Melboy...Give me Reason =)

Pangea Day: The First 20 Minutes

2008-05-12T19:49:00.001+08:00

I thought this was an interesting documentary to share...

Hokkien Star War

2008-01-21T19:44:00.001+08:00

Another spoof. Lolx

Hokkien Ratatouille

2008-01-21T19:34:00.001+08:00

Lolx. Saw this. Super funny

Shrinks and Torture

2007-08-23T20:17:00.000+08:00

Shrinks and Torture

Prisons like Guantanamo have long come under scrutiny for their brutal techniques in interrogation, from beatings to forced nakedness. We would be looking at areport on the transperency and integrity of psychologists involved in the interrogation, with reference to the following article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20364983/site/newsweek/page/1/

Psychologists are an integral part of any prison. They serve both as a counselor to the inmates and interrogators. Their other duty would also be to watch out the emotional control and sector of these 2 factions. The interrogators, are well, to extract information from these criminals, most notably, that of captured terrorists, as highlighted in the news repeatedly.

Hence, what is worrisome is that shrinks are not doing their jobs well enough to control the emotions of interrogrators as well as to care for the mental aspect of the inmates. Especially the interrogators of hardcore terrorists that refuse to part with information, leading to almost inhuman and unethical treatment of these inmates. Thus, the scrutiny of shrinks on doing their part to do their job. What's more worrisome is the rife stories of these psychologists having a hand in the torture process, employing their knowledge on human mentality and puting these inmates into mental and physical torture.

In my opinion, while the shrinks might possibly be less efficient in their jobbs, they should be given more authority to decide the mental fitness of the interrogators before doing their jobs. The four walls of isolated camps like that of Guantanamo are enough to stress even the guards up, let alone the interrogators who are supposed to break into the minds of hardcore prisoners (Taliban and Al Qaeda). So these shrinks definitely have to be qualified and mentally stale enough to work in such stressful environments.

Thus, a healthy and active envrionment is needed, coupled together with a group of psychologists with proven track records in their ability and capability to handle these fragile cases, for another spate of violence by interrogators would be most undesirable

National Day Rally 2007

2007-08-19T23:32:00.000+08:00

City of Possibilities- What to Look Foward to?

This year's ND Rally speech is focused on 2 basic needs and problems of our country- that is, an ageing population and redeveloping the living standards of Singaporeans in general. Basically, it strives towards an aim of City of Possibilities.

City of Possibilities aims to push Singapore towards a vibrant and thriving city-state that is recognized on the world stage- Possibicity. In education, in the workforce and most importantly, a home where everyone can look forward to. And this is done through the 2 highlighted policies of the night- readjusting the CPF to suit the aged needs and a overall revamp and upgrading of Singapore's living areas.

Catering to an aging population. Many of the old depend on their CPF to see them through their golden ages. The CPF was started in the 1970s to help Singaporeans save and secure their future by saving a part of their monthly income. However, we have come a long way, lifespan in 1970 was only 61 years, but now, we average at about 81 years. That is a additional 20 years which most CPF savings are unable to cope with. As a result, the policy targets at 2 main changes to solve this problem. Firstly, to raise a person's CPF interest by 1 percentage point, anyone earning 1700 a month, by the time he reaches 55years, would have another 20,000 due to this additional compounded interest, which would expend the government about 700million per year. Another target would be to raise the drawback of CPF to 65years and making all local companies offer the aged jobs and remployment till the age of 65. This would then allow the old to spread up their CPF over a longer time period, as well as allow our population to work longer.

Next, we hope to raise the country's living standard and lifestyle up a notch- comparable to that of Manhattan and Los Angeles. This would not cover just the citycenter, but in the heartlands as well. Thus this has come in the form of 2 new policies. Unveiling the HIP programme, to upgrade flats built in the early 1980s to 1989, this would bring a additional 100 000 flats under upgrading. Secondly, there would also be a new generation of flats being built, bringing Manhattan style living into the heartlands- pilot project Punggol 21 which merges eco-friendliness with a Hip style of living. This, we hope, can create a new style of living in Singaporeans- but more importantly, still retain our brand name as a clean, green city powered by highly efficient and self-motivated individuals. That is- Singapore 21.

Black and White

2007-08-11T11:58:00.000+08:00

Black and White- A Colourblind American Justice System?

This is a little commentary on the justice system in America, based on a case study as follows
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20072722/site/newsweek/page/1/

It was reported that in America, blacks that kill whites are twice as likely to be execueted by than the opposite, raising concerns over racial discimination in the Land of the Free. Now, such a phenomenon has been attributed to 2 main factors- racial discrimination and political influences. It has been discovered that as the black population grows in a given state, then executions become more likely, probably because whites fear blacks. But after a point—when the black population reaches about 16 percent—executions start to diminish probably because blacks become politically strong enough to reduce executions when their proportions reach that level.

Furthermore, such a finding has been alarming- as follows

" At the state level we found that … the greater the strength of the Republican Party in the state, the more likely you'll have executions, death sentences or that capital punishment will be legal in the state "

This suggests that a harsher law enforcement is imposed where the situation is politically more stable- does this mean it is safer to discriminate? Safer to supress them?

Generally, minorities have always been seen as intruders, "aliens" to the majority's way of life. Not just in America, but everywhere. It is not what permits us to discriminate, but the values and beliefs that we violate in the discrimination process. There is no need to elaborate on what needs to be done, but more of what we think about it and whether we take action on it, not for them, but for ourselves.

Religious Discrimination- the Bane of Society?

2007-08-02T21:52:00.000+08:00

Religious Discrimination- the Bane of Society?

Religion plays a very big part in our lives. Christians dress in their Sunday best weekly, the Buddhists and Hindus pray fervently at their temples while the Muslims aim to visit the holy place of Mecca at least once in their lives. As a result, while it is sort of a spiritual fufilment to our mind and body, it has also become one of the greatest weapons being utilized in sowing discord amongst people.

