A cheeky Facebook page, and some puzzling stuff in print.

One more SMRT-related item before I move on.

Once again, it is insing.com that provides us with some much-appreciated humour. It highlights a fictitious Facebook page titled "SMRT Ltd (Feedback)" that appears to have been set up by a netizen to mock SMRT's recent gaffes.

http://news.insing.com/tabloid/fake-facebook-page-smrt-feedback/id-a6213f00

Here's one hilarious example taken from that Facebook page:

A netizen is depicted offering this idea: "Dear SMRT, there is a vertical marathon and a Sundown marathon. SMRT can organise a Train Down marathon where commuters have to make their way out of the tunnels. There will be booby traps, like your CEO will appear randomly to shout 'Fare Hike!', or crawling cabbies can grab the legs of commuters and shout 'Income Opportunity!'."

To this, the page administrator supposedly replies: "You are at the wrong page. Go to 'Left4Dead'."

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I have been catching up on the local newspaper issues that I had missed reading while I was in Oz. Here's a sampling of stuff that caught my eye:

The Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) came up with a good idea in placing "call us" signs at Bedok Reservoir, the site of a recent series of suicide by drowning. But what puzzled me was the choice of the number for the hotline: 1800-221-4444.

The number "4" in Cantonese is pronounced "say" and in Hokkien is pronounced "see". In both instances, the appropriate intonation gets you the meaning "dead"! Aiyoh, didn't someone spot the obvious? (It reminds me of the marketing gaffe made by Nissan Motors long ago when it introduced a sedan car model here badged as the Bluebird. Try saying that in Hokkien!).

Then there's this weird ad above. Since when has an ache become enjoyable? Or have we become a nation of masochists?

Finally, some hospitals and private medical specialists have been organising (usually) paid-admission medical-themed talks for the public. There are a number of such ads appearing in the local papers. I suppose that's one way to get own-referrals. But the ad above -- presumably addressed to the lay reader -- posed a strange question: "Heart attack or stroke... Which is more life-threatening?"

What should the answer be, whether from the medical provider's or the potential heart attack/stroke victim's perspective? Sheesh!

Tomorrow, I'll trot out pics I took in Oz.