LIFT: Economics again

It has been a busy week as well as a tiring week. I've been wanting to update my blog but a combination of work and fatigue prevented me from doing so. What's more, I logged in to the virtual learning space yesterday only to receive a bombshell: the BSP3001 forum is active! I hastily read the postings and contributed some comments. Phew... I do like to participate in forum discussions but not not when it's 2 in the morning.

Anyway, it's kinda surprising that there are many LIFT this week. Perhaps I'm jumping the gun here. Below is not a LIFT but a reply from Symantec to one of the LIFT I featured earlier.










If you read the reply, you will see that Symantec is basically saying this: "We can and will set different prices for different people. You paid more? Tough luck." Not so different from my reply, actually.

Now, here's a LIFT that complains about price differences again. Seriously, they really need to revamp the education system to incorporate basic economics into early education. If not, we'll have clueless people writing to complain about things which are perfectly OK in the eyes of economics.










My reply:

Dear Mr Chee,

Apparently, you perception of NTUC Fairprice as selling cheap stuff is marred and destroyed. But that's OK, because is Fairprice obliged to offer a fair price to you? The answer is the same as the answer to this question: Can light escape a black hole?

In fact, nothing escapes the black hole, due to the extreme gravity and the incredible density. In a strange, bizzare way, your logic of writing to the papers to complain is similar to that of the black hole - it is really dense. For that, it goes straight into my LIFT list.

And I guess you can await a nice, politically correct reply from NTUC Fairprice to tell you why they charge differently. Frankly, I don't see the need for them to entertain a letter that has roughly the same value as a worthless piece of crud.

herzberg

The next letter comes from a single, I presume, for she advocates the construction of smaller apartments for singles. Either that or she is a grass widow.










My reply:

Dear Ms Lin,

Wouldn't your suggestion encourage increased singlehood, ultimately condemning Singapore to fewer babies and by extreme extrapolation, extinction? Besides, the government is encouraging people to have more kids and your suggestion seem to contradict this doctrine in a direct and blunt manner; not too smart a move, I'd say.

Of course, you did carefully pad your letter by implying that this may benefit "singles who can't afford to purchase private property and who have no family to live with". I think these singles should then sign up with SDU and get a mate, instead of living in solitude.

You also said you "know that more singles are being tossed back into society each day". Any evidence or statistics to substantiate your claim? Or are you simply just using those around you as a convenient, albeit highly inaccurate and bias, sample? I find it appalling to see such statements being made without any attempts to qualify them. For that, your letter automatically makes it into my LIFT list.

That said, I'd love to see the replies you will be getting in time to come, if there are any, that is.

herzberg

Conscious sleep

It's a typical Monday, with the blues and all, especially fatigue. I didn't get a good sleep last night. Perhaps it's the stress of the tests I'm having today; perhaps it's the projects; perhaps it's because I slept late. But the "why" is irrelevant now, for all I'm feeling is weariness.

I downed a cup of coffee without milk before going for Organizational Effectiveness class and boy, did the coffee did its magic or what? It kept me awake and perky. During the break, fatigue started to creep back but the caffeine effects were not diminished yet, ergo, leaving me feeling simultaneously awake and sleepy - it's a dreadful feeling.

After class, I tried to take a nap in the library but my brain refused to quieten down. Random thoughts came and left and I laid there, on the 2 chairs I put side by side, feeling sleepy and yet unable to lose consciousness. After an hour or so of trying of induce myself to sleep, I gave up.

Which led me to this post. Since I can't sleep, might as well drag my ass up and do something, right? I suppose the caffeine high will wear out soon but I do hope it won't leave me snoring during my Business Strategy class later, in which I have a test.

I was (re)watching The Matrix over the weekend and caught an interesting quote, which now resides in the side bar on the right. I find it to be thought-provoking and I guess I'll add more quotes as and when I see them.

Alright, I guess I'll go for lunch now. My stomach has been growling since I had the pork & cheese sasuage at about 10.50am and the churning noises are making me pretty self-conscious.

On a completely unrelated note, everything around me seems so surreal now. Almost unreal, I might add. It feels like my body is operating on its own, willing the fingers to do the typing and the rest of the bodily functions while my conscious will is fast asleep.

LIFT: Complaints galore

To kick things off for this series, here's a reply from Starhub regarding the DVR issue.










If you bothered to read the reply, you would see that it is a well-crafted letter that seems polite and all. Apparently, Starhub chose to show some goodwill. My take on this? Either the PR department of Starhub has too much free time or Starhub is truly trying to be nice. Next up, yet another disgruntled customer writing a LIFT. This time, the complaint is about Singnet.










My reply:

Dear Mr Lingam,

Honestly, I don't know what you are trying to achieve. On one hand, you "hope that IDA can look into this problem seriously", while on the other hand, you are threatening SingNet by stating that you are not going to renew your contract with them. What has not renewing your contract got to do with IDA's investigations? Are you insinuating that IDA and SingNet has some shady links? It certainly sounds that way.