Time and time again, history has repeaated and shown that religious discrmination is one of our greatest problems. From N.Ireland to Singapore and Switzerland. While being secular, or even cordial in our relationships. There is always an unspoken gap that seperates us from one another, so one questions- Wouldn't it be better if we were to say eliminate it from society?

In my opinion, religious discrimination is indeed our bane. Tearing apart people. Thus, what we really need would be to be able to tolerate. In a sense, while religion is a sensitive issue- humans have indeed shown very little tolerance for any form of discrimination. Just a snide remark could actually offset riots. So, I do feel that while the pinnacle of tolerance would be able to openly crack jokes(religious) at one another. We do need to be able to tolerate

Full CBS Interview with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

2007-08-02T21:30:00.001+08:00

Just something for Interest's sake

What I Believe Is America's Greatest Challenge

2007-08-02T20:23:00.001+08:00

Embracing the Otherhood

2007-07-30T22:53:00.000+08:00

Embracing the Otherhood?

In Singapore, we are generally classified into a total of 3 sections. We have the Chinese, Malays and Indians. But there is also this growing minority, which we all label as others. When in actual fact, "others" refer to mainly the foreigners, the mainland Chinese, Bangaldeshis, Caucasians etc. In the past, we used to be indifferent in their presence, rarely do you see a Caucasian in the subway. But now, they are growing so rapidly that we simply cannot ignore their standing in Singapore.

While part of the government's plan to make up for an ageing and decreasing population would be to attract foreign talent to plant their roots here (and have been largely successful). This has also raised another question- With so many foreigners, coming in, will the locals ever have the chance to rise up and compete with the foreign talent. In the workforce, the foreigners always take the top, Singaporeans being at their beck and call. Say, the President of the Youth Challenge Society is a Korean. In schools, the scholars are dominating, regardless of international or ASEAN, rarely do you get to see our locals at the top. While saying nicely that we are making use of their talent, the locals are indeed hostile to the fact that they are no longer in-charge, we are now "colonised" by people who aren't natives.

Another problem would be their increasing numbers. Our present population stands at about 4.5 million, yet, the native population is only about 3.7 million. In other words, the "others" number about 0.8 million, far higher that the 0.2 million 10 years ago. Locals fear that their growth would mean that soon, the "others" may grow to a formidable proportion, even displacing their superior standing in society.

In my opinion, while such a thought may seem to be unfounded or even childish, it is still something which we, together with the government must address. Indeed we must ensure that the others assimilate with the main population as quickly as possible, it is a barrier which we must remove between us and the foreigners- basically, the main aim would be to make them stay, and induce loyalty, at least in their next generation. That would then, be the way which we are to accept them into our society

Nunatak - how many people

2007-07-25T21:11:00.001+08:00

Found this pretty interesting, though the song was good. Well, watch

Population Woes

2007-07-20T23:00:00.000+08:00

Population Woes

Population is a pretty controversial issue, many argue that our world is becoming overpopulated, there are just too many people, and too little resources and jobs- more importantly- food. But, think about it, if we were to pack the entire population of the world, that is 6 billion people, we would only fill up the entire North America continient. But in this case, we would be focusing more on the issue of how population changes affects us.

The trend nowadays, would be to have lesser children, or even none- that is, in the urban world. Now, why is that so? We could relate it to 3 main factors, that is the rising standards of living leading to a costly upbringing of even one kid, the indulgence of the fine and finally, the a knowledge boom in the general urban population.

Firstly, with an overall advancement and improvement of economies worldwide, the costs and standards of living have risen. A survey conducted on education costs for Singaporean students have revealed that it takes SGD $200,000 to send support a child all the way to a university(local). For a overseas university, it can cost up to SGD $600,000. And an average man with a pay of SGD $2.000 a month earns only 1.2million dollars in his whole life- that is how costly it is to support a kid nowadays, the financial burden is simply enormous.

Secondly, with the rising amount of money which we earn, we have learnt how to indulge and enjoy in life, As a result, in oder to maintain a high and fashionable lifestyle, many would prefer not to have kids, contributing to the decreasing population

Finally, there's the all important knowledge boom. People are now educated, they recognize the importance and fufilment in having a job- being able to be independent by having a steady pay, able to have a carefree life. Yet, the hindrance of a baby is now seen as an obstacle to success in their working lifestyle, so why not just buy a dog for company?

Next, we look at how this impacts the society. Human populations are the basis of economies. Without large enough a population, we cannot effectively run an economy- a problem which Japan is facing right now. With so many childless families, they face a rapidly decreasing population and this is so severe that even a influx of immigrants cannot cover the loss, taking a toll on the economy itself.

Socially, the loss of population is also disturbing. With lesser people, the number of local talent is reduced as well, we have lesser capable people to lead the country to greater heights, regardless of in politics or in terms of leaders of MNCs. This become something like a brain drain, in a long run, population decrease simply weakens the basis of society.

Ultimately, population loss is a serious problem that needs to be looked at, at least bringing the country to have a steady population maintenance daily. In fact, if the people are willing, population should not have decreased, these woes can be erased if society is willing to have more interaction and children for the greater good

A President's Dilemma

2007-07-15T19:21:00.000+08:00

A President's Dilemma

This story does not refer to any story in particular, basically, I'm just going to talk about President Bush and all that hammering about him. If we take a look at the intriguing life of Bush as President of the US, we should be sympathetic with his plight.

The United States is indeed recognized as a superpower of the world, not just in the aspect of military or economically, but in all areas, even in the social aspect, aspiring people globally to live the American Dream. Yet this very privilege is also it's biggest problem and burden. America, as the world's leading nation, has to take up numerous roles to help resolve and deal with events worldwide. And all this voices down to one man, one ordinary man who has to do an extraordinary man's job- President George W. Bush.

