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Please read interview http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/...,781597,00.html

Taking the shine off ambulance unit's glow 13 Feb 2012 Straits Times LAST SEPTEMBER, I was referred to 995 when I called 999 for an ambulance to ferry my wife to Gleneagles Hospital. Soon, an ambulance from Civic Ambulance Services, a member of the Nightingale Group, arrived. The team arrived at my unit - on the seventh floor, with no lift landing - with a wheelchair but my wife couldn't sit as she was in pain. This angered the crew, one of whom raised his voice when I requested that they bring the stretcher trolley up to the sixth floor. Both the crew members refused, claiming it was impossible although I had witnessed an ambulance team doing so previously. Finally, one of the crew members brought the stretcher and trolley up. The three of us tried lifting my wife but it was difficult. They ignored my request to wait while my daughter sought our neighbour's assistance. In the end, we managed to take her down, but after a trying time. The crew showed no civic-mindedness or compassion even remotely worthy of the group's name - Nightingale. MediaCorp's current Channel 8 series Rescue 995 prompted this recollection. The creators do not seem to have done their homework before promoting 995 rescue teams in such a glowing light. Chua Yap Soon

i've been wanting to change my car for a few months now, was at a car wash when a driver with the new jetta pulled up beside and i chatted with him about his new car according to him he's able to get 13 - 16++km/l easily despite the car being new and haven't ran in, plus because there is no vtec the car's power can be felt without having to hit 4.5krpm so i dropped by VW today after work to view the jetta, was extremely disgusted by the interior quality - no boot release lever, its a button recycled from the windows up/down plastic - hard interior plastics reminds me of the hyundai getz, the car might look good when new but it certainly won't look the same after 3 years - car seat railings are clearly exposed - leather seats lack the premium leather touch that you'll find in a passat - steering wheel feels cheap, like from a getz - despite reviews saying that the interior space has increased the car is not more spacious than a honda accord. the accord is the least spacious when compared against the camry, teana, i45 and k5 i decided that it would be well worth it to top up the 10k to get a scirocco, went over to the car and found the same lousy quality interior for what is supposed to be a premium car. i had expected at least quality on par with a honda accord or a civic but the touch was bad, the rear passenger seats lack space and unlike the kia koup, the front seat pull down lever doesn't automatically push the seat forward. worst, there is no such lever for the driver's seat the only car i could live with was the golf but i don't like the idea of driving a hatchback. the passat feels solid too but its too big for me to drive i'm very surprised that sgcarmart's reviews say that VW's quality is amongst the best. during my visit i dropped by honda to view the civic and kia to view the k5 and koup. the k5 had the best interior, koup's interior was good too. the new civic is very cramped but has an interior that is slightly better than the koup. but the worst interior quality was in the jetta and followed very closely by the scirocco i found myself more comfortable in the cheapest car i saw, the kia koup than in a premium scirocco. i can't decide which is worst, the cramped civic or the lousy quality jetta am i the only one thinking this way? the koreans were amazing! top notch interior, plastics felt expensive, leg rooms are great the k5 even has a foldable gps unit built into the pillar. i'd have a hard time deciding between the k5 and the passat if the passat were priced the same against the k5. edit: i didn't test drive any of the cars, i was originally interested in the sport tsi jetta or the scirocco but was too turned off by the interior to ask for a test drive. is the drive that amazing? online reviews say that the older jetta's handling is beyond words terrific. how's the kia koup's drive? the car impressed me a lot! the k5 too, but i'm more into a 1.6L car for the fuel economy and lower road tax

Nice video of the Toyota 86 / GT86 with compilation scenes from prototype testing, on the track, and pulling off some drifts and performance driving. Some nice homage paid to the Toyota Sports 800 and AE86 as well. Check the video I really think Toyota is making a good work promoting its new sports car...and think it will be a huge success. What about you?