Network problems occur all the time and can anyone guarantee 100% uptime? For your information, like you, I was affected by the service disruption too. But did I write a letter to bitch about it? NO! Sure, I was frustrated and all but I certainly retained some decency not to write a LIFT like you.

herzberg

Here's another disgruntled customer who wants his Ez-Link card replaced.










My reply:

Dear Mr Tjan,

You aren't very bright, are you? The control station staff has told you that in order to get the card replaced, the card has to be "corrupted or damaged". Effectively, s/he has already told you how to replace your card - by damaging it! If you can't get things done one way, there's always another way. Get it?

Oh, in case you didn't know (and I have no reason to suspect otherwise), Ez-Link and SMRT are separate entities. Therefore, your asking for SMRT to "explain this policy" demonstrates your lack of general knowledge at best and complete ignorance at worst. You really ought to read up more.

herzberg

The next complaint is not aimed at the big boys out there but at a small-time operations in a neighbourhood mall.










My reply:

Dear Mdm Tan,

Don't be so dense; of course the NEA does not condone unhygienic practices. Otherwise, what's the point in having this agency? For asking a question that has an answer that is more obvious than the midday sun, your letter earns itself a place in my LIFT list.

On related note, do you have any witness or pictorial evidence to support your claims? If not, it's really your word against the shop's. What's more, the shop can bring you to court on the basis that you are trying to ruin its reputation. My guess is that you have no evidence to back your allegations up, which is why you are writing a LIFT to the papers, instead of lodging a complaint complete with photographs or witness accounts to the NEA.

Go get a handphone with a built-in camera, so that you will be able to substantiate your wilful stories in future.

herzberg

This LIFT comes from a cinema patron who complains about having a bad movie experience. Frankly, I don't have much to say, except for one thing. Read my reply below.










My reply:

Dear Miss Chee, Neither did the rest of the Straits Times readers pay good money to read your good-for-nothing complain crap, which serves no real purpose, other than to be classified as a LIFT by me.

herzberg

A HDB dweller complains about the amount of refuse she encounters. For once, I shall attempt a parody, i.e. to spoof her letter.










My parody reply:

Dear Miss Priscilla,

It befuddles me every day to see the number of letters published in the Forum section of the Straits Times, taking up the precious space on the papers that could otherwise be used to feature important or interesting news, not to mention the amount of revenue that the papers lost by not inserting full page advertisements.

In the past few days, I saw a sudden deluge of complaint letters, all written by writers who exercised neither restraint nor forethought and some of the letters even sounded threatening.

To add to this, some of the letters are poorly addressed and had no real issue to highlight at all.

I do not understand the rationale of people who behave in a socially irresponsible manner and continue to flood the papers with LIFT. What can the authorities do about this?

herzberg

Well, I know, it's not very well done. But I'll work on that the next time. In the following LIFT, a commuter blames the train for making him late.










My reply:

Dear Mr Quah,

After reading your letter, I guess you can now await a rosy reply from SMRT, apologizing "for the inconvenience caused" and assuring you that "there won't be a next time" and of course, "thanking you for the valuable feedback". But what really earns your letter a place in my LIFT list is not the paltry complaint but your implication of how a "world class transport system" should work.

I believe a world class transport system is basically one that measures up to standards set by leading global systems. However, you seemed to be thinking along the lines of perfect and clockwork operations. Since when is there any tranport system that is flawless, be it "world class" or otherwise?

Furthermore, you knew that the visitors are in town and yet you still chose to write a letter to the papers to publicize the fault of our "world class transport system"; I wonder, what are your intentions? To alert the visitors not to take the train or to tell the train chaps to pull up their socks? Or maybe none? Because you simply wanted the train company to apologize for your inability to be punctual for your appointment.

herzberg

People used to call Singapore a "fine" city, i.e. a city full of fines; I think that's no longer appropriate now. Just look at the LIFT I've shown so far. They should call Singapore a "vocal" city, for the citizens are always using the papers to air their voices. An aggegration of complaining voices, that is.

School matters

I was talking to Dear over the phone earlier on and she made a comment on how I've been blogging more frequently lately. I acknowledged her observation, saying that "I write what I don't say". I remember saying this phrase in an old post of mine but I kinda lazy to go dig it out. I understand that she has been occupied with her academic work and has less time for me. But hey, no hard feelings, we all have our hectic periods every now and then. And mine is about to begin.

So, let me take a brief reprieve from being mean and cynical, as in the LIFT series and narrate things in a slightly more neutral manner. Not that I don't enjoy ridiculing LIFT, though. So like, this post is just an update of the recent happenings in my varsity life, particularly, projects.

Projects. Ah yes, I never seem to be able to escape this term since I first knew of it when I was 11. Although I'm only taking 4 modules this semester and graduating after that, projects still worry me. *guffaws* Can't believe it, eh? I've every reason to be worried, for they are all deciding factors in the final grades. Currently, there are 4 group projects, none of them started. Just nice isn't it, one for each module.

