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Following today's Straits Time pik-cha lobang on those using hotel valet to park. Do anyone know of any carparks along Orchard Road that has a maximum charge per day (say from 9am to 6pm)? My wife occasionally needs to drive to work when she needs to drive overseas guest around. But not frequent enough to get a season parking. Tks

darn..... wanted to go genting after xmas, thinking that it wont be so crowded and how wrong i was.... seems like i can book any room at first world, resort and theme park hotel for 28/Dec till 30-31/dec.... just try my luck here..... beside booking from genting.com.my, any other lobang to get a room?...im sure not all are book but who is holding rooms...

just fully settled my car loan with Hong Leong Finance should i be receivnig any documents from HLF or Tan Chong Motors? I was only given a payment receipt at HLF, and that's all. Would i be expecting a separate document e.g., car log card? thanks

took loan of $50k for 5 years when i bought my car early this year. thinking of paying up in full since i have cash sitting in the bank. dont intend to invest as donno when the market will recover. is paying off car loan a smart move?

Any pros can share info on this?? which one is more recommended

Hello everyone, I have questions regarding Blu-ray player and Full HD LCD TV. According to a friend, he read an article explaining that in order to experience the full potential of the Blu-ray movies, you will need to watch it at least on a 46" Full HD LCD TV. He cannot remember exactly what was written in the article but only knows that it is best to get the 46" Full HD LCD TV. For the equipment, we are both referring to Sony. I read the specs of both the player and TV, it doesn't say anything about at least a 46" TV. Can someone here explain to me is there a difference between a 40" and 46" Full HD LCD TV when watching Blu-ray movies? Thanks.

I am looking for around 7years old car around 30k, and I have full cash.. should I look to buy from owner or agent? got any recommendation of car for this price range?

Come next Monday, five stretches of normal bus lanes along Victoria Street, Jalan Besar, North Bridge Road and Kallang Road will be converted to full-day bus lanes. Currently, these five stretches of normal bus lanes operate only during peak hours on weekdays. However the new full-day bus lane scheme will operate from 7.30am to 8pm on all weekdays and Saturdays, except public holidays. The extension of the full-day bus lane scheme to these five stretches is in line with the Land Transport Master Plan to expand such bus lanes to allow buses to move more quickly, thus helping to make public transport a choice mode. Surveys have shown that the two most important aspects of the bus journey for commuters are waiting time and travelling time. Thus as buses are more efficient carriers of commuters, with a higher number of passengers per unit road space as compared to other vehicles such as cars, it is necessary to give priority to buses so that more commuters reach their destinations on time. Prior to the implementation of full-day bus lanes along these five stretches of roads, LTA engaged and informed relevant parties affected by the changes, such as businesses, shop house residents, as well as grassroots organisations, to take in feedback and suggestions. With the five new stretches, the total length of full day bus lanes will sum up to 20 km. Locations of New Full Day Bus Lanes Road Name Victoria Street (towards City) Start : Victoria Bridge End : Rochor Road Jalan Besar Start : Kelantan Road End : Rochor Canal Road North Bridge Road Start : Crawford Street End : Rochor Road Kallang Road (towards City) Start : Geylang Road End : Victoria Bridge Kallang Road (towards Geylang) Start : Horne Road End : Sims Avenue

http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/080729/1/4hz7a.html http://www.oil-price.net/ oil prices dropping, don't pump full tank yet...

Hi, Need some urgent help here. I have never encountered this before. Just topped up my tank an hour ago by a pump attendant. He alerted me to petrol gushing out from bottom of tank. I took a peep and indeed I could see petrol flowing out, mind you not dripping ok. It stopping flowing/leaking after about 1-2 mins. I took at a look at the meter and it says 60 litres. There is no sign of overflowing from the top-up point. Knowing the tank capacity is 55 l or so, I only expected the overflow if any, to come from the top-up point if indeed it is over-topping. Has anyone encounter this before? Most people I asked said it should not happen. Some say there is an overflow line built-in the tank. I am very concerned about this problem. Can anyone shed some light into this? Thanks

