The sun will come up tomorrow
Bet your bottom penny on tomorrow
There'll be sun...
The opening lines of Tomorrow from the Broadway musical Annie rang in my ears as I watched 2012. The satire - political and religious - is not lost on me. More than a satire, 2012 was a CGI slug fest. I bet many of the destruction scenes were farmed out to many different teams to see who can create the best effect for the complete distortion of earth's crust.
The movie aside, this blogger wants to lament a huge problem if Armageddon will indeed be in 2012. It's chronologically too far away! There is way too much time and I wish 2012 were tomorrow!
I bet I will look at this post as I remininsce in 2012 and bitch about why the end never came. Or perhaps I'm already in some better place.
Science fiction movies and TV shows suffer from predictability, which makes them easily to watch. Essentially brainless time killers, I call them. They are quite unlike shows such as... Hm. Many shows are predictable. And there are enough simulations of how the world would end. The interesting question is this: How would what we do change anything? After all, we are doomed biblically. We are not doomed scientifically.
Apart from 2012, I also watched the two-part TV series, Meteor. It showed how a smaller meteor broke up a larger one when they collided and both pieces from the larger meteor hurtled towards earth, guaranteeing some gruelsome end for mankind.
Expectedly, Earth was saved by some brilliant scientist's assistant who only found out about the problems with her equation solving techniques after she gave the answer. Honestly, the show was so boring the writers tried to jazz it up with a few subplots. However, the subplots bombed too. Regardless, the contriteness of setting a science fiction series in 2009 is... well, contrite. It's not something that is going to happen.
My main thought after these shows is "why aren't these events happening yet?" And if these events were happening, would anything change? If so, what?
And if we know what needs to be changed, then why are we not doing it?
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
China Stakes Claim on Santa
Lavender Food Court, SINGAPORE - A China-born Singapore-based foreign talent explains today the genesis of Santa Claus.
According to the Chinese legend, "Sheng Dan Lao Ren", or old man Santa as we know him today, was a homeless old man in China who was so overcome by the cold one winter that every thing on him shrank, except (his) "eggs" (sheng dan).
- Fishy Slippery (Xin Hua) News Agency
According to the Chinese legend, "Sheng Dan Lao Ren", or old man Santa as we know him today, was a homeless old man in China who was so overcome by the cold one winter that every thing on him shrank, except (his) "eggs" (sheng dan).
- Fishy Slippery (Xin Hua) News Agency
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Global Warming
Shouldn't people be celebrating?
Finally, the world is warming up to our presence. We used to bemoan the cold and how much coal we needed to burn to keep warm. Now? No such worries.
Copenhagen - Hopenhagen - Nopenhagen has now become an international laughing stock: Copenhahahagen.
I cannot believe people buy into this crap such as global warming. Look all around you and ask yourself if the green activists are green at all.
If humans used, ate, hunted, killed anything to extinction, then humans will just have to find something else to use, eat, hunt, kill. Why try to change a behaviour that is not ready to be changed?
If most humans don't care, then why even care?
When Al Gore dashes to speak at those conferences, how did he travel? How much was he paid? And for those slides that he made, how did he make them? You see, you can't get shocking pictures without commissioning them. And when you do commission such pictures to be taken, people need to get on location, stake out at location, wait for things to happen, capture the footage, edit and work on the captured footage and so on.
When you calculate the total cost of making An Inconvenient Truth, the convenient truth is that a good number of hungry people may be fed a few meals. Why should people watch the show when they should rightly channel the funds to the same hungry people who need food?
I should stop bitching about this. If they knew the error of their ways and were willing to face it, I don't have to sit here and condemn these environmental hypocrites.
Finally, the world is warming up to our presence. We used to bemoan the cold and how much coal we needed to burn to keep warm. Now? No such worries.
Copenhagen - Hopenhagen - Nopenhagen has now become an international laughing stock: Copenhahahagen.
I cannot believe people buy into this crap such as global warming. Look all around you and ask yourself if the green activists are green at all.
If humans used, ate, hunted, killed anything to extinction, then humans will just have to find something else to use, eat, hunt, kill. Why try to change a behaviour that is not ready to be changed?
If most humans don't care, then why even care?
When Al Gore dashes to speak at those conferences, how did he travel? How much was he paid? And for those slides that he made, how did he make them? You see, you can't get shocking pictures without commissioning them. And when you do commission such pictures to be taken, people need to get on location, stake out at location, wait for things to happen, capture the footage, edit and work on the captured footage and so on.
