 8 hrs ago
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Bangladesh Daily Star Thousands at Moonie mass wedding 9 hrs ago
- About these results
Confession of an ex-Moonie :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2198444/I-got-married-Moonie-mass-wedding-He-public-schoolboy-wealthy-family-So-Mark-Palmer-spend-seven-years-disciple-cult.html -
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How did such vast quantities of human trash end up in the oceans, and get washed up on the beaches of a remote island 2000 miles from the nearest continent?
See photos of birds dying from human trash :
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/1609732/you_wont_believe_what_these_dead_birds.htmlHilarion had mentioned about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch -
Subject: [China] - Poor students pay *higher* fees than rich students
Ridiculous. A system well screwed-up. Human greed and corruption.
http://www.todayonline.com/chinaindia/china/poor-parents-china-sacrifice-their-incomes-child-college
HANJING (China) — Mr Wu Yiebing has been going down coal shafts practically every workday of his life, wrestling an electric drill for US$500 (S$618) a month in the choking dust of claustrophobic tunnels, with one goal in mind: Paying for his daughter’s education.
His wife toils from dawn to sunset in orchards every day during apple season in May and June. She earns US$12 a day tying little plastic bags one at a time around 3,000 young apples on trees, to protect them from insects. The rest of the year she works as a substitute store clerk, earning several dollars a day, all going towards their daughter’s education.
Yet a college degree no longer ensures a well-paying job, because the number of graduates in China has quadrupled in the last decade.
Their daughter, Ms Wu Caoying, now a 19-year-old college sophomore, has chosen to major in logistics, a growing industry in China as ever more families order online instead of visiting stores.
The major is the most popular at her school, which could signal a future glut in the field. Among those who graduated last spring from her polytechnic in Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi province, “50 or 60 per cent of them still do not have a job”, said Ms Wu.
Their daughter is also ambivalent about staying in school, where the tuition, room and board cost more than half the couple’s combined annual income. A slightly above-average student, she thinks of dropping out, finding a job and earning money.
“Every time my daughter calls home, she says, ‘I don’t want to continue this’,” Mrs Wu said. “I say, ‘You’ve got to keep studying to take care of us when we get old’, and she says, ‘That’s too much pressure, I don’t want to think about all that responsibility.’”
For a rural parent in China, each year of higher education costs six to 15 months’ labour, and it is hard for children from poor families to get scholarships or other government financial support. The reason is that few children from poor families earn top marks on the national exams, so they are shunted to lower-quality schools that receive the smallest government subsidies. This means their parents have to pay much higher tuition fees than affluent and urban families.
The result is that higher education is rapidly losing its role as a social leveller in China and as a safety valve for talented but poor youths to escape poverty.
“The people who receive higher education tend to be relatively better off,” said Mr Wang Jiping, the Director-General of the Central Institute for Vocational and Technical Education in China.
Mr Wu, 43, grew up in a poor village in Shaanxi and never attended school. His wife, 39, dropped out in third grade. They had decided to leave their ancestral villages to find better-paying work to support their daughter.
For nearly two decades, they have lived in a cramped and drafty 18-square-metre house with a thatch roof in Hanjing, a coal-mining community on the plains of northern Shaanxi province.
They have skipped traditional New Year trips to their ancestral village for up to five straight years to save on bus fares and gifts, and for Mr Wu to earn extra holiday pay in the mines.
Despite their frugality, they have essentially no retirement savings. Their daughter is their only hope.
“I’ve only got one, so I have to make sure that one takes care of me when we get old,” said Mrs Wu.
“My head is killing me with thinking, ‘What if she can’t get a job after we have spent so much on education?’”
The New York Times
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[China] - World's Most Confusing Traffic Light
If you thought traffic lights at road junctions were confusing enough, this monster traffic light in Chongqing, China, will confuse you to no end.
This is at a four-way intersection in a Chongqing park and consists 14 traffic lights, each flashing different signals, reported Shanghaiist.
Not only does it confuse the tourists who are there for the Spring Festival break, but the locals too cannot wrap their heads around it. They have been confused since May 2012.
A traffic official advised drivers that the traffic lights "are just for decoration because the junction looked bare. They look very pretty at night but drivers should just ignore them."
For more photos :
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/1611238/this_may_very_well_be_the_worlds_most_confusing_traffic_light.html -
Click on the video link (alternatively, YouTube link given further below) to view video footage of the woman's bizzare behaviour (in the hotel lift) prior to being mysteriously found dead in water tank (how did she manage to get into the water tank?).