The project for IT1004, Introduction to E-commerce, is not really a project per se but rather a group presentation. We're supposed to present this case study question in class for like 20 minutes and follow it up with class discussion for like 10 minutes. Piece of cake, I would say. At least on the part of how to get the class involved.

Heru and I thought of several ideas to make the presentation interesting over lunch today, erm, I meant, yesterday. Let's see how the other group mate feel about our ideas. In short, our goal is to "raise the bar so damn bloody high" that the other groups will have difficulty reaching it. In local academic lingo, we are the ones who "spoil the market". Then again, it's only with competition, then there will be improvement, isn't it? We aren't the bad guys, really. haha~

As for MNO2311, Leadership in Organization, the project is not so much of a killer. Doing it is fine but it is the preparatory work that will consume half my life force, and quite possibly, reduce my lifespan as well. You see, we are supposed to analyze world leaders, be it political or business, and we gotta read biographies to do so. Yes, those bloated books the thickness of telephone directories with words the size of ants. So far, my group has gathered a few of those behemoths and we intend to get down and dirty with 'em next week. *cracks knuckles*

On a related note, I also have an indivdual project for this module. It's about writing on 3 past leadership incidents and reflecting on the leadership lessons learnt. Boy, recalling is going to be a breeze. After all, I did waste 2 years in conscription and the various less-than-perfect leadership experiences that I have witnessed is quite sufficient. Say, perhaps I should write a book on this. Just like how Scott Adams created Dilbert to mock at the corporate world, I too, can make a comic strip or write a book to scoff at the military scene. Anyway, I need to check with the lecturer if it's OK to base all 3 experiences in the military context.

Next comes BSP3001, Business Strategy Policy. This is a 2-hit combo, demanding that my group deliver a case analysis as well as a written report on another topic with a presentation. The case analysis will be distributed next week and I hope it will not leech the remaining life force that I have.

As for the project, my group has yet to decide on a company to analyze. It's a tough call, with so many companies out there. Choosing one to study its corporate strategies is about as difficult as looking for a male/female out there and studying its suitability to become a long-term partner. We really need to exercise care and select prudently or end up going where most failed marriages go to: nowhere.

Lastly, MNO3303, Organizational Effectiveness. The case has been given out and we got our groups and we know what to do but just one thing: we haven't got anything started. But this can be easily resolved, as we are going to meet up discuss on the direction to take.

Frankly, this is my most "clueless" module this semester. After like 4 weeks and I still have no idea what the course is all about. Worst of all, I have to write a term paper for this module! Argh! And the term paper carries 20% of the overall grade! Double Argh! Either I start looking for materials now or I start spreading some rumours among my class to misdirect them. After all, like one of lecturer said, "You don't have to come in first; you only need to run as fast as the rest are." The good news is that this is the only term paper I've gotta do for this semester.

So, in short, school matters. A lot. Especially when you are an undergraduate. And if you still don't get it by now, the "matters" is used simultaneously as both a verb and noun.

LIFT: Of buses and monopoly

First of all, YES! *pumps arm repeatedly* It seems that Blogger has fixed the image upload problem and now images can be uploaded without a hitch. Thus, I won't be using Imageshack for the time being. And Small Cat Journal will be updated too, after I'm done here.

Here are the 2 LIFT that I did not cover in my previous post. This one belows speaks of the problems faced when taking the bus during peak hours and provides some suggestions, which, in my opinion, are not very helpful. Again, click on the image to view.










My reply:

Dear Miss Yeo,

Like many Singaporeans, I too rely heavily on public transport. However, unlike you, I'm smart enough to utilize a multi-carriage transport device, otherwise known as "the train". Of course, I do understand the fact that the train does not take you to everywhere and in the case of bus service 7 and 16, the buses certainly bring you to places where the train can't.

Despite this, your suggestion of increasing the bus frequency would alleviate bus commuters' problems at the expense of other motorists. Hence, this letter earned itself a place in my LIFT list. Allow me to explain. You see, buses are big, yes? They take up a lot of space on the roads, right? Increasing bus frequency is akin to putting more buses on the roads, which effectively mean that roads are now more congested than ever. What's more, you actually suggested implementing this during the peak hour. On a road as busy as Orchard Road. Peak hour, busy road, more buses - you see the implication?

Your next suggestion of putting up a display to show the waiting times of buses raelly takes the pie. Honestly, I see no reason to do so. In fact, it defies basic logic and confounds me deeply. It took me quite a while to formulate a coherent response.

Traffic conditions vary from time to time and do you have any idea how much real-time updating is needed? You also said "I believe it will not cost very much". Are you a subject matter expert in this area, specifically, the installation of such display panels? Can you give us an estimate of the setup, operating and maintenance cost? Please do us all a favour and don't give the bus company another excuse to raise fares so as to finance your fancy little display board that has less practical use and even lesser economic value than a piece of scrap paper.