Foreigners to pay full price for fuel, says Pak Lah Thu, May 29, 2008 The Star Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said an announcement on how this would be done would be made when the time was right. "Foreigners will definitely have to pay the full price when we make the announcement and (when we) enforce it immediately," he told a press conference in Parliament here yesterday. Abdullah said some people had taken advantage of the country's cheaper fuel prices by smuggling it into other countries for a profit. He also said the Government would decide on the use of the MyKad for petrol purchases soon. On another matter, Abdullah said it was all right for Umno members, including those who were MPs, to make constructive criticism against the Government or party policies as long as they got their facts right. "Our current practice is not like we are going to take serious action against them, but if what was said was factually wrong, then the party must take action," he said. He was asked to comment on backbencher Pasir Salak MP Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman's call to Abdullah to review the position of Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim. Tajuddin had said in the Dewan Rakyat that Zaid had made baseless allegations against him that had also insulted the Prime Minister by going against the Government's policies. Abdullah said Zaid and Tajuddin would eventually become good friends again after this incident. On the Election Commission's proposal to re-register voters, the Prime Minister said it was brought up by commission chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, but he had not discussed it with the commission yet. On Terengganu Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said's request for the Federal Government to return the state the oil royalties, Abdullah said the Government had not made a decision on the matter yet. On talk of Barisan Nasional Sabah and Sarawak MPs crossing over to the Opposition, Abdullah said he had not received any report from the Anti-Corruption Agency on the matter.

when do i have to do that? Changing of the oil and gas also? Is it necessary?

Time to do some servicing on our body .... a FUll body check up... i am going ... Anyone have any recommendation for full body checkup? Please highlight also the price and some good points why they are recommended... All bros and sisters.. must do regular full body check up la before too late.. sad.. these days receiving some bad news from friends and relative.. got a best friend of mine his father was a healthy and active man before... 2 months before diagnose with Cancer last stage and now only 1 month left now lying in hospital home with liver failure and swollen legs and stomach..... so sad ... a great impact to me to see someone dived from healthy to brink of finish his last journey .. haiz. also treasure always what u have now and enjoy life..

Taken from BITOG, plugs used for 120K km in a V6 Honda Accord. Those guys in there change copper plugs every 30K miles with gapping and cleaning intervals of 10K.

Through Koolaba's technique, i finally managed to hit 13.5km/l and on fuel to km possible to travel hit 790km, used to be 550km..... woo hoo. Just wanted to share this here with the Skoda enthusiast. Koolaba taught to, 1. Shift up to 5 gear as quickly as possible when driving off, theory is at higher gears, less consumption. 2. Apply enough pressure to the accelerator to keep the car in momentum. 3. Release accelerator and allow car to roll in situations going down gentle slop or when red light roll towards it than hard braking. 4. Light footed all the way. Was so happy end of the day to see the consumption control can be applied. I am 50% highway, 50% city. - but really light footed.

Dear all, Finally .... Full number portability. Hopefully this time is for real .... Full mobile number portability from June 13 Wed, Apr 16, 2008 The Straits Times IT'S official. From June 13, Singapore's 5.8 million mobile subscribers will be able to to switch operators without giving up their existing numbers. The eagerly-awaited announcement by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) on Wednesday will give mobile phone users greater flexibility and choice of subscription plans, and boost competition among the telcos, which will have to offer better deals in future. The Full Mobile Number Portability will replace the current solution where a mobile subscriber needs two numbers, so that calls to his old number are forwarded to a new one. IDA said from June 13, anyone who wishes to keep their current number when they switch mobile operator, can do so by the next working day. This spares them the hassle of updating their family, friends, and business contacts about a new number. The new scheme allows a mobile subscriber who has switched operator to: -- Retain full use of his mobile number, which will continue to appear on his contact's Caller-ID when he makes a call or uses the Short Message Service (SMS) or Multi-Media Message Service (MMS). -- Continue receiving MMSes on his number from his previous mobile operator. Pre-paid mobile subscribers can also enjoy the same benefits of retaining their numbers when they switch mobile operator. IDA Deputy Chief Executive and Director-General (Telecoms) Leong Keng Thai said on Wednesday: 'Full Mobile Number Portability is expected to bring about a sea-change in Singapore's mobile market. 'Consumers will be empowered with greater flexibility to choose from the offerings from mobile operators. This in turn intensifies competition and pushes the operators to work harder to attract and retain their customers. 'As we can expect to see more competitive pricing or better value-for-money mobile service deals, even those who choose to remain with their current mobile operator should benefit.' The move is also expected to open the doors to new business opportunities for non-traditional telecommunication service providers like wireless broadband providers and Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers. IDA said there are about 130,000 mobile subscribers who have ported their numbers under the current Call-Forwarding solution. This group of subscribers will migrated in an exercise from April 22. As part of the migration exercise, these subscribers will be contacted by their current mobile operators, who will advise them on the migration procedures. These subscribers will need to: -- Decide by May 14 which number to keep - either the old number from the previous mobile operator or the new number issued by the current mobile operator, otherwise the new number will be assigned to them by default. -- Consider informing their contacts about their choice of number ahead of June 13, which is the deadline for migrating mobile subscribers on the current scheme to the new solution. Consumers can also refer to the Frequently-Asked-Questions on Full Mobile Number Portability on IDA and the respective operators' websites, to find out more about this new solution and its benefits.

