talkshop

Pirate-busting dogs face new obstacle
KUALA LUMPUR — Movie pirates are spraying chemicals on their bootleg DVDs to confuse two United States-loaned dogs who this month helped Malaysian authorities sniff out nearly one million illegal discs, an official said yesterday.
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The two female Labradors have been trained to detect polycarbonate chemicals used in manufacturing discs.
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But officials received a tip-off that bootleggers are using chemical sprays to throw Lucky and Flo off the scent, said Mr Fahmi Kassim, the Domestic Trade Ministry’s enforcement chief in Johor state. “The pirates are believed to be desperate because the dogs were so successful,” he told AP.
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Last week, ministry authorities said the dogs were moved to a safe house after a source informed them that the pirates were offering a bounty to anyone who could kill the dogs, which are on loan for at least a month from the Motion Picture Association of America. — AP

Im sure the dogs will smell the DVD fragrance the moment they step into China.

Over the Chinese New Year holiday, a couple of us went to Ha Er Bin and a bunch of us went to Beijing. It was a good time at Beijing, th cultural centre of China, visiting the sites filled with pre-historic flavour. Eg: He Shen Fu, Yuan Ming Garden, Yi He Yuan, Forbidden Palace, Ming Mausoleum and of course, the famous Great Wall of China.

The old traits of the travel agency surfaced, with 1/4 of the time spent in shops that sponsored our trip. Some of us leave wondering whether is there any truth in the items they sell.

Over the previous weekend, I went to Nanjing with a NOC mate, Benghan plus a colleague, Amanda and her friend. Also another historically importance place, with the Sun Yat Sen grave, XuanWu Lake, Fuzi Miao and Yu Hua Tai. Home to many cultural incidents like the Taiping Rebellion, Yu Hua Tai martyr sacrifices and Sun Quan’s grave and capital during Warring States.

Details…. in future!

Just 2 weeks back, SHEN organized another In Conversation, this time we met up with Mr. Vincent Choo from Yum! Who runs the restaurants, KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut in China. He is their Business Development Director, aimed at bringing these delicacies into the Chinese market.

In most cases, SHEN liaises with Singaporeans with regards to such In Conversations. Mr. Choo is slightly different in that he is a Malaysian. Nevertheless, it does not make the discussion any less exciting.

He spoked about the natural difficulties everyone faces while working in China and it takes more than just management skills and ideas to make things run in China. As he has mentioned, the local Chinese are less receptive to such methods.

Taco Bell in China is segmented to the upper class and its food is highly priced in te F&B industry. Given that Mexican cuisine is not something all Chinese might enjoy, it is more viable to run it as a foreign food restaurant. Otherwise going for high volume and affordable sales like any fast food restaurant would be unwise.

A topic like that rings dearly in everyone’s heart given our daily interactions with the locals. Even I myself am baffled by how I can engage them since I work in the service industry.

Just for the record, “In Conversation with SHEN” is an event organized by the Shanghai House of Entrepreneurs NUS (SHEN). We are a bunch of motley students cum interns in Shanghai aimed at spreading the good word of the NOC program for our university, NUS.

Every now and then, we invite someone from the various industries in Shanghai to join us for a short lunch and chit-chat session about his or her experiences in China. Of course, when we get lucky, an excursion might be included. Just as Mr. Terry Khoo of 3G industries has kindly extended one to us.

Currently, we are working on three projects.

• YEN, Young Executive Networking Night
• Singapore Food Fest
• Food from the Heart

With the bulk on social enterprise, things are looking bright, so stay tuned.