Honda Recalls 304,000 Vehicles Worldwide Recently Toyota and now : http://bizdaily.com.sg/newsite/honda-recal...cles-worldwide/

SMRT, SBS Transit fined for service quality breaches By Joanne Chan | Posted: 21 October 2011 2028 hrs SINGAPORE: Bus operators SMRT and SBS Transit have been fined by the Public Transport Council (PTC) for service quality breaches. For the six-month period from 1 December 2010 to 31 May 2011, both operators had instances of failing to depart from bus interchanges on time, and also exceeding the maximum passenger load. SBS Transit was fined S$700, and SMRT S$300. Chairman of the Public Transport Council, Gerard Ee, said: "Although the operators have generally been able to meet the Quality of Service standards set for basic bus services, the latest performance results indicate that they face some challenges in continuing to deliver service quality as public transport ridership increases." To address this problem, Mr Ee noted that the operators are investing in more new buses and recruiting more drivers. The Land Transport Authority is also currently reviewing the bus service levels to address issues of crowdedness, frequency and reliability. -CNA/ac Fined $700 / $300 for service breaches? Can we bill them back for time lost, etc when their buses break down? Freaking joke, might as well dont fine and tell them they are doing a good job.

1. Lexus 2. Honda 3. Acura 4. Mercedes Benz 5. Porsche (tied) 5. Mazda (tied) 7. Toyota 8. Infiniti 9. Cadillac 10. GMC (http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20110629-286621.html) S'poreans who keep thinking tat toyota is the most reliable need to be educated.

MG somemore..

Lately i when i pump petrol in johor, base on my observation i feel that the petrol quality is not stable. Meaning for Ron 97 u pump at the same petrol station sometime u can feel no power , and sometime is ok. I have call their HQ they told me sometime is due to contamination. Especially when there is flood. The fuel contaminate with rain water, so be extra careful when pumping petrol in Johor.

was doing glossaries at fairprice@jp one fine weekday after work and felt like making steak... a sudden surge of memories back in Aussie where good steak beef is available everywhere... student time, trying to cook every meal to save... but after looking around the whole fairprice (at basement), all I can find is those rock hard frozen beef... geezzz... so ya, any accessible place around the west that sells quality steak beef meat?

http://www.motorward.com/2010/07/hyundai-n...car-in-germany/ No, it isn't a joke. German motoring magazine AutoBild has awarded Hyundai Motor Company the honour of first-place in its annual AutoBild Quality Report for 2010. Hyundai edged out local manufacturers BMW and Audi, and eclipsed its rival Toyota to take the prestigious award based on a comprehensive analysis of reliability, long-term quality and customer satisfaction. Personally I think quality of Hyundai has improved tremendously since 2005 till now.

Alec Tok- Reform Party http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnxL3Qdx0Hc

S.Korean tyre maker probed over quality standards HONG KONG: South Korea's Kumho Tire, the biggest tyre supplier to carmakers in China , is conducting an internal investigation following a report that its tyres failed to meet quality standards. According to a Chinese state television report, Kumho used more material from unfinished tyres than allowed, to save on costs. The report has sparked anxiety among some large automakers because Kumho counts the likes of General Motor and Peugeot Citroen as clients. According to the report, the tyre maker used excessive amounts of recycled tyres as raw materials in its manufacturing facility in Tianjin. That could cause the tyres to rupture. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is said to be conducting its own probe into the matter. A Kumho spokesperson has come out to say that the company would cooperate with investigators . The spokesperson defended the company's practice of using a percentage of recycled rubber on new tyres, insisting that there are no safety issues. Kumho currently has four tyre plants on the mainland. As the world's biggest auto market today, China is also Kumho's biggest growth market, accounting for some 30 per cent of global sales. Some automakers have already started to distance themselves from the tyre maker. Volkwagen Shanghai said none of its cars uses Kumho tyres while Hyundai Motor's Beijing venture is also investigating the claims. General Motors Shanghai said it would handle consumer complaints and inquiries into the matter. Shares in Kumho on Thursday fell nearly eight per cent in Seoul on the news. -CNA/wk http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/cor...1117147/1/.html