And this is not an easy job, in this changing world, Bush is fighting on many fronts. Everyday, when he wakes up, he is bogged down by so many issues. Early in the morning, he has to rush to meetings, think about how to resolve the various conflicts and problems both over the sea and at home.

He has to worry about the Iraqi problem, how to deal with the insurgents in Iraq, hoping, hoping a madman's hop that hey, someday, he can finally resolve the sectarian violence and pacify the civillian population, and that one day, finally, the Iraqi government is able to hold it's own

Then there's the threat of rogue states- Rogue states going nuclear. Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad building nuclear missiles, advocating the destruction of Israel. North Korea, blackmailing the international community with a nuclear bomb, firing missles over Japan's airspace. Again, Bush has to intervene.

Then, one of Bush's generals would come in with another demoralizing report on the resurgence of Taliban in Pakistan and Afganistan, where they need to commit more troops, and lives, to supressing the violence, trying to keep Musharaff in power.

There's also the conflicts of Israel- Palestine- Lebanon. The rise of Russia, with tensions heating up. Along with the fact that they have to accomodate to China, the rise of a great communist power. The list is endless...

Disegarding politics, the problem of environment is also bugging him, with the G-8 led by Merkel, always pressuring him into spearheading the world's worsening environment.

Back at home, approval ratings of Bush are at an all-time low. Many are keen on getting him out of office. The media is bashing him daily over his mistakes, he can't have a good night sleep, with so many issues, important and critical issues bogging him down.

Yet, has anyone thought about this- no man is infallable. Is anyone able to do the job? Can anyone do it better? People still are in awe in Ronald Reagan's success in resolving the Cold War, and blame Bush for his failure to deal with Iraq, in Afganistan, in Palestine etc. But has anyone thought- times have changed. We are no longer talking about the highly organized and efficient enemy of the Soviet Union. We are referring to the single cell operatives of Osama bin Laden blowing themselves up. It's like trying to search and destroy rats in a football field, with a little stick. And no one realises the sorry plight of Bush, his dilemma.

Bush is all alone. No one supports him. He is fighting a one-man war. A madman hoping that against all odds, he can succeed- yet such a mad hope exists...

Such is the dilemma of a President. President George W. Bush

Hey You- Live Earth

2007-07-11T21:54:00.001+08:00

Well, was just doodling round the Net and came across this, well this make sense doesn't it. If we put our hearts to it, the effects of global warming can be resolved. Every little thing goes a long way, so yeah, LIVE EARTH!!!

2007-07-10T20:56:00.000+08:00

The Radical New Face of Terrorism

Terrorism has evolved- largely. The past, old terrorism used to be largely made of small groups of militants, higly loyal to their leaders in a "fight for Islam" But, to make things clear, what they are doing are actually distorting Islam, trying to use it as a false front, and "smoke" ordinary people(Muslims) into fighting their so-called jihad, and the worst part is- they are succeeding in their part to spread jihad.

With reference to the following issue

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19684909/page/2/

I would be discussing about the changing faces and tactics of Terrorism

Now, as we read more and more articles about terrorism, do note that, nowadays, the terrorists have now stopped making outright attacks, they have diversified into many other areas, not just purely fighting, they have dwelved deeply into propoganda, finance and effective fighting techniques as well as recruiting more munjaheeden for jihad

The article is testimonial to their new organisation, militants camped in the Red Mosque are mainly students and young educated people. People who can think, and are yet still so fiercely and blindly loyal to Osama, who is hiding somewhere. And what is even more alarming are the demostrations held by 20 000 armed tribesmen in protests of the army assaults, it has demostrated how effective in which their propoganda is, able to garner the support of so many people, especially the influential tribesmen and chiefs, showing how much they are able to convince people to join their radical front.

Furthermore, this can be seen in the recently foiled bomb plot in Britain, where literally all the alleged plotters were doctors and physicians. And we are talking about highly intellectual people being used as single celled- operatives being use to conduct attacks on the different nations. To think that, highly educated people are attempting to blow up their fellow countrymen,that is how powerful the terrorist influence is in being able to slowly, but steadily wage war on governments throughout their world, to advance their goal of a entirely "Islamic" world

So how can we deal with such a new threat, the fact that they're now powerful. As we can all recognise, the terrorists are trying to break nations by making civillians in their governments, as seen in Pakistan and USA, regardless of Democrat or Republican. Terrorists are just like rats, they hide, and they sneak up on you, yet we cannot ignore them, for if so, like plague, they will slowly feed upon us and manifest. Hence, the only way would be to stay united

As quoted from Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series
" Evil cannot be totally eradicated, we can only keep it at bay. And to do so, we have to stand together, keep fighting, keep fighting to stop it from spreading. The going is tough, but we must continue, relentless, for it will not stop till it emerges victorious. And we MUST fight it."

And this IS what we all must do, keep fighting, to the very end

Taliban Beheading Video Boy Beheads US Spy (Censored)

2007-06-12T18:47:00.001+08:00

This is a very significant video in which terrorists, indoctrinating terrorist ideals in children, train them to practise terror acts so as in future, fight for them

Media and their Social Responsibility

2007-06-12T18:00:00.000+08:00

Media and their Social Responsibility

For the past few years, the situation of media and the freedom of expresssion while abiding social responsibility has been a hotly debated topic for the past few years, more importantly, the publishing of Prophet Muhammed as a advocate of war by the Danish newspapers has highlighted the need for social responsibility of people while in the midst of the practising freedom of speech.

Definitely, such a situation has made us learn that regardless of whether in a multi-racial society or not, we MUST practice social responsibility, for the world we now live in, being in the midst of a technological era, our world is increasingly globalised, and not just cooped up in our own countries. Whatever we say or publish, within hours, can spread to audiences at the opposite end of the world. And as a result, we must practice social responsibility while paying heed to the freedom of speech. Especially in this world of increasing discrimination and anarchy, whatever said can easily offend a party.