I do concur to your point that TVMobile is a "gratuitous service that does nothing to enhance the quality of the ride"; I would really love to see your expression when your suggestion of display panels turns out to be the same. I bet it is something that Mastercard can't buy.

herzberg

The next LIFT is about a bitter Strahub customer who seemed to detest Starhub.










My reply:

Dear Mr Loh,

You seem to be a very disgruntled customer. Accordingly, firms would do two things: either avoid you as if you have caught a highly infectious and virulent disease or go all out to please you. Of course, I believe that you will want the latter to happen but regrettably, Starhub has taken the former as the alternative.

I presume that you, like any sane Singaporeans out there, have taken up Starhub's DVR promotion. If you have visited Starhub's website and read the Terms & Conditions there, you would have notice the following line: "The DVR set-top box is not returnable and the amount paid for the DVR set-top box is non-refundable." Not too far down, the very last line reads: "StarHub reserves the right to change the above offer, terms & conditions, its pricing and packaging plans at its discretion." That said, I think you should count your blessings that Starhub has exercised its discretion to allow you a refund. Do you still think Starhub is having a bad attitude?

Of course, if you did not sign up for the promotion, you retain every right to denounce Starhub as a lousy service provider or whatever you prefer. Then again, this is Singapore, you know? And do you know that in this little red dot, the cable TV provider is Starhub, making the industry a monopoly? You are but a single account, whose contributions to Starhub's bottomline is roughly similar to that of a grain of rice to the body's daily carbohydrate needs. In simple terms, miniscule and highly insignificant.

As such, I see absolutely no reason why Starhub - a monopoly - would want to give you - a pipsqueak customer - any good attitude at all. And you actually thought writing to the papers would rectify this? Well, I have no idea if Starhub will ever take you seriously but hey, as a consolation, your letter made it to my LIFT list. Oh by the way, do you know you can view cable channels online too? Do a search on Google and be awed by the revolutions brought by the digital age.

herzberg

The next letter is not a LIFT but rather, it's a reply from Mindef to the 36 year old chap who has been recalled to serve his duty.










I have no idea why it takes Mindef nearly a week to come up with a reply. Perhaps they are all scrambling to put together a coherent and firm reply or as the reply put it - administrative oversight. Anyway, notice the disturbing similarities between this and the 2 replies I wrote yesterday. Woo-hoo! I'm a psychic! I can foretell the future! Nah, this merely prove that I have lived in Singapore long enough to know how the "official replies" would be like.

LIFT: Of reservist and basic economics

Alright! Here we go, the start of a brand new series. The prefix of this series will be "LIFT", which basically stands for Letters I Find Trashy and a short description follows. Most of the articles will be in pictorial format, for obvious reasons, and not typed out in text. So like, click on the thumbnails to read the full article. Before my comments, I will try to give the gist of letters.

Let's rewind to 6 days ago. A NSman wrote to the papers to complain about having to fulfil his national obligations. To date, Mindef has yet replied offically to him in the papers, or at least that's how I see it. If I'm wrong, do correct me. Thanks.



A politcally correct reply would be:

Dear Mr Tan,

As you know, it is of utmost importance to ensure the safety of Singapore at all times, ergo, it is absolutely necessary that you are being recalled at the age of 36, notwithstanding the fact that you were left to your own devices for those years that you were not recalled.

Of course, you made a very valid point by saying that most men of your age group are at the peak of their career. Then again, I'm sure your employer will understand Mindef's policy and give their support, would you not agree? Also, you mentioned that most NSmen have families with young children. This is another compelling reason for you to fulfil your national duty - to protect your loved ones. Do remind your son(s) and/or nephews of their duty to safeguard the nation; you can even compile a book of your reservist days to inspire them. Now, isn't that neat?

As for the difficulty in contacting the person-in-charge, we hereby furnish with this easy-to-remember number, 1800-NS IS GOOD or 1800-6747 4663. Please do contact us again.

herzberg

Please note that the above content is purely fictious. Now, a more in-your-face reply:

Dear Mr Tan,

Please check your identity card. Is it pink in colour? Does it say "Singaporean" under the nationality field? What? Yes? Then why are you complaining? You knew reservist is inevitable and just because you got lucky for a few years doesn't mean Mindef is gonna forget you. Tough luck, I say.

Alternatively, you can choose to migrate. Or find a job that pays so high that Mindef will not bother you forever. Or you can get yourself medically downgraded, which in my opinion, is the best option. Or you can simply continue writing to the papers to whine and making aimless calls to persons who doesn't care.

herzberg

The next LIFT is a woman complaining how she was "shortchanged" by Symantec for Norton Anti-virus.

Dear Miss Ow,

Aww... I'm so sad to hear that your colleague got a better deal. Apparently, you should have checked with your colleague first. In this digital age where information is so freely available, I'm alarmed to learn the fact that you did not manage to discover the price differences before purchase.

