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Friday, October 7, 2016

Following an accidental death at the closed Underwater World Singapore (UWS) aquarium in Sentosa on Tuesday, operations to relocate the facility’s animals have been suspended.

Phillip Chan, 62, the head diver of the defunct facility, was moving stingrays in preparation for transfer to another aquarium when one of them stung him in the chest. Singapore newspaper The New Paper reported no prior such stingray incident was known to have occurred in Singapore. Australian conservationist Steve Irwin died in a similar manner in 2006.

Following a call to the Singapore Civil Defense Force at 2:20 pm, Chan was found near the entrance of UWS, where attempts were made to resuscitate him via CPR. He was taken to Singapore General Hospital, where he died from his injuries. While Chan’s colleagues declined to comment to The New Paper, a staff member at Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa, who witnessed Chan being taken away by ambulance, stated, “It all happened very quickly. The ambulance came and quickly left the premises. I’ve never seen such an incident happening here before.”

UWS operator Haw Par Corporation described Chan as a “veteran diver, aquarist and animal caregiver who had been caring for the aquatic animals at UWS since its opening in 1991”. Ten staff, including Chan, remained at UWS after its closure on June 27 to facilitate care for its animals until they could be suitably relocated. In addition to assisting the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate with their investigations, Haw Par has pledged Chan’s family “all possible support and assistance”. Due to Chan’s death, MOM has ordered the cessation of animal transfers from UWS while investigations are pending.

In an interview with The New Paper, Dr. Tan Heok Hui, an ichthyologist and Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum operations officer, stated, “Stingrays attack when they feel threatened, cornered or alarmed. Sometimes, a stingray might feel threatened when someone accidentally steps on it. Stingrays have backward pointing barbs on the spine that have serrated edges. They don’t just cause physical pain, the toxins in the spine can also cause extreme discomfort. When a spine pierces human flesh, it breaks and releases toxins into the flesh.”

Stingray venom contains serotonin, a neurotransmitter that can induce severe muscle contractions. According to Dr Tan, “If a victim is hit in vital organs like the chest area, it may trigger a cardiac arrest, which could subsequently be fatal”. “Stingrays are not usually aggressive, and choose defensive methods to protect themselves. However, stingrays are still wild animals, and when provoked and left with no choice, they will defend themselves using their sting.”

In an interview with The New Paper at the time of UWS’ closure in June, Chan said of the animals he worked with, whom he described as his “band of friends”, “They are so quietly tame. […] We intend to find them the best homes and environment. The next time I see them, I might not recognise them any more but if I dive, they might recognise me.”

Chan’s work at UWS entailed diving into the tanks and feeding the animals whilst visitors took photos. In an interview at the time with The Straits Times, Chan stated, “I treat [the animals] like my babies.” Chan also related anecdotes where he was bitten by sharks who mistook him for fish, releasing him when they recognised their mistake, describing the animals as “gentle”. “Whenever I get in danger,” said Chan, “I just keep calm. I can overcome any danger by just being calm”.

MOM stated of Chan’s death, “The Ministry of Manpower was informed about an incident that took place at Underwater World Singapore Pte Ltd’s premises at Siloso Road on 4 October 2016. Officers from MOM’s Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate responded to the scene immediately and commenced investigations. Preliminary findings indicate that a worker was pierced in his chest by the barb of a stingray while he was in the midst of transferring the stingray from its tank. He was conveyed to hospital where he subsequently succumbed to this injuries.^[sic] MOM has instructed the occupier to stop all activities associated with the transferring of sea animals. Investigations are ongoing.”

Monday, December 29, 2008

Four UK retailers The Officers Club, Whittard of Chelsea, Zavvi and Adams Childrenswear have called in administrators during the Christmas week in 2008.

On Tuesday, December 23, the menswear retailer The Officers Club’s administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers decided to close 32 of the 150 stores immediately. PricewaterhouseCoopers also announced that TimeC 1215 limited had bought 118 of the stores for an undisclosed fee. TimeC 1215 is backed by David Charlton, chief executive of The Officers Club. This deal saves around 900 jobs. The Officers Club began in the early 1990s in Sunderland and has headquarters at Cramlington, Northumberland.

Also on December 23 an international retailer of coffee, tea and various other hot beverages, Whittard of Chelsea, was placed into administration with Ernst & Young. Its owners were the Icelandic investment company Baugur, who were hit by turmoil after Iceland’s banking crisis. Ernst & Young stated that the company was then sold for an undisclosed sum to EPIC private equity partners. Whittard of Chelsea was founded in 1886 by Walter Whittard, a merchant from London, and now has some 130 retail stores. The deal saves around 950 jobs.

