Australian MasterChef was rigged - says by the fans

MasterChef Australia Judge Matt Preston denied the competition was a popularity contest, as figures today confirmed it was the most-watched Aussie TV show ever

Julie Goodwin, 38, beat Adelaide's Poh Ling Yeow in a three-round challenge in front of their former top 20 MasterChef Australia opponents and judges Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Calombaris last night.

Celebrity chef Curtis Stone also attended the final which included the finalists identifying ingredients in a beef bourguignon dish, cooking an entire chicken and perfecting Matt Moran's signature dish, a chocolate tart with chocolate half pipe and macaroons accompanied by a chocolate sorbet.

After the win, furious fans took to the internet to label MasterChef a fraud, saying popularity rather than cooking won Julie the title.

But Preston told News Limited the reasons Julie won were obvious.

"Julie identified one more ingredient in the taste test, she plated up a better dish in the invention test and in the final challenge she made a sorbet that wasn't grainy," Preston said. "They are things you can't fix."

In the chicken challenge Preston gave Julie the edge by rating her dish one point higher than Poh's. He said he made the decision based on the quality of the food.

"The other three judges scored them the same. I gave Julie an extra point because it was a better looking dish and if I was going to pay money for those dishes I would be more willing to pay more for Julie's dish."

"It's as simple as that. She put more value on the plate, there was more technique and more detail."

Preston said Poh's failure to follow the recipe in the final chocolate challenge had cost her dearly.

"Poh didn't temper the chocolate. It didn't crack as it should do. It wasn't shiny. Her sorbet was grainy," Preston said. "I think the result was clear. Everyone where I was watching knew it was Julie." "It's not a popularity contest if it was Justine would have won."

Hongkong school offers free notebooks to attract student enrolments

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(星島日報報道) 為期兩天的升中註冊昨日展開，面對經濟不景，有屯門區中學向中一新生提供多項福利，包括免費課本、午膳、交通津貼及輕便型手提電腦（Netbook）等，估計每名中一新生可獲高達一萬元津貼.

屯門區深培中學日前在學校網頁張貼了一張中一「叩門」宣傳單張，聲稱「為減輕中一學生家長的經濟負擔」，新學年推出多項「中一新生福利措施」，包括免費贈送全套中一課本、全年留校午膳、一套夏季校服及一部輕便型手提電腦。校方更提供三年共六百元的初中課外圖書津貼，區外學生則有全年二千元的交通津貼，而家住天水圍的學生不僅享有全年免費單程校巴服務，更額外有一千元交通津貼，該校並已開辦食物銀行，為有需要的低收入學生家庭提供即時食物援物。

　　有網民則在網上討論區上譏諷該校做法是「六千蚊換學生一世前途」，立法會議員張文光亦認為該校今次做法難免引起非議，「學校為求生存，只能選擇這樣難堪的做法，正是殺校政策造成的惡性競爭。」

A secondary school offers freebies to attract students to enroll for next September..
- a notebook
- free meals
- free school books
- free school uniform
- $600 book subsidies
- $2000 per year transport subsidies (outside zone)
- free school bus transport (in zone)
- $1000 per year transport subsidies (in zone students)

It reflected the crisis of school closures in Hongkong where government will shut down schools that have insufficient enrollments next year...

$90 Million OZ Lotto - the BIGGEST ever in Australia

There were no first division winners in Oz Lotto's last Tuesday night $59 million draw. As a result, the prize pool is a mega $90 million for the draw tomorrow at 30 June.

Sol Trujillo claims Australia a racist country

The former CEO of Telstra, Sol Trujillo, says doing business in Australia is like taking a "step back in time", there are racist views here and the nation must change. He claims many Australians have approached him to apologise for the Prime Minister over his use of the word "adios" when responding to the news that Mr Trujillo was leaving Telstra.

Mr Trujillo says there are racist views abroad in Australia and trying to do business here is like taking a "step back in time".

SABRA LANE: In San Diego, the BBC's Steve Evans asked Mr Trujillo for his reaction to that.

SOL TRUJILLO: Many Australians have come up to me and they've apologised, because they're embarrassed by that kind of behaviour.

STEVE EVANS: Because I noticed reading the papers there, that when you were referred to they would always point out that you were, had a Hispanic background, or whatever.

In other words in Britain and in America it would have been neither here nor there; in Australia it was invariably pointed out.

And the Prime Minister, when asked what his parting words to you would be, said "Adios".

Was that racism?

SOL TRUJILLO: I think by definition - there were even columnists who wrote stories that said it was.

But you know, my point is that that does exist and it's got to change because the world is full of a lot of people and most economies have to take advantage - including Australia - of a diverse set of people.

And if there is a belief that only a certain people are acceptable versus others, that is a sad state.