When you calculate the total cost of making An Inconvenient Truth, the convenient truth is that a good number of hungry people may be fed a few meals. Why should people watch the show when they should rightly channel the funds to the same hungry people who need food?
I should stop bitching about this. If they knew the error of their ways and were willing to face it, I don't have to sit here and condemn these environmental hypocrites.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Life just got harder
Went to my usual bakery to score some cheap bread at the end of the business day where it gives a discount to dispose of the day-old buns.
I was shocked to see that the bakery has radically repackaged its bread and totally reinvented its offerings of buns.
Whereas in the past, one could get a pack of 6 small buns at a discount price of $1.20 (U.P. $1.60 - $2.50), what I saw today were packets of 4 slightly larger buns at the same price. However, the 4 buns were lesser in quantity (about 70%) compared to the usual buns. Similarly, one could get a medium savoury or sweet bun at a discount price of 50 cents (80 cents), they have increased the bun size by about 30% and are selling them at $2.50 for 3 buns (U.P. $1 - $1.40).
Needless to say, life has just gotten harder for the folks.
Whereas in the past, a family of four might be able to subsist on a pack of 6 small buns, there isn't enough to spread the new 4-bun packet around now. The kids might get a slightly more substantial breakfast but the adults are definitely not going to have enough. If the family had to buy two packets of the buns because they can't buy 1.5 packets, the average cost would have been driven up by 60 cents, representing a 50% increase.
For folks like me who prefer to have larger buns, my usual breakfast consists of 2 medium buns. That would be $1. Now with the new buns, 2 buns are too substantial while 1 bun is not quite enough. In any case, even if I were to go for a 1.5 bun solution, my costs have also risen by about 25%.
Many retired contract workers like me do not get a pay raise. However, our cost of living could be spiked by 50% just overnight. Such surprises are really nasty and bone chilling.
If I might be a little vulgar, it seems life has become harder than a viagra-induced hard-on. But unlike the latter, life isn't going to get softer afterwards.
If I might share what I saw today at the bakery - there was a drop in the number of customers, easily a 70% drop, and there were many people looking at the new buns and calculating costs in their hearts. Some walked away without buying. Bread is staple for Singaporeans and yet, with such a drastic move, many might soon have to give up even their daily bread.
I was shocked to see that the bakery has radically repackaged its bread and totally reinvented its offerings of buns.
Whereas in the past, one could get a pack of 6 small buns at a discount price of $1.20 (U.P. $1.60 - $2.50), what I saw today were packets of 4 slightly larger buns at the same price. However, the 4 buns were lesser in quantity (about 70%) compared to the usual buns. Similarly, one could get a medium savoury or sweet bun at a discount price of 50 cents (80 cents), they have increased the bun size by about 30% and are selling them at $2.50 for 3 buns (U.P. $1 - $1.40).
Needless to say, life has just gotten harder for the folks.
Whereas in the past, a family of four might be able to subsist on a pack of 6 small buns, there isn't enough to spread the new 4-bun packet around now. The kids might get a slightly more substantial breakfast but the adults are definitely not going to have enough. If the family had to buy two packets of the buns because they can't buy 1.5 packets, the average cost would have been driven up by 60 cents, representing a 50% increase.
For folks like me who prefer to have larger buns, my usual breakfast consists of 2 medium buns. That would be $1. Now with the new buns, 2 buns are too substantial while 1 bun is not quite enough. In any case, even if I were to go for a 1.5 bun solution, my costs have also risen by about 25%.
Many retired contract workers like me do not get a pay raise. However, our cost of living could be spiked by 50% just overnight. Such surprises are really nasty and bone chilling.
If I might be a little vulgar, it seems life has become harder than a viagra-induced hard-on. But unlike the latter, life isn't going to get softer afterwards.
If I might share what I saw today at the bakery - there was a drop in the number of customers, easily a 70% drop, and there were many people looking at the new buns and calculating costs in their hearts. Some walked away without buying. Bread is staple for Singaporeans and yet, with such a drastic move, many might soon have to give up even their daily bread.
Fundamental Mistakes 3
Recently a UN Report found that slower population growth could help with our environmental woes.
Almost a decade ago, when Singapore was in the midst of coming up with baby bonuses to encourage married women to give birth, I expressed the same view. I believe that Singaporeans were doing the right thing to save Gaia by not giving birth.
What did we do? We imported ready people and they gave birth.
Go figure.
Almost a decade ago, when Singapore was in the midst of coming up with baby bonuses to encourage married women to give birth, I expressed the same view. I believe that Singaporeans were doing the right thing to save Gaia by not giving birth.
What did we do? We imported ready people and they gave birth.
Go figure.
