It’s easy to take what we watch or read online at face value, especially with content shared widely over various social media platforms.
But a video which poked fun at a slow-moving female bank teller in India by sarcastically calling her the “world’s fastest cashier”, initially went viral before being hailed as an important message of tolerance for people who move at a snail’s pace because they are advanced in years or have a medical condition.
It was shared on Facebook on Oct 24 and drew over 11 million views in just five days.
While references were made to the customer service sloth character in the Disney animated film Zootopia, which drew not only laughs but memes, the latest video ended up turning the tables on its mean critics.
This was after it was revealed that the subject of ridicule in the video, bank teller Premlata Shinde, had been recuperating after a harrowing paralysis following a stroke, on top of two heart attacks..
In the clip, Madam Shinde is seen handling a customer’s money in a sluggish manner at the Pune branch of the Bank of Maharashtra in India. The story was first reported by News Crunch.
Someone who saw the footage recognised her and made a Facebook post explaining her condition.
“Let me tell the truth to all the brainless people who is making fun of her. She is Premlata Shinde, retiring in Feb 2017 from ‘Bank of Maharashtra’, Pune,” wrote Kundan Srivastava.
Madam Shinde is a widow and her only son lives overseas with his wife and child.
“So far she has survived a paralysis stroke and 2 heart attacks. She had just resumed her duties after a prolonged duration of leave for treatment. She has enough leave stocked up that she can avail them and continue getting paid at home till her retirement. But, she wants to finish her service period honourably (sic),” he added.
Mr Srivastava called on people to share the video again, in the hopes that it would promote understanding of the difficulties a person like her has to endure every day in order to do their job well.
The still waters at East Coast Lagoon rippled to life again last Saturday evening, after close to two years of dormancy.
A new cable-ski operator, Singapore Wake Park, has taken over the 8,724 sq m space in East Coast Park. The Straits Times understands that the previous operator, SKI360 Degree, lost the tender to renew its lease to the new player, which is run by recreation and hospitality company Island Lifestyle Group.
The original SKI360 Degree first opened in 2006 and was Singapore’s only cable-ski park. In such parks, wakeboarders or water-skiers are pulled by an electrically driven overhead cable system.
The other option is to go on the open waters and be pulled by a boat and there are a handful of such operators in Singapore.
The new player has made some big changes in rebuilding the cable-ski park, which is nestled between the East Coast Lagoon Food Village and East Coast Seafood Centre. There are now two beginner systems, apart from a full-sized cable system for experienced riders.
“The full-sized system can be scary for newbies as it is constantly running and doesn’t slow down. They might watch the experts ride smoothly and feel intimidated,” explains the company’s director Ekanaga Hatta, better known as Long.
Mr Hatta, 43, runs the Batam Cable-Ski Park on the nearby island too.
The systems run at a maximum speed of 31kmh, but the beginner versions are operator-controlled, meaning that the speed of the cable is adjustable. Newbies will start with a comfortable speed of about 20kmh before progressing to the maximum once they learn to stand.
Only one rider can head into the waters at any one time compared with the full-sized system, which can take up to six. An instructor will be present to guide the watersport novices and there will be a briefing even before they step on the boards.
Mr Hatta reveals that $4.5 million was pumped into the establishment.
Patrons need to be six and above to hit the waters and beginners start by learning to stand on the wakeboard. Once they can, they learn to execute turns. Eventually, they can progress to the full-sized system and do a complete round of the lagoon.
Later this year, obstacles will be added to inject more thrills for riders.
At the park, patrons can wakeboard, kneeboard and wakeskate, where the rider is not bound to the board. They can also waterski.
Equipment as well as compulsory helmets and life vests are provided.
Rates start from $40 an hour on a weekday.
Within the premises, there is Coastal Rhythm, a cafe-bar serving hearty Western and local fare as well as booze.
Although Island Lifestyle Group was awarded the tender in late December 2014, it took some time to gain all the necessary approvals to meet guidelines from various authorities.
Before it opened, the company had been regularly updating its close to 3,000 followers on its Facebook page since October last year.