SOL TRUJILLO: Well, I would say that Australia definitely is different than the US.

You know, in many ways it's like stepping back in time, just simply because of some of the policies, some of the laws that, you know, are more recent.

So if you think about, you know, the immigration policies that weren't changed until about 30 years ago or so, which were very...

STEVE EVANS: The White Australia policy?

SOL TRUJILLO: ...Which were very restrictive. If you think about privatisation of companies - you know that's only that's 10 or 15 years old, you know, in terms of what most people would call a developed economy.

And essentially you know, the isolation of the country, by virtue of distance, you know there's a lot of considerations there that say it's a much different operating climate, environment than most other countries.

STEVE EVANS: Do you think there's racism there?

SOL TRUJILLO: Well I think it was evidenced in a lot of ways there, you know, with me personally, but more importantly with others as you look at some of the events that have occurred over last five or 10 years, some of them before I was there, some while I was there.

But, I'm sure that that will continue because of you know, what I would call the evolution, and the maturation of a country.

Australian mum was jailed for stealing a bar mat in Phuket

An Australian tourist, Annice Smoel, could face up to five years in jail for allegedly stealing a beer bar mat from a Australian themed pub in the resort region of Phuket in Thailand.

36-year-old Annice Smoel from Melbourne, Australia spent four days in a 4 by 4 cell with three other women says she was left "scared, helpless and alone" after being arrested for taking a bar mat. Annice Smoel claims she had nothing to do with the alleged incident.

An Australian mad bar mat, often stolen from pubs across Phuket by drunk Australian "larakyns".

Retrenchment at Oracle 2009

According to rumours from various sources, Oracle is going through a retrenchment exercise. Several people are rumoured to have been retrenched from the USA and India Office. Retrenched personnel is rumoured to account to as much as 10%, i.e. 8000 employees. Rumoured departments affected are: CRM Sales, Sales Business Operations, Channels group, IB group, PeopleSoft and much more.

Oracle has an office in Singapore, we do not know yet whether the Singapore office went throught the exercise also. If you have any information, please send to us: admin@breaking.sg

Click below link for more details.

http://retrenchment-blog.breaking.sg/2009/01/rumour-oracle-going-through-retrenchment-exercise/

Meet the Chinese Celine Dion

霸王卸甲 INCREDIBLE!

Story background is same as "Ambush from all sides"

十面埋伏 The Ambush from All sides

"The Ambush from all sides"(十面埋伏), performed by Liu Fang （劉芳）during a solo recital in the Pierre-Mercurre Hall of the Centre Pierre-Peladeau, on March 27, 2002, in Montreal.

A $7,000,000 watch!

On 6 Mar 2009 a special Patek Philippe was auctioned in Hong Kong to raise funds for the " TWGHs 2008Charitable Food Relief Fund " for providing food assistance service .

The auction was hosted by Sotheby's for the Tung Wah Charity Night presented by Patek Philippe.

Reserve Price: HK$1,000,000 (about US$125,000).

Hammer Price: HK$7,000,000 (or US$875,000).

13 year-old Itzhak Perlman

PCCW's Privatization

Richard Li's privatization plan for PCCW will be delayed.

Earlier, High Court Judge Susan Kwan approved the USD 2 billion privatization of PCCW by its majority shareholders Richard Li and China Unicom.

Kwan's judgement and reasoning:

- no substantial evidence that the privatization vote had been rigged and the SFC's argument was only suspicious.

- splitting of shares is not a prohibited activity in HK. In common law, a shareholder is entitled to transfer some of his shares to nominees to increase his voting power at a meeting.

- independent shareholders who acquired their shares at different times might well be motivated to vote in different ways. That is a fact of life.

- conversations and SMS messages exchanged between former PCCW vice chairman Francis Yuen 袁天凡 and Fortis Insurance regional director Inneo Lam 林孝華 did not have "anything to do with what Lam did to split shares.

- there is merely suspicion, wholly unsubstantiated by evidence.

Despite the High Court approval , the privatization was put on hold for another 10 days as the Securities and Futures Commission was granted the right to appeal.

Appeal grounds:

- the case whereby the agents for PCCW were accused of manipulating voting on the privatization plan by splitting shares and distributing them to employees in exchange for votes, was "sufficiently serious" for an appeal - said Court of Appeal Justice Anthony Rogers.

SFC chief executive Martin Wheatley said the regulator would need a full clarification on vote splitting which in his view is illegal.

