Why help them?

I've caught two episodes of a programme where media celebrities and a group of volunteers go out and help destitute families by giving their living quarters a once over.

The more I watch it, the angrier I felt.

Apart from the fact that the recipients were mostly ungrateful (I'd think so) and took things for granted, a particular mother (her 11 year old only daughter's name Cherry) was such a scheming bitch that I felt the entire effort to help her was unjustifiable. She refused to walk even though she could. Why? Because she claims she will fall down if she walks. She even accused her daughter of not holding her properly, leading to her fall. Her little girl was not even 10 then!

Another mother (her surname is Xiao) of a retarded son refused to make peace with her neighbours even though the helpers bought cake for her to give to them and rebuild bridges. What pride!

If there is a god, these people should all be shot dead stat! But then, I believe god has grander plans for them. Perhaps the shame and humiliation that they are facing now is their retribution. Especially if they believe in a religion that does not have the concept of an after-life, it must be it that they must expunge their karma before they die.

Well, I'm just feeling the injustice for those living around them and the poor celebrities. I wonder why they should not consider coming over to clean up my place instead. After all, I can bake delicious bread to reciprocaate their kindness. (Squirrels often find it hard to part with their nuts. Pun? What pun?)

I am not the cause of your problems...

so better watch your attitude because I've just about had enough.

I don't need to tolerate nonsense.

I can be part of the solution but push me enough and I'll choose to be part of the problem.

The strings once cut...

My fellow company of bitches and I met for lunch on Friday last and over our lip smacking Peranakan fare, we looked at how things have developed for many of us.

To think we were all colleagues once, only one of the four of us are still in the job whereas the rest have quit to become free agents.

I was just saying that at the grand old age of 666 divided by 2 minus 300, I can no longer hold down a full time job. The strings of bondage, once cut, liberates the body and soul entirely. I am no longer willing to be held down by a restraint. You may break my wing so that I am flightless but in my heart, in my mind, my very being soars further than the limits of what have you.

Another fellow lunch mate admitted the same. She didn't think she could ever go back to another job where she cannot get to dictate her terms any more. She is especially disillusioned with the way she was treated when she was at work. However, for whatever we had shared, we always got along.

Another lady who just quit her job had the same idea. She didn't think she wants to be held hostage to a job again. Part time work is fine but not full time commitments.

Our last friend, who is looking at a particularly bright prospect in front of her, hesitates. We told her to take the challege and rise up another rung before quiting. Why quit when the opportunity is right there?

Still, I must have been blessed to have this group of friends in my life.

People have a way of sorting themselves out in your life. Certain groups form and then they grow, they get trimmed; people are inducted into our (un)holy circles (eh, all bitchy people!) while others stray or go their separate ways (they become our bitching targets). But somehow, they have always brought lots of love to the table.

I look forward to having them over for a bread party soon.

Of washing hands and worms

Just graded a paper where the student argued that a hawker who washes his hands when selling food but does not wash them if he's off duty will have a hard time keeping up his hygiene levels as demanded by professional identity as a food seller. The student rhetorically asked how anyone would buy food from him once they know of his differing hygiene habits. So I wrote in response, "Just don't be the first in the queue to buy from him!"

Then as I was blog browsing, Old Whig posted this piece of news about how a woman ended up with a worm in her brain stem because of eating raw or undercooked pork or through contact with someone who had not washed his/her hands after their big business. (Watch video.)

Talk about coincidence!

PS. I wonder if Al washes his hands after doing his brain dump.

Am I really crazy?

Find out more about yourself at The IPIP-NEO.

My results are published in the link "Understanding Teflonman" in the left margin.

Special thanks to Probligo for this, cos I found my way there from his blog.

I better stop doing the Old Whig

My recent blog posts have become short intros and short conclusions and in between, I'm providing links for people to go and self-destruct by reading the tome of information that has even confused me.

Seems like a good thing to do - thorough research and then help spread the word by showing the whole world how smart I am to find those information.

But I should stop doing that. There is already a Master of such a skill and he's so good at it, my recent efforts - or lack of - make me blush.

I'm showy by nature but not a show off. So, I'll leave that to the pros.

Reminder to self: Better start getting back to proper writing.

Wisdom in 140 characters or less

"The people who oppose your ideas are inevitably those who represent the established order that your ideas will upset." ~Anthony D'Angelo

Source

I have a meeting later today. And I'm not looking forward to it.

The closing speech of Clarence Darrow in the Henry Sweet Trial (1926)

Keith Olbermann referred to Clarence Darrow's closing speech at the Henry Sweet Trial as he made a passionate plea for people to denouce Proposition 8.