This "rule" must be followed, more importantly, in the way people treat the Muslims, in the era of terrorism. Terrorists make use Islam as a front to justify their war against the rest of the world and as a result, the majority of innocent and magligned Muslims become fodder for which the rest of the world starts to condemn Islam, because of terrorists, which is pretty unjust to the innocent Muslims that as a result, in retaliation, becomes cold towards the rest of the world, fostering this endless war of terror.

We must therefore, be very careful of what we say and publish, practice social responsibility in whatever we say. Only then can we hope to preserve peace in this time of anarchy of terror

Torture? And to what extent is it Justified?

2007-06-12T13:04:00.000+08:00

Torture? And to what extent is it Justified?

This topic is related to the article of link shown below, with regards to the justification of torture. In this case, the decision of US to finalize new methods allowing a wider latitude of torture tatics, such as the use water-boarding exposing them to near-drowning situations.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=10714

While the article condemns the US for it's stance on torture, we do need to see that all these are part of a vicious cycle. Torture is just like a plague, you just need one party to start it, be it the Al Qaeda or the US and the rest would follow suit. US does water-boarding, so Al Qaeda starts to saw of it's victims' heads, slowly, or vice-versa.But both sides share a common property, in an obsession to destroy or obilerate one another, they resort to torture as a source of dethroning the other. For the Al Qaeda, using torture to cut of it's victims' heads and then videoing it, they us this form of media to induce fear into the global society, in hopes of scaring and "forcing" the US to stop it's war against terror, from it's own people as well as through international pressure. From the American government's opinion, they see torture as a faster and more effective method to obtain information, a valuable tool in the war against terrorism, in hopes of toppling it.

So, what causes all these to happen? Afterall, our conscience does tell us that torture is definitely not right, regardless of the purpose, whether righteous or not. For humans are defined by their ideals and conscience, that as peace- loving creatures, such barbaric acts are not what we should do? Now then, we do have to answer, what drives us to defy such boundaries of our ideals and conscience? Which would then be most likely, our vulnerabilities to be dragged down into the vortex for revenge over the "evil rougues" that claimed the lives of our fellow countrymen, blinded by the purpose which we must continue in this bloodletting of our enemies, disregarding the slightest thought of peace and giving in to one another.

And ultimately, we all must stand together against any form of torture, regardless of water-boarding and scalding a defenceless person, for it simply goes against the ideals that governs ourselves as peace-loving creatures. Peace can be achieved- IF we want to

PS- Do note that while Al Jazzerra does give mention to US's decision to expand torture methods, we must also consider the other countries and organisations like the Al Qaeda that apply it and not just condemn only the US, when they, perhaps are the lesser of the 2 evils

Black Eyed Peas-Where is love (War edition)

2007-05-27T21:41:00.001+08:00

A very fitting video to the article shown below

Where is the Love? Economic pragmatism overrides Humanity?

2007-05-20T11:22:00.000+08:00

Where is the Love? Economic pragmatism overrides Humanity?

This article is with regards to the increasingly desperate plea by the Somalian government for aid and intervention to stabilise the country's warlord rule and anarchy. Since 1991 where civil war broke out, Somalians have been at the mercy of warlords and their various governments. With a completely breakdown in order, these people have no way to defend themselves, from being murdered, from poverty, from AIDS, yet so little help is given to them by the international troops.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/576679.stm -Somalia refugees face bleak future
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5405586.stm- Rape risks for Darfur women
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6058920.stm- Head to head, what can be done

Somalians, for fear that they would be murdered in their homes by warlords, have to go live and sleep in forests at night, just to avoid these brutes. Women, just to get firewood, need to brave the risks of being attacked and raped, which is what happens most of the times. Worst, some of them are killed. Men and children shot, women gang-raped, is there no humanity in this anarchy?

Yet while the international community always emphasizes on aid, humanity, anything that can help people of our globe, nothing is done to help them, preferring to steer clear of this mess.

Why? Why invade a stabilised Iraq where people are still able to survive under Saddam?
Why make so much noise about Iran building a nuclear bomb?

And NOTHING is done about Somalia. Is it because they have no oil? Or is it because they're not threating us with nukes? Therefore, we just sit by and watch our fellow humans, people being gunned down in genocides, villages wiped out entirely, women being raped.

What does this tell us? Everything is done with a benefit only, ultimately, if we don't stand to gain anything at all. Is that why federations like the UN, EU and worst still the G8, Great 8 prefer to keep mum. Indeed, the UN has done something, provide humanitarian aid, but sometimes providing a cure is not enough, we must decisively root out the problem. Which is to resolve the anarchy. Even Ethiopia, not exactly a strong nation militarily has mobilised troops to protect these helpless refugees, and the UN and EU rather keep mum about this problem.

Indeed, the 1992 failure of US intervention may have been a setback, but if we need to protect these people, UN, supposedly a world organization priding itself in giving aid and fighting for humanitarian causes, is not doing anything.

And this leads us to wonder, is our cause in aiding more because of economic pragmatism compared to out of humanity. Why are so much troops given to Iraq to stabilise, when the Iraqi National Guard is already being trained up to protect their citizens? And 2/3s of Somalians are deprived of their basic rations and exposed to the scourge of warlords...

The time has come for us to note that whatever we do, humanity must come first, yes, the price may be heavy, but whatever it takes, mutual or personal benefits cannot come first, only then can we hope for a better peace and stability for the world.

Michael Bublé - Everything

2007-05-17T19:06:00.001+08:00

This is a good song

Beyond the Limits (and I suppose GP?)- are people becoming LESS realistic?

2007-05-17T00:25:00.000+08:00

Beyond the Limits (and I suppose GP?)- are people becoming LESS realistic?