Grassroot organisation Chairman dumped pregnant mistress (updated) February 28th, 2011 | Author: Your Correspondent On 24th February 2011, the LianHe WanBao carried an article on a Singaporean married man dumping his pregnant mistress from Hong Kong and how he had cheated on her. Sindy Wong, the mistress got pregnant twice and on the first instance, he convinced her to abort the child citing health as a reason. On the second pregnancy, he again convinced her to abort the child but not after asking her if the child was his. One of our readers who claims to know the man has written in to reveal that the man is the Chairman of a grassroot organisation in Toa Payoh East, Mr Raymond Teoh Tham Kim who was once an Assistant Vice-President at Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. According to him, the mistress has a facebook page and had uploaded several pictures of her with Raymond Teoh, some intimately. One of the pictures on her facebook page was used in the WanBao article. He added that Raymond Teoh is married with one child and this is not the first time that he had an extra-marital affair. . Update Since the publishing of this news, more readers have contacted the Temasek Review, confirming that the said person is none other than Mr Raymond Teoh Tham Kim, RC Chairman of Toa Payoh East Zone 6 [Link]. One reader also pointed out that on Ms Sindy Wong

Not sure how true, but got this msg from my friend. For those with tuned engines or customed maps:

Feb 21, 2011 Cut the costs of quality childcare I REFER to last Thursday's report ("More help urged for women caregivers") in which the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) urged the Government to beef up the quality of childcare centres. However, beyond just the quality, more effort must be made to reduce the rapidly escalating cost of childcare. Currently, quality childcare costs have surpassed the cost of university tuition. This is extremely worrying as it makes it hard for parents to save for essentials like university education and health care. Affordable childcare is a necessary requirement for working parents, not a luxury. As Singaporeans tend to have children when they are much older, their parents might not be able to provide free childcare for them and maids are getting increasingly expensive even for middle-income families. In France, the childcare system is extensive and covers everyone. The model is based on the idea that caring for the next generation should be a shared responsibility of the state and parents. The French do not rely on maids to bring up the children. This being the case, the French are willing to be taxed for quality childcare. To ensure that all strata of society can afford childcare, parents pay on a sliding scale based on household income and residential address. It is unsustainable to allow our childcare costs to continue to escalate faster than university tuition costs. Hopefully, the French model, though not without its flaws, provides us with ideas on how to move forward. Laurelle He (Ms) Another one who simply wants the gahmen to solve their problems for them. She willing to pay tax same rate as in France? Raise problem but got no solution to offer. Really dislike this type of people. Didn't she know that having and raising kids is the PARENTS' responsibility and not the gahmen's?

Admin.....do we all think some of these reviews are not done by ADs or PIs pretending as car owners? I havent seen a bad review in years. ==================================================================== Jun 28, 2007 Fiat Punto : The Grande Punto is an exciting car to drive with generous amount of features built-in. Jun 24, 2007 Mitsubishi Colt : Worth the money to buy one of this Jun 16, 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer : SHIOK ! Jun 15, 2007 Mazda 3 : A good looking and well-built 1.6L Japanese car with superb road handling and the drive feels like an entry level of a continental car. Jun 03, 2007 Subaru Legacy : Style, Space, Pace and very tuneable for the hardcore racer turned family man. May 31, 2007 Toyota Celica : The drive of the lifetime.... Celica SS2 M May 22, 2007 Hyundai Verna : Value for Money Ride May 22, 2007 Hyundai Verna : Well Priced Small Car that Drives Great in Singapore May 20, 2007 Toyota Caldina : Sleeper fast car for Family man May 08, 2007 Chevrolet Optra : Practical car and value for money! May 04, 2007 Toyota Caldina : A car that changes your view on wagons..... May 03, 2007 Mazda 2 : I Love my Demio and the pple from the DemioCLub. Apr 28, 2007 Ford Laser : A Japan assemble car which is afforable and has great handling. Apr 23, 2007 Honda Civic : Sporty "Grown-Up" Family Sedan that Apr 22, 2007 Hyundai Verna : Not at the Jap Level but is getting close

hi, would like to ask what can be done to enhance the sound quality for my car. a 1.1 hatchback. already change to sony HU, songs are all mp3 format via usb. change front speaker to component speakers with tweeter. thinking of going underseat sub but many say it's useless. used to have a 4 channel amp, spoilt after accident, find that makes no different to the sound. only amplifying it. when blast, the door will vibrates, is this norm or can be prevent? thinking of changing rear stock speaker to a 3way speaker. can't go for passive sub as rear is filled with my sport gears and i go for pick up. don't like dead weight in car.