On Christmas Eve, December 24, the UK’s largest independent entertainment retailer, Zavvi, went into administration due the loss of its supplier and not being able to pay its debts. Until 2007 Zavvi had been a part of Sir Richard Branson‘s Virgin Megastores, but became independent due to a management buyout. Zavvi’s supplier had been Entertainment UK (EUK), which had entered administration itself, along with other parts of its parent company Woolworths Group, in November 2008. The companies within “Zavvi UK”, which is in administration, are Zavvi Group Limited, Zavvi Retail Limited, Piccadilly Entertainment Stores Limited, VR Service Limited, Ablegrand Limited and Ablegrand 2 Limited. Tom Jack, Simon Allport and Alan Hudson of Ernst & Young LLP have been appointed joint administrators, and Zavvi will continue to trade as a buyer is found. Ernst & Young said Zavvi Guernsey will be liquidated, while Zavvi Ireland was not subject to any formal insolvency proceedings. At the time of administration Zavvi had 114 stores in the UK and 11 in Ireland, where they employed a total of 3,415 staff. All stores opened as normal on Boxing Day, 26 December, for the normal post Christmas sale.

During the weekend of Sunday 28 December the 75 year old children’s clothes retailer, Adams Childrenswear called in administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers. Adams had previously been placed in administration with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2006, but was rescued by Northern Irish businessman John Shannon in February 2007. A large rebranding followed in 2008, after 42 stores were closed. Adams has outlets worldwide in places such as Saudi Arabia, and also makes clothing under the Mini Mode brand for Boots. At the time of the 2008 administration there were 260 stores in the UK and 116 outlets overseas, employing around 2000 people. Adams is reported to owe around £20 million to Mr Shannon and £10 million to Burdale.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

With online gaming in persistent worlds becoming more prevalent, a US congressional committee has begun to look into the tax implications of these booming online economies. Games such as World of Warcraft and Second Life have large player driven economic systems in which – either following the rules or against them – real world currencies are exchanged for in-game currencies. With the GDP of some of these economies rivaling that of some small countries, the US government is wondering if it is missing out on a potential source of tax revenue: or as some gamers might put it, the IRS is asking “You buy gold?”.

In cases where exchange of a real world currency for in-game currency is permitted by the rules of the game, some of these online games such as Second Life require that players report any income generated by these means to his or her government. In most on-line games however, a black market exists where players buy and sell in-game currencies in direct violation of the game’s rules; situations involving black markets are notoriously hard to tax.

Compounding the issue of currency exchange is the existence of in-game assets. In the real world if someone wins a luxury vehicle, he or she is expected to pay a capital gains tax on his or her winnings. If a 40 person “raid” in World of Warcraft gets a rare “drop,” worth up to thousands of dollars if sold illegally, should they be required to pay a capital gains tax?

Even if the issue of capital gains is ignored, there is still the matter of sales tax. In many of these games, non-player characters and players alike sell items to one another. If sales tax is to be applied, at what rate should it be charged and to what State does it go? Questions such as these have just recently been answered in much less hazy situations such as online versions of brick and mortar establishments.

Dan Miller, senior economist for the Joint Economic Committee had this to say on the issue, “I found that talking about this issue with some of the other economists on the committee, they are not really familiar with what a virtual economy is. The idea of Second Life or World of Warcraft or some of these other synthetic universes, they have trouble wrapping their head around it. So there’s an educational hurdle to overcome here.”

The preliminary findings of the committee state that virtual economies deserve clarification of existing tax laws, not new taxes.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

An American inventor has patented a pair of new time formats with a footprint less than 50% of that of conventional four-digit time. The more unusual of the two new formats, called “TWELV”, dispenses with numerals altogether. In place of clock hands or digits, the new clock uses color to convey the hour and a moon image to convey the minute, which moon slowly grows throughout the course of an hour from a narrow crescent to a full-fledged circle.

The second and more approachable of the new formats retains numerical digits to indicate the minute but uses colors to convey the hour.

Early critics question whether the aesthetic benefits of the moon-clock will be sufficient to encourage users to learn the color-based time-telling system. However, the size advantages of the new system may make it particularly suitable for mobile applications, particularly cell phones, wearable computers, and head-mounted displays.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

After months of threats from the states to take the federal government of Australia to the High Court of Australia over its Work Choices Act, New South Wales has formally lodged a writ with the High Court. Other states have indicated that they will follow the New South Wales government’s lead.