Fundamental Mistakes 2
Longevity is not a desirable result of medical advancements. Instead, extending the human lifespan is the probably worst mistake that medical science have made for several reasons. First, humans should not tamper with nature. We have a life expectancy of around 60 years for a reason. Second, longevity comes at the end of a person's lifespan and not in the middle. Society has not managed to adapt to the new needs of the modern human-turtles. Third, medical measures have not moved with the times. Many of the health indicators are still based on data gleaned from my great-grandfathers' generation.
Human life expectancy is determined by the surroundings that a person is in. Where there is poor sanitation and malnutrition, people live shorter lives but while they are alive, they give birth to more babies. Where there is good sanitation and abundance of food, people live relatively longeer lives but they may decide to have fewer babies but instead invest more heavily on developing them. Such is the nature of natural selection.
What we have done now is to extend life years beyond accepted norms through medical intervention. Human lives are extended beyond their actual use by dates. Transplants, surgeries, vaccines and other interventionist measures have helped humans live longer. However, such a move runs counter to what nature intends for humans.
A certain amount of attrition along the human life cycle is necessary so that the larger Earth environment can be in equilibrium with the human population. What is happening now seems to be that the environment is strained because not enough deaths are happening. This is disastrous to Earth, especially when the increase in the life expectancy actually cause the older folks to strain on the younger folks, rather than make them contribute towards alleviating themselves as the burden on others.
This development is marked in the way society fails to move in tandem with increases in life spans. Even until now, with the average Singaporean gaining 15 years of life over the past generation, the Singaporean society has just increased retirement ages in baby steps from 55 to 57 to 60 to 62. Even then, raising the retirement ages have met with stiff resistance from both companies and workers alike.
One cannot really fault the companies for not willing to hire the overpaid, underperforming old fogies. The labour movement recently coined the term, "Cheap, fast and good," to spur the Singapore workforce to bounce back and become leaner, more productive and deliver higher quality products after emerging from the financial crisis. Think about it, how could we keep the old folks cheaply? We make them retire and then rehire them on contracts at reduced salaries. How can we make them fast? We move them down the job ladder because they should take on less responsibilities to justify their lower pay. Hopefully, they can keep up with the quick march that the companies demand of their younger colleagues in the lesser jobs. How can they be good? This is up to the management to decide and one litmus test is the renewal of their employment contracts.
Age increases have not been kind to the people, since the economically productive years have not risen in tandem with longevity. It is not a surprise, however, since the human body is designed to deteriorate and eventually self-destruct once it peaks at between 18 and 21 years of age. We have not managed to unlock the mystery to keep the body well-oiled and highly functional. We have only managed to stop the body from finding the self-destruct button fast enough. And perhaps we have also managed to find certain restart buttons to help the human body run a while longer on extra or borrowed time. And such times are often at the end of the human lifespan, where the body is no more than a mere vessel to keep the soul in.
Such a sorry state of development brings about certain questions that bear rethinking. For instance, have biologists barked up the wrong tree? Who insisted that longevity was the only acceptable measure of medical advances? What about higher weights, taller heights, higher blood pressure, higher cholesterol levels, higher liver enzyme levels, higher blood lipid levels, lower bone densities, higher IQ, fewer neonatal illnesses, lower infant death rates, among other measures?
I have just thought about how I am considered way off the charts for certain measures when my indices are compared against charts applicable to my great-great-great-great-grandfather. I could be thin like my ancestor too. I can have my blood pressure, cholesterol and what not, all lowered till I meet the indices left behind by my ancestor. However, that would mean that I might have to spend 6 to 8 hours of my waking time exercising in a gym to simulate the living style of my agricultural ancestor. My great-great-great-great-grandfather probably spent his waking hours foraging or growing crops, moving around on his feet at all times. He may or may not get enough to eat - he probably did get enough to eat, so much so that he passed on a copy of the fat gene, which I inherited.
Take a step back and think about it. If I had to spend most of my waking hours exercising, then I would never have been able to push papers as a bureaucrat or lecture in an airconditioned classroom and sit down and exercise ONLY my brain to grade papers.
My lifestyle is entirely different from my ancestors'. How then can I be measured against those indices? And if I could, then how can I contribute anything at all to economic growth?
It probably does not take a rocket scientist to realise that there is a huge contradiction here but why do we still indulge ourselves that what we are looking at is the truth? It is not, because the earth is telling us that we have got it all messed up. And it is a big time mess up.
Honestly, I am not at all happy to have to pay for the collective human stupidity. I will eat all the meat I want, all the eggs I want and all the food I want. And since I get to have it, I will use all the medical services I need. Until one day the powers that be come to their senses, an ordinary man like me should just live out each day like it's his last day on earth.
