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Saw this article in the ST and it kinda resonated with me on how my life thus far has gone by considering the challenges and what I live to appreciate. Amidst the chaos of life, we tend to forget that we are mortal and our time here is finite. A good reminder that our time is ticking and as we think and reflect of what is to come, we can be more fulfilled and HAPPY. Peace and to a better 2016 amidst the gloom now! To Be Happier, Start Thinking More About Your Death Arthur C. Brooks JAN. 9, 2016 WANT a better 2016? Try thinking more about your impending demise. Years ago on a visit to Thailand, I was surprised to learn that Buddhist monks often contemplate the photos of corpses in various stages of decay. The Buddha himself recommended corpse meditation. “This body, too,” students were taught to say about their own bodies, “such is its nature, such is its future, such its unavoidable fate.” Paradoxically, this meditation on death is intended as a key to better living. It makes disciples aware of the transitory nature of their own physical lives and stimulates a realignment between momentary desires and existential goals. In other words, it makes one ask, “Am I making the right use of my scarce and precious life?” In fact, most people suffer grave misalignment. In a 2004 article in the journal Science, a team of scholars, including the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman, surveyed a group of women to compare how much satisfaction they derived from their daily activities. Among voluntary activities, we might expect that choices would roughly align with satisfaction. Not so. The women reported deriving more satisfaction from prayer, worship and meditation than from watching television. Yet the average respondent spent more than five times as long watching TV as engaging in spiritual activities. If anything, this study understates the misalignment problem. The American Time Use Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that, in 2014, the average American adult spent four times longer watching television than “socializing and communicating,” and 20 times longer on TV than on “religious and spiritual activities.” The survey did not ask about hours surfing the web, but we can imagine a similar disparity. This misalignment leads to ennui and regret. I’m reminded of a friend who was hopelessly addicted to British crossword puzzles (the ones with clues that seem inscrutable to Americans, such as, “The portly gentleman ate his cat, backwards”). A harmless pastime, right? My friend didn’t think so — he was so racked with guilt after wasting hours that he consulted a psychotherapist about how to quit. (The advice: Schedule a reasonable amount of time for crosswords and stop feeling guilty.) While few people share my friend’s interest, many share his anxiety. Millions have resolved to waste less time in 2016 and have already failed. I imagine some readers of this article are filled with self-loathing because they just wasted 10 minutes on a listicle titled “Celebrities With Terrible Skin.” Some might say that this reveals our true preferences for TV and clickbait over loved ones and God. But I believe it is an error in decision making. Our days tend to be an exercise in distraction. We think about the past and future more than the present; we are mentally in one place and physically in another. Without consciousness, we mindlessly blow the present moment on low-value activities. The secret is not simply a resolution to stop wasting time, however. It is to find a systematic way to raise the scarcity of time to our consciousness. Even if contemplating a corpse is a bit too much, you can still practice some of the Buddha’s wisdom resolving to live as if 2016 were your last year. Then remorselessly root out activities, small and large, that don’t pass the “last-year test.” There are many creative ways to practice this test. For example, if you plan a summer vacation, consider what would you do for a week or two if this were your last opportunity. With whom would you reconnect and spend some time? Would you settle your soul on a silent retreat, or instead spend the time drunk in Cancún, Mexico? If this year were your last, would you spend the next hour mindlessly checking your social media, or would you read something that uplifts you instead? Would you compose a snarky comment on this article, or use the time to call a friend to see how she is doing? Hey, I’m not judging here. Some might think that the last-year test is impractical. As an acquaintance of mine joked, “If I had one year to live, I’d run up my credit cards.” In truth, he probably wouldn’t. In a new paper in the science journal PLOS One, two psychologists looked at the present value of money when people contemplated death. One might assume that when reminded of death, people would greatly value current spending over future spending. But that’s not how it turned out. Considering death actually made respondentsless likely to want to blow money now than other scenarios did. Will cultivating awareness of the scarcity of your time make you grim and serious? Not at all. In fact, there is some evidence that contemplating death makes you funnier. Two scholars in 2013 published an academic paperdetailing research in which they subliminally primed people to think about either death or pain, and then asked them to caption cartoons. Outside raters found the death-primed participants’ captions to be funnier. There’s still time to rethink your resolutions. Forget losing weight and saving money. Those are New Year’s resolutions for amateurs. This year, improve your alignment, and maybe get funnier in the process: Be fully alive now by meditating on your demise. Happy 2016!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPzRPga6uDg

this was like in the movie Avatar if this can apply on human

I will show you what is really BIG hahaha behold and sit tight ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMLPJqeW78Q

