Getting addicted to TED: Ideas worth spreading

I have been visiting this website for 2 weeks now, each day finding some beautiful, amazing ideas being given lecture style to inspire people, educate people and empower people. 

This site invites fascinating people from all around the world to give their most compelling talk in 18 minutes. Every one of them is so fantastic. Today I stumble upon one given by Jill Bolte Taylor, and am truly moved by how she communicated her stroke experience, experiencing something so powerful in the most life threatening situation. 

There are many other great speakers from TED such as Barry Schwartz and Dan Gilbert. But this talk by Jill is a standout so far. Do try watching some videos from TED, there are quite a few genres of videos there. Some may just change your life. 

Found the youtube for this video here.

Wall Street Fighter

Street Fighter: Chun Li is showing in the cinemas now. How about some Street Fighter, wall street style?

Funny Wall Street Fighter. Watch your favourite characters fight! I just need someone to tell me what Goldman is saying when he is spinning on the chair.

For the record: One trillion dollars into the economy

The United States government is running out of ammunition. Bailouts needs more and more money and no one can afford to lend the money to the Americans anymore, not even China. So what to do? The Federal Reserves surprises everyone yesterday, pumping in one trillion dollars into the economy by buying Treasury bonds. And the real surprise is the market is actually happy about it. 

So what is the impact with this continuous creation of money out of thin air? In the short term, things may work out, but it will create a potentially bigger mess in the future. The American dollar will weaken against other currencies. And there is a sneaky feeling that inflation might spiral out of hand. Let's hope another Zimbabwe is not on the way. 

All bubbles burst

Excerpt from Thomas Friedman's The Great disruption.

...We have created a system for growth that depended on our building more and more stores to sell more and more stuff made in more and more factories in China, powered by more and more coal that would cause more and more climate change but earn China more and more dollars to buy more and more U.S. T-bills so America would have more and more money to build more and more stores and sell more and more stuff that would employ more and more Chinese ...

..."But it has to collapse, unless adults stand up and say, 'This is a Ponzi scheme. We have not generated real wealth, and we are destroying a livable climate ...' Real wealth is something you can pass on in a way that others can enjoy."...

bbqchickenwings thinks that Singapore is a big Ponzi scheme too.

There is also a nice article about Singapore about the myth of the role of PAP in Singapore's miraculous economic growth over the last 40 years. Read Part I and Part II. While the post try to discredit the PAP's role in our economic growth, bbqchickenwings is more interested in the stagnation that will occur in the near future, as Paul Krugman is quoted. 

Even without going through the formal exercise of growth accounting, these numbers should make it obvious that Singapore’s growth has been based largely on one-time changes in behavior that cannot be repeated. Over the past generation the percentage of people employed has almost doubled; it cannot double again. A half-educated work force has been replaced by one in which the bulk of workers has high school diplomas; it is unlikely that a generation from now most Singaporeans will have Ph.D’s

The government is running out of ideas and resorting to builiding 2 casinos to continue improving the GDP numbers every year. bbqchickenwings thinks Singapore has taken a step back during the last 10 years. Singapore was a more prosperous and happier society when Goh Chok Tong was Prime Minister. He promised us a Swiss standard of living. We were inching towards 乌托邦for a while and now we are slipping back again. The innovation is drying up, low-value manufacturing is moving to cheaper developing countries and before you know it, the Singapore economy will fall from a cliff. 

And no, its not due to the economic crisis now. Even without the crisis, bbqchickenwings thinks the standard of living in Singapore has declined over the last decade. Or maybe we took too much things for granted, what are wants have now become needs? The middle class does not have any rise in income,  they have to work harder and longer to maintain their lifestyle. Many are living from pay cheque to pay cheque. The bottom 20% is definitely worse off than 10 years ago. The income inequality is growing bigger.  A growing segment of the population needs social aid but do not know where to get help. Despite all the reports that the government is spending more money on poorer people, the aid is notoriously difficult to apply and get. You have to really humuliate yourself and show how poor you really are before they give u a pittance. 

To end off, visit this blog which wrote a poem about the sad life of Singaporeans. Excerpts: 

Once upon a time,
in nineteen sixty-nine.
HDB were not only subsidized,
but standard of living also very nice.
One spouse working, all can survive,
children are children all running around so nice.

Fast forward 40 years, it is the dreaded two thousand nine,
HDB flats had all became smaller in size.
Now termed "market subsidized,
their prices are not so kind.
Cost of living had grown so high,
now both spouses have to work nine to nine.

Is it stupid to learn dialects?

In a forum letter to the Straits Times, Chee Hong Tat, private secretary to our Minister Mentor, says that Chinese Singaporeans should just learn English (to connect to the world and contribute to the GDP of the country) and Mandarin (to connect to China in future when it becomes a superpower). 

So is this his personal response or an official response from the MM? And to call learning dialect stupid? Quote: It would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and Mandarin.

Ban the use of dialects?