Economics 101 says discriminatory pricing are all over the place and what you have encountered is just the tip of the iceberg. Think of it this way: a can of Coke costs like 80 cents in the supermarket but the coffeeshop is selling it for at least a dollar. So, given this, would you still buy any canned drinks from the coffeeshop? And I believe cars are much cheaper overseas. But hey, they all come from the same manufacturer, so why the "discrepancies in pricing"? Would you still stick to your "point" when it comes to cars?

And what do you really expect Symantec to do by calling them up? Give you a refund? Or a "plausible" explanation? Writing to complain in the papers won't help. Out of 4 million Singaporeans, what is the readership of the Straits Times? Out of that number of readers, how many would be using Symantec Norton Anti-virus and land themselves in the same situation as yourself? Go figure. For that, I rate your letter as a LIFT. Do realize that Symantec is targeting the global market and a more effective way is to post your rants in a website, forum or blog that has high traffic.

However, I do empathize with you. So, I shall share some views. Personally, I don't use any anti-virus software and I don't see the need for one. Besides, anti-virus software, much like our immune system, does not guard against all forms of virus.

For a start, don't open attachments with dubious file extensions. Oh, do you know what "file extension" is? Go read up then. If the attachments from friends or colleagues screw your computer up, then you are entitled to scream expletives at them for 2 minutes. Secondly, don't visit naughty sites or click on anything within pop-up windows. Thirdly, do regular backups.

And lastly, remember that a computer is a machine with no free will. If it "catches a cold", it's undoubtedly that you permitted it. More precisely, it's all your fault. Same thing goes for your body right? You don't take care, you fall ill - as simple as that - regardless of how much vitamins or tonic you consume on an hourly basis.

herzberg

This concludes the first of the series. I have 2 more LIFT but I feeling kinda drained after writing 3 replies.

Continuation

So, it's time to pick up from where I left off this morning. Before I continue, allow me to complain. It was frustrating to try to use the Internet for the last hour. Why? Mainly because I could connect to the ISP but apart from that, there's nothing else I can do. Web pages time out and nothing is displayed, except for the default error message.

I had wanted to call up the tech support and rail at the unfortunate person who picks up my call but I decided to give it one last shot before calling. And hey presto! Everything is fine. Except that my surfing speed is at a fraction of its usual pace. But I'm fine with that; you should have seen how things were when I was using a dialup 28.8 modem back then.

Anyway, speaking of complaints, I noticed that the quality of the readers' letters in the local papers, specifically The Straits Times, has gone down quite a bit. Apparently, either the editors are not doing their job at auditing the right letters to publish or the readers are contributing far too much junk. Trivial matters such as complaint letters actually make it into the national papers. Do you believe it? And I thought that the papers is supposed to provide a channel for proper issues to be discussed. DUH! How disillusioned I was! How naive I was! OK, so what constitutes "proper issues"? What I mean is things that can potentially affect the rest of us, negatively or positively, and not just some personal encounters with unruly staff or whatsoever.

Thus, I decided to highlight some of the readers' letters that I find boring, silly or just plain stupid here on my blog. Perhaps it would be a good idea to start an entirely new blog for this, as I foresee a deluge of letters that I'll be posting here. But truth to be told, I haven't really got a good name in mind yet, so I'll just keep them here for the time being.

Next up, Barnyard. I caught the movie over the weekend on Saturday afternoon. It has pretty decent animation and original characters. The storyline was quite predictable but considering that it's a kids show, I guess they have to make it easier for the kids to follow. My only gripe that I have is the misrepresentation of facts; not in the legal mumbo jumbo but in layman terms. The cattle that were portrayed all had udders, regardless of gender. Now we all know that udders are exclusive to cows and not the bulls but apparently, the bulls in the movie somehow had udders transplanted onto them. Perhaps it is easier for the kids to identify with a bull with udders than a bull with a "bullwhip" sticking out, if you know what I mean.

So like, correct your kids' perceptions and bring them to see a real life cow and bull someday. Then again, it can be argued that cattle are never really conversant with English in real life, so what's wrong with a bull having udders in a movie? Absolutely right. The argument can go both ways; it depends on how you want to see it.

Next up, Army ads and reservist. Actually, I wanted to talk about the latest advertising campaign by the SAF featuring some new slogan and taglines. But I figured, it's just going to be another fad, why waste time and Blogger's server space for it? Moving along, reservist issues. No, not me but a fellow Singaporean who has been caught in a sticky spot. Read more about it in the next post.

Last point, Big Brother. Remember a few posts ago I put up pictures of survelliance cameras at the lift landing? To my surprise, this sort of Big Brother activity has its roots way back in the 80s. I happen to come across this interesting article so I shall share it with everyone. Click on the image below to view the full size.



I would love to host it on Blogger but somehow I cannot seem to upload pictures, so Imageshack became an alternative. This pretty much wraps up everything I said I wanted to do.

Some thoughts

Once again, I arrived a tad early in school and here I am again, filling up the text box before me with alphabets.

