Snippets

From ST, on the Chinese Grand Prix:

The event also confirmed that while Barrichello may be the fastest on track, he is probably not the quickest and bravest in Shanghai.

The city's atrocious driving drew the attention of the F1 drivers, especially after Peter Phillips, grandson of Queen Elizabeth, was involved in a car crash on his way to the race yesterday.

Phillips, son of Princess Anne, is an account manager with Williams. He and three Williams staff were hit by a car at high speed, but thankfully, no one was injured.

Said Barrichello: 'It's amazing. The drivers here can overtake everywhere. I just hope next year I can stay in a hotel nearer to the track.'

Button agreed, saying: 'They use every inch. Sometimes, I just close my eyes.'

I guess we'll be seeing a chinese F1 champion in years to come.

And life is good at St. Margaret's Primary:

EACH teacher can set no more 90 minutes of homework a week for each class, so that pupils are not stressed out.

As a result, pupils now spend about an hour and 20 minutes each day on homework. It used to be around two hours.

The time that teachers allocate each week is monitored to make sure the cap is not exceeded.

The school's principal, Mrs Elsie Poey, said: 'Some parents actually clamour for more homework. But at the end of the day, if the children are too tired and don't do their homework well, it becomes defeatist having it.'

Here's a snippet from a forum post:

However, on further reflection, I found it puzzling that there were so many walking in a running event and that almost all were army boys. Then I remembered that the event was also the Army Half Marathon, which probably explained the huge turnout - more than 60,000, according to press reports. It, however, did not explain the walking bit - did these partici-pants (especially the 21km ones) properly prepare for the run? Were they willing participants or merely there to make up the numbers for the various distance events, which would explain their lack of interest in running the full distance?

Combining the Sheares Bridge Run, an open-to-the-public event, and the Army Half Marathon did more damage to the image of our army than good. The sight of fighting-fit soldiers taking a leisurely Sunday-morning stroll when they should be running did not instill confidence in the public.

To make matters worse, towards the end of the run at Marina Promenade, some of the army boys led a bunch of others in bashing through the 'forest', with the aim of reducing their walking distance to the finishing point, all in full view of the public.

I hope that the organisers will consider de-coupling the two events. By itself, the Sheares Bridge Run is a very scenic and memorable run through iconic parts of Singapore and should be able to attract good participation.

The Army Half Marathon, as its name suggests, should stay as an army event.

I can just see extra running training for the entire army coming up now. But come on now, "Were they willing participants or merely there to make up the numbers for the various distance events..." who's he kidding?

And finally, some snippets from the Commando dunking case:

When lawyer Gurcharanjit S. Hundal, acting for one of the accused, asked how Capt Neo had checked the lesson plan when he had never conducted such training, he replied that the plan was prepared by 'experienced specialists'.

His job was to check and ensure the layout of the plan.

The lawyer asked: 'Is the layout more important or the content?'

Capt Neo replied: 'It's similar. The layout ensures that important things are not missed out in the lesson plan.'

Talk about style over substance.

The lawyer asked: 'Are you telling me that spraying water at POW trainees would replicate actual battle conditions?'

Major Yeo replied, to laughter in the courtroom: 'I can't go further to answer that question because I have never been to battle.'

Quite amusing really, but really puts into question the balance between training realism and safety.

The warrant officer had told the court that when he conducted the mock interrogations between 1994 and 1999, he used a long hose attached to a water tap to spray trainees who were in a kneeling position.

Mr Naidu also asked WO Anbarasan if he knew there were no taps at Kampung Permatang, where the fateful training was conducted. He replied: 'There are no taps.'

Ok, so if there were no taps at Kampung Permatang, then how are they supposed to conduct the "hard interrogation" component? By dunking, perhaps?