So the Teochew assosciation, Poit Ip Huay Kuan,is stupid for giving courses on speaking Teochew? Maybe the government should ban the speaking of any dialects and impose a fine on people who converse in Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka and such, further enhancing our reputation as a 'fine' city. With the rising unemployment rate,  we can employ some people as 'dialect terminators' prowling the streets in undercover and issuing summons when they hear Hokkien vulgarities. A good place to hunt will be in army camps. 

We are only half-bucket in both English and Mandarin

Not that we are any good in English and Mandarin anyway, are we? Except for the 5% who can converse in perfect Queen's English, the English speaking standard in Singapore is, sad to say, torrid. The incompatability with Mandarin affects many Chinese in pronouncing their 'r's and 'th's. Many subconciously has the same sounds for 'three' and 'tree'. Already is usually spoken as 'olredy'. And many of the bad habits were picked up from the teachers we learnt from. We may be able to understand each other, but a foreigner will have to second guess what we are trying to express many times. 

Our Mandarin is not that great too. Try translating a finance or science article into Mandarin. Maybe that was too hard. How about trying to say 'lettuce' and 'broccoli' in Mandarin? Do you know? bbqchickenwings don't even though there is an A to show for his AO level Chinese. Singaporeans (at least the Chinese) are substandard in their English, and worse in Mandarin. 

Perhaps the linguistically less talented people should focus on just one language after all. 

A painful history as a result of the bilingual policy

bbqchickenwings is not advocating the removal of the bilingual language medium in our education, although there can be some tweaks to improve the system. bbqchickenwings was born into a Teochew family. The parents speak Teochew to each other and their siblings but Mandarin to the kids. As a result, bbqchickenwings grew up being unable to communicate well with his grandparents. The weekly visits and conversations with the grandparents always revolve around the same feel sentences, such as 'How are you?' 'I am fine' and then bbqchickenwings will scurry away, unable to add a few more sentences in Teochew. It may not seem to matter when young, but being a adult (at least officially) now, it seems embarassing that bbqchickenwings can't communicate with the grandparents last time. 

We should celebrate the use of dialects which really makes us Uniquely Singapore

There should be a greater acceptance in diversity. The multiple dialects, languages, race and religion is what makes Singapore such a beautiful place. Singlish evolves as a result of such vibrance and also due to our inability to master any of the languages well enough. The use of dialects has integrated into our daily life. Ordering a plate of Chee Kway with extra Cai Po can only be done properly with the use of dialect for the names of the food. It is simple stuff like this that gives us a sense of belonging (which is increasingly diluted with the huge migrant influx recently).

Is there a need to use such a strong statement to defend his superior's policy?

Minister Mentor Lee decided last time that everyone should just learn English with one mother tongue. The mother tongue was standardized. Mandarin for Chinese people, Malay for the Malays and Tamil for Indians. Oh and there are the 'others' who don't fit anywhere. They can choose and pick a 2nd language from the three. Chinese Dialects were not part of the equation. They have become a dying breed due to our government policies and it may be a waste of time to be learning them. But it is unneccesary for the MM's secretary come out and say that it is STUPID and FOOLISH to learn dialects. They are insulting for our heritage and history.

The end.

PS: Why are we then still using dialect names in our pink I/C. Redbean brought this issue up before. Excerpt: The next phase of change was the hanyu pinyin campaign. This was another of the unifying efforts of the govt, to do away with dialects and have a common language. It's effects turned out to be a bit of a rojak. Tan Ah Kow became Chen Ya Kou. The father and son had differently written surname in English, From Mr Tan to Mr Chen.

We went from dialect to hanyu pinyin. Somewhere during bbqchickenwing's primary school years, everyone had their names changed from hanyu pinyin to dialect again. But bbqchickenwings did not. And now, bbqchickenwings still don't know why he has a different surname from his father in their I/Cs. 

Conspiracy theory in NTU stabbing?

Check out this comment made on the Straits Times below. 