Recently I came across this blog of supposedly the world's most hated blogger, and after reading several entries. I came to wonder, are people become less realistic. The following link takes you to the world of a highly ambitious adult mired in the mud over debt after a horrendously failed shot at becoming financially independent passively

http://www.iamfacingforeclosure.com/

This blog is done by Casey Serin himself, targetting at becoming financially independent through playing stocks, selling properties. Indeed, his initial success in "conning" money was impressive, but trying to do this permanently was not a option. This was what happened-

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And then instead of admitting that I’m in trouble and pulling the plug, I kept borrowing more and more via additional credit lines to keep feeding the machine a couple of extra months. I thought if I can finish the repairs and sell everything I can pay it all back. Then in August 2006 I ran out of money and started this blog

After making $30K on the first deal and paying off all our debt, I jumped the gun and quit my Programming job in Jan 2006 to do real estate flipping full-time. Looking back, I quit that job too early!! I should have stayed and done deals on the side until the real estate business can reliably replace my job income. But because I was doing too many cash-back-at-close deals I got a little ahead of myself.

Aside from finances, Galina is understandably frustrated with following me along toward MY dream of passive income / financial independence. I’ve been at it since 2000 and don’t have much to show for it yet. She is tired of my entrepreneurial roller-coaster and is about ready to settle down and have a family. I don’t want to think about it until I reach my goal. Am I being too selfish?

[Forgot to mention… Galina is looking for a full time job too and is cleaning houses on the side already to make extra income.]
Now, what does this tell us, are young people nowadays so obsessed with success that they go to any extent to make it happen, and even when it does not, they themselves do not realise the problem they're facing and the enormous load of it they face, as seen in the "prominient figure" seen above

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a comment I found-

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
unbelievableMay 14th, 2007 at 3:42 am

What’s with the “I may or may not do them all”?
Don’t kid yourself - you won’t do ANY of them.

Here is my take on your “list”
Website/blog development and consulting - $50/hour+
TAKE A JOB IN THE INDUSTRY - ANY JOB - TAKE 2 JOBS

Continue monetizing this foreclosure blog with advertising, sponsorships and affiliate commissions: $1,000-3,000/moReview foreclosure related services and products: $250-500 per review
CONTINUE BUILDING YOUR AD SPONSORSHIP

Help people stop foreclosure by offering and/or referring consulting, loss mitigation, short sale assistance, buying their house, etc: $ varies
YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED

Recruit for real estate investing college and make 50% commission: typically $8,000 per sale
DO NOT SELL THIS SCAM CRAP TO OTHER LOOSERS IN THE MAKING

Create and sell book(s) and info products around my foreclosure story: $ varies
ANYONE WHO WANTS YOUR “STORY” CAN READ ABOUT IT HERE FOR FREE. DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME.

Work as an account executive with a commercial capital brokerage firm doing / referring / funding big deals 10 million and up: $50,000+ commissions/fees per deal
YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED

Invest in private equity funds: 24-60%+ returns
YOU ARE BROKE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, this is already a view on Serin's illusions, what does it hint to us? People nowadays, especially urban citizens, and especially in the case of teens in my view, are affected by our fast-changing and improving way of life that they go to all costs to ensure success.

This is present even in AJC, and I believe, other educational institutions alike, for example, over a project, I already have friends that become so stressed out over doing the very best that they become very disorganised in their work, overlooking important factors, and in a small way, reminds me of Serin.

Does this affect their surrounding people? Indeed this is so, in the case of my overstressed friends, they're getting on my nerves too. For Serin, his wife is cleaning houses to earn meagre wages while he is sitting on his ass- blogging full time. I'm sorry for this but to me- WTH

So, can this trend be reversed/ averted or avoided? No, it's inevitable, but I believe what can be done is by society, especially the education system to emphasize that we must be down-to-earth, don't be overly ambitious... but more importantly, PLAN properly.

---------------------------------------The End-------------------------------------------------

Comments please....

Why Youtube is the New ClearChannel

2007-05-14T00:10:00.000+08:00

Why Youtube is the New ClearChannel

This entry is besed on the following article by MSNBC-
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18576975/

Now as we all know, this Hurley and Chen creation has been a tremendous feat for them, as well as in impacting our lives, introducing the visionary new form of media for us- Internet sharing. However, like all other Internet programs, they are soon, in fact, in a matter of hours, crapped up by socially/morally/ehically/you name it, unacceptable content. Hence, this news of paying for content by content providers would actually be very useful in upholding the quality ofvideo files sent in, by providing a specific level of standard to compare with. This would in overall, reduce abuse of the program by rogue users, but more importantly, raise the overall level of content provided, not only making it perhaps more useful, but also to be able to provide better entetainment to users.

However, one problem which has not been adequately focused upon would be the primary objective of creating a "society" which allows video-video sharing of content by people worldwide, which goes a long way to contributing to our so called dream of- globalisation. By introducing such measures, indeed it would raise the bar on content standard, but more significantly, what do we mean by quality video? How do you judge quality video and decide whether to pay for it? Would earthshaking videos like lonelygirl15 then be missed out? It is then up to us and the Google to decide whether to take their chances on setting a standard for video quality and risk missing out on potentially wonderful videos at the grassroots level as well as then, decide on the bar of quality video.

What do you think?

Customer Service

2007-05-05T22:13:00.000+08:00

Customer Service

This is with reference to the article of the following web page
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/Advice/TheCustomerServiceHallOfShame.aspx?GT1=10020

As we all know, customer service has been a cause of concern in many countries, not just the US, but even in Singapore as well, for service excellence does benefit a economy, perhaps even a countries reputation in terms of tourism

However, such a trend of detiorating customer service has been worrying in recent years, especially seen in a recent knowledge of companies having no incentive in promoting sevice excellence, read the following excerpt.

