Lai See just committed a subversive act. She broke off a piece of her cookie and declared it a separate crumb. Perhaps we should mention that the cookie was a 'Peaceful Power Transfer'. That's the actual name given to the date cakes and almond snaps. It seems Taiwan has decided to commemorate its 10th presidential election through baked goods. A couple of boxes just showed up at the SCMP. On the side is a list of the candidates and a pie chart showing who got what percentage of the vote. But it's the picture on the top of the box that really takes the biscuit. This shows the smiling visages of the various candidates superimposed over an aerial photo of Taiwan with the words 'Peaceful Power Transfer' scrawled under them in gold. Beneath this is the following quote from Nobel Laureate Lee Yuan-tseh: 'Taiwan has a choice: we can rise or we can sink. We must face up to the abyss which blocks crucial future development. 'The people of Taiwan must pull together to bridge this abyss with hope.' Inspiring words indeed, but we feel they fail to address the fundamental question here. Where are the chocolate chips? Dotcom-ish: Lai See's 'Cutting Edge Technologist of the Month' award goes to a Malaysian company. Blue chip Sime Darby recently announced its plans to tap its sizeable cash reserves to invest in e-commerce. Analysts have said investors aren't that interested in Sime Darby because of its 'apparent indifference in embracing the new economy'. Perhaps because they only found out about it last week. Last week found chief executive Nik Mohamed Yaacob announcing: 'We are looking at some aspects of this so-called dotcom business.' Sounds like Sime Darby mighty be getting a so-called site on that new fangled web thingy. Peak performance: See if you can guess where this quote came from: '. . . black, svelte . . . hard and slippy, like Naomi Campbell's loins. 'With mountains, the same thing happens as does with women, that the desire they provoke is inversely proportional to the number of times you've been on top of them.' Was it: A) Penthouse. B) A travel guide published by the Spanish Government. C) Al Gore's memoirs. D) A book called The Heights of Ecstasy: Why Mountaineering is Better Than Sex. The answer is B. And Spanish women's groups are none too impressed by their government's bid to eroticise the landscape. There was outcry and the guide has since been withdrawn. Naomi Campbell could not be reached for comment. Graphic: whee05gbz