How come some kids will become like that in Primary school? Is it because parents work too hard and leave them to maids? Especially the $1 per day case. Omg.... Any MCFers here have stories to share? http://edumatters.sg/bullying-what-can-you-do-about-it/

Have you ever came across going out for an appointment and you are in a rush, and you have to head in a parking lot? Also, if you are like me, willing to exchange the functionality of your car over appearance. You probably have scratch your bumper before. Well, to be honest. It happens to me almost 622 times when I cross the border and head to Johor for my petrol & grocery fix. So I started to look out for a solution that helps prevent this from happening since my car still have like 9 years to drive. I intend to refurbish my car this end of the year and help him regains to his glory days. I have shortlisted 2 products and wasting numerous time on the internet instead of working but searching for the correct alternative. (Please don't share this with pchou.) And my conclusion is, in the market, there is two product that fulfils my requirement. I don't want something that changes the original looks of my car, and I to protect my undercarriage bumper. So there is Samurai bumper protection and Sliplo. The reason I did not choose the Samurai is that it does change the looks of the car a bit. As I have mentioned, I want my car to look as stock as possible. So I decided to find out more about Sliplo. The product is entirely new in the market and I being me, is still very sceptical about the performance of this. Luckily for me, I do know a few workshops in Singapore. And so happen that Gabriel (boss of a workshop in Yishun), do distribute Sliplo. I called him and enquired about the product, and he invited me over to his workshop for a demo. So I went down and checked out the product. At the first look, the protection plate looks like what a clobber use to mend your shoes — nothing fancy thou. However, when Gabriel pass me the protection plate, and I plate with it, I realised it's made out of polyurethane. A type of rubber compound you find in performance engine mounting and shopping cartwheels. You know lah, when is the last time you saw a gone case shopping cart? This type of rubber compound is durable and is flexible too! The reason why the shape of the protection plate made like this is that it can weave into a different shape. The installation is easy. You can even DIY if you are up for it. However, to access your undercarriage, you need a scissor lift or a car jack to jack up the car. Moreover, also Gabriel told me that he would thoroughly wash the car and prep the car to make sure the specially formulated adhesive by 3M is performing optimally. Yeah. Is that easy. You go down your car, peel the sticker off, use your art & craft hand and weave the shape of the protection plate to the shape of your bumper. Also, at the endpoint, you might need sharp scissors to cut the excess off. Gabriel is generous enough to let me tried a small portion as I haven't respray my car yet. My bumper is in a severely lousy condition. And that's it. After installing, you can't tell the difference! It is stealthy enough. Also, that is one of the things I like about this. One thing for sure, the next time if my car needs a tow, I wouldn't be so paranoid if they drag my car anymore. *This is not a sponsored ads, so I didn't mention anything about the workshop. Everything I have shared is my point of view. If you are keen, you can PM me. I am more than willing to share with you the contact of the boss.

For some quick and impromptu family bonding and outing within half a day, busy parents, have you considered bringing your kids to a pony ride ? Beats going to the crowded hot zoo, the Gallop Stable is one great place to get to nature and animals. The old premise at Ponggol has come to an end as their land lease had expired and with no possibility of renewal ( god knows why, government future development I believe ). Gallop Stable is now re-opened at Pasir Ris. Do check out this new ranch ! https://youtu.be/5c9N7A5d7XA This video and post has no affiliation to Gallop Stable. This is just a plain sharing post for families with kids to enjoy.