I managed to catch some TVMobile while I was on the bus on the way to school. No prizes for guessing what's the hot topic for the day. Yes, the IMF-WB meeting. Honestly, I don't see what's the big deal with a bunch of ang mohs coming over to discuss policies that are remotely related to us. Sure, they may bring in a little more business here and there but that's really about it, isn't it? Pardon my shallow views, for the local media has shown nothing but preparations for the meeting and reminding us to smile.

Speaking of smiles, we even got this lame website to showcase our "4 Million Smiles" and advertisements were plastered all over the interior of NEL trains. Upon closer inspection, it is not difficult to see that some of them are not smiling at all. In fact, the said expressions are that of indifference, bordering on a frown. So much for smiles, eh?

Well, it's not too difficult to understand why they aren't smiling. Simply put, the incentives are not that compelling. Taken from here, I quote:

Grand Prize: OSIM iDesire, Intelligent full body massage chair
2nd Prize: A pair of Singapore Airlines Economy Class tickets to Tokyo*
3rd – 4th Prizes: A pair of Singapore Airlines Economy Class tickets to Shanghai*
5th – 7th Prizes: A pair of Singapore Airlines Economy Class tickets to Hong Kong*
8th – 10th Prizes: A pair of Singapore Airlines Economy Class tickets to Bangkok*
*Terms & Conditions apply

No cash prize? And economy class tickets? To Asian destinations?? You've got to be kidding! Doesn't SIA fly to major cities around the globe? Oh, oh, oh! I see why. Either SIA is stingy in sponsoring the prizes or they feel that Singaporeans aren't worthy enough to deserve first class tickets to further, non-Asian destinations, say London.

Oh yes, just for the record, I did not send my smile to the website. I mean, why should I? Just because the government wants me to? Oh, come on now, no Progress Package, no promise of upgrading of the housing estate I live in and not even a seemingly attractive lucky draw and you expect to smile? Motivation 101 says this is really a no-brainer - meets not met = no motivation.

Oops! I think I'm gonna be late for lessons. Aw, crap. So much to write, so little time. Hmmm, OK! Lemme leave a few reminders here so I can write more later on. Straits Times letter, Army ad, Barnyard, reservist, Big Brother. I hope I can finish all of them by tonight but not necessarily in that order.

SAF: Soldiers Are Funny

With the advent of technology, the blurring of boundaries become more apparent and what used to be unthinkable or un-do-able suddenly becomes possible. A prime example would be the posting of army videos on the Internet. No, I'm not referring to those that showcase bravery and the like. I'm talking about those that shows the humorous and lighter side of the Singapore Armed Forces. To a certain extent, I'd say some of the videos quite exemplify the redundancy of the local conscription policy. Oh yes, to save you the effort of searching for the videos, you can get all of them here at a one stop link. Click here.

Upon getting wind of this matter, the Ministry of Defence chose to expressed its disdain over the MSM, or mainstream media, a catchphrase that is being used excessively for the wrong reasons recently. Whatever happened to the good ol' "newspapers" or "television"? Anyway, I found a particular part of the article to be interesting. Here it goes:

"Ms Indranee Rajah, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Foreign Affairs, also criticised the people who posted these videos for their effect on the army's reputation.

'It is one thing to do silly things in the confines of a camp or barracks with no one to see you but your platoon mates. It is quite another thing to capture those acts of silliness in a permanent record and share them with the world at large, because it negatively affects the image of the SAF,' she said.

The bottom line, she said, is that NSmen need to discern for themselves what is appropriate for the Internet and what is not."

I couldn't help but to burst out in laughter when I read this. Man, this really made my day. Why? Read the last sentence again. Obviously, the NSmen have decided that they would like to share the clips of their funny moments and "discerned for themselves" that the clips are "appropriate for the Internet", thus posting them on Youtube for all to see. *guffaws* Is this statement really necessary? I think not.

Another point I want to point out (no pun intended) is the image of the SAF. Sure, every now and then you will see advertisements on the mainstream media, touting the Army to be the "decisive force" or the Airforce to be "like nothing on earth".

Frankly, with the commando dunking incident, the Navy RSS Courageous crashing in Singapore waters and unexplained collapses of servicemen (be it training or otherwise), I doubt the SAF has any image left, even if there was any to begin with, that is. The mainstream media often broadcasts the reckless and negligent mistakes of the SAF anyway; what's with a few clips showing moments of silliness? Surely they cannot do any more damage than the mainstream media has already does.

At the risk of being labeled a "partisan player" who "offers no solutions", allow me to suggest one. Hell, anyone out there can take credit for it, absolutely no need to quote me or whatsoever.

My suggestion is simple, really - nip the problem in the bud. Instead of blaming NSmen for filming clips or the ever-advancing technology, bar all handphones within military installations. This applies to all ranks. Well, OK, the generals can be exempted, so that if there are any more videos leaking out, at least the investigation team will know where to start and who to look for. And as any sane Singaporean would say, "Impose heavy fines and penalties (meaning jail term) for those who flout the rule!", I propose likewise too.