Hey mcf-ers, Strange topic to be made as my first, but heck. In need of a place to buy off-the-shelf suits. Why not tailored? Cos i've got a conference next week and I just realized the one i currently have...well let's just say, doesn't flatter me anymore. Single-breasted, clean look, maybe in black or navy blue. Anyone out there with any lobangs? I heard there's one near SPH at braddell - one of the flatted factories. LL if cannot find, then no choice gotta head to G2000 or sth. Thanks in advance!

Just to share what we're facing or going to face in future. This chap is applying for a job with me & i've deleted key info. As below: St.Catharine

http://www.jdpower.com/autos/ratings/quali...try-premium-car JD power is a reputed (read, long-time) quality index

Just when we thought China's automotive industry had made some headway in the quality department, we get word that complaints about new car quality in the country have risen significantly over the past few months. During the first quarter of this year, complains on vehicles purchased within the last six months climbed 15 percent over last year's figures. Those numbers come courtesy of the China Association for Quality. Even more surprising, the increase marks a nine-percent jump over the number of complaints filed during the fourth quarter of 2009. By and large, the defects concerned engine issues as well as small parts. A total of 94.6 percent of the complaints were lodged against cars costing less than $44,000. [source: Gasgoo]

who knows?

- the Unclemobile that has been in the limelight due to faulty accelerator pedals in left hand drive form. Today I was bored. I came home from my day job, made myself a cup of tea as usual, ate dinner with the family and decided that I would write something that would basically bore the heck out of me on a regular day. But since I was already feeling bored, writing about a company like Toyota couldn't make the day any duller. Toyota is currently reeling from the blows it had sustained from all the recalls it had to make from faulty accelerator pedals that have purportedly killed a lot of people, mainly Americans. It has learned that in its relentless quest to be the world's number one car manufacturer it has slackened on its quality and safety of its products. Things have basically gotten so out of hand that Toyota's head honcho Akio Toyota had to stand in front of the American Congress and apologize for all the damage done. And there is a whole lot of damage that had been done aside from the important fact that some lives had been lost. In terms of monetary damage, thousands of jobs are in jeopardy as people building and selling Toyota cars would suffer. As Toyota has a few factories in America, Europe and China, where a majority of the recalls have happened, the economies in these countries would be somewhat affected. Actually this is nothing new as everyone knows things like this would happen if a major accident or event occurs. Imagine this as another economic tsunami, we've just experienced the effects of the American credit crunch that had collapsed a lot of financial houses in America as well as in Europe and we had experienced a dot com crash in the late 1990s and the Asian financial crisis during the same period. Economic crisis' like these happens; sometimes the cause is a lack of money, manipulation of money, overinflated reporting and so forth. What is happening to Toyota is part of a vicious circle that shouldn't be taken seriously as its part of the cycle of world economics. Of course Toyota will recover, slowly but surely. But for the sake of an argument; if you are a motoring enthusiast would the death of Toyota affect you? I would be more concerned about losing Toyota when it comes to 4X4 vehicles, as the Toyota Land Cruiser and the Hilux are important vehicles with fantastic off road capability. Both 4x4s are super reliable, hardly breaks down and have good off road ability, better than other 4x4s, bar the Land Rover Defender in my opinion. If Toyota were to close down, I would be disappointed as their 4x4s are fabulous machines. But those are their off road vehicles, what about their current batch of road vehicles? Lets picture a world without Toyota at this point of time ( February 2010). Lexus is considered a separate entity for the sake of this argument and is not affected. This would mean no Vios, Corolla, Camry, Prius, Land Cruiser and Hilux. The Vios and Corolla look like a shrunken Camry (or the ultimate Unclemobile) with some youngish styling touches here and there. But if you went out and bought a Nissan Latio or a Nissan that sounds like Venereal Disease your motoring life would be still similar if you bought the Toyotas mentioned above. There wouldn't be a real difference as the Nissans will still give you an average (meaning slightly dull) driving experience. . You may feel a bit of a change if you went and bought a Honda Civic, a Mazda 2 or 3 or a Mitsubishi Lancer as all are better drives. All current production Toyotas in 2010 are compacts, small sedans, sedans, large sedans, station wagons, MPVs, SUVs but no coupes, really sporting sedans, grand tourers or sporty cars in general. You see, in their quest to be number one Toyota stopped producing any flagship vehicles or coupes. There are currently no Trueno, Sprinter, Levin, Celica, Supra or even an MRS (MR2) in their lineup. Toyota in 2010 are totally concentrated on making and selling dull shopping trolleys that are inoffensive and only somewhat decent to drive and lack a certain sort of sparkle. A serious lack of character. Can anyone out there tell me of a current Toyota that had a great sounding engine since the Toyota Supra of the 1990s? Can anyone also tell me of a current Toyota in the forefront of car design like the Toyota Altezza (actually it was supposedly a Lexus, I know) with its crystal like rear lights and chronograph watch like instrument gauges? The only decent car in their current catalog of cars is the Mark X, which is still conservative in design even if it is rear wheel driven, therefore slightly sporting in nature. But it isn't an all round sports sedan that I would want to buy. I believe that Toyota would need to rediscover their soul or spirit and start making cars that are slightly wilder in terms of performance, looks and character as well as regaining their supposedly bulletproof build quality. Maybe they should not keep their best designs for Lexus and send some over to their budget models. But whatever the excuse Toyota wants us to believe the fact is that choosing to become number one has dulled their senses, including that all important sense of quality in their cars. Going too fast too soon is a fault already admitted by Toyota. Therefore the lesson that could be learned is that aiming for number one isn't that good a target if you forget the fundamentals that brought you to where you are right now. I have to now state that in life, quantity isn't as good as aiming for quality. -the car that may bring back the sporting spirit in Toyota. IF they produce it. I hope Toyota rediscovers this all important fact and remember building cars that are like the ones they built in the early 1990s and then start creating cars for actual driving instead of just transport. Maybe with the Toyota-Subaru AE86 'replacement' things will get better. But I believe that after this recall debacle, it will take a longer time for it to enter production. We shall wait and see, but in the meantime, I am not losing any sleep over this Toyota issue. - A man walks into a Toyota showroom with some pictures. "Hello, can I buy this?" "No, we don't produce it anymore. " - The man continues. " What about this?" " I'm sorry again, We've stopped producing that too." - The salesman then says " However, can I interest you in this? It has good mileage, 4 doors and a roof."