Curiosity got the better of me as I searched for the famed closing speech in Google. I've found it. Darrow had a very incisive understanding of human nature. He knew people very well and the respectfully damning speech was persuasive and incredibly well-crafted. He allowed people graceful admissions without feeling shame. He let them feel that they were the righteous even though they were devil-incarnates.

It was indeed even more exciting than Atticus Finch's drama in To Kill a Mockingbird. A delightful read, indeed!

Interesting development in Proposition 8

Keith Olbermann of MSNBC makes a passionate plea for gay marriages. Indeed, his premise is simple: This is about the human heart.

Some nutcase must have subsumed childbearing duties as part of marriage. That is why gay and lesbian marriages are not tolerated as no offsprings can be produced. But if this is the case, childless couples ought to be stoned or burned at the stakes or even condemned to eternal hell since they failed in their godly duties.

So what's the problem with the human heart? For starters, many people are born without hearts.

Olbermann's written plea here.

Boing! Boing!

The food fair at Singapore Expo Hall 5 was jam packed with mindless, brainless, motionless bodies.

Mindless because they should have planned how they wanted to navigate the simple labyrinth of stalls (hey, it is just 6 rows of them, so what is a mentally trivial exercise).

Brainless because they should know better than to bring their prams and wet market shopping carts that are so bloody obstrusive. And why the heck would anyone think of bringing young kids to a shove-fest like this? Hey, this is not a Proposition 8 Demonstration! At least, over there, I'd get my fill of good looking people in their leather and gear. Oops. Have I revealed too much? But heck, it was so depressing looking around that my friend pointed out to me a girl whom he christened "A human Cabbage Patch Kid" after I came out of the toilet. It was a rather mean remark; I saw her earlier as I exited the washroom but from the place he stood, she was indeed one! She'd put the CPKs to shame, goddammit!

Motionless because many of these people wanted to sample food at the various stalls. Fine! Get the food and move aside. You don't need to eat in front of those stall holders! They already half guessed, ok, nine-tenths confirmed that you are just a cheapskate glutton who will eat and not buy anything. No need to pretend. Take the thing, MOVE ASIDE and eat. Then you can f--- off quietly since the next crowd would have engaged the stallholders and they wouldn't have time to care if you indeed wanted to buy anything. If people simply stood in front of these stalls to demonstrate how food should be eaten to the people who have cooked those samples, then how the f--- do you expect the rest of the crowd to move along? Hey, many of those food samples are that - samples. You taste, show a face and find the nearest dustbin. I even wonder why they come and peddle their wares. What we liked were mostly sold out.

So, after traversing the various corridors, I am really heaving my spoils and trying to make my way out of that progressively crowded place. If the place was 65% filled when I first went in, it was approaching 95% now. And so with people doing particulate brownian motion, it was not long before a gaseous, high mass, high energy molecule like me is going to whack into someone.

She moved right into my right shoulder as I broke out of the two man blockade. And she bounced right off me, took two steps back as I zoomed past her to the next roadblock.

It felt good. I should go to such fairs more often. In future, I'll just bump into and bounce people off for the fun of it. Shopping? That can wait.

Oh, there was another who went "Hey!" after she knocked into me. Hey what? Like I care, babe! Move along and eat my dust, you hopeless lethargic low life.

Oops! I did it again.

From the Useless Knowledge widget below: The hump of a starving camel may flop over and hang down the side of its body as the fat is used up.

Is that why an aging breast sags?

Oh my poor Bubbles!

Little wonder our lunch/dinner outing never materialised for so long. One of us is too busy bedding, another is too busy bitching, the third is too busy babysitting, and now the fourth is too busy bubbling.

Poor Bubbles. I didn't know he was so good at describing his poxy infliction. Makes me want to take a look at him myself, now that my curiosity is so... piqued. Alas, I know I should not be a busybody because herpes simplex is indeed highly contagious and I haven't been in the best of health myself - the bloody flu won't come and the pre-flu symptoms won't go.

Get well soon, Bubbles.

Why airheads speak faster than...

I learnt from the useless knowledge website that dolphins jump out of the water to conserve energy. It is easier to move through the air than through the water.

So ideas must definitely pass through airheads faster than a cerebral fluid soaked spongy mass.

I should have paid more attention to the useless knowledge they were trying teach me in physics lessons.

What will they do?

Hijacking another aircraft to crash into another building in the US is unlikely to succeed. More successful would be an aircraft in distress crashing into a US building.

So let's assume the New York Grand Central Station, smack in the middle of NYC, becomes a target.

20 bombs go off 10 seconds apart in the evening rush hour. The whole railway is paralysed.

I like this scenario better because in the dark, rescue operations are going to be harder and there will be more carnage. By the time dawn comes, the time lapse would be too long for survivors to stay alive.

Our favourite Uncle A'Q comes out and sneers. CIA agents recognise that the uncle is in some known city in some known country where the US can immediate launch missiles into in less than an hour.

