Testing of the world's cheapest car

Current Banking Crises Explained

Young Chuck moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.

The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died.'

Chuck replied, 'Well, then just give me my money back.'

The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I went and spent it already.'

Chuck said, 'OK, then, just bring me the dead donkey.'

The farmer asked, 'What ya gonna do with him?

Chuck said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'

The farmer said 'You can't raffle off a dead donkey!'

Chuck said, 'Sure I can Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead.'

A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, 'What happened with that dead donkey?'

Chuck said, 'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars apiece and made a profit of $898.00.'

The farmer said, 'Didn't anyone complain?'

Chuck said, 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him back his two dollars.'

Chuck now works for Goldman Sachs.

Rockatoo, a Cockatoo doing Rock & Roll!

Rockatoo! Fantastic and funny video of a cockatoo rocking and rolling to music, and even acknowledged the applause at the end!

Enjoy, please!

Why America is in Trouble

You know, these are damm funny, BUT, when you stop & think about it, its really sad & scary because these are the people that make the laws in the United States, the most powerful Country in the world!

WHY AMERICA IS IN TROUBLE

A Washington, DC airport ticket agent offers some examples of why America is in trouble:

1. I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat so that her hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window (On an airplane!?).

2. I got a call from a candidate's staffer who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information. Then she interrupted me with, 'I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts.' Without trying to make her look stupid, I calmly explained, Cape Cod is in Massachusetts, Capetown is in Africa. Her response, click.

3. A senior Vermont Congressman called furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean view room. I tried to explain that's not possible, because Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, "Don't get smart with me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very narrow state!" (Oh, my God!).

4. I got a call from a lawmaker's wife who asked, 'Is it possible to see England from Canada?' I said, No. She then said, "But they look so close on the map".

5. An aide for a cabinet member once called and asked if he could rent a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he only had a one-hour layover in Dallas. I asked him why he wanted to rent a car. He replied, 'I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will need a car to drive between gates to save time (Aghhhh!).

6. An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 AM and got to Chicago at 8:33 AM. I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she couldn't understand the concept of time zones.. Finally, I told her the plane went really fast and she accepted that.

7. A New York lawmaker called and asked, 'Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?' I said, 'No. Why do you ask?' She replied, 'Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said FAT and I'm overweight. I think that's very rude.' After putting her on hold for a minute while I looked into it –I was laughing-- I came back and explained that the code for the Fresno, CA airport is 'FAT', Fresno Air Terminal, and the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.

8. A Senator's aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, she asked, Would it be cheaper to fly to California, and then take the train to Hawaii?

9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who asked, How do I know which plane to get on?' I asked him what exactly he meant, to which he replied, 'I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these planes have numbers on them.

10.. A lady Senator called and said, 'I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola, Florida.. Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?' I asked if she meant she was flying to Pensacola, FL on a commuter plane. She said, 'Yeah, whatever, smarty!

11. A senior Senator called and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him that he also needed a visa. 'Oh, no I don't. I've been to China many times and Ihave never had to have one of those.' I double checked, and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him this he said, 'Look, I've been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express!

12. A New Mexico Congresswoman called to make reservations. 'I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York.' I was at a loss for words. Finally, I said, 'Are you sure that's the name of the town?' 'Yes. What flights do you have?' replied the lady. After some searching, I came back with, 'I'm sorry, ma'am, I've looked up every airport code in the country and can't find a Rhino anywhere.' The lady retorted, 'Oh, don't be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!' So I scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, 'You don't mean Buffalo, do you?' The reply? 'Whatever! I knew it was a big animal.'

Now you know why the Government is in the shape it's in AND who is causing it!!

21 Pieces of Advice...

... your mum should have told you if she hasn't

There’s some life advice you’ll only ever learn from your mum, bless her! But we’re not always listening when she shared it. Here’s a quick refresher…

1. Got the hiccups? A spoonful of peanut butter will stop them in their tracks.

2. Avoid chipped nail polish by dipping your nails in cold water when you’ve finished painting them.

3. Pouring white wine over a red wine stain will save your clothes from a messy death. We’re serious! Rinse the white wine out then machine wash as normal.

4. If you sit in gum, pop your pants in the freezer for a few days. This freezes the chewy solid and it should peel off easily.

5. Chill your used tea bags and use them to get rid of eye puffiness.

6. Leftover takeaway does not improve with age. Store your Chinese/Thai/Indian leftovers in a glass or porcelain dish (seal with cling wrap) and eat within 24 hours.