2010 Quality of Life Index: 194 Countries Ranked and Rated to Reveal the Best Places to Live By the Staff of International Living Every January, we rank and rate 194 countries to come up with our list of the places that offer you the best quality of life. This isn't about best value, necessarily. It's about the places in the world where the living is, simply put, great. To produce this annual Index we consider nine categories: Cost of Living, Culture and Leisure, Economy, Environment, Freedom, Health, Infrastructure, Safety and Risk, and Climate. This involves a lot of number crunching from "official" sources, including government websites, the World Health Organization, and The Economist, to name but a few. We also take into account what our editors from all over the world have to say about our findings. Below are the countries that win our top 10 in this year's Quality of Life Index and the final scores for each country in every category. 1. France For the fifth year running, France takes first in our annual Quality of Life Index. No surprise. Its tiresome bureaucracy and high taxes are outweighed by an unsurpassable quality of life, including the world's best health care. France always nets high scores in most categories. But you don't need number-crunchers to tell you its bon vivant lifestyle is special. Step off a plane and you'll experience it first-hand. I always wish quality of life indicators could measure a country's heart and soul. But it's impossible to enumerate the joy of lingering for hours over dinner and a bottle of red wine in a Parisian brasserie. Or strolling beside the Seine on a spring morning, poking through the book vendors' wares. Or buying buttery croissants in bohemian Montmartre...hearing Notre Dame's bells...walking antique streets paved with poetry. Romantic Paris offers the best of everything, but services don't fall away in Alsace's wine villages...in wild and lovely Corsica...in lavender-scented Provence. Or in the Languedoc of the troubadors, bathed in Mediterranean sunlight. Provincial French properties are often keenly priced and lifestyles are less expensive than Paris. The Southwestern Midi-Pyrenees region is a particularly good hunting ground for village homes for less than $100,000