Back

Back from my trip. Totally worn out. Worse than working or reservist. Location is secret. Really missed Singapore and my car.

Don't know why I can't seem to add any photos. Bah, I'll try later.

Succeeded. Here's a pic of my Dad and me at a recent dinner. Spiffy suit, eh?

Don't Go To China

I'm Chinese but I've never been to China. No interest, either. As they say in Mandarin - 'Wo shi hua ren, bu shi zhong guo ren'. That may not be exactly correct han yu pin yin, but you get my drift. You cannot deny that most zhong guo ren are severely lacking in social graces.

I just read in today's Straits Times how this woman reporter lost her cool whilst visiting the Great Wall of China. I don't blame her. I'm not surprised. I do fault her for being stupid enough to go there. Maybe she didn't know better.

I predicted that Disneyland Hong Kong would be hell-on-earth for civilized people. I was right. It's simple arithmetic. This place was built to cater to zhong guo ren. It's going to be full of zhong guo ren. These people don't queue, they spit all over the place, they talk loudly, they often have bad breath (and bad teeth), they smoke like chimneys. I could go on, but you get the picture. You've encountered them before. Would you expect a good time there?

Most Singaporeans are generally not the warmest people on earth, but they're positively angelic compared to their 'blood-brothers' in the Middle Kingdom. I've told myself that I won't go to China until they learn graciousness. I'm thinking it'll be a cold day in hell before I voluntarily set foot there.

I-don't-pod, do you?

I have to take my hat off to Steve Jobs for finding profit in mp3 players (which should be a commodity). However, for the very same reason, I hope that he eventually fails. It's a zero sum game, every dollar in profit (beyond a reasonable, small amount) is a dollar too much that someone is paying for a commodity.

Racists and Stupid People

2 racists get arrested for making inflammatory comments. Don't know any details yet. One must draw a line between being frank and being offensive. Offensive people are just juvenile, and give the PC crowd more ammo. Besides, if you have opinions on race, better keep it to yourself.

Ipod again. Why do people go ga-ga over it? Is there some feature that cannot be copied? Yes. The brand name. The show-off factor. Same reason why people pay $180K for a 1.8L Mercedes E200ML - to show off. Important thing is to be confident about yourself, and buy the better product - like my Accord. :)

In Rockson's small photo, it looks like his car is a Toyota AE86 (or something like that, I'm not big on old cars). Now, how likely is that? I don't think I've even seen one in Singapore. It'd be a classic car by now (more than 25 years).

Marriage Sucks Redux

Marriage as an institution sucks. It's overhyped. On its own merits, the gays can have it. However, it's a question of principles. I'm not religious at all but I do believe most religions condemn homosexuality. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of it. One sign of America's decadence and decline must surely be their softness when it comes to right and wrong. Political correctness my ass. Racial profiling my ass. Wake up! It's time to call a spade a spade. Go Arnie!

Cheats and Gays

Article in Today criticized Creative for trying to be cheap AND good with Zen mp3 player. It's a good strategy in an ideal world where people act rationally. Who doesn't want cheap and good. Unfortunately, many people are seduced by the brand appeal of Apple and disregard the (arguably) cheaper and better Creative offerings. Personally, I don't understand the need for mp3 players. I'm not offering any solutions here. I admit, Sim's got a big mountain to climb. Power to him.

The same article mentioned Osim (Or Seem is how I prefer to pronounce it). I think it would be very instructive if people knew how much their profit margin is. My guess is 300-400%. I wouldn't be touching any of those products with a ten-foot pole. Other gougers are Bose, BMW (Performance Motors), Mercedes Benz (Cycle & Carriage), Volvo, Saab, Lexus and Subaru (yes, you heard right). Look here.

Raffles5000, the group of Raffles Town Club members who successfully sued the club for misleading everyone, is not happy with the club's offer to settle in kind. Settlement aside, the club was sold some time back, Raffles5000 is sueing the new owners who are innocent (I presume). What happened to the original owners, who took the cash and ran?

A promotional poster for a local movie showing 2 young women in a compromising position was recalled. Silly. We all don't mind seeing beautiful gay women in action. However, butches and gay men in print are strictly off-limits (plain gross). Censors, let's be A BIT selective.

Predators On IRC

Spent some time reading discussions on blogs today.

One was a ding-dong argument over hurricane Katrina. One guy (Ben) was saying that those who stayed behind and died or got into trouble deserved some of the blame. Another guy didn't agree and took several personal pot-shots at Ben. Reading through the whole thing, I feel that Ben's arguments were reasoned and factual. The other guy was just shooting is mouth off and hitting below the belt. How to have a meaningful discussion like that?

Another issue was about sexual predators on IRC. Basically, these guys are sick. If you need to have sex, just go to Geylang, pay for it, and get it over with. Instead, these guys look for naive girls on IRC to trick into having sex. They're not quite interested in the online prostitutes (those looking for money), although these are slightly different from the ones in Geylang (younger, less experienced, higher risk of VD). The bottom line is that many naive girls exploring the internet make the mistake of getting on IRC because it's interesting to chat to strangers. They don't realize the dangers (ignoring parental warnings, if any) until it's too late. These girls need protecting, even if they are over 16.

Gays Again

Gays are trying to legalize gay-marriage in California. It just occurred to me that the ideal scenario is: they succeed, gays flock there to get married, California becomes a latter day Sodom, a huge quake hits San Andreas, California is destroyed. History repeats itself. That should convince people not to f*** with God.

Poor Dog

Just read the latest entry by Rockson. Says he came down with dengue. Another coincidence? Sounds more like highlighting a topical issue (for the gahmen). Still, fun to read. Can't believe there are people who still diss the gahmen in the comments section.

Read about the evil bastard who got fined $3000 for ill-treating his dog to death. His punishment should be what he did to that poor animal (not to death, I guess).

Elected-Presidency? What election? Swearing ceremony? You bet.