7. At a barbecue, put some freshly chopped mint in a vase to keep the flies and mozzies away. They hate the smell.

8. For brighter clothes, add about 1/3 cup of white vinegar to the rinse cycle when washing.

9. Keep two chopping boards in your kitchen (one for meat, one for vegies) and as they become overscored (with cutting marks), replace them. Bacteria breeds inside the scores.

10. Stop your mirrors from fogging up by applying a thin film of shaving cream or liquid soap. Use a lint free cloth too.

11. Stop your potatoes from sprouting green shoots by storing them with an apple.

12. Got ants? Find out where they’re coming from, then sprinkle a trail of sage, cinnamon or pepper around these areas.

13. Constantly talking on the phone will clog your pores.

14. Possums on the roof driving you nuts? Mix a little olive oil and chilli powder and sprinkle it around the gutters. They’ll soon vacate the premises.

15. Seal bananas in a brown paper bag if you want to speed up the ripening process.

16. Onions won’t make you cry if you store them in the fridge and peel them under cold running water.

17. If you spill wax on the carpet, place a piece of brown paper on it and iron lightly on low heat. The wax will stick to the paper.

18. Microwave lemons for 30 seconds before squeezing to get more juice out of them.

19. Clean up rusty pots and pans by rubbing half a potato dipped in baking soda over their wet surfaces.

20. The key to cooking the perfect steak is to only turn it once.

21. Your candles will burn a lot longer if stored in the fridge until just before use.

5 Kinds of Luck!

Disneyland dedicate their Park to Dato' Yong for a year!

Sponsor An Executive

Very good satire this video:

Amazing Performance!

Amazing Performance of The Dance of the Guanyin of a Thousand Hands! It's even more amazing when you consider that all these Chinese dancers are deaf, and they have to take their cue from the 'guides' standing by the side at a distance. We hear the music but they can't.

How to Play a Trumpet Without a Trumpet

Bag snatchers watch out!

What to do when there is a kitchen fire?

OBAMA the meaning

OBAMA- the meaning!

O - Originally
B - Born in
A - Africa to
M - Manage the
A - Americans

(Not exactly true, because he was not born in Africa; his father was. He was born in Hawaii.)

No U-Turn Syndrome (NUTS)

No U-Turn Syndrome (NUTS)
Chaotic Thoughts from the Old Millenium
by Sim Wong Hoo

Introduction

What's is NUTS? NUTS is when you want to do something and you seek approval of a higher authority. When there is no rule saying that you can do such a thing, then the standard answer is NO ...

In the US, when there is no sign on the road, it means that you can make a U-turn. When the authority do not want people to make U-turns, they will put up signs to tell you not to make U-turns.

In Singapore, it is the reverse. When there is no sign on the road, you are not allowed to make U-turns. When the authority allow you to make U-turns, then they will put up signs to give you that right.

The two different systems serve the same purpose - to better manage the traffic. They may look quite similar, just coming from different direction, but the social repercussion is significant.

In Singapore, the no U-turn without sign culture has permeated every level of our thinking and every segment of our life. This no U-turn has created a way of life that is based on rules. When there is a U-turn sign or when there is a rule, we can U-turn. When there is no sign, we cannot U-turn. When there is no rule, we cannot do anything. We become paralyzed. I call this "no-rule = no-do" phenomenon - the "No U-Turn Syndrome" or NUTS.

Singapore has prospered under a rule-based system for many years. When we were at a lower level of development, we needed many multi-national companies to come to Singapore to invest. What these MNCs needed were a very reliable group of managers and workers who could follow exactly the rules set by corporate headquarters overseas. Since they did not want their overseas subsidiaries to innovate anything, they wanted us to stick closely to the rules, no funny deals, no crazy ideas. They were here to teach us, not to listen to ideas from us.

The efficiency and no-nonsense style of the Singapore government is well-known. It has brought us prosperity and a good life. A rule-based system is essential here too to get everybody to toe the line.

But the world has changed. And it is changing faster and faster. So fast that the rules that were set yesterday are no longer valid and cannot serve our new needs. It is not a matter of setting new rules to meet the new situation because by the time new rules are formulated, they would already be out of date. It is a matter of how to survive and prosper in environments where there are no rules.

