Take this quiz___Saturday, August 16, 2008
This was found on MINDEF forums (quoted below) and it was pretty famous:
"Below is a quiz written by Einstein last century.
It's been translated and updated since then, but the logic is still the same. He said 98% of the people in the world can't solve the quiz. Are you among the other 2%?"
Facts:
1. There are 5 houses in 5 different colors
2. In each house lives a person with a different nationality.
3. These 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet.
4. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar or drink the same drink.
Hints:
1. The Brit lives in a red house
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets
3. The Dane drinks tea
4. The green house is on the left of the white house
5. The green house owner drinks coffee
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill
8. The man living in the house right in the middle drinks milk
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house
10. The man who smokes Blend lives next door to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next door to the man who smokes Dunhill
12. The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer
13. The German smokes Prince
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water
The question is: Who keeps fish? Try to work this out at the blank space below. Good luck!"
The answer is German!
1st house will be yellow, with a Norwegian that drinks water, rears cats and smokes Dunhill.
2nd house will be blue, with a Dane that drinks tea, rears horses and smokes Blend.
3rd house will be red, with a Britain that drinks milk, rears birds and smokes Pall Mall.
4th house will be green, with a German that drinks coffee, rears fishes, and smokes Prince.
the last house will be white, with a Swede that drinks beer, rears dogs and smokes Blue Master.
So did you get it? Tease those that didn't on the tagboard!
Happy 43rd National Day___Saturday, August 09, 2008
Today, Singapore celebrates 43 years of independence. This is a day that marks her continued growth, maturity, and strength. A day where Singaporeans remind themselves of the sacrifices made by our hardworking ancestors and renew our commitments to protect the varied interests of our homeland.
We have come a long way from a tiny fishing village, to transform into an urbanised city state. Along the way, we encountered many problems such as our weak economy, racial riots and shortage of water resources. Older Singaporeans would vividly remember the days where they had to work long hours under the hot scorching sun in order to earn miserable wages that could scarcely feed their families. They would also be able to recall the terrifying images of the conflicts between different racial groups and the bloody fights that ensued. But such problems do not exist anymore. For that, we have to thank our government and leaders who exercised vision and strong leadership as well as those followers who believed in the leaders' audacious dreams. With their hearts and souls, they helped to create a better future for the later generations. A future characterised by peace, prosperity and progress, which we now enjoy.
Although Singapore is currently doing very well, there are still many daunting challenges ahead.
There is the dreaded brain drain, with talents leaving Singapore's shores for other 'greener' pastures. It is often emphasised by national leaders that Singapore has no natural resources, thus making its human resource the sole driving force behind its success. However, with increased competition for skilled labour, Singapore is losing a significant percentage of its "brains" to other countries and this would adversely affect the future of Singapore. Even though we try to compensate this problem by attracting some overseas talents too, it is not entirely effective as it raise another problem- the abuse of Singapore as an utilitarian platform. Perhaps many of these overseas talents (including students) are only using Singapore to gain access into other desired countries, and hence the option of attracting other talents would not be a viable long-term solution to imminent talent crisis in Singapore.
An aging population and related socioeconomic problems would also be a potential stumbling block for Singapore. It remains unclear whether Singapore is well prepared for the silver population but news of increased suicide rates of the elderly people will surely discourage policy planners. Then there is the lack of Singaporean identity resulting in apathy and lack of patriotism. It would be extremely negative to call broken forms of language (Singlish) or lack of civil manners (kiasu-ism) as parts of Singaporean identity but this is often the most cited answer from Singaporeans. Perhaps we could also take a lesson from the PRCs regarding patriotism, after witnessing how its citizens protected their country amidst criticsims during the Olympic torch-run.
Of course, Singaporeans have nothing to worry. PAP will DEFINITELY have solutions to all the problems mentioned above. RIGHT? RIGHT? Okay lah, let's not worry awready and go see some fireworks to cheer us up.
About the writer:
I am born and bred in Singapore. I love my country very much but there is no national flag hanging outside my HDB flat. I am not going to the NDP parade because I am poor and cannot afford the exorbitant prices of the tickets as sold in eBay. The last time I sang "Majulah Singapura" and recited the pledge was on the last day of flag raising ceremony in JC. Nowadays, I wear 2 green Singapura epaulettes on my shoulders (for Monday - Friday) but I would preferred it to have some traces of gold.