I wonder how many of us here are clear about how the CPF Life balance sum is computed before returning to the beneficiaries upon demise of the account holder ? Here is my understanding. Assuming a person Mr. A has $170k in his RA at age 55. by the time he reaches 65, his RA account should have $242k assuming a compounding interest of 4%. to simplify our discussion, i stop the interest accruing from 65 onwards. At 65, Mr, A start drawing out $1,2k per month for 8 years, 96*$1.2k = he would have drew out $115.2k when he is 74 year old. Assuming Mr. A unfortunately pass away at 74, the BIG question is how much would the balanced sum be returned to the beneficiaries? The answer is $170k - $115,2k = $54.8k. the deduction is not from $242k, because the sum to be returned is without interest, letting alone the balanced sum also has accrued compound interest YoY during the disbursement period from 65 to 74. so go digest and think about how much money from the earned interest is evaporated from our account. Dont get me wrong, I support CPF Life, but the way the refund being computed is sucks. Over and above, not to forget that the monthly disbursement amount is based on the assumption that a member would exhaust his account by age of 93. meaning, if anyone pass away before 93, all the interest earned along the way from 55 year old would all be gone.

Doomsday Prepper?? What do you think?

Hi guys Can you all share what you know and hear about this ride please? Does it come in manual? It seems to suit my needs for an 8-seater and it is really spacious. Somehow I kinda like the van-like design. I don't need a F&F ride because I drive very slowly on the road. I like it's functionality and versatility. I would love to hear your views.

Very curious here as I think most drivers will listen to the radio on the way to work. having worked overseas, i am quite shocked by the standard of our morning shows though i can understand to an extent why, with our strict censorship here. so i would like to know the consensus of you guys. i am only choosing the more popular stations here for drivers; i am aware of more english morning shows. personally, comparatively speaking, I do think Kiss is doing the best. the chemistry between the DJs is strong and they come across as very genuine. second would be 913 with Glenn and FD. They started out well but are declining as I think their shows are not really prepared beforehand. So they just say whatever that comes to mind or simply topic of the day. And it does come across as lazy and lacking effort at times. But well they too have a good chemistry. I find it hard to decide which is the worst, Class 95 or Gold. Class 95 with Vernon and Justin do make an effort on their show. However, their jokes can be stale and so 90s. And I find it a bad match for Class 95. They probably do better with a channel that targets the younger crowd. I find their jokes to be a bit crass at times. Gold with Mike and Vernetta likewise, is quite awful. Vernon and Justin, however crass, can come up with smart jokes now and then. However Mike and Vernetta come across as trying way too hard and mostly falling flat with their banter. Quite cringe worthy very often. And really, i find them a poor fit for a station with a more mature audience. in a nutshell, i find that Vernon, Justin, Mike and Vernetta all caught in a time warp, so stale and tired. i hope there are newer DJs that will shake the roost a bit. probably the only industry where it's the same old faces for sooo long lol

- link to video deleted - young generation whom don't know much about singapore history or experience "3rd world" before we become "1st world" just believe media view that is pleasing to their ears and liking

I just saw a "SSA" car plate earlier on. Time really passes. haha. Do you all think there will be "SSS"?