It is a matter of how to live with ambiguity. Things are no more black or white, things are in shades of gray. How do we deal with them?What is NUTS? NUTS is when you want to do something and you seek the approval of a higher authority. When there is no rule saying that you can do such a thing, then the standard answer is NO.

What is wrong with this? There is nothing wrong if we choose to be stuck in the old world of our own where nothing changes. To meet the challenge of the new world, to meet the challenge of rising to a knowledge-based economy, we have to innovate like mad.

How can we innovate when we need to obey rules to innovate? Innovate means to create things out of nothing, it means moving into uncharted territories where there are no rules. How can you innovate when you have to get approval of somebody who looks at a rule-book first? Such is the syndrome of NUTS.

NUTS is everywhere in the society including schools, offices, hospitals, parks, factories and even in our homes. Yes, in Creative (Singapore) too.

Here are some hilarious examples; they make you want to laugh and cry at the same time. I am sure you can tell me more.

NUTS #2-"Creative Resource"-needed approval?

When our corporate headquarters were completed in 1997, we needed to give it a name. The placeholder name was Creative Technology Centre. Made sense, but it was a boring name that everybody had. I wanted a special name, because we are "creative". So the usual names like, "Creative Building, Plaza, Complex, House..." were suggested on the name list. I rejected all of them.

Finally we came out with a very good name, "Creative Resource" - the source of all creativity – and everybody loved it.

But wait, before we could go ahead, we had to submit the building name for approval. What! I was shocked. I needed somebody else’s approval for the name of my own building. By some faceless committee that I did not even know existed. Imagine having the name of your baby being approved by somebody you do not know.

Hey, that is the regulation. OK, we submitted and no prize for guessing the right answer. The answer was NO. The reason given was that the name was not "Centre, Plaza, Building, Complex, House etc..." There was actually a list of approved names in the rulebook and we were only given the impression that we could name our own building.

I nearly jumped through the roof when I heard the answer. It was a very typical case of NUTS. "Resource" was not in their rule book, hence the standard answer was NO. I was not going to give up on this right. So we fought back and wrote letters to appeal. Finally, after a long process, our name was approved. Whew!

NUTS #3 - Cannot sing Singapore songs!!

While we were preparing for the opening ceremony of Creative Resource, we wanted to have a lot of creative fun. We prepared a lot of performances by our own staff. We were very fortunate to have invited the Prime Minister, Mr Goh Chok Tong to grace the event. We wanted to show him the best creativity in us.

The opening fanfare idea was to have a big group of kids running into the building, singing a medley of Patriotic Singapore Songs. It was going to be very delightful. After the songs were arranged and recorded, at the last moment, someone in the team decided that we actually needed to seek approval from the authority because of copyright issues.

The answer came back was of course a NO. There was no rule to say that you could do a medley of Singapore songs. There was a rule that said we could sing the Singapore song in special> celebratory occasions like ours, so this was allowed.

Our people started to panic, because there was no time to change the recordings. They sought my advice. They were thinking of canceling this delightful fanfare and disappointing the kids, from our Creative O child-care centre, who had practiced so hard for this event.

I asked them why they had thought of seeking approval for a private function especially when the answer could be a No. They were afraid that the TV stations were there filming and it might have constituted a copyright infringement!

There were a few NUTS at work here. First it is my own staff who were NUTS, they were toeing the line so tightly that they felt the need to seek approval for a private function that was not controversial at all.I was sure that the PM would give his 100% endorsement.

Then we had the NUTS at the approval side who looked at the rule book and said No.

I asked them to go ahead and just do it, even violating the rejectionletter. Some of my NUTS staff must have freaked out. I told them I would bear the full responsibility. If I had to pay a $2,000 fine, I would pay it. In the worst, worst case I might go to jail for it - that would be interesting too.

In fact, the PM in his impromptu part of his speech also said, to move forward, we would have to "just do it". It was a timely message.

NUTS #4 - No Title

Recently, Creative had just spent a few million dollars investing heavily in a company. The key person in the company was needed urgently to launch a new ".com" project that could be worth a lot more in the future. In the era of the Internet, timing is everything. Then suddenly, he told me that he needed to go for reservist during the critical period. This meant that his whole team could be crippled because his leadership was not there.

I told him that there should not be a problem, as he could always apply for a deferment. In fact, the Deputy Prime Minister has told me in the Technopreneur 21 committee that, reservist duties should not hinder Technopreneurship because the affected reservist could apply for deferment and it would be considered favourably.

