Romanian envoy and charge d'affaires of the Romanian Embassy, Dr. Silviu Ionescu,49, claimed that he was not involved in a fatal hit and run accident at Bukit Panjang on 15th December last year. But it seems otherwise.
Pictures courtesy of STOMP/Shin Min Daily
An Audi A6 belonging to the embassy had knocked down 3 pedestrians in total, and Dr. Ionescu, the last person to use the car, had reported it stolen on the day of the incidents. The car was later found abandoned in front of an office building. Ionescu reportedly left the country after being under suspicion, but could not be detained as he had diplomatic immunity and he left for Romania on the grounds that he had to seek medical treatment.
When contacted at that point of time, he said that he would return to Singapore in late January, but that day never came when he had a change of heart, making the public even more suspicious that he was guilty.
Later, evidence surfaced that the car was never stolen, also proving Ionescu was also behind the wheel of the Audi at the time of the incidents. Ionescu has since been recalled by the embassy, but as of now his whereabouts are not known. Let's hope that he will not escape the long arms of the law.
Aspartame. This controversial artificial sweetener was first synthesised in 1965. It is approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar. American chemist James Schattler, working in the development of an anti-ulcer drug, discovered aspartame's sweetness when he licked his finger, which had been accidentally contaminated by the substance. It is currently used to substitute sugar for diabetic people.
As it was concocted in the process of making an anti-ulcer drug, there were many concerns by the public, also because aspartame was found to have caused cancer in laboratory rats. The US Food and Drug Administration first approved the use of this substance for dry foods in 1980. This chemical later spawned a whole new industry when the United States of America's patent on aspartame expired in 1992. Soon after, it was approved for use in all food products in 1996.
Aspartame is not a normal part of the human diet. Furthermore, the US Food and Drug Administration's ultimate approval of aspartame as a food additive is highly suspicious.
However, as early as 1974, there had been controversy about aspartame's effect on the public with long-term consumption. To date, at least 500 reports have been written about aspartame, and a 2007 safety evaluation found that based on the scientific evidence so far, it is safe at normal levels of consumption as an artificial sweetener, at least for now.
Aspartame is not a normal part of the human diet. Furthermore, the US Food and Drug Administration's ultimate approval of aspartame as a food additive is highly suspicious.
After reading all this, what is your stand? Please leave comments!
I will be reviewing the book James and the Giant Peach (don't laugh), which by now everyone should know who the author is - Roald Dahl.
James Henry Trotter lost both his parents at the tender age of 4 when they were supposedly eaten by an escaped rhinoceros at the London Zoo, though we know that rhinoceros are herbivorous. Moving on, James was sent to live with his horrible aunts who subjected him to a variety of physical and mental abuse. Three years on, at 7, he meets a strange man who mysteriously knows about his plight and gives him a small sack containing some magic crocodile tongues which he promises will bring James wealth, happiness, and great adventure.
While running to hide the sack, he drops the sack and its contents spill onto the ground and appear to vanish. He is deeply saddened and shocked that what seemed his only way of escape from his aunts had just been lost like that. However, it turns out that the magic tongues had affected a long-barren peach tree, and it grew a lone peach which grew to twice as large as the tree itself. James' aunts take the opportunity to charge visitors to see the peach and when James is locked out of the house to pick out the litter from the amazed crowd, he crawls into the peach and meets a host of giant insects who had also been affected by the magic. With their help he manages to get the peach rolling into the Atlantic Ocean, in the process squashing James' two aunts like pancakes. They ultimately seek to go to New York to start new lives, and are successful despite facing many adversaries and challenges along the way.
If you like any of Roald Dahl's other stories then you'll love this. It's the usual deal with all of Roald Dahl's books - wacky, funny, and most of all are classics. You can also recommend this book to your younger siblings, it might even drive them to eat peach!
As I have mentioned my interests in the self-introduction below, let me elaborate further.
