TresSugar

Product of the Day: Anything and Whatever Soft Drinks

GiggleSugar — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:00:00 -0700

"What would you like to drink?" "Anything." "Well, I have a lot of choices." "Whatever." In Singapore, this conversation probably goes on a lot. Why? Because they have two soft drinks available with the two words teenagers like to say the most (especially "whatever"). Whatever is a carbonated soda - you'll know that much going in - and Anything is some kind of tea. What flavors they'll be is a surprise. They're like the iPod Shuffle feature, only they're soft drinks. (If you're like me, though, I never like anything Shuffle gives me, which makes me wonder sometimes if it's really my iPod or if I'm just a control freak.)

Government Gymboree? Populations Spurred On by the State

CitizenSugar — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:00:27 -0700

Feeling lonely, Europe? Two European nations are tackling the problem of declining populations very differently. In France, they now have the second highest birth rate in Europe (after Ireland) and some argue that tempting government subsidies may have helped. France offers generous maternity and paternity packages allowing a mother of a third kiddie to take a year off of work, with pay. Not to mention the perks of subsidized first class rail travel, holiday vouchers and financial help with childcare should you wish to turn down free state care facilities. It is estimated that the government supported baby boom has secured France’s population until 2050. To see what's happening in Spain, and even more creative Singapore, read more.

In Spain, where the government is not interested in funding their birth rate (spending 0.7% on family subsidies – the lowest in Europe) they are turning to another form of population growth: immigration. In 2005, the socialist government introduced an amnesty for illegal immigrants so long as they could prove their participation in the national workforce for two years. Some 700,000 migrants were immediately made Spanish citizens, which both bolstered their population and helped create one of the continent's most flourishing economies.

Maybe France and Spain should take a fun lesson from Singapore. Their government sponsors a class taught at the college level called “Love Relations for Life: A Journey of Romance, Love and Sexuality.” The aim is to get smart citizens to meet, mate, and multiply - giving the population a state-sponsored semi-educational match.com-style boost.

Which method of population enhancement do you prefer? Is the world hurting for more people? Do governments need to pad their enrollments like this?

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Do Tell: How Would You Respond to a Guy With Magic Tricks?

TresSugar — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

I'm going to try not being a mean girl, because I think the following story is all kinds of adorable. But let's just say it's hard not to affectionately tease the guy who runs a class for seducing women - with magic tricks!

27-year-old McDerick Ho co-owns Secret Skills, a magic school in Singapore. The course he teaches? "The Art of Seduction Magic," a two-hour class for $150 during which Ho will teach men ten magic tricks that are supposed to help them break the ice with women they're interested in.

For example, he teaches techniques that allow a man to hug a girl while performing a particular magic trick, all while speaking lines from a script Ho provides that's so top secret he won't even put it on his website.

Although some men are skeptical about magic tricks as aphrodisiac, others say anything that can get a man's confidence up to speak to a woman is a good thing. You hear about rapists spiking women's drinks with roofies or others who are just disrespectful, so it's hard not to see this approach as innocent and adorable - if waaay dorky.

How would you react if a guy came up to you at a bar and asked, "Can I interest you in some magic tricks?

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Adrageous: Burger King Goes to Singapore

TresSugar — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:00:00 -0700

I guess like a marauding douchebag businessman on vacation away from the wifey, Burger King feels it can go to a foreign land, throw away any standards of decent behavior, and just go wild.

Take this Burger King ad in Singapore. I couldn't believe it was real, but alas, it is. You know if they tried to get away with this here, they'd get slapped upside the head by all the angry women folk brainwashed by feminism. (You know, cuz that's how they think?) But in Singapore? Hopefully some women (and men!) will be up in arms at this visual pollution. I mean - if chewing gum is illegal in Singapore, sexist crap advertisements should be, too.

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Sprite Wants Us to Think It Tastes Like a Bodily Fluid

TresSugar — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0700

With all the sexually-charged commercials out there, I thought dirty ad executives could shock me no more. Well a proposed German commercial for Sprite has managed to upset my sensibilities once again by combining oral sex, a desire for Sprite, and a climactic finish. The ad crosses the line from racy to pornographic.

Creating a controversial commercial that ended up banned in Germany does create buzz for the brand. (They got us to talk about Sprite.) But I'm just not sure that comparing Sprite to semen is working for the product here. What do they want us to think? Semen - the taste that refreshes! NOT.

Sprite isn't the first company to have women perform sex acts on a product. Remember Burger King's ad in Singapore that had a woman attempting oral sex on a BK Super Seven Incher? Do you think the trend of pornographic ads will continue with success, or do you predict a backlash?

To see the extremely NSFW ad, read more.

Oh Snap! It's Finally OK to Be Gay in India

TresSugar — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0700

While gay Americans fight for marriage rights, gay people in India are just winning the right to be homosexual. Today the high court in New Delhi overruled colonial-era legislation that criminalized homosexuality. Britain decriminalized homosexual acts in 1967, but its former colonies, including Malaysia, Singapore, and Zimbabwe still have strict laws against homosexual relations.

To see more photos of people celebrating, read more.

View 10 Photos ›

Taxi! New York City Passes Midtown Toll Roads

CitizenSugar — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:00:59 -0700

Want to drive your Caddy through Times Square? That'll be $8, Mac. The New York City Council passed a measure yesterday that will charge all cars heading below 60th Street during the day.

Called congestion pricing, it won't take effect until March 31, 2009 - if the state Senate and state Assembly pass the legislation and it nabs the governor's signature. NYC is set to get a federal grant of over $350 million (which they could use as collateral to borrow $4.5 billion) to improve mass transit. But not everyone's happy about the plan. To see who's threatening to sue, read more.

New Jersey Governor John Corzine is threatening to sue if the legislation passes, ostensibly because the measure will disproportionately affect New Jersey residents who commute into the city daily. To detractors NYC Mayor Bloomberg said, "There will always be somebody who doesn't like things, but they will be breathing cleaner air, they will be taking mass transit, and congestion will be less."

The hope of cleaner air could be true, as this plan is in effect in cities worldwide. Singapore put the brakes on innercity driving in 1998. London enacted a similar plan in 2003 and has seen a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent. Stockholm has done it, and Milan followed suit this year.

Is this a step in the right eco-direction? Will people be more likely to hop on transit if their wallet is impacted?

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