So the staff wrote a letter to apply for deferment. It was rejected. I told him to write an appeal, mentioning Creative’s involvement and all the relevant and valid reasons for such critically needed deferment. It was still rejected and we were running out of time.

I guess I had to step in. I wrote the letter personally again, citing all the reasons and the ".com" time-critical factors. It was still rejected. I was very upset by this. It was already the last working day before he had to go in-camp. I had to call the officer personally. I identified myself, including my role in the Technopreneur 21 committee and appealed for the fourth time. The answer was still NO. After all the reasons were given, the answer was still NO.

Well, they had liberalized then - if you were a new employee of a company, the deferment would be allowed. I argued strenuously that the key person was more than a new employee. He was a new employee of a company for which we had spent millions to acquire. No! An acquisition does not constitute the equivalent of a new employee. A new employee IS a new employee. Period. The rule book never said that the people in a new acquisition are new employees. Therefore they are not "new employees", regardless of the fact that their employee status are the same in principle. It does not matter if you are Sim Wong Hoo or the T21 chairman. NUTS is NUTS.

It almost drove me NUTS! Fortunately, I heard from some people that I would get a better chance if I were to call the unit Commanding Officer. I asked for his name and phone number and the officer obliged. I managed to track down the CO on his handphone at the very last minute. The CO was an understanding man because he was also a reservist and in the computer line. The deferment was finally granted

NUTS #5 - Creative NUTS

We had our equal share of NUTS in Creative and they really drove me NUTS because they actually happened right on my head, the CEO of the company. Such is the persistence and universality of NUTS.

First example, the time I needed some CD-ROM replicated for some last-minute projects. I knew I had time because, we had an in-house CD-ROM replication plant and it would have taken less than one day to finish the job, especially my small little job of a few hundred pieces.

But when my assistant came back, she told me helplessly that they needed a one-week lead-time. I almost jumped off my chair. This was a rush job for the CEO and they just threw back their standard lead-time at me, it was clearly written in their rule-book that the standard lead-time was one week - for a rush job. So one week was what you would get even if you were the CEO of the company, even if your job was very important.

I asked them who set the rules? They were the ones who set the rules! I was amazed how NUTS they were. Then change the rules, I told them. Finally they did it for me in two days.

There were several of such examples within Creative. And the managers sometimes fought with me because that was the only way they could ensure the quality of the products. Quality is good when we are shipping products to customers. But when we need to rush, it is always during the early stages of engineering run, where we need a lot of samples to test. Quality then becomes secondary and time is primary. Staff with a NUTS mentality would not have the flexibility to do such a switch, unless you make another rule. And you can only live within the new rules.

NUTS #6 - More Creative NUTS

The second example in Creative has to do with customer support. Creative pride ourselves as a company that provides the best technical support. All our staff know that. We have 400 people in Oklahoma USA, just listening to phone calls alone. We have a small technical/customer support team in Singapore serving only the small Singapore market. The team is hardworking and dedicated to the company. In general, their service is good and efficient - when there are rules.

There was once when I received a customer's letter addressed to me complaining about our customer support department (CSD) with regards to a missing CD from our product. Our CSD insisted that the customer get the CD from his dealer who sold him the PC with our product. And the customers attached the letters of exchange.

It was such a minor issue but I felt customer satisfaction was most important. So I wrote a small note and asked them to give him the CD and be done with it. CD-ROMs are very cheap anyway.

A few weeks later, I received another letter from this furious customer complaining that our CSD wanted to charge him like $15 for the CD because it was the responsibility of the dealer to give it to him. And he attached even more letters for me to read.

I was very upset this time because, what could have been a very simple and pleasant customer support issue, costing the company less than $1 for the CD-ROM if people in CSD had just given it to him in the first> place, now potentially cost the company a bomb:

Firstly, the CSD's time to write all those letters of exchange, they are way, way over $1. But because of NUTS, our CSD people did not see it. They are just trying to follow rules when there are no rules in such situation.

Secondly, the CEO's time. I had to read about ten letters two times to figure out the gist of it all. It must have cost the company thousands> of dollars. And even after my first instruction to just give him the CD-ROM, they still went into a cat and mouse chase to try to ask him to pay $15. Someone in CSD probably set the rule that if a customer wanted an extra CD-ROM, it would cost him $15 - that is it, regardless of the plight of the customer.