Do you think aliens and UFO exist? http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090817/tts-...-o-cac1e9b.html LONDON (AFP) - - Lemon-headed aliens, scrambled fighter jets and mysterious lights over a cemetery were among details of some 800 UFO sightings released by British authorities Monday. But another intriguing finding to emerge from the 1981-1996 archives was a surge in reports at the time of UFO-related blockbusters such as 1996's "Independence Day," not to mention the British television run of "The X-Files." Among the most striking accounts released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is that of two boys who reported being spoken to by an alien with a lemon-shaped head, who appeared before them in a field on May 4, 1995. "We want you, come with us," said the alien's voice, according to a police report filed after the youngsters, who seemed "agitated and distressed," recounted their experiences. "They stated the object was about four houses high in the sky and about forty foot away from them," said the report, adding that when officers went to check two days later, they found only a farmer spraying his crops. In another account bound to excite ufologists, a former armed forces chief urged authorities to take more seriously a report by US Air Force (USAF) staff near an airbase in eastern England. The individuals "reported seeing a strange glowing object in the forest," said a report by a US air force commander, recounting what three of his staff told him of the incident, early on the morning of December 27, 1980. "It illuminated the entire forest with a white light. The object itself had a pulsing red light on top and a bank of blue lights underneath. The object was hovering or on legs. As the patrolmen approached the object, it manoeuvred through the trees and disappeared." Then there is the report of how, between November 1989 and April 1990, the Belgian air force scrambled F-16 fighter jets to investigate a series of UFO sightings -- and reportedly "locked on" to them with their radars. "The mystery remains unresolved," wrote General Wilfried de Brouwer, Chief of Operations, Belgian Air Staff, adding that despite being sceptical, "the evidence was remarkable." One of the spookiest incidents occurred in the early hours of July 15, 1996, when a UFO was spotted hovering over a cemetery in Widnes, northwest England, before firing burning laser beams into the ground. Cynics would note that the man involved was heading home from a night out at the time -- possibly in a similar mental state to two revellers who claimed to have seen a UFO hovering over the jazz tent at the 1994 Glastonbury Festival. And sceptics will also point to a more general trend made clear by the latest archives. In 1995 there were 117 UFO sightings reported to authorities, but this spiked to 609 in 1996, according to the MoD reports, released after a three-year project with the National Archives. "It's evident there is some connection between newspaper stories, TV programmes and films about alien visitors and the numbers of UFO sightings reported," said UFO expert and journalism lecturer David Clarke. "Aside from 1996, one of the busiest years for UFO sightings reported to the MoD over the past half century was 1978 -- the year 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' was released," added Clarke.

Hi, What do you all think base on the title? Last Friday noon time kena summon from LTA. Collect money very fast last night the summon letter arrived. If we want to claim back money from them I think takes a very very long time. I think efficient in the wrong department if train maintenance dept can be like that we will be pleased What's your thought?

wat you think? will it be the next Asia euro travel company to close shop.....

So what do you think? Lai lai... let's poll

Do you guys agree that Singapore is a democratic country? By wikipedia: "Democracy cannot consist solely of elections that are nearly always fictitious and managed by rich landowners and professional politicians." — Che Guevara, Marxist revolutionary[57] Democratic is usually referred as a freedom of speech...... But do you think Singapore has it? I still kind of find that Singapore is a "Communist" Democratic Country......... Singapore is dominated by the only single party where people have no choice ...... There is lack of freedom of speech where people cant protest when they are not happy....We can only complaint.... And the people usually get Govt pushing blame around its Govt agency.......Example : SPF, LTA, URA..... Furthermore......L** family are most powerful and dominant within the country which held important and crucial positions within Govt itself........ A friend of mine once told me, Singapore is not much difference of Noth Korea......