American vs Chinese business customs

A Chinese cop with NY accent

明天會更好 Tomorrow is Better

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台灣歌手大合唱民國七十四年，「明天會更好」發起人李壽全由張艾嘉和創作人羅大佑等人發起的反盜版運動，結合了當時海內外六十餘位知名歌手，寫下了唱片界的空前紀錄，更在社會造成極大的迴響 .此時再看到這首MV除了懷念舊時兒時的好時光,更令人感慨現世的混亂,我們的明天真的有更好了嗎?

（蔡　琴）輕輕敲醒沉睡的心靈
　　　　　慢慢張開你的眼睛
（余　天）看那忙碌的世界是否依然
　　　　　孤獨地轉個不停
（蘇　芮）春風不解風情　吹動少年的心
（潘越雲）讓昨日臉上的淚痕　
　　　　　隨記憶風乾了

（甄　妮）抬頭尋找天空的翅膀
　　　　　候鳥出現牠的影跡
（李建復）帶來遠處的飢荒無情的戰火
　　　　　依然存在的消息
（林慧萍）玉山白雪飄零　燃燒少年的心
（王芷蕾）使真情溶化成音符
　　　　　傾訴遙遠的祝福

（黃鶯鶯）唱出你的熱情　伸出你雙手
　　　　　讓我擁抱著你的夢
　　　　　讓我擁有你真心的面孔
（洪榮宏）讓我們的笑容
　　　　　充滿著青春的驕傲
　　　　　為明天獻出虔誠的祈禱

（陳淑樺）誰能不顧自己的家園
　　　　　拋開記憶中的童年
（金智娟）誰能忍心看那昨日的憂愁
　　　　　帶走我們的笑容
（王夢麟）青春不解紅塵　胭脂沾染了灰
（李佩菁）讓久違不見的淚水
　　　　　滋潤了你的面容
（費玉清）唱出你的熱情　伸出你雙手
　　　　　讓我擁抱著你的夢
　　　　　讓我擁有你真心的面孔
　　　　　讓我們的笑容
　　　　　充滿著青春的驕傲
　　　　　為明天獻出虔誠的祈禱

（齊　豫）輕輕敲醒沉睡的心靈
　　　　　慢慢張開你的眼睛
（鄭　怡）看那忙碌的世界是否依然
　　　　　孤獨地轉個不停
（江　蕙）日出喚醒清晨　大地光彩重生
（楊　林）讓和風拂出的音響
　　　　　譜成生命的樂章

（合　唱）唱出你的熱情　伸出你雙手
　　　　　讓我擁抱著你的夢
　　　　　讓我擁有你真心的面孔
　　　　　讓我們的笑容
　　　　　充滿著青春的驕傲
　　　　　讓我們期待明天會更好

（蘇　芮）唱出你的熱情　伸出你雙手
　　　　　讓我擁抱著你的夢
　　　　　讓我擁有你真心的面孔
　　　　　讓我們的笑容
　　　　　充滿著青春的驕傲
　　　　　讓我們期待
　　　　　明天會更好（齊秦和聲）

（余　天）唱出你的熱情　伸出你雙手
　　　　　讓我擁抱著你的夢
　　　　　讓我擁有你真心的面孔
　　　　　讓我們的笑容
　　　　　充滿著青春的驕傲
　　　　　讓我們期待
　　　　　明天會更好（蘇芮和聲）

（合　唱）唱出你的熱情　伸出你雙手
　　　　　讓我擁抱著你的夢
　　　　　讓我擁有你真心的面孔
　　　　　讓我們的笑容
　　　　　充滿著青春的驕傲
　　　　　讓我們期待明天會更好

Art of War discussions #1

Sun Tzu says,
All warfare is based on deception.
when able to attack, we must seem unable;
when using our forces, we must seem inactive;
when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away;
when we are far, we must make them believe we are near.


How useful are Sun Tzu's words in our world today? Will it work?

Let’s spend a few moments to think about this. Is this strategy applicable to other extensions of warfare such as a race, a contest, a competition, a combat or a match?

In a 100 meter race, can you win the race by playing tricks to others? Have you ever seen athletes run like wild boars at the sound of the gun? Everyone is so focused on the finishing line and does not pay attention to anyone else. How are you going to deceive others if they are not really interested in how you behave? You’ll just be wasting your chances trying to make deception work.

Like everything else, there are always conditions or constraints where a theory or proposition might not be applicable...loop holes.

Two deductions.

Sun Tzu's deception theory won't work in an intense and combative competition. Why? Because there is no time for any kinds of mind games. Either you have what it takes to win or you haven't. The one and only one way to win the competition is to focus, focus and focus….

By the same token, one way not to let anybody's tricks affect you is, again, to focus on what you are doing. If you are not 100 percent focused, your brains are susceptible to false signals and that would affect your concentration.

Bottom line is: Focus is a key strategy to win.

Bush is funny...

Hair splitting

DHL - we deliver...

Cool