Beijing Olympics Fever 2008

With recent news being focused on the Beijing Olympics, I have learnt the following important thing from local television channels:

The Olympics is primarily made up of the 2 events:
1) Table Tennis, and
2) Swimming

Another Workday... #1

While waiting to cross a road to get to work, I saw an old man crossing the road.

He held a 4-legged cane in one hand, and strapped to his waist was a pee-bag that was half-full. I walked past him, but was in no position to help him.

----------------------------------------

While on the train, when the crowd cleared after a busy stop, I saw this woman in a wheelchair in the middle of the train at the doors.

She got off at the same stop as me, reversing herself out of the doors by her own pair of hands. I queued behind a human wall waiting for her to exit the doors, but was in no position to help her.

Some Really Messed Up Logic

It is not uncommon to see arguments in local forums, termed "flame wars".

Usually, when such arguments start. There is always at least one person who has the below logic running through his/her fucked up brains:

[START LOGIC]
x = 100 (or some number large enough for the fucked up brain)

IF MORE THAN x PEOPLE LIKE PRODUCT A
AND
ALONG COMES 1 PERSON WHO DISLIKES PRODUCT A

THEREFORE, CONCLUDE THAT THE 1 PERSON MUST BE A RIVAL COMPETITOR WHO MANUFACTURES PRODUCT B, OR IS AN EMPLOYEE OF THE RIVAL COMPETITOR
[END LOGIC]

Really some nasty shit that some Singaporeans have hiding in their brains.

And they probably didn't make the cut at all for their school's debate team, if they ever had an education at all in the first place.

Questions Only... Or The Bubble Tea Shop

So I was at this bubble tea shop, having ordered a drink and standing there waiting to be served (no pun intended).

Along comes two kids, and they squeezed in front of me, trying to get served as well. I stepped aside to get some breathing space for myself, slightly peeved at having my comfort zone intruded upon.

While still waiting, the two kids were chattering between themselves, and suddenly one of them opens his mouth and says "Sir...".

I didn't really think that was for me, but as the shopkeeper was a woman (and there wasn't a single soul around us except for the four of us) , I turned my head over casually and glared at the two kids, wondering what @#$%^&* games were they playing now. One of them was looking at me.

Kid (seeing the glare I gave) goes, "... uh, can I know the time please?"

I looked at my watch, it said 4.57pm. So I told the kid the time, and turned my wrist to let him take a look at it. (This is usually done so as to deal with those who don't believe me when they ask me the time).

Kid hears the time, and his jaw drops. He tells his friend, "I gotta go home!" And off he scoots, away with his schoolbag like a turtle with a shell.

I took a quick glance and noticed that they both weren't wearing watches.

His friend stayed on and ordered a bubble milk tea. With pearls.

Grandpa and His Grandchild

So every morning, at a certain bus stop, there is this Grandpa with a girl, presumably his grandchild. The girl seems to be around 12-14 years of age, donning the uniform of a familiar neighbourhood secondary school. They would be there every morning, waiting for the school bus to come pick the girl up.

School bus arrives, Grandpa runs up to the school bus (minibus) to open the door for his little girl. Girl climbs up the bus and Grandpa waves at her saying goodbye, every single day without fail.

Girl chooses an empty seat on the minibus so that her back is facing Grandpa, and sits down without saying a word, every single day without fail. Not even a wave or a smile back at her Grandpa.

School bus pulls out onto the road, Grandpa is left standing there looking at the school bus driving further and further away, rubbing his hands and looking like a child whose meaning of life had been driven away.

And yet he still opens the door for his little girl, every single day without fail.

A New Phase of Life

And so it began.

A new stage in my life from the start of this month.

From now on, there possibly will be less nitpicks, because I will not have much chance to take public transport. Nor will I have the chance to interact with self-centered people anymore. Neither will I be seeing people with weird behavior around me.

However, I will still do my best to bring all of you fans out there as many nitpicks as I can from my interaction with the outside world over my weekends. :)

And so it ends.

The PC Show 2008... or The Truth Uncovered #3

OK, so we see a report in TODAY newspaper dated 16th June reporting on the PC Show that was held at Suntec from 12-15 June 2008.

"...the cash registers had chalked up some $51.7 million in sales, nearly double..."
"...welcomed more than 1.1 million visitors this year..."

Is it all that impressive? Let us do the math:

Sales = $51.7 million
Number of visitors (we aren't even going to use the term "customers"; that is explained below): 1.1 million

Average amount spent by each visitor = $47

*** STOP ***
Question: What IT product can $47 buy? A laptop? A digital camera?

Neither. $47 can only perhaps buy you some small-item computer accessories like a cheap keyboard/mouse, a webcam or some DVD media.
*** END STOP ***

But wait! This report says that "laptops remain the perennial favourite of shoppers..."

*** STOP ***
Question: What does this mean?

This means that it took 43 customers each spending the average of $47 to make a... may I say, meagre sale of $2000 (43 x 47 = $2021).

If we assume (Note: assume) that each laptop sold was at the price of $2000, this means that for every 1 customer who buys the laptop, there are approximately 41~42 people (minus away the real spender) who visit the show, but does not spend any money at all.
*** END STOP ***

This is by far, quite a reasonable and conservative estimate, I would say. However, the numbers show us that most of the visitors to PC Show 2008 did not spend any money (or simply very little) at all.

To have 1 real customer for every 40+ visitors, is simply too absurd.

Promising sales? Or simply pathetic?