I picked up badminton when I was in a student care centre during my Primary School years where the sport was included as one of the activities during our free time. I progressed from someone who could barely return the shuttlecock to quite a good player, as I played it day after day for about an hour. Nowadays, I play badminton with my relatives once in a fortnight on weekends if I am free, interchangeably with swimming which I learnt when I went for a compulsory swimming course in Primary 4. Badminton is very interesting, I find, when you observe the look of your opponent after you deceive them and score a point.
Moving on to reading, I developed an interest for it during Primary One, when I would read books by Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl. Though being unable to have a grasp of some vocabulary used in those books, I was able to understand the main story and found the experience very enjoyable and interesting, one that I would want to experience over and over again. This eventually led to my doing well in written English assignments, but I would always fall a few marks short of the top grade because of my poor Oral reading skills.
I played my first video/computer game which was Super Mario, and if I remember correctly, it was on the Game Boy Color. (blame Nintendo for the American spelling!) Later, I moved on to playing basic computer games and then to the more sophisticated ones, and also from educational or non-violent to more violent ones. While some people blame these video games for being the root cause of violence, I also feel that if we can draw the line between real and virtual, such things will not happen. The most extreme acts of violence are usually performed by obsessed gamers who spend all day playing very violent computer games. Many middle aged adults argue that gaming is addictive, and also while it can be, it is the ultimate stress reliever. So for me, gaming is a double-edged sword.
One of my favourite games is Battlefield 2, released in 2005, and it is a military themed team game, which allows up to 16 players in a game usually, but I modified mine to create over a 100 "bots". (Artificially Intelligent players) The game has three modes of combat on land, on water and in air which is fought simultaneously on a large battlefield and the game ends when a side is evidently being held off for a long time. Also, there is a Revival system unique to the game, in which if you are critically wounded, a medic has the chance to save you if he arrives on the scene within 10 seconds of the occurrence. Doing so highlights the importance of support roles which are often overlooked. I especially like this game because it promotes teamwork on a macro scale and not just a small group such as in other team-based games like Counter-Strike.
I made this video with me playing as a support unit on the defending team.
Watch out for the part where a parachuting soldier landed on me, killing me at about 1 minute into the video. Sorry about the lag which starts at about 1.5 minutes.
Here's another one with me playing on the attack team as a scout unit. A demonstration of the Revival system is shown here as well.
This dish was bought from a Japanese food stall at a food court.
It apparently is Saba Fish as claimed by the stallholders. Don't you feel like vomiting salivating when you see it? Though aesthetically unpleasing to the eye, it had a rich fragrance emanating from it. I am not a big fan of seafood, but I was strangely tempted to try out the fish then.
As I put it into my mouth, I could taste a mixture of sweet and salty sauce which blended perfectly with the fish's flavour. The sauce was however too much to be eaten simply with the fish and had to be eaten with the usual bowl of steamed white rice. The fish tasted even better with some lime juice from which I squeezed out of the limes next to it. (by the way, I have never seen Japanese fish served with limes to squeeze juice on)
As I ate the fish, though, I could also sense a strange (alcoholic?) taste but I could not fathom what it was. I detest ginger, and I cringed and flinched when I bit onto a piece of the disgusting tuber. Overall, I would give the fish about a 6 out of 10, for its good blend of flavours and most of all value for money, but there is of course a penalty in terms of scoring because of the presentation of the dish.
My name is Darryl and for those of you who are unaware, I am actually writing this for homework. Fancy that! By the way, I live in Singapore and study in Victoria School. I am in Secondary Two this year.
Besides playing badminton, I also like to swim and read books, especially novels. Of course, like anyone else, I play computer games. I chose to join NCC (Sea) because of the water activities like kayaking. My foot drills, however, need practice, and I always end up getting punished with push-ups for blunders. Another good point about this CCA is that we do not focus as much on foot drills like the others such as Boys' Brigade and NCC (Land), thus having more time to participate in extra activities on top of those that the Land unit take part in.
The most recent novel I read is World Without End by Ken Follett and it immerses you in a deep plot, complete with double-twists. It keeps you impulsively turning the pages, and is a fairly long book, about 1200 pages long, so check it out if you have the time, but bear in mind that if you detest small font, don't go for it.
