A Tribute To Good Old Forum Banter

[Boonsiong]

Nice

 

[Boonsiong]

Good

 

[jw5]

Goh Meng Seng​

4h ·
After I have posted on the musing on the China's WWII Victory Parade, a friend messages me and indicated that President Xi has invited PM Wong to the parade during his official visit to China in June this year.
I didn't remember this invitation made by President Xi but my friend insisted that this invitation was made. He further said that according to his sources, Japan wasn't very happy about it!
I did a search through the official accounts and there wasn't anything mentioned about such invitation. But South China Morning Post (SCMP) puts up an interesting title for the report of PM Wong's visit to China
"Xi urges Singapore to join China on 'right side of history' as he meets PM Wong"
Well inside this news article, it refers to Trump's tariffs and "unilateralism". But to me, the Chinese likes to use phrases with "double meaning", 语带双关.
"Right side of History" could refer to acknowledging China's historical ownership claims on South China Sea or Taiwan as part of China.
It could also refer to the history of WWII as Japan was the aggressor.
Thus, it is actually quite possible that President Xi would have invited PM Wong to the 3 Sep WWII Victory Parade right in the context of "right side of history".
If that is so, more questions would arise. Did PM Wong decline to attend and that's the reason why SCMP didn't include Singapore in the list of ASEAN countries which will have their top political leaders to attend?
On the other hand, if PM Wong has acknowledged the invitation and prepared to attend the parade, then Shanmugam's Hacker Saga and LHL's Rising Sun conferment would make such attendence pretty awkward.
We are now caught in a very delicate situation if what my friend said is true.

 

[jw5]

Goh Meng Seng​

1h ·
They are supposed to test out the "no barrier" carpark gantry system at the carpark next to Old Airport Road hawker center.
They had removed the gantry barriers initially, many months ago when they first started the testing. But now, the barriers are back in place while the system with the camera is still installed!
The initial intent of installing this new system is to do away with the barriers but I guess the testing has failed!
Another white elephant? Another useless expensive toy that failed?

 

[jw5]

Goh Meng Seng​

22h ·
Hungry Ghost Month
It is a unique Chinese culture that we believe the dead ghostly spirits will leave Hell when the hell gate opens on the first day of the 7th month of Chinese calendar.
These ghostly spirits, regardless of "social status", will have 1 month holiday on Earth.
Well I guess many of those who died with vengeance will haunt those who have murdered them. That's karma and karmic relationship which outsiders should not interfere.
There are also those ghostly spirits who would go around pleading for help or mercy for their past deeds.
I will always try very hard to avoid all these help seeking spirits. It's also karma which others should not interfere. Unless you have the ability to help.
Some people may have their fair share of ghostly encounters, on and off Hungry Ghost Month. I do have some such encounters as well, though most of the time I don't really see any of them explicitly.
Having unexplained weird experience during Hungry Ghost Month can really give us the goosebumps. I just had a strange encounter right in the beginning of the first week of Hungry Ghost Month.
I was driving to my warehouse from home in the afternoon and suddenly the left front wheel of my car started to have a soft rumbling sound. I stopped beside the road to check but couldn't find anything wrong. I thought it was the bearings issue but I was not driving at high speed.
I decided to drive slowly towards the car workshop just a few kilometers away. The metalic rumbling sound continued. I took a turn into the wrong carpark and did a U turn to drive out. At that very moment, the rumbling sound vanished.
When I finally reached my car workshop, the rumbling sound was all gone and they found nothing wrong with the wheel.
Nevertheless, my car was long overdue for servicing as I was traveling overseas, thus I decided to change the engine oil etc. Well you know what, the workshop was giving SG60 discount for engine oil!
That mystery of the unexplained rumbling of the wheel wasn't solved but at least I was led to have a good deal in servicing my car.
Most likely the rumbling was due to some stone pebbles or metalic particles getting into the wheel's cover. That explained why there was a rumbling until those particles or pebbles just got off the wheel.
Well maybe some friendly spirit was trying to give me a friendly reminder that it's time to service my car and got me a good deal for doing so!
Whatever it is, we have to believe in karma. If you have done good all your life, even the ghostly spirits will help you or bless you during Hungry Ghost Month. But if you have been harming people, it would be just a matter of time those who have suffered from your bad deeds would find you.

 

[jw5]

Goh Meng Seng​

6h ·
A heart warming Teh Halia Kosong or Ginger Tea without milk or sugar in this chilling weather after lunch!
This is a special brew with freshly cut ginger and the top grade FBOPF Ex-Special Akbar tea!