So I gather many of us like threesomes in the last thread i post about ntu hostel. I am hum sap.. i don't deny it. just want to put this out to have a laugh.. if the poll is 100% hum sap.. then it will be a bo liao thread.. like what one respondent say.. if not Hum Sap.. not human..

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Hi, need to get some advise on full settlement of my car loan at $40k. My car is 3 yr old and I intended to settle my car loan in full as dont have any investment plan for my extra cash. Is there any issues pertaining to 1) Any insurance issues if there is a claim? 2) Will it affect my resale value or 3) Will it make it more difficult to sell my car later? 4) Any others? Pls advise. Thanks

Full HD and HD ready TV makes what difference(don't mention about price)? please enlighten me.

bought opc 2nd hand last July, then bought insurance till July this year. The road tax is due on Mar 2008, i am not able to renew online coz no/insufficient insurance coverage. In that case, i need to buy another year insurance in advance?

hi all today i went to top up my tank at Shell normally, as we all know, the attendants are more than willing to assist us. however it was rather busy at the kiosk when i was there, and since i have to take some time to add in a dosage of FP60 and so after FP was added, i fill up the tank myself... something odd occurs when barely a liter of petrol is delivery, it "clicks" to signal it's full it cannot be full as i'm 3/4 empty... the auto stop mechanism is 'faulty' ?? i tried again (i always pump petrol in JB and the time when the auto stop mechanism fails was it over fill, rather than this) same thing happened... and i go ahead to manually fill up the tank by pulling the lever after i'm done, i went to the attendant informing him that the pump is faulty but wat he told me in reply was astounding! "no lah, they now put in more air into the petrol that why the mechanism keep snapping back. too much air pressure... " then he tell me 'shhhh' so my qnn to all the petrol companies is this.... are we paying for the petrol per liter or are paying for the air with petrol implying less petrol as indicated on our petrol bills???

Just would like to check if anyone knows of any good, reputable clinic/hospital to do full body check up? Will it be expensive?