Ardent wakeboarder Joanne Yan, 29, is stoked about the much-awaited opening. “I have been looking forward to the park’s opening as it’s been closed for a while now and there isn’t any other cable-ski place,” she says. The civil servant used to frequent the park when it was run by the previous operator and regularly heads to the Batam Cable-Ski Park.
Ms Joyce Chin, a mother of two girls aged 10 and 12, is willing to allow her children to try wakeboarding, with the beginner systems in place.
“We used to walk past, but thought it looked very professional,” says the 47-year-old head of supply chain at a furnishings company. “At this new park with the beginner systems, I feel more settled about letting my kids try the watersport.”
VISIT IT / SINGAPORE WAKE PARK
WHERE: 1206A East Coast Parkway
OPEN: 10am to 10pm (weekdays); 9am to 10pm (weekends and public holidays)
ADMISSION: From $40 an hour on weekdays and $60 an hour on weekends
After a two year hiatus, cable-skiing has made a return to Singapore.
Under a new management, Singapore Wake Park – the only cable-wakeboarding park here – reopened at East Coast Park over last weekend, it said in a statement today.
Cable-wakeboarding is water skiing or wakeboarding using the pull of a cable system that runs continuously around the lagoon in the park.
The new facility features state-of-the-art cable systems designed for beginners as well as for experienced wakeboard enthusiasts.
It also has a cafe and a bar, from where you can watch the action.
Taking over from the previous management SKI360 is the Island Lifestyle Group Private Limited. The company has partnered up with Sesitec, a German company renowned for designing and building cable systems worldwide.
A two-tower system is designed with safety in mind for novices, including children as young as six years and seniors. Only one rider can participate each time, which allows the instructor to pay attention on the individual.
The speed can gather slowly from 0 km/h to 25 km/h, which helps the rider to anticipate the pull of the cable.
Experienced riders can enjoy more thrills with a new full-sized cable system with six towers and six carriers.
It uses advanced sensor technology to ensure reliable interaction among all components of the system. Floating walkways on the edges of the lagoon both serve as wave breakers for a smoother riding experience, as well as platforms for riders to climb on and walk safely back to the starting docks.
Riders can practise their tricks and hang-time in the air on the new obstacles designed by UNIT Parktech. Currently being built, they would be ready by the end of the year.
Riders can also kneeboard or try out different options depending on their skill level.
Floodlights will illuminate the area at night so that riders can enjoy themselves till 10pm daily.
For more information, visit: http://www.singaporewakepark.com
As absurd as it may seem to relate a serious political scandal to a religious cult, it is impossible to explain the current turmoil grasping South Korea without examining President Park’s decades-long attachment to the late cult leader and father of Choi Soon-sil – Choi Tae-min.
Though Park’s suspected allegiance to the elder Choi has always been a subject of gossip, their full story had seldom been described in official channels until recently when his daughter was suddenly thrust into the public eye due to reports that she has meddling extensively in state affairs.
It is for such reason that some critics view the “Choi Soon-sil scandal” as nothing more than a belated revelation of what was in fact the Choi Tae-min scandal with roots that go decades back.
Choi, the South Korean ‘Rasputin’
The late Choi’s relationship with the incumbent president traces back to 1975, when the 23-year-old Park had just lost her mother Yuk Young-soo, wife of the late autocratic President Park Chung-hee.
Park was in shock, as was a large part of the nation, over the assassination of the beloved first lady by a bullet from a North Korean spy a year earlier.
It was then that Choi, a self-proclaimed pastor and founder of an obscure sect called the Church of Eternal Life, made his appearance in Park’s life, according to a report by the former Korea Central Intelligence Agency, drafted in the 1970s but published later in 2007.
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Choi accused of interfering in state affairs using relationship with President
Claiming himself to be a psychic and messenger of God, Choi asserted he was receiving messages from the late first lady and that Park, too, could reach out to her mother.
“Your mother has only relocated herself so as to raise you as a true leader of the nation and of the world,” Choi wrote in a letter to Park, claiming to be quoting the “spiritual message” from the late first lady.
“Whenever you wish to hear your mother’s voice, you may do so through me.”
Seemingly intrigued by these assertions, the devastated Park invited the cult chief to the presidential house for an encounter that marked the start of Park’s unshakable devotion to her “mentor” and his successor.