" You'd think that people unhappy with their service would just switch companies, right? Or that 40% of Sprint's 53 million customers would take their business elsewhere. Not so fast.
What many of these companies have in common is that, even though they appear to take their customers for granted, their customers have little choice but to swear and bear it. Want to change your cell-phone company? Be ready to pay up and lose cheap calling to many of your friends. Want to dump your Internet provider? Dial-up service might be your only alternative. Want to change banks? Set aside a couple of days to figure out the record-keeping hassles.
And these companies know it. Bank of America, second on our list, can't resist making acquisition after acquisition, setting in motion a painful process for its acquired customers. Just Monday, Bank of America said it would pay $21 billion for Chicago's LaSalle Bank, a deal The Wall Street Journal said would raise Bank of America's share of U.S. deposits to 10%. The less choice you have, the less pressure companies will feel to offer quality service."

And as identified, companies then won;t take customer service seriously since there's no incentive to do so, wo what, it's only one customer less? That's the view of many companies nowadays

This is present in even Singapore. Take for example, the transport industry in Singapore, with the raise of fares over these few years, everytime fares are raised, better service is promised. But do we see any difference in the drivers, NO, buses still take a miserably long interval before arriving, And even for taxis, they still are the same, no special service etc.

In the civil service, with the 33% increase in wages, better and more efficient service is promised as well. However, once again, you don't see this, queues at polyclinics are still as long, to get a reply to a invitation to a event by a minister takes weeks, and you only get to meet the MP once a week. There's no difference. Once again, the commoner is taken for granted. When can only sit down and curse, but life goes on... What can we say? It's all in the name of retaining talent when our civil servants are one of the highest paid in the world

Customer Service, it's all really up to the individual companies to be ethical and responsible for it

Chapter 7- The Changing Gun Debate (with relation to violence)

2007-04-29T18:40:00.000+08:00

The Changing Gun Debate (with relation to violence)

this is based from the arcticle, the Changing Gun Debate by Newsweek-
- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18248547/site/newsweek/

Many issues regarding the civillian possession of firearms have arisen in the light of the Virginia Tech shootings, especially the decade old debate on whether should civillians be allowed to possess firearm. Indeed, the rationale for civillians in America possessing firearms is for self-defence, however, the VT shootings has once again highlighted the increasing trend of guns used in attacks, almost always resulting in fatalities. So, wouldn't it be better for guns to be banned in America, just like in Singapore, as much as many Americans vote for stricter and tighter arms control within the country, the problem in my view, would never be solved if guns are ever to be sold to civillians. This is due to the fundamental fact that as long as guns are sold, no matter how strict you are, when someone goes bonkers, he starts hooting with the gun, so you have to remove the gun. In view of such a trend, this also brings up the problem of increasing teenage violence

Look at this quote
"FBI statistics show that violent crime is on the rise across America, and the news out of Virginia has again raised the critical issue of keeping guns away from the people who should not have them—criminals and those with a history of being potentially dangerous."

Now, such a trend of violent crime is not just prevalent in America, this is also growing in Singapore. As seen in the webpage below on a recent article in the New Paper on Thursday 26th April on Happy Slapping, a teenage boy was badly beaten up during a birthday celebration, this is another case of teen violence.

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/printfriendly/0,4139,128743,00.html

Are our teens geting violent? Indeed, this I believe, is true, the entry of violent computer games and programmes, does have a certain influence over our students. With shows like the World Wrestling Entertainment featuring actors beating the heck out of one another. If such a trend is inevitable, then what can we do to deal with it, parents must definitely incalculate the moral values into their kids. In a fast paced society like Singapore, as much as time is scarce, some part of it MUST be devoted to their kids, for at the adolescent age, many are "ill-equipped" to decide the right from wrong, so parents must play this major role. Schools and society should do their part a well, for this is where they spend most of their times at. More emphasis and time should be devoted to the civics rather than "blind- studying" It is only with this can we hope to combat such a trend.

Chapter 6- Use of Torture to deal with Crime

2007-04-21T23:57:00.000+08:00

Use of Torture to deal with Crime

Reading the following 2 articles, I believe that the use of torture in crime is justified, but only to a limited extent

Article 1
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533436,00.html
Article 2
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Torture-acceptable-says-former-NCA-chief/2005/05/22/1116700585264.html#

Now, why do I say that torture is justifiable, look at society around you, we do find that even students turn psychopaths, as seen in the recent Virginia Tech massacre where 32 people died. Torture would be justified in the face of unstable, dangerous criminals who are a danger to society, such as terrorists and psychopaths as quoted in Article 2

"A psychopathic murderer has buried a teenage girl alive and he is captured by the police," an example on Mr Faris's web blog says.
"He refuses to say where she is. He taunts the police with his knowledge. Torture is acceptable to find the girl and to save her life."

Indeed, many people find that torture is a very wrong method used to obtain information, it is against personal human rights, but think about it, had you captured one of the 911 operatives before the attack occurred, would you have used torture to try and obtain information on his "comrades" so as to foil them. Or, would you out of the so called respect for human rights, interrogate them, and pray that they would somehow, miraculously tell you where their "comrades" are. Another reason why I do not see why we should not apply torture to such dangerous criminals, take for example, these operatives capture one of your own countrymen and you see a footage of your fellow American having his head slowly sawed off, is it not justifiable that we remove a fingernail of the terrorists while they saw off heads, there is no reason not to do that.

In article 1, it does suggest that torture actually does not yield better results in comparision to the FBI's method of interrogation. Once again, think in terms of the time factor, indeed, interrogation proves more effective a method, but what's the point of obtaining the information only after months/ years after you've captured them, it is almost obselete.