The 30-page Statement of Claim lodged by NSW Industrial Relations Minister John Della Bosca and Solicitor-General Michael Sexton claims that the Work Choices Act is unconstitutional as the act extends the commonwealth’s powers beyond what the constitution has given them. The Howard government has argued that they have such powers under the corporations provision of the constitution. Mr Della Bosca argues that the corporations provision is there to protect individuals from corporations.

Mr Sexton said “The heart of the Commonwealth legislation is its reliance on the corporations power, and the question is whether that is valid in these circumstances. In other words, whether it’s possible to legislate in effect about industrial relations simply because the employer is a trading or financial corporation”.

The Howard government’s plan effectively collapses the state’s industrial relations systems, which differ greatly from the new system.

Thursday, November 9, 2006

The evangelical Christian summer camp “Kids on Fire ” featured in the documentary Jesus Camp will shut down for several years due to negative reactions to the film, negative e-mails, phone calls and letters. Many accuse camp leader Becky Fischer of “brainwashing” the children.

The documentary showed camp leader Becky Fischer acting as a “drill instructor” for young children preparing themselves for spiritual and political warfare. Fischer makes explicit comparisons between her camp and Islamist ‘jihad training camps’. It also shows children praying before a photograph of President Bush.

The film included scenes with disgraced preacher Ted Haggard, who resigned his leadership of the National Association of Evangelicals after he was accused of having sex with a male prostitute and using methamphetamine.

Haggard has criticized the film as mocking the evangelical movement and for using his statement that “If the Evangelicals vote, they determine the election.” The film makers responded that “Pastor Haggard is the only person in Jesus Camp who has a problem with how he was portrayed” and stated that they had been careful to avoid his more inflammatory and divisive comments.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

In big cities, finding land for new parks is less of an expedition than an all-out land-rights battle with property owners. But some cities across the U.S. have found a slightly easier way to add to their greenspace. By utilizing the state’s air rights to the space above freeways that run below at ground level, cities can acquire 5 or 10 acres of parkspace essentially for free, such Freeway Park which occupies 5.5 acres above a freeway in downtown Seattle.

Of course, this free “land” is actually nothing more than open air above a freeway, requiring cities to pay the high construction costs of capping the roadway with land.

Such projects are currently being planned in St. Louis, Cincinnati, Dallas and San Diego. A recent article in Governing Magazine looks at more than two dozen highway deck parks that have been built or are under construction in the U.S. The article finds that even though the price of constructing parks on top of freeways can rise upwards of $500 per square foot, property values and local development boom once they are completed.

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

Google has launched an online spreadsheet site, in a private beta.

The site will allow spreadsheets to be shared between up to 10 users, which is aimed to be useful to teams and small businesses. “Many people already organise information into spreadsheets. Where they are struggling is to share it” said the product manager, Jonathan Rochelle.

Google recently bought the online word-processor Writely, launched a calendar product, as well as a desktop search tool. Many see this as them straying into Microsoft‘s markets.

Google Spreadsheets uses very advanced AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript And Xml) and Client Side Scripting to mimic very effectively it’s desktop counterparts’ functions.

It is surprisingly fast, has very good formatting and advanced formula support, but best of all it has complete support for Microsoft Excel .xls files, and very good collaboration: just enter the e-mail address and you can share easily.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Today, defending champion Novak Djokovic defeated Swiss professional Roger Federer 6–1, 6–2, 3–6 6–3 in the Australian Open 2016 semi-final. Djokovic has previously featured in five Australian finals, winning them all.

Serbian Djokovic won the first set 6–1 in just 22 minutes, with ten aces total through the match. It took 32 minutes to complete the second set 6–3, with Federer winning three games of the set, and serving five aces through the entire match. Djokovic had only 20 unforced errors, compared to Federer’s 51. The seven-time Wimbledon winner, Federer, made a comeback in the third set, winning it 6–3. It was the longest set of the match, taking 45 minutes.

Djokovic managed to win the fourth set 6–3 in 40 minutes, thus going through to the final. With this defeat, Federer suffered a third straight defeat by Djokovic. Last year, he lost in the final of the US Open to Djokovic who won 6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 6–4. Dojkovic won three out of four Grand Slams last year, only losing to Swiss player Stan Wawarinka at Roland Garros in the French Open.

Djokovic, the number one seed, is to play in Sunday’s final against the winner of Andy Murray, seeded number two, versus Milos Raonic .