Alternatively, camera-less handphone can become a new standard issue item. One of the subsidiaries of Singapore Technologies can take charge of design and manufacture of this new-age handphone. Call it SARS21. Not to be confused with SAR21, the bullpup assault rifle. SARS21, or Singapore Actively-Remodeled System 21, will bring about the next revolution in the communication standards within the armed forces in the 21st century.

Featuring one-touch calling to various important numbers such as the SAF Helpline and the platoon sergeant's SARS21 set, SARS21 facilitates communication at all times, be it peacetime or wartime. For a nominal fee that can be deducted from their monthly salaries, erm, I meant allowances, the NSFs can personalize their SARS21 set in any colour (except that the colour must be in mud-green) as well as to be able to make personal calls to friends and families outside the installations.

Oh yes. Don't let Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG, Siemens or any other major handphone makers into this contract. Hey, it's national security we're talking about here. Besides, why let outsiders earn the money when you can keep shuffling it among your left and right pockets? This is definitely another step towards uniformity within the uniformed armed forces.

PS. The initial title of this post was "SAF antics" but I found the current title to be more apt and hence, changed it. I had "Singaporeans Are Funny" in mind but Dear's suggestion of "Soldiers Are Funny" takes the cake.

Gluttony

No, not the food kind but for knowledge.

I used to read a lot of gamebooks from the Fighting Fantasy series. Peer influence was one reason and interest was another. Anyway, I had one entitled "Sword of the Samurai". In this story, which is based on feudal Japan, you take on a role of a samurai who is entrusted with task of retrieving a sword known as "Singing Death" for your Shogun. As we all know, there are a hundred and one ways in which a gamebook adventure can end, particularly combat death.

In this book, however, there is one ending that never failed to make me guffaw. If you somehow manage to reach a secluded fountain and choose to drink from it, you will die. Poisonous fountain? Far from it! It's a Fountain of Knowledge. As the ending goes, you feel enlightened with a sip. But the desire for knowledge drives you to gulp more of the water, eventually immersing yourself in the fountain and in the process, death by drowning.

A silly way to die, isn't it? With all that knowledge, one would know that full immersion into the water could potentially cause drowning and that's the last thing that anyone with some decent common sense would do. Or is it?

I was reading Wikipedia a few days ago. Apparently, Pluto's status as a planet had been demoted and I was keen to check it out. What started out as a simple search turns out to be quite a long ride. From Pluto, I jumped to astronomy and astrology. No, they are not the same. Anyway, I proceeded to read about Venus and Mars and learnt about the origins of the symbols that have come to represent male and female. That wasn't enough - the innocuous related links at the bottom of the page enticed me to read more.

And so I did. I went on reading about the Fermi's Paradox, the Arecibo message and the Pioneer Project, all aimed at unraveling the mystery if there's alien life out there. And of course, how could I leave out Einstein's General Relativity when space/time studies are concerned? And with General Relativity, there is bound to be talk of black holes and quantum physics. I had barely finish reading the article on black holes and intending to move on to quantum physics when I noticed how much time had gone by. A whole 3 hours had disappeared and yet my hunger for knowledge was not the least satiated; in fact, I want more.

By then, my lower back screamed out in pain while legs pleaded to be allowed to walk. More importantly, my eyes were dry and tired and they wanted the eyelids shut, so that they can rest. Grudgingly, I dragged myself onto the bed and laid spread-eagled, physically, or should I say optically, drained.

Now, do I still find death-by-drowing-in-a-fountain-of-knowledge a ridiculous way to die? Definitely not, for I did not have the level of maturity to appreciate what the authors had tried to convey then. On hindsight, I think gluttony for anything is bad, be it food, knowledge or pursuit of entertainment; moderation has to be exercised.

Random consolidation

This post is just to consolidate some thoughts and events for these few days, hence the title.

To kick things off, my birthday didn't go too badly at all. On Friday, I went to Jurong Point, only to find that the Star Factory was painfully limited. I meant in terms of space as well as prize/claw machines. Dear and I went to Sizzler In Suntec City for a dinner, where she insisted on applying for the birthday discount card or something of the like.

Dear: Hey, look. Let's get the discount card. Can get discount immediately leh.
Me: No la. We don't come here often to eat anyway.
Dear: But can get discount.
Me: But we don't come here often.
Dear: Take out your IC.
Me: *meekly produces IC*

After dinner (and the discount card), we left for the arcade near the Eng Wah cinema. There was this guy who was on a roll and won several soft toys with only a dollar or two. We conceded that it was indeed his night and luck was everything. We did try out a new machine that we didn't play before. Instead of manipulating the claw to grab the prize, you need to position the claw to yank the prize. I'll get some pictures the next time. We spent some $10 but half of which was really "tuition fees", which effectively meant we spent roughly $5 for the prize. This is one machine that player skill and tactics matter, not luck, chance, fate or anything remotely random.