Nowadays, the rules of the games have changed, terrorists hit you hard, they hit you fast, it is not how fast you stop them, but how fast you are able to make use of one captured operative, drill him for information and round up the rest as soon as possible, before they realise one of their comrades is missing and start to conduct their operations, there is no point if you'e going to get the information months or even years later, they might have already blown themselves up in front of some shopping mall.

Hence, I believe that in extreme cases, especially those concerning civillian and national security, torture is justified

Chapter 5- New Media (Power to the People or a Threat to Stability)

2007-04-11T20:33:00.000+08:00

New Media (Power to the People or a Threat to Stability)

New media, blogging as what I'm doing now, I feel is a threat to stability. After evaluating the two articles, "The Media War on Terror" as well as "Blogs and The Freedom of Speech," I do believe that the new media is probably a threat to the people. Just by looking all around us. The media has turned into political propoganda. All that talk about the freedom of speech, as seen in my previous post in Chapter 4, there are media agencies getting banned. In addition, look at this extract,

" In Libya, former bookseller Abdel Razak al-Mansouri was sentenced to 18 months in prison for making fun of President Mohammar Khaddafi online. Two Internet users have been jailed and tortured in Syria, one for posting photos online of a pro-Kurdish demonstration in Damascus and the other for simply passing on an e-mailed newsletter the regime considers illegal. "

If bloggers are being tortured just for posting photos that are pro-Kurdish, then would the people of these opressed states ever dare to blog again. People fear for their heads, as a result, who would ever there to blog again. Indeed, blogs have provided with us invaluable first-hand information of news around the world, but with this increasing wave of government censorship, how would you call this power to the people.

Now for the other article, "the Media War on Terror" by Donald Rumsfield, which speaks of terror organizations using the media to poison the minds of Muslims and break the will of the free people. It is indeed true that media has become a powerful propoganda tool. Look at Rumsfield's article itself, he is also using propoganda in an attempt to influence his own countrymen to support the war on terror. Below is an extract of propoganda. Do note that this extract by Rumsfield is likely to be propoganda as well, so read it with a open mind.

"Regrettably, many of the news channels being watched through these dishes are hostile to the West. Media outlets in many parts of the world often serve only to inflame and distort – rather than to explain and inform. While al-Qaeda and extremist movements have used this forum for many years, further poisoning the Muslim public’s view of the West, we in the West have barely even begun to compete.

We saw this with the false allegations of the desecration of a Koran last year. First published in a weekly news magazine, the story was then posted on Web sites, sent in e-mails, and repeated on satellite television and radio stations for days before the facts could be discovered. That false story incited deadly anti-American riots in Afghanistan and Pakistan."

All around us, we have sources of news and media, however, a large portion of it is contaminated with propoganda, to delude the people with untruths. From the Iraq war to jihad, attempts are made to brainwash the audience, and much of these attempts are successful as proven by the increasing numbers of teen terrorists, willing to blow themselves up. I personally feel that while media, in this case the introduction of blogging, may be a source of power to the people, it has largely been once again been turned into propoganda tool. Hence making it a threat to stability

Chapter 4- Can the Media ever be relied upon to convey the truths?

2007-04-07T01:24:00.000+08:00

Can the Media ever be relied upon to convey the truths?

Now, with regards to the article on Great Lies of the American Free Press, I personally feel that as much as the media can be relied upon to deliver to us news in general as truths, when it comes to sensitive issues, especially those of political origin, the media would probably been unreliable in providing us with the truth.

Now, as seen in the article, as much as under the Bill of Rights of the USA where the government promises no to interfere in anyway to the press organizations in the US, they are all supressed, as far as this is concerned politically.

Now then, why is this so?

Look at the different cases, the American Press in this situation, as well as the case of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore, which I'll refer to later. In the American case, by tracing down the cause for the American press in "distorting the truths" through ways like censorship and proclaiming innocence, we do find that the fundamental problem can be described in one sentence- Power CORRUPTS (in the American case)

For example, when we look at this extract in the article

" But such bribery does not have to be strictly on a cash basis. During the build-up to the Iraqi war, one of the primary disseminators of the Bush dictatorship’s "great lies" was then-Secretary of State Colin Powell. And during this time, in one of those remarkable "coincidences" that nepotism spawns, Powell’s son Michael was head of the Federal Communications Commission (F.C.C.)-the very agency that possessed the power to change F.C.C. rules so monopolistic media empires could acquire even a greater share of the marketplace. In return all these empires had to do was endorse, or at least not dispute, the warmongering lies of the Bush dictatorship, and accept, or at least not question, the fraudulent results of the 2000 and 2004 presidential "elections." "

So, when we read this, doesn't it show us that for the sake of even greater power and MONEY, the press are actuall willing to sacriface the right to report arcticles in TRUTH and for the PEOPLE, just to achieve a greater share and ratings in the media market

Let's look at this other extract

" Armstrong Williams, a "conservative" African-American pseudo-journalist, was recently paid two hundred and forty thousand dollars ($240,000) by the Bush dictatorship to promote an education reform law on his syndicated television show. Another pseudo-journalist, Maggie Gallagher, was paid twenty-one thousand, five hundred dollars ($21,500) by the federal government’s department of Health and Human Services to encourage marriage. This same department also paid columnist Mike McManus ten thousand ($10,000) dollars to "train marriage counselors." Yet, according to the Associated Press (Jan. 29), "all three columnists failed to disclose to their readers their relationship with the [Bush] administration." "

Once again in this extract, it shows that for money, for favour with the government, the press is willing to exaggerate or distort truths, and compromise the people's needs for truths and not lies

Let's now consider the case of LKY in Singapore

As we all know Lee Kuan Yew has been a critical leader responsible for the economic, political stability which Singapore is now in. And indeed he is must be commended for his achievements. However, when we look at this extract, which leads us to the question of media and the truth...