JURONG BRIDAL SHOP SUDDENLY CLOSES TELLING MY WIFE WAS HARDEST PART Man loses $1,000, left with no gown, suit and car two weeks before wedding January 07, 2008 HIS wedding was in two weeks. All he had to do was to go with his bride for the final fitting of her gown and try on his suit at the bridal shop. Upset: Mr Kaidy Kofim Kho with his receipt for the $888 deposit he put down on a wedding package with Focus Bridal. But on that day, which was just two days before Christmas, the 31-year-old civil servant found to his shock that the bridal shop was closed and empty. The shop, Focus Bridal, is located in IMM in Jurong. The groom-to-be, who wanted to be known only as Mr Leng, said: 'On my way to the shop, I tried to call to confirm my appointment for the final fitting. 'I called 20 times. Nobody picked up the phone. The alarm bells started going off in my head. 'I decided to go there without my wife.' He had hoped that, perhaps, the shop had closed due to the Christmas holidays, but when he arrived there, he said his 'worst fears came true'. 'The showroom on the second floor was completely empty,' Mr Leng said. He last visited the shop early last year. Quickly, he went up to the bridal shop's photo studio on the third floor. It was closed as well. 'I peeked through the gap between the doors. The studio was empty except for a few gowns thrown on the floor, and a few toppled chairs,' he said. Mr Leng is not alone. Other couples were also affected by the closure. Anybody home? A customer peers into the empty bridal shop at IMM. - Nothing is known about what happened to the shop. At least 13 of the couples had put up their contact details on an online forum discussing the matter. And there are apparently 150 bridal packages that have not been honoured. For Mr Leng, telling his wife the news was the hardest part. The couple had paid a deposit of close to $1,000 for their $3,800 wedding package, which included two gowns, two suits, bridal car service, as well as makeup and hairstyling. Mr Leng said: 'When I called my wife on the phone, she told me not to crack such jokes because it wasn't funny. I had to tell her it wasn't a joke, the shop had really closed. 'Our wedding was in two weeks and my wife had no gown. I had no suit, and no bridal car. FRUSTRATED 'I was very frustrated. A wedding is supposed to be a happy event. I never expected the bridal shop to shut down without telling us, leaving us in the lurch.' Fortunately, Mr Leng managed to get a gown, suit and bridal car service from another bridal shop at Tanjong Pagar. Another horrified groom-to-be was Mr Kaidy Kofim Kho, 33, a business manager. He called The New Paper hotline after he arrived at the bridal shop with his fiancee on Christmas Day to try on their gowns and suits, only to find the shop dark and empty. Last May, they had paid a deposit of about $900 for their $3,200 wedding package. Their wedding is scheduled for June this year. Mr Kho said: 'We are angry, but we are waiting to see what can be done.' Another victim, Miss Dawn Lee, 26, an administrative assistant, and her fiance, Mr John Quek, 31, a senior technician, had paid a deposit of $500. Ms Lee said: 'It's not about the $500, although it is also our hard-earned cash. We trusted them, and they broke our trust. Their actions have also made us sceptical of trusting other bridal shops.' Mr Quek said the shop has 'no sense of responsibility'. He added: 'It's fortunate that our wedding is only at the end of the year and we have more time to look for another shop.' Two other clients of Focus Bridal we interviewed had already made full payments. Mr Darius Tai, 29, an engineer, was not optimistic about recovering the $3,400 he had paid in full via monthly instalments to the bridal shop since November 2006. His wedding is scheduled for December this year. Mr Tai had chosen the shop as his cousin had gone to it too. He said: 'It is our bad luck. I am fully prepared that we will lose the money.' He has made a police report and filed a complaint with the Small Claims Tribunal. 'It is an expensive lesson to learn that we cannot simply trust companies here,' he said. One customer, who wanted to be known only as Ms Christina, said she had signed for a $3,400 wedding package with the shop. 'I had paid them cash in full in 2004 with an open date for my wedding,' the 26-year-old said. UNSATISFACTORY SERVICE Ms Christina, who is in the property line, had planned to get married this year, and had last visited the shop about six months ago. She wasn't pleased then as the salesperson had tried to convince her to get a gown off the rack, even though her package included a made-to-measure gown. Now, she plans to make a police report. Some other clients of the bridal shop have a different problem. They have done their bridal shoots, but are unable to collect their wedding photos. Ms Agnes Chin, 32, a homemaker, had signed up for a $2,000 wedding package and has paid close to $1,700 so far. She did the bridal shoot last November and was to have collected her album in December. She found out recently from the online forum that the bridal shop had closed, and learnt that the shop had handed some clients over to another bridal shop at Telok Ayer. Ms Chin said: 'I went to the other bridal shop and the person there told me they have the soft copies of my digital photos, but the album had not been made. 'I am unhappy because they said they cannot make the album in the way that was agreed upon by the previous bridal shop, and neither can they release the soft copies to me.' The manager of the shop in Telok Ayer, MrEric Chai, said that the shop would give clients the soft copies of their photos if they wanted the album made elsewhere. He said that the affected clients would not have to pay extra for this. The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) said that consumers may lodge a complaint with the association if the status of the business or company reflected at the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority is alive. A check showed that it is. Mr Seah Seng Choon, the executive director of Case, said: 'Consumers must exercise caution when placing advance payment for services to be rendered in some future time. 'It is advisable for consumers to pay as small a deposit as possible and never make full payment because there is no guarantee that the business will still be around when the services are to be performed.' Mr Seah said that in the event that a business is wound up, consumers can only file a claim in court, a process which is 'not only tedious but costly'. 'Moreover, consumer deposit is not high on the priority list of company creditors and they may end up getting nothing after going through the process of filing their claims in court,' he added.