L.A. police continue to investigate Lam's death and told CBC that while anyone could open the water tank where she was discovered, the roof itself was secured by a lock and alarm.
The Cecil Hotel is a two-star, 600 room hotel near the area of L.A. known as "skid row," an area with a history of drugs, homelessness and crime.
[ More Brew: Elisa Lam was staying in L.A.’s ‘skid row’ ]
A Los Angeles travel blog, "In SRO Land", recently posted a story about several historic deaths at the Cecil Hotel, including Goldie Osgood, found raped and strangled to death in 1964, and Pauline Otton (spelled Otten in other accounts), who jumped from a hotel window after a fight with her husband in 1962 and landed on a passerby, killing them both instantly.
Two other women were also reported to have jumped to their deaths while staying at the Cecil Hotel.
The L.A. Observed magazine also wrote that Richard Ramirez and Jack Unterweger, two serial killers, stayed at the Cecil Hotel during their sprees in 1991 and 1985.
Detectives are still not sure about the chain of events that led to Lam’s death, but it is the latest of a bizarre deathss at the downtown hotel.YouTube video (and visitor comments) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq4LmWiDiC0&feature=player_embeddedIt's amazing that, although speculative in nature, visitor comments on the internet (including YouTube) can be amazingly illuminating.
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For non-Singaporeans reading this, last year there was a murder in which the murderer hid the body of the woman he killed in the HDB block's water tank.
The residents complained of a foul smell and a dark colour in their drinking water, before the water tanks were investigated and the murdered woman's corpse was found therein.
Angry residents demanded that the water tank be replaced, but the HDB government authority said, "No need, that would be too expensive, we already given it a thorough wash, it's safe to drink from the tank again."
A government Minister of Parliament, Vikram Nair, was shown in the newspapers drinking from the tap (of the HDB building with the aforementioned water tank), in a bid to assure residents that, "See? It's perfectly safe to drink the water."
Subsequently, sharp netizens observed that Vikram Nair appeared to be possessed (and/or give a bizzare "I see dead people" look) in media videos and photos.
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Ostensibly, the mystery seems to be about a ghostly haunting (to explain her bizzare behaviour in the lift), and about how her body ended up in the water tank (from the photo, the water tank is over 3m high so she couldn't have climbed up herself) on the roof which was securely locked.
Psychotic post mortems (aka ghosts) were certainly intruding upon her, both by virtue of being in that hotel (from past murders/suicides there) as well as (separately) due to her schizophrenic psychiatric condition, whether drug-induced or not. But ghosts are only able to influence a person's mind, and not physically teleport them into a water tank on a locked roof. Such actions would require way too much psychic energy, and a massive collaborative effort on both many intraphysicals and extraphysicals together, and therefore is highly improbable in Elisa Lam's case.
The real mystery, is how two events which appear unrelated (her schizophrenic attack, and her murder) coincided. Her schizophrenic attack, including hallucinations (which are distorted astral perceptions and psychically real) may or may not have been drug-induced, but there had to be a physical perpetrator to carry out the murder and to dump her body into the water tank. If her murderer drugged her (ie. it is unknown if her bizzare behaviour was drug induced), and cleverly avoided exposing him/her/themselves to the CCTV lift camera, that might help to explain things. Otherwise, the coincidence would be bizzare.
If LAPD is unable to solve the murder, it might be tempting to ask Hilarion what actually happened (the guides & helpers watch over everything, so it's an easy matter for Hilarion to gain access to such information, with Hilarion's high level security clearance in the extraphysical). But unless you're a family or personal friend of Elisa Lam, or the investigating officer in LAPD with an open mind and willing to check out alternative sources, otherwise not many people would spend money to ask on an unrelated stranger halfway across the world.
But if anyone should actually ask Hilarion, tis a good idea to ask Hilarion how Elisa Lam is doing right now, in the extraphysical. Often, people who are murdered and/or die with schizophrenic/psychiatric conditions, might become (temporarily) psychotic post-mortem themselves (aka ghosts), with the guides & helpers (temporarily) unable to telepathically reach out to them, though the guides & helpers will continue observing and render assistance as soon as the individual consciousness (here, Elisa Lam) is ready to move on. This could be as short as hours or days, or (in worse case scenarios) as long as centuries or millenia.
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[Medicine] - Israel's InSightec & Technion's amazing breakthough medical technology.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfJemqkby_0 -
[Advertisement] - Creative humour in German advert
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/1614638/funny_ad_campagin_makes_people.html