Thirdly,the most expensive part - the harm it had done to our brand name. A potentially unhappy customer would hurt the company way beyond the customer. He would tell all his friends not to buy from the company.

But people with NUTS mentality could not see beyond the rules. They could not see that a $1 CD-ROM was much, much cheaper than their own time, their CEO's time and the value of the brand name.

I had to call all the three persons involved in this case to my office and explain to them very slowly about our principle of customer support. You could not fault them for dedication, they were trying to make an extra $15 for the company. Not seeing the big picture of how much more it would cost the company. I had told them that for us, the customer’s interest is always in the #1 position. I told them that they were the "customer"s advocates" - they had to be fighting with me for their customer’s interest, rather than the other way round.

Finally, I told them to call up the customer directly, apologize and give him the CD-ROM he wanted and ensure that the customer was 100% satisfied. If the customers are not satisfied - we should not take their money.

We are moving faster and faster into many uncharted territories, where there are no rules. We do not want to be paralysed by waiting for the rule to be formulated before moving - it will be too late. We have to discard our NUTS mentality and learn to live in a new world where there are no clear rules.

Not that it will be a cowboy lawless land. There will be broad guiding principles such as common goals, objectives and basic integrity to follow. The rest, we have to look at the big picture and decide what is the best way to do a job, to achieve our goals.

Sim Wong Hoo
Excerpt from "No U-Turn Syndrome (NUTS)"
Chaotic Thoughts from the Old Millennium

The important half of life

"One-half of life is luck; the other half is discipline — and that's the important half, for without discipline you wouldn't know what to do with luck."

— Carl Zuckmayer: German dramatist


Consider this fact: Seventy percent of lottery winners end up squandering away their winnings.

The reason: They had tremendous luck yet no discipline. But when you live with discipline, you'll almost always win the lottery. It will come some day in the future through your career and personal achievements. Find your discipline that will also find your luck.

A Story to Live by

A Story to live by

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I will marry you.'

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.

He asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.'

This is how the human brain often works when our status change. Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.

Life Is a Gift

Today before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion.

Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who died too early on this earth.

Before you complain about your children - Think of someone who desires children but they're barren.

Before you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.

Before whining about the distance you drive - Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.

And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.

But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another - Remember that not one of us is without sin.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and think: you're alive and still around.

.

Translation disgrace

'Slow Dance' - a poem written by a teenager with cancer

Slow Dance

This is a poem written by a teenager with cancer in New York Hospital. This young girl has 6 months left to live, and as her dying wish, she wanted to send a letter telling everyone to live their life to the fullest, since she never will.

She'll never make it to prom, graduate from high school, or get married and have a family of her own.

It was sent by a medical doctor.

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's
erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun
into the fading night?

You better slow down..
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last..

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,'Hi'

You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

How to improve your luck

How to Improve Your Luck

For centuries, people have recognized the power of luck. To investigate scientifically why some people are consistently lucky and others aren't, Richard Wiseman advertised in national periodicals for volunteers of both varieties. Four hundred men and women from all walks of life responded.

Over a 10-year period, Wiseman interviewed them, asked them to complete diaries, questionnaires and IQ tests, and invited them to his laboratory for experiments. He found that lucky people get that way by applying some basic principles:

• Seizing chance opportunities

• Creating self-fulfilling prophecies through positive expectations

• Adopting a resilient attitude that turns bad luck around

For example, he gave lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to determine how many photos were inside. On average, unlucky people spent about two minutes on this exercise -- but the lucky people only spent seconds.

On the paper's second page, in large type, was the message "Stop counting: There are 43 photographs in this newspaper." Lucky people tended to spot the message. Unlucky ones didn't.

Halfway through the paper, was a message that read: "Stop counting, tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $250." Again, the unlucky people missed it. The lucky people saw what was there, rather than just what they were looking for.

Lucky participants also put effort into adding variety to their lives, tended to be more optimistic, and were happier and more satisfied with their lives.

The good news is that when Wiseman described the techniques to help participants react like lucky people, 80 percent reported being happier and luckier after just one month.

One unlucky subject said that after adjusting her attitude, her bad luck actually vanished.

The bottom line? Thoughts and behavior affect the good and bad fortune you encounter. The most elusive of goals -- an effective way of taking advantage of the power of luck -- is actually available to everyone.

Sources:Reader's Digest November 19, 2008

Japanese Mall Fountain - beautiful!