The somewhat dubious identity of the counsellor, who had transformed from police officer to Buddhist monk to Roman Catholic priest aspirant and then to cult founder, did not stop Park from bestowing her trust upon him.
Empowered by the full-fledged support of the strongman’s daughter, who effectively acted as first lady in the absence of her deceased mother, Choi soon started to boost his social and economic leverage, mostly by running what looked to be patriotic organisations, with Park as the nominal leader.
One such example was the Movement for a New Mind, a pro-government social group involving student volunteers that kicked off in 1978. A broadcast by KBS at the time showed Choi Soon-sil was present at the inauguration ceremony, standing next to Park as a student representative.
It was this inviolable fellowship, mostly maintained by the junior Park’s blind faith in senior Choi, which put the last straw on the social sense of crisis against the dictatorial rule of Park Chung-hee.
Kim Jae-gyu, the KCIA director who assassinated the president in 1979, later attributed his doing so partly to the president’s failure to keep his daughter from the inappropriate influence of the pseudo-pastor.
Isolated from world, obsessed with Choi
President Park’s murder, though it was a setback for a series of “social movements” led by Choi, failed to deter the orphaned Park’s devotion for him. Quite on the contrary, she grew even more dependent on the man she saw as an alternative father figure.
“We sent Choi away to Gangwon Province for a while so as to put an end to his corruptive acts,” said a military official who worked under the Chun Doo-hwan administration, which took power after Park’s death.
Park, who left the Blue House upon her father’s death, also disappeared from public attention for several years.
But her estranged siblings — younger sister Geun-ryeong and brother Ji-man — rekindled the perennial suggestion that Park Geun-hye was still and always had remained under the powerful influence of the cult leader.
In 1990, the two younger Parks filed a 12-page petition to then-President Roh Tae-woo, pleading their sister be “rescued” from Choi’s grip.
Despite Park’s denial and fury, the Roh administration seems to have taken her siblings’ complaints seriously. A report drafted by the nation’s spy agency in 1989-1990, the two years following Roh’s inauguration, showed the government was keeping a close watch on Choi and his family, according to TV Chosun.
The document described in detail Choi’s personal life, including his five marriages and uncounted extramarital affairs, as well as his considerable assets and religious history.
Choi Soon-sil, fifth daughter and allegedly the most beloved child, was also included in the personnel information file.
The never-ending quarrel on whether Choi indeed had control over Park may be summed up in a diplomatic wire by the US Embassy in Seoul, a document made public by WikiLeaks in 2007.
Photo: Wikileaks
“Rumours are rife that the late pastor had complete control over Park’s body and soul during her formative years and that his children accumulated enormous wealth as a result,” it said.
Choi’s reign continues, through her daughter
When Choi Tae-min died in 1994, at age 78, Park’s reliance upon him had not dwindled — it had only moved onto his daughter, Soon-sil, who has also recently been known as Seo-won.
Shortly before he died, the late cult leader made more eccentric remarks than ever, according to magazine articles at the time. He reportedly said in public occasions that he was communicating directly with God and that his blood was white in colour, unlike ordinary people.
Upon the death of the original “Korean Rasputin,” local dailies published obituaries describing him as closest aide to Park or custodian of her properties who paid for her living expenses.
An image taken from internet media outlet Newstapa-released footage showing Park Geun-hye (right) and Choi Soon-sil at a university campus in Seoul in June of 1979 where Park attended a public event.
By the time Park made her political debut in 1997 as lawmaker of the Grand National Party and made her initial bid as the party’s presidential candidate in 2007, the junior Choi’s name was covertly mentioned in political circles as the “invisible hand” guiding Park.
But for long, the names of other figures involved in the Park-Choi connection largely blurred the public’s eye.
Among those was Jeong Yoon-hoe, Choi’s ex-husband and the president’s former personal assistant, who allegedly was with the president during her unexplained seven hours of silence following the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry in April 2014.
The mystery led many to suspect a romantic connection to her political aide.
Another was Woo Byung-woo, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, who came under fire earlier this year for his suspected involvement in a high-profile prosecutorial corruption case.
Though it was first speculated the top official was the one in control behind the consecutive irregular charges, it turned out later the actual commander-in-chief was Choi Soon-sil.