Who knows? It just might be.
Human life expectancy is determined by the surroundings that a person is in. Where there is poor sanitation and malnutrition, people live shorter lives but while they are alive, they give birth to more babies. Where there is good sanitation and abundance of food, people live relatively longeer lives but they may decide to have fewer babies but instead invest more heavily on developing them. Such is the nature of natural selection.
What we have done now is to extend life years beyond accepted norms through medical intervention. Human lives are extended beyond their actual use by dates. Transplants, surgeries, vaccines and other interventionist measures have helped humans live longer. However, such a move runs counter to what nature intends for humans.
A certain amount of attrition along the human life cycle is necessary so that the larger Earth environment can be in equilibrium with the human population. What is happening now seems to be that the environment is strained because not enough deaths are happening. This is disastrous to Earth, especially when the increase in the life expectancy actually cause the older folks to strain on the younger folks, rather than make them contribute towards alleviating themselves as the burden on others.
This development is marked in the way society fails to move in tandem with increases in life spans. Even until now, with the average Singaporean gaining 15 years of life over the past generation, the Singaporean society has just increased retirement ages in baby steps from 55 to 57 to 60 to 62. Even then, raising the retirement ages have met with stiff resistance from both companies and workers alike.
One cannot really fault the companies for not willing to hire the overpaid, underperforming old fogies. The labour movement recently coined the term, "Cheap, fast and good," to spur the Singapore workforce to bounce back and become leaner, more productive and deliver higher quality products after emerging from the financial crisis. Think about it, how could we keep the old folks cheaply? We make them retire and then rehire them on contracts at reduced salaries. How can we make them fast? We move them down the job ladder because they should take on less responsibilities to justify their lower pay. Hopefully, they can keep up with the quick march that the companies demand of their younger colleagues in the lesser jobs. How can they be good? This is up to the management to decide and one litmus test is the renewal of their employment contracts.
Age increases have not been kind to the people, since the economically productive years have not risen in tandem with longevity. It is not a surprise, however, since the human body is designed to deteriorate and eventually self-destruct once it peaks at between 18 and 21 years of age. We have not managed to unlock the mystery to keep the body well-oiled and highly functional. We have only managed to stop the body from finding the self-destruct button fast enough. And perhaps we have also managed to find certain restart buttons to help the human body run a while longer on extra or borrowed time. And such times are often at the end of the human lifespan, where the body is no more than a mere vessel to keep the soul in.
Such a sorry state of development brings about certain questions that bear rethinking. For instance, have biologists barked up the wrong tree? Who insisted that longevity was the only acceptable measure of medical advances? What about higher weights, taller heights, higher blood pressure, higher cholesterol levels, higher liver enzyme levels, higher blood lipid levels, lower bone densities, higher IQ, fewer neonatal illnesses, lower infant death rates, among other measures?
I have just thought about how I am considered way off the charts for certain measures when my indices are compared against charts applicable to my great-great-great-great-grandfather. I could be thin like my ancestor too. I can have my blood pressure, cholesterol and what not, all lowered till I meet the indices left behind by my ancestor. However, that would mean that I might have to spend 6 to 8 hours of my waking time exercising in a gym to simulate the living style of my agricultural ancestor. My great-great-great-great-grandfather probably spent his waking hours foraging or growing crops, moving around on his feet at all times. He may or may not get enough to eat - he probably did get enough to eat, so much so that he passed on a copy of the fat gene, which I inherited.
Take a step back and think about it. If I had to spend most of my waking hours exercising, then I would never have been able to push papers as a bureaucrat or lecture in an airconditioned classroom and sit down and exercise ONLY my brain to grade papers.
My lifestyle is entirely different from my ancestors'. How then can I be measured against those indices? And if I could, then how can I contribute anything at all to economic growth?
It probably does not take a rocket scientist to realise that there is a huge contradiction here but why do we still indulge ourselves that what we are looking at is the truth? It is not, because the earth is telling us that we have got it all messed up. And it is a big time mess up.
Honestly, I am not at all happy to have to pay for the collective human stupidity. I will eat all the meat I want, all the eggs I want and all the food I want. And since I get to have it, I will use all the medical services I need. Until one day the powers that be come to their senses, an ordinary man like me should just live out each day like it's his last day on earth.
Who knows? It just might be.
Fundamental Mistakes 1
The climate crisis will never go away until we realise that a consumption driven economic growth model comes at a price. If the only way to grow is through consumption, then there will come one day where there isn't anything left to consume.
