ThE AlPhA MaLe

May you read this in the best of health. Keppel unit to pay $422 million to resolve Petrobras bribery probes (Reuters 23rd Dec 2017) The above was the headline from Reuters a few days ago. 13 contracts were awarded totalling >USD$300m with the help of "dirty" monies. To put into context, the practice saw USD$55m paid out to different persons of influence between 2010 to 2014. Present and past employees have been disciplined and the most guilty of all are still facing investigations. One has spilled the beans to US authorities in exchange for leniency while the company has been fined across 3 countries worth >USD400m. Keppel FELS (Far East Levingston Shipbuilding) – a subsidiary of Kepple Offshore & Marine - was once awarded the largest rig builder in the world 2013 for delivering 21 rigs in a calendar year. While the corruption case centered on awarding the contracts to Keppel, there is no mention of the engineering integrity of the rigs delivered;...

Singapore, don’t blame the players, blame the incompetent local game " n late 2014, the FAS commissioned a survey that showed one out of every two children wanted to play football, but only 5.9 per cent of boys and 1.6 per cent of girls actually did so. The paucity of nearby pitches, inadequate coaching, too much studying and society’s twin towers of  kiasuism  and snobbery are still pushing kids towards more prestigious pastimes, like swimming and gymnastics" Read more at https://www.fourfourtwo.com/sg/features/singapore-dont-blame-players-blame-incompetent-local-game?page=0%2C1#FWvt4lKWiBbKylI2.99

Ehem ehem... Applied for a passport through priority service on Tuesday 16th May 2017 at 1030hrs. Called passport office on Friday 19th May 2017 0930hrs - APPLICATION HAS NOT BEEN RECEIVED Called Australia Post immediately after - diverted back to passport office. Called them again, "Im sorry I cant tell you the progress of our delivery." Submission was through a metropolitan aust post outlet. Dear potential priority passport applicants, DO NOT apply through AUSTRALIA POST! Drop in directly to the passport office. Found the following website rather useful. Apparently there are life hacks in getting a passport around here. https://puzzling.org/politics-and-society/2014/06/australian-passport-lifehacks-the-unpaid-version/ " Priority application They say 2 days. But the post office’s part takes at least that long again. I can tell you from hard-won personal experience this week that the post office did not consider 5 business days enough time for me to...