“Corruption scandals have been rampant in South Korea’s political history, but they mostly involved the family members or those close to the president,” said Shin Yul, a conservative-leaning professor of politics at Myongji University.
“But this is about the president’s integrity and leadership capacity that matters, which is why (Park) has few valid solutions at her hands.”
A patient’s fart during a surgical procedure allegedly sparked a fire which caused her to be seriously burnt, the Tokyo Medical University Hospital in Shinjuku Ward said.
The incident was reported in Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.
The fire occurred at the university hospital in Tokyo on April 15. The patient, in her 30s, was undergoing an operation which involved applying a laser to her cervix, the lower part of the uterus.
The laser is believed to have been ignited by the gas she passed. The fire burnt much of her body, including her waist and legs, the report said.
A committee of external experts who examined the case said in a report released on Oct 28 that no flammable materials were in the operation room during the surgery.
It also mentioned that the operation equipment was functioning normally.
“When the patient’s intestinal gas leaked into the space of the operation (room), it ignited with the irradiation of the laser, and the burning spread, eventually reaching the surgical drape and causing the fire,” the report said.
This article was first published on Oct 31, 2016. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
“This is by far the most sophisticated, largest money laundering case the (Commercial Affairs Department) has handled,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Kiat Pheng at the opening of Yeo’s trial.
SINGAPORE – The trial for former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei opened on Monday (Oct 31), with prosecutors leveling that he had accumulated some S$26 million “during and after” his near five-year stint as a wealth planner through various means, including illicit…
The solar panels, expected to be installed by 2017, are expected to generate at least 9 per cent of the building’s energy consumption and help it save an estimated S$10,000 per year on energy bills.
Choi Soon-sil, accused of interfering in state affairs using her relationship with President Park Geun-hye, arrived at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office building in Seoul on Monday to face questioning over her alleged influence peddling.
Choi, a longtime confidante and shaman-like adviser to Park, had returned to Seoul on Sunday from Europe, capping a week of turmoil that led to a massive anti-government rally over the weekend.
Choi, a private citizen with no position in making policy, will be investigated over allegations of taking advantage of her political ties with President Park and coercing conglomerates to donate money to two foundations she controls.
She is also accused of seeking academic favors from professors at Ewha Womans University for her daughter Chung Yoo-ra.
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Choi accused of interfering in state affairs using relationship with President
A man in China who leaped into a panda enclosure in a zoo to impress the ladies should feel lucky that all he ended up losing were his pants and some dignity.
According to Chinese media, the incident happened on Thursday (Oct 27) in Nanchang, Jiangxi province.
The man had reportedly gone to the zoo with two women.
The report said that the man climbed over the 1.3m-tall railing and leaped into the enclosure, which was 3m below the railing, in a likely attempt to impress his female companions. The enclosure is also surrounded by a ditch about 1.5m wide.
The only panda in the enclosure at that time was the 12-year-old Mei Ling, which weighs 120kg. Emboldened by the fact that he was not detected by the panda, which was asleep at the time, the man walked near the mammal and tried to pat it.
The panda woke up at this time and then charged at the man, grabbing his leg.
Man and bear then engaged in a wrestling match that lasted for about five minutes, the report said. The panda had not been fed yet that day, according to the zoo’s manager.
But luckily for the man, the panda only wanted to play with him, the manager said after watching video footage of the “attack”.
The man finally managed to disentangle himself and fled – unharmed – but not before having his pants all torn up. The zoo also said later that Mei Ling was not harmed in the tussle.
The zoo manager has reminded visitors that giant pandas, although frequently seen eating bamboo leaves, stems and shoots, are known to supplement their diet with rabbits or rodents, the South China Morning Post reported.
We can probably conclude that one male definitely did impress the ladies in that enclosure on Thursday. Yes, Mei Ling is male.
"Think before you leap" is great advice, and has been for ages. One man in China learned this the hard way after landing in a panda enclosure at a zoo in an apparent attempt to impress the ladies.
SINGAPORE – The trial for former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei opened on Monday (Oct 31), with prosecutors leveling that he had accumulated some S$26 million “during and after” his near five-year stint as a wealth planner through various means, including illicit…