SMALL FEE HUGE FINE Payment for packing duty-unpaid cigarettes: $70 each 3-year jail term for men unable to pay $13 million fine By Andre Yeo December 28, 2007 THEY were each paid $70 to work as packers. But Prakash Mathivanan, Mohamed Hassan Peer Mohamed and Viknesh Mathivanan ended up facing multi-million dollar fines. The reason? They were packing duty-unpaid cigarettes. The excise duty evaded was $654,720 and since the fine for the offence is between 15 and 20 times the amount evaded, the trio were looking at a fine of $9.8 million to $13.1 million. In what the judge called one of the worst and largest cases of its kind, the court heard that the men had been recruited by a syndicate to pack cigarettes at an office unit at Enterprise One Building, Kaki Bukit Road 1. On 7 Aug at about 6.20pm, Singapore Customs officers raided the unit and arrested the three men. They found 2,000 cartons, each with 200 sticks of duty-unpaid cigarettes, inside a Singapore-registered van at Kaki Bukit. They found another 4,800 cartons each with 200 sticks of similar cigarettes in the office. The three men were questioned and admitted dealing in the cigarettes, which together with the van, were seized. On the same day around 6.15pm, Customs officers conducted another raid and arrested two other suspects at the multi-storey carpark of Katong Plaza. They found 1,000 cartons, each with 200 sticks of duty-unpaid cigarettes, in another van. Five minutes later, officers nabbed another two suspects at the carpark of Block 316, Ubi Avenue 1. Another 1,500 cartons of similar cigarettes were found from a third van. RECRUITED Investigations revealed that Prakash, Mohamed and Viknesh were recruited by a man named 'Ruben' to pack the cigarettes. 'Ruben' is still at large. While the trio were hard at work, two vans came separately and the cigarettes were loaded into them. The vans were then left in an unknown destination. The three men told officers they were to have been paid $70 each for the job. All in, 9,300 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes, weighing a total of 1,860kg, were seized. The three men pleaded guilty but their lawyer, Mr Low Hui Hui, said that as they were unable to pay the fines, the maximum imprisonment of three years' jail would be more than adequate. District Judge Liew Thiam Leng sentenced them to three years' jail. TACKLE PROBLEM In his judgment, he noted that cigarette-smuggling offences were highlighted in Parliament when the Customs Act was amended in 1966 to tackle the problem posed by those who dealt in cigarettes without paying excise duties. He said the number of cigarettes smuggled in this case was large. It would have involved planning and a group of people to pack, load and unload the cigarettes. He said figures provided by Customs showed that revenue loss from excise duty evaded through cigarette-smuggling had been increasing in the last five years. Judge Liew pointed out that cigarette-smuggling was harmful to the country both socially and economically. Cheaper cigarettes would make it easier for under-aged people to pick up the habit. And licensed retailers would be affected. He noted that the three men were part of a cigarette-smuggling syndicate and this called for a deterrent sentence. The three men had faced two charges each. The first charge was proceeded with and was for dealing in 1,860kg of cigarettes without paying the $654,720 excise duty. The second charge was for not paying the $58,600 GST for the cigarettes. This was taken into consideration during sentencing. The three men are appealing. http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,...,151775,00.html proven! the higher the tax the higher the chance of pple smuggling. if this is so much of a deterrent, den is obviously not effective against smuggling