I found this interesting read from one of the online article. Share with you guys and see what you all think. Why incompetent people often think they’re actually the best There’s a psychological phenomenon behind it: the Dunning-Kruger effect.Source: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/11/18/16670576/dunning-kruger-effect-video Maybe you’ve experienced this at school or work before: Dealing with someone who thinks he’s much better at his job than he really is. This can not only be really annoying, but it can lead to disaster as a group project is made much more difficult by someone’s unchecked ego. A new TED-Ed video, based on a lesson by psychologist David Dunning, dives into why this happens and why people are so bad at judging their skills in general, looking into the phenomenon known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. “Knowing how competent we are and how our skills stack up to other people’s is more than a self-esteem boost,” narrator Addison Anderson explained. “It helps us figure out when we can forge ahead on our own decisions and instincts and when we need, instead, to seek out advice.” “But,” Anderson added, “psychological research suggests that we’re not very good at evaluating ourselves accurately. In fact, we frequently overestimate our own abilities.” This is true “to a degree that violates the laws of math.” For example: “When software engineers at two companies were asked to rate their performance, 32 percent of the engineers at one company and 42 percent at the other put themselves in the top 5 percent.” So what’s going on here? There’s actually a reasonable explanation: “When psychologists Dunning and [Justin] Kruger first described the effect in 1999, they argued that people lacking knowledge and skill in particular areas suffer a double curse. First, they make mistakes and reach poor decisions. But second, those same knowledge gaps also prevent them from catching their errors. In other words, poor performers lack the very expertise needed to recognize how badly they’re doing.” For example, how can someone know he’s a bad writer if he doesn’t know even basic spelling and grammar rules? The good news is once people know they are bad at something — say, if they fail at a logic puzzle — they’ll typically admit to it. But some level of experience or expertise is needed for a person to come to that realization. “That may be why people with a moderate amount of experience or expertise often have less confidence in their abilities,” Addison said. “They know enough to know that there’s a lot they don’t know.” But knowledge can also lead to people overestimating others: “Experts tend to be aware of just how knowledgeable they are. But they often make a different mistake: They assume that everyone else is knowledgeable too.” “The result is that people, whether they’re inept or highly skilled, are often caught in a bubble of inaccurate self-perception,” Addison explained. “When they’re unskilled, they can’t see their own faults. When they’re exceptionally competent, they don’t perceive how unusual their abilities are.” There’s a way to prevent all of this: “First, ask for feedback from other people — and consider it, even if it’s hard to hear. Second, and more important, keep learning. The more knowledgeable we become, the less likely we are to have invisible holes in our competence.” Keep in mind this is all just one explanation for why and how incompetent people may overestimate themselves. For examples of other explanations, check out a good rundown by psychologist Tal Yarkoni.

cos our TP commander Sam Tee drives a Toyota Altis.......

to all sunny N16 owners who think that your FC is high... forget about expensive oils... forget about fuel saving gadgets... forget about additives... forget about light/heavy footed.... forget about dirty air filters... expensive or copper plugs... auto or manual... amt of load stuff in car... 92 or 95 or 98... alway 4pax in car or highway driving or city driving or watever... the fact is that Sunny is 1.6 DOHC so FC will be will not be as good as cars like Lancer Glxi (SOHC)... Vios (1.5 and so much lighter)... etc... and most ppl think that Sunny jiak you... especially ah laus... let me ask the sunny owners here, young and old... do you know how much Engine oil your sunny needs? i have asked numerous Mechs in Singapore workshops... all i spoke to dont believe Sunny N16 needs 2.5liters of engine oil... max 2.7liters with oil filter... most engine oil bottles come in 4liters... oil service packages come in 4 liters bottles mostly... and most mechanics here in Sg just pour in whatever amount and they estimate and then check with the dip stick... yes there are workshops who measure according to manual but rarely in a regular ws... all sunny owners before you spend $$$ on that snake oil.... before you spend $$$ on that 'most probably wont work' fuel saving gadget.... before you spend any $$$ you think you will waste... put in the correct amount of Engine oil into your sunny N16 and feel the difference in FC... imagine an Engine that needs 2.5-2.7liters of oil, and in goes 3.5liters or more of engine oil... imagine you running in a kids pool, then running in an adult's pool... feel the difference?

Just wondering , with the property going up north , at what combined income do you think an average Singapore can afford a Pte property > $1.2m comfortably ? EC > $1m for combined income of 12k is it too pushy / risky ?

...Not asking about her looks, but her behaviour. Please pardon me. I normally don't like to do such things, but this lady really is I was sitting on an empty table waiting for my colleague to buy his lunch when this lady sat on the empty table beside mine and shoved the used tray and used bowls onto my table, right in front of me. This is really the ultimate - 1st time I came across such a person. When my colleague came back with his food, I simply took the tray and put it on the Tray Collection Centre just 10 metres away. No point arguing with such person.

Alway see taxi and cars stopping to alight or pick up passengers. Was wondering if there is any proper alighting point for them instead of kana summon and demerit pts. Town council should built one for the citizen living in the estate using our $$$.Of cos, the bottom line is to not to obstruct traffic like an alighting bay.