edwin2026

Yesterday, 02:37 PM I am one of David Hartanto's close friend and I am here to give you some facts, assumptions, possibilities about this case Facts: 1. Lok Tat Seng: Dean of Student of NTU gathered all Indonesian students in International Student Center on evening after incident and  he just said there was witness on the spot who saw David's body lying on the ground, dead. Dean did not said that witness saw David jumped from balcony.  And that is, according to him, all he has saw. 2. The only official statement from police is: David was found dead at the crime scene, they did not mention whether he commited suicide. The link: http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIM...20at%20NTU.pdf They also just mention 'The professor was believed to be stabbed'. The police did not say that 'the professor was stabbed'. Where this assumption come from? Why they did not say about it?  3. I and some Indonesian students gather tonight, 3 March 2009, at 8 pm,  at International Student Center and talked to David's parent.  They have seen his body. There was NO WOUND whatsoever on his wrists  and police also has confirmed it.  I assumed that his parent would not lie it means that all media news about 'David slashed his wrist' was FAKE. 4. The wounds found on David's body, according to his parents,  were on his head (It is assumed due to fall injury), and slash wound on his neck. The wound on his neck is very suspicious, in my opinion. How he received that wound?? Again, according to his parent, police guessed that it may be happened when the bottom part of his head smashed the ground. In that case, his chin will have broken and it did not. My question is: WHERE DOES THAT SLASH WOUND ON HIS NECK CAME FROM? Assumptions: 1. David stabbed professor. How did you know? The crime scene is closed room, only David and that professor. No one see what has happened.  Eye-witness only saw David run out from that room. 2. David commited suicide. How could someone who commited suicide drop himself into glassed roof, instead of directly drop himself to ground. 3. David slashed his wrist. I do not know where this news came from... 4. David's motivation. 4.1. He pissed off since his prof did not give satisfactory grade The grade has not been released and he even has not submitted the report. It is also NTu policy not to inform the student about the grade which they got before release of the result. 4.2. He has mental problem No record in Student Counselling Centre about his attendance. For bright student as him, I did not believe that he did not attend counseling if he has some problems. Also, he still brought bag with usual daily stuff, on incident day, such as drink bottle, towel, etc. If David planned to kill someone why would he prepare to bring such things. It is easier for him to just bring one knife and stab his prof on spot. 4.3. He pissed off because his scholarship has been revoked I knew David since I was his roommate for 2 consecutive  years during Mathematical Olympiad training camp. He almost did not  qualify for IMO, only managed to get at 14th rank from 15 people selected. He still joked and laughed to me at that time. He also did not get anything from IMO and still fine, not seemed depressed whatsoever, and according to his parents, he said 'At least, I managed to represent Indonesia at IMO' He also still play Hammerfall game in Facebook at 2 am on the incident day. My friend saw his Facebook account online. How come a murderer played game in the night before incident? If I was him,  I will seriously think how would I prepare myself tomorrow Possibilities: 1. Professor attacked David. I deduced this thing for several key points. According to many reports, David's cloth was soaked on blood. If the blood is  the result from slashing his wrist, it should not soak his cloth since wrist is  far from body. If the wound is from neck, it is easier.  2. David tried to run from Professor. After he realized that he was attacked,  he resisted and run from that room, with wound on his neck. 3. David falled because of unconsciousness. He became panic and probably lose  his common sense because of terrible bleeding, drop himself down into glassed roof  to escape from his Professor. I am responsible for what I have written here, and contact me at kaminari.no.me@gmail.com if you need any clarification.

Amidst all the spin by the traditional media that David Hartanto Widjaja is a loner who plays WOW and stabbed Prof Chan Kap Luk and then commited suicide, and that its all due to a withdrawal of his ASEAN scholarship, there are some questions to be asked according to 'his friend'. Reading this makes bbqchickenwings confused and think that we need Tim Sir from Forensic Heroes (法政先锋). 

So did David Hartanto Widjaja have his wrist slashed or worse got slashed in the neck?

Who is the aggressor? Is there more than meet the eye? 

Only Prof Chan knows. 

One life is wasted, another one injured. Should we ask whether this tragedy could have been prevented after all? For all the defense that NTU says it has on counselling schemes, could more empathy have been shown? This is about life and death after all. Wait a minute, I forgot this is Singapore. Life and death is not so important, most important is whether a person contributes to the economic growth of the country. 

Nothing can make up for the loss of a loved one. My condolences to the Widjaja family.

Check your political leanings

Check where you stand on political issues. Try the World's smallest political quiz. 2 mins and you are done. 

I am a centrist. 

Leaving the merlion as it is.

Mr Choo Kay Wee wrote a letter to Straits Times forum to ask for the damaged merlion to be left untouched. 

Excerpt: How about leaving our lightning-struck Merlion as it is? Would this not generate more curiosity and attract more tourists, local and foreign, because of the rarity of the accident? Would collecting an entrance fee to the site be a clever move as well?'

Uniquely Singapore. We must make money from anything and everything possible.

A bit crude but this is my suggestion: next time someone jumps off onto a MRT track, we should leave things as it is, and charge money for people to see the body. Make it a 2-hour exhibition special before we remove the body. The proceeds can be used to lower our transport fares hopefully. 

Either he is in Singapore or not in Singapore

It has been one year and two days since anyone saw him. 27th February marks the one year anniversary of Mas Selamat bin Kastari's escape from detention. 

The big question remains: Where is he?

Smaller questions: Is he going to plot a revenge? Why is the freaking toilet window not secured? There is a total lack of moral wisdom in they guy who approved of the toilet window. Why is Wong Kan Seng not punished other than giving a half-hearted apology? What is the extent of cock-up a Ministry must produce before a Minister can be liable for the mistakes? Or are they such great talents that nothing they do is ever a mistake?

Is Wong Kan Seng going to be lauded for his great achievements if MSK is ever caught?

Which will come sooner? MSK getting caught or our investments in Citigroup being recouped? We may probably not see the arrival of either days.