Just take one simple example: How many cars can you own before you run out of metal, oil, roads, commonsense?
Just take one simple example: How many cars can you own before you run out of metal, oil, roads, commonsense?
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Whatever you can do (tha)i can do better...
Pity the waste - all that make up, plastic surgeries, choreographies and all.
Just see how the Thai school boys do it!
Just see how the Thai school boys do it!
First they loop you in...
Tried changing the password to my credit card last night.
I managed to get past the first screen where I was asked my password. It was a new card and I forgot the password but I tried.
I cleared hurdle 1. Then I asked to change the password. I failed hurdle 2 - enter the old password - twice because I tried it twice. I wasn't sure of the number because the card's new, remember?
Still, I wonder if I had asked for a $1,000.00 cash advance, would I be successful? Especially since I cleared hurdle 1...
I'm not sure I trust technology these days.
I managed to get past the first screen where I was asked my password. It was a new card and I forgot the password but I tried.
I cleared hurdle 1. Then I asked to change the password. I failed hurdle 2 - enter the old password - twice because I tried it twice. I wasn't sure of the number because the card's new, remember?
Still, I wonder if I had asked for a $1,000.00 cash advance, would I be successful? Especially since I cleared hurdle 1...
I'm not sure I trust technology these days.
You can't fly!
Never mind what you think.
How does one expect to cross a 5 lane junction with 6 seconds on the count down timer on the green man?
How does one expect to do it when one is a plump woman who thinks if she takes what she thinks are big strides, she'll take off like an Airbus 380?
How does one expect to cross a 5 lane junction with 6 seconds on the count down timer on the green man?
How does one expect to do it when one is a plump woman who thinks if she takes what she thinks are big strides, she'll take off like an Airbus 380?
Sunday, December 06, 2009
The Damage Begins Here...
Is it me or am I not alone in feeling that one's head damage begins as one navigates the graduate school application process?
The applications - hitherto - do not seem to be going anywhere and there isn't even the faintest hint of any success. When the deadline descends upon you, you simply send in whatever draft version you have, never mind the draft was sitting there since a week ago.
I think it feels so unlike being in the program already, where each word written is one word closer (I hope) to the finish line.
I'm not sure... but it sure as hell feels as though my brains are becoming dumber already.
The applications - hitherto - do not seem to be going anywhere and there isn't even the faintest hint of any success. When the deadline descends upon you, you simply send in whatever draft version you have, never mind the draft was sitting there since a week ago.
I think it feels so unlike being in the program already, where each word written is one word closer (I hope) to the finish line.
I'm not sure... but it sure as hell feels as though my brains are becoming dumber already.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Then and Now
Four dozen of research papers later
Four dozen of grade reviews later
Four dozen of grade inflations later
Four dozen of application essay revisions later
Four dozen of CV reviews later
Four dozen of curry puffs later
Four dozen of cold green tea drinks later
Four dozen of TV watching hours later
Four dozen of course design and reviews later
Four dozen of excuses later
I'm here writing my next blog entry.
Things are in flux and nothing is slowing down. Fortunately my energy levels are keeping up.
The neck is very sore, possibly from missing the physio session and the heavy luggage lugging (from shuttling the "travellers"). I need to find four dozen... did I hear pain killers? Don't be a nutcase! I'll never kill myself. It's a waste of a life. If I have to die prematurely... Oh, you don't need to know the four dozen evil thoughts that go through my mind.
I'm feeling four dozen different emotions now and I'm going to a birthday party of someone two shy of four dozen years.
I think I'll just let my hair down a little this evening.
I hope to return to write something again within four dozen hours. Hope...
Four dozen of grade reviews later
Four dozen of grade inflations later
Four dozen of application essay revisions later
Four dozen of CV reviews later
Four dozen of curry puffs later
Four dozen of cold green tea drinks later
Four dozen of TV watching hours later
Four dozen of course design and reviews later
Four dozen of excuses later
I'm here writing my next blog entry.
Things are in flux and nothing is slowing down. Fortunately my energy levels are keeping up.
The neck is very sore, possibly from missing the physio session and the heavy luggage lugging (from shuttling the "travellers"). I need to find four dozen... did I hear pain killers? Don't be a nutcase! I'll never kill myself. It's a waste of a life. If I have to die prematurely... Oh, you don't need to know the four dozen evil thoughts that go through my mind.
I'm feeling four dozen different emotions now and I'm going to a birthday party of someone two shy of four dozen years.
I think I'll just let my hair down a little this evening.
I hope to return to write something again within four dozen hours. Hope...
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