Car troubles

After seeing the "Check tranmission" message light up a couple of times over the past month, it has finally caved in. Usually it would go away after awhile, but this time it was serious and needed the tow truck to get it to the workshop. The warranty was still valid after the previous visit to the workshop after my accident.

Thankfully i had parked at a decent lot that allowed the car to be towed and further, the lot next to me was empty, so more space to work with. I think the question of the night came from the uncle driving the tow truck:
"Eh, i can't find the entrance to your car park, can you drive your car out?"

Cloudy with a chance of.....haze

Every year, we have our friendly smiling neighbours polluting the environment, and every year we go through the same process. Monitor PSI, read the news (and be assured everything is ok), and get updated on measures to protect yourself .

Some points of note though:

• schools in Muar have been forced to close because the PSI index there hit 415, woah. I'm surprised Malaysia hasn't been making more noise about this as well, given that the safety of Malaysians is at risk (can you imagine if Singapore were the one setting the fires? a certain Dr Magneeeto would be having a field day).
• our own PSI index is only moderate since it is below 100 and it becomes dangerous above 301, yet we have lost sight of our city skyline already so i can't imagine if it hits above 301. Probably won't be able to see further than the next block.
• the advice on how to handle the haze sounds more like advice on healthy living, i.e. eat more green leafy veges, oily fish and nuts and eat less dairy products, sugar and red meat.

I think this has gone on long enough, especially if we are providing aid to prevent the fires that cause the haze. What could we do? One of the more extreme measures suggested by a radio DJ is trade sanctions, but this would be a precursor to an armed conflict. We could protest to the UN, the WHO and anyone who would care to listen (couldn't think of another cool acronym lol), but the sternest level of action these organisations could do is say "look, this is bad, don't do it ok?" which is like slapping them on the wrist with a wet bus ticket. More punitive actions should be taken but what exactly is something our ministers have to figure out, and they have to be seen to be doing something, considering elections are just around the corner.

Oh wait, i just thought of something: we can write and appeal to Dear Leader to have it rain on the fires, since he has a magical ability to control the weather! Brilliant!

LOL @ MSK

Just read the article on asiaone regarding the aftermath of Mas Selamat Kastari's escape, and my first reaction to MSK being placed under the "highest-risk" category at the Whitley Road Detention Centre (WRDC) was "No shit!", which made me chuckle at my own humour. Then again when another related article said that MSK's accounts of his escape was unreliable, i mean "No shit Sherlock right?"

So what does highest-risk entail? I think for starters, no more toilet paper for him, but then how? Imagine this scene: MSK visits the toilet to do his business at WRDC for the first time since his return.
"Nothing has changed eh?" He asked the guard conversationally.
"Actually, some this have. Thanks to a WITS project, your new automated system for shit (ASS) has been installed in your personal toilet cubicle made of mirrors (actually one-way glass, but MSK suspects this already). You do your business and then clean up with your finger...."
"Eww."
".....then stick your finger in this hole here where it will be cleaned automatically." explains the guard.
MSK uses the loo, and cleans up after. He hesistates while contemplating about using ASS, but figures why not and sticks his finger into the hole in the wall. Waiting on the other side of the wall is a guard with two bricks, who brings both bricks crashing together, sandwiching MSK's finger. MSK gives an almighty yell and pulls his finger out and sucks on it to ease the pain.
"Tah dah!" says the guard. =)

Wow, Liverpool FC to be Singaporean-owned?

Am still picking up my jaw from the floor after reading this mind-blowing bit of news from the beebs, that

1. a Singaporean billionaire would want to buy a football club (doesn't really make monetary sense?);
2. the particular Singaporean billionaire with several Manchester United themed bars in Asia would want to buy LFC;
3. he can repay all of Royal Bank of Scotland's and Wachovia's £200m of long-term debt, to take on £60m of other debt and to inject £40m of working capital using cold hard cash from his own pocket;
4. he should be so naive as to deal only with the LFC board, since they can't even agree with just 5 people on the board. Should have dealt with RBS as well, 'cos RBS can exert more pressure and from a bank's perspective, just wants to either get its money back or make more money with a further loan.
5. he will a higher offer than his previous monetarily better offer (so it is not about the money now? My anti-colonial alarm bells are ringing),
6. (i just have to say this again) a Singaporean billionaire would want to buy LFC;

Let's just hope this gets resolved before 15 October (loans are due!) or Kop Holdings would be placed into administration and LFC, being the only asset of Kop Holdings, would be docked 9 points (as if being in the relegation zone wasn't enough!).

Doggy blood bank database

I was touched while reading this article on blood banks for dogs and would like to support this by promoting the doggy blood bank database (http://zeusdoggybloodbank.blogspot.com/) ...... to all 5 people who read this blog regularly (lol).

The website is a good one-stop information shop on blood for dogs and makes me wish i had access to a website like this when Jeanie was ill with tick fever (incidentally the same illness that caused the creation of the doggy blood bank database). We were very fortunate to obtain a matching blood type but before that happened, the feeling of helplessness was really daunting. During that period, i was comforted by the number of responses of people either offering to donate their dog's blood or just some words of encouragement, even advertising on our behalf. Many thanks to all again for helping Jeanie recover.

Here's a recent picture of Jeanie for your enjoyment. =)

Ultimate mash-ups

So we're watching quite a bit of tv these days, thanks to our upgraded basic package. Then one day, while watching Bones, i thought it would be really cool if Dr Lightman from Lie to Me helps out with the interviewing of the suspect (although Booth is good at reading people). Which got me thinking of some really funky mash-up i thought would be the ultimate mash-up. One where some major terrorist plot gets NCIS (and NCIS LA) involved in a nationwide hunt, and in the process a very decomposed body was found that needed identification and in steps Dr Brennan (from Bones). Due to the large number of suspects, Dr Lightman interviews and narrows down the list of people to a single suspect, and when further probing and trying to locate him, he turns out to be a serial killer who assumes the identities of his victims and he killed one of the would-be terrorists. So the BAU team from Criminal Minds is called in to profile him so that he can be located. LOL

What ultimate mash-ups would you like to see?