" Several members of Lee's family hold prominent positions in Singaporean society, and his sons and daughter hold high government and government-linked posts. His elder son Lee Hsien Loong, a former Brigadier-General, has been the Prime Minister since 2004, and Finance Minister of Singapore. He is also the Vice-Chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Company (GIC) — Lee himself is the Chairman. Lee's younger son, Lee Hsien Yang, also a former Brigadier-General, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of SingTel — a post he will give up soon —, a pan-Asian telecommunications giant and Singapore's largest company by market capitalisation (listed on the Singapore Exchange, SGX). Fifty-six percent of SingTel is owned by Temasek Holdings, a prominent government holding company with controlling stakes in a variety of very large government-linked companies such as Singapore Airlines and DBS Bank. Temasek Holdings in turn is run by Executive Director and CEO Ho Ching, the wife of Lee's elder son, the Prime Minister. Lee's daughter, Lee Wei Ling, runs the National Neuroscience Institute, and remains unmarried. Lee's wife Kwa Geok Choo used to be a partner of the prominent legal firm Lee & Lee. His younger brothers, Dennis, Freddy, and Suan Yew were partners of the same firm. He also has a younger sister, Monica.
Lee has consistently denied charges of nepotism, arguing that his family members' privileged positions are based on personal merit. However, these charges have persisted and international publications such as The Economist, International Herald Tribune and the Far Eastern Economic Review have been threatened, sued or banned in Singapore for implying the existence of nepostism. "

Now, the following press companies like The Economist have been banned or sued for implying the existence of nepotism as well as talking about a Lee Dynasty, given that so many Lees are in power. So, indeed in Singapore, the Lees have contributed to our country's development, and more prominiently, our now Minister Mentor, one of the 4 founding fathers of Singapore who's invaluable contribution is responsible for where we stand now.

But, now, when we refer to the Straits Times which has for years praised LKY for his contributions whereas outside Singpore, he's criticisied for being authorian or implied of nepotism. So the banning of press agencies like the Economist, wouldn't it serve as a example to other agencies like the Straits Times as a reminder to be careful of what they say, or for that matter, what we say? again in the context of politically sensitive issues. So, can we now trust the press to give the truth?

Still NO, I don't think so. What's your stand?

Chapter 3- The Cons of Technology

2007-03-31T01:28:00.000+08:00

The Cons of Technology

My computer just crashed, and I'm very sad, all my work gone in a instant, well, I've just got to live with it. That's why I'll be referring to the cons of technology, more importantly, the Internet. Technology has indeed improved our lives greatly, in maufacturing, communications etc.

Ten years ago, televisions were huge and bulky, but now, they're only a fraction of their original size and offer far better a resolution. However, haven't we noticed, as much as technology as improved the pace of life, have we "improved" far too much? Nowadays, it only take a fewmonths to produce a new breed of say computers that are twice as capable and advanced than the previous generation, average computer lifspan has dropped to 3 years, besides that, we are actually fighting time, all the time, all because of this rapid pace of life accelerated by tecgnology. People are now working non-stop, sometimes making me compare us to the equivalent of a hen in a egg farm, we have to keep on producing egg's, in the end, time becomes the cage that stops us from being able to indulge in the fullest and live the most meaningful life we can.

Another example- the Internet, the so-called glue of the world's population, initially meant for information, news, communications etc. Has become a junkyard of pornography where viruses run rampant and have websites used even for propoganda (by terr*****s. politicians etc.) As much as it's a good source of information, much of it is inaccurate as well. Then we have the infamous bugs and spybugs that run all over, inflitrating and causing problems to computers in one way or another. We have as well, politicians and terror organizations using the Net (newspapers especially)as a way of propoganda. Such a massive number of untruth's sometimes really deludes the minds of the common civillian, and perhaps afterall, the technology, as much as it is good, have it's own share of cons as well

What do you think?

Chapter 2- Famous Personalities- Madonna

2007-03-22T20:54:00.000+08:00

Famous Personalities- Madonna

I'll be writing about Madonna, a famous celebrity of our modern age. A music superstar that hit her peak in the 1990s, she is known for her very contreversial music videos that have political, religious and sexual content, attracting a lot of attention worldwide. Examples include the MTV of songs like "Papa don't Preach" that enraged the Vatican by kissing a priest's leg, "Erotica" seen as sexually explicit as well as "The Girlie Show Tour" where she caused uproar in Puerto Rico by rubbing the island's flag between her legs on stage. Her use of controversial videos together with her musical talent helped to propel her onto the world stage, for both the good and bad reasons. Personally, what I find interesting is that she could perhaps have become the person to introduce the very open " liberalism" of the 1980s to 90s in a big way. As a international celebrity at that time, where the world was still considered pretty conservative, her radical videos really helped to move the world towards "globalisation" and move the music culture of the world, in a certain sense. Her openly "outraging?" acts have influence people around the world to emulate her and be influenced by her dress sense and the way people behave, where "conservativeness" slowly ebbs away, opening up to a whole new world of liberalism and openess. This is seen but the new breed of singers coming up after her appereance, people like Britney and Christina that are in some ways, similar to Madonna in her performances. The status and coverage given to celebrities like her have helped o spread her influence worldwide, through the Internet, LIVE television etc.

Even till now, Madonna, despite at a age of 40, is still very much in vogue in the world, in a sense, to attract people to her concerts and music, in hope of catching a glimpse of one of her "famous" acts again... perhaps kissing a priest?

Chapter 1 - Writer's Pre-View

2007-03-21T22:45:00.000+08:00

Writer's Pre-View

Hello everybody, apparently, as you can see, this is my first time blogging. So WOW, initially when I recieved instructions to set up one, I dismissed it as CRAP!!! Pure CRAP!!! Pardon me for that, but hey, it's my first time seeing such a "unusual" homework. "Yep" and that's how this all started. You'll see me frequently referring to several articles, mainly from MSNBC, and hey, do leave some comments.

=X