After sending Dear home, I rushed back to Hougang, where I meet my Fourth aunt, her boyfriend and mom for supper. The steak had barely been digested and I had to wolf down 3 more roti prata kosong and an iced Milo. Man, talk about stretching the stomach.

Yesterday was early, literally. I woke up at 7am (a real feat for me, really) to wake Dear up so that she could get up to go for her field trip. I proved my point that I can wake her up, which she acknowledged later in the day. But not without a retort, "Yeah, yeah. Like twice a year."

Dinner at Pizza Hut with Second aunt and Fourth aunt was a breeze. At least for Dear, that is. We went to Expo for some sale that was selling branded stuff like Abercrombie and Roxy before going to meet my aunts. As a result, Dear did not have enough time to freshen herself up and was worried that she might leave a bad impression. It turns out that Dear has a lot more in common with my Second aunt than she thought and the both of them hit it off pretty well; I guess we were all glad that things went smoothly.

We went to catch a movie at Princess after dinner, The Devil Wears Prada. It was, how should I put it, a typical movie. Nothing extraordinary, nothing fanciful. If it was trying to showcase the high life of the fashion world, it's too superficial and lacked depth. If it was trying to convey some message or "moral of the story" kind of thing, then I guess the movie pretty much succeeded.

However, I must agree that the movie is quite witty in certain aspects. Take the title for example. On the first glance, people will associate the word "devil" with the difficult-to-handle boss. After watching the movie, it turns out that the boss is not the devil. There is a devil but it's not the boss per se. It just so happens that the devil takes the form of a Prada-wearing editor-in-chief and the protagonist "sold" herself to it.

Another theme that is central to the movie is the concept of choice. Often times in life, we do things and justify it with a "but I haven't got a choice!", which is exactly what the protagonist did. Her boss later reminded her that she did have a choice and she chose what to do.

I believe we all have a choice, in fact, many choices. By making a decision that avoids encountering a nasty outcome to oneself does not exempt the person from the responsibilty of making that choice. To use the example from the movie, the protagonist had the choice to do the boss' bidding and backstab her colleague or stick to her principles and risk losing her job. While she argued that she "did not have a choice" but to backstab the colleague, she had already chose to avoid the negative outcome at the expense of another. To use the "no choice" justification sounds like a lame excuse at best and sore whining at worst.

In the last of the Matrix trilogy, Matrix Revolutions, there is a dramatic slugfest between Neo and Agent Smith. When asked why he fights, Neo simply replies, "Because I chose to." He doesn't go around saying, "I haven't got a choice, you know? I'm like, the One. And the One is suppose to fight you to the end. Man, will I die? I don't really have a choice, do I? Everyone expects to be a messiah or something."

Neo does have a choice. Why go through all that trouble and risk being fried by millions of robots just so that he can sacrifice himself and die? Hell, wouldn't it be better if he chose to stay out of the Matrix and continue the hot love-making sessions until the Sentinels come and annihilate the human race? After all, he jacks in, he's gonna die. He stays out and enjoy sexual frolicking, he's gonna die anyway; makes more sense to choose the latter, isn't it? The whole idea is really a no-brainer - it all boils down to choice.

And so choice dictates many different outcomes, some extremely delightful and some, just downright sorry that leaves one seething in anger and regret. So like, make your choice wisely then and don't use the lousy excuse of "no choice".

Happy Birthday...

to me! So, there it is. It's official now. I turn a year older today, which coincidentally leaves me a year away from living a quarter of a century.

Going through my previous posts, I noticed that there is not a single entry on my birthday itself. Surprising, isn't it? More than 3 years since I first started blogging and not an entry at all? haha~

Alright, then. Let me recount my life and my achievements so far. *thinks hard* *twiddles thumbs* Hmm... Come to think of it, there's really nothing worth mentioning. I mean, apart from my above average academic grades and getting a place in the university, I haven't really got any achievements to brag about. Then again, am I disappointed or upset? Hell, no!

I'm thankful to be alive, really. Despite terrorism, diseases and natural disasters, I've made it so far, anin't that neat?

OK, if you're reading till this point, you would probably notice that I'm writing incoherently and my thoughts are pretty scattered like wind-blown leaves, which by the way, isn't far from the truth. I haven't got much to write about... Hold on a sec! My birthday wish! Now, that's worth mentioning.

I wish to have access to some secret slush fund, preferably denominated in USD. That should be enough to kick start and fund the research on my idea of human farms. Some of the money can go into the purchase of a set of replacement eyeballs so that I can have 20/20 vision again. Why go for LASIK when you have the money to buy brand new eyes off the (black) market?

The money can also be used to buy every single combination of lottery numbers available. Sure, I will lose more than I win but hey, it's a great feeling to hold a winning ticket and cashing it for obscene amount of cash. And there are lots more I can do with all that money.

So, you see. I really need only one wish and One wish to fulfil them all. haha~