And what will they do?

Dispatch the forces to take him out? No! This can't be done. Change we need!

Bomb the place to smithereens? No! The country won't be happy (even though they are hiding Uncle). No can do. Change we need!

So what happens? Re-site the rail station?

The Economic Crisis

Times are bad and a global slowdown is imminent. That's a good thing, unless you're the President-elect promising to do the Rob-in-Hood. Yeah, you know, hood your face, rob the rich, and keep it yourself? Oh, I mean, give to the poor.

The Reds got the US$700 billion rescue package passed. Clearly, this is not enough. Change we need!

I read this morning that the Blues are going to continue the US$700 billion rescue package. They are going to introduce "more stringent" criteria to help them decide who gets saved (the blue backers?) and who doesn't (anything from purple to red?). In addition, they are putting out another US$175 billion stimulus package.

This is still throwing good money at bad. Worse, those with money now have to watch out because they may lose their hard earned moolah to the authorised robbers.

Don't fret! Pass me your money. I'll save them for you. I'll help you invest in Singapore properties. These will only appreciate in value as Singapore land is scarce. And you don't have to worry about the harsh winters and hot summers. We have an agreeable equatorial climate for you guys.

Oh, you're not interested? Fine. Forget I asked.

Getting back to the original discussion, the Red package is bad. The Blue package is essentially the same as the Red package. But it's good. Change you need?

Yeah right. Amazing how people are just so happy with the wine bottle is changed and not the rancid contents.

A Matter of Agenda

While the newspapers and various news-related media have a social responsibility to report the truth, the direction of their editorial policies are often influenced by the agenda the decision makers have. Some of these agenda are in the open whereas most are not. While each news source claims to be providing fair reporting of the news, it takes an intelligent reader to be able to read past the nuanced writing to get to the facts that lay beneath the opinions.

News sources that are pro-government are often slammed by the people as mouthpieces of the government. Some of these sources subject themselves to self-censorship before the news are published. In contrast, news sources that are align themselves against certain governments will always criticise what the governments do, regardless of the goodness of intent or policy.

Indeed, in the news arena, change we need. But what kind? Fox, or Faux, News is often slammed as a Red mouthpiece. I wonder who are the Blue mouthpieces. Still, having multiple mouthpieces are necessary because when we take in views from both sides, we will be able to find the common denominator. The common denominator will be the news, which should come to us without the unnecessary embellishments.

So we have a balance of power in the news sources. Er... what are we going to change?

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned

While many attribute the quote to William Shakespeare, it actually comes from a play called the "The Mourning Bride" (1697) by William Congreve. The complete quote is "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned / Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."

Why is this important?

Because hell hath no fury like a Republican trumped.

Don't get at me. I'm sad with the rising blue tide. Fortunately, it's for 4 years and no one knows what will happen between now and then.

Given the rotten situation he is in, there is no way but up. Of course, we cannot preclude the possibility that he wants to dig further downwards.

What I know of the grievances of the grassroots, I read them off the blogs and other internet sources that I visit. People either like him or loathe him. This is only to be expected.

The important thing now is to deepen this crisis so that it can begin healing. There is no point in trying to prescribe antibiotics when amputation is necessary. I hope people have the guts to do what is right.

I can just imagine if Bush stepped down last year when the economy was still booming. I'm sure people would have painted a different picture of him.

President-elect Barack Obama's remarks in Chicago

President-elect victory speech

Hello, Chicago.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voices could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled -- Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America!

It's the answer that -- that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain. Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign, and he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him; I congratulate Governor Palin for all that they've achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years, the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next First Lady: Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both more than you can imagine, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House. And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and I know that my debt to them is beyond measure. To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters -- thank you so much for the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.

And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe -- the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America. To my chief strategist David Axelrod -- who's been a partner with me every step of the way. To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics -- you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you. I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give 5 dollars and 10 dollars and 20 dollars to the cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy, who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep. It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth. This is your victory.

And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime: two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education. There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as President. And we know the government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand. What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other. Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers. In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a Party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity. Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours: "We are not enemies but friends...." "Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection."¹

And to those Americans who -- whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your President, too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those -- To those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we've proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot: Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose: Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved: Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "we shall overcome": Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change: Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one;² that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubt and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

Thank you.

God bless you.

And may God bless the United States of America.

T'was in the signs

I should have guessed Obama would win the US presidential elections.

I mean, the signs were all there and the stars were all aligned. Yet, as they say, hindsight is 20-20.

Many Americans were "kao-peh-kao-bu"ing recently. The country was mired in two wars, the subprime crisis was bad, the economy was failing, the Bush Administration can't seem to do right and the people felt "change they need" (even though I don't know if they know exactly what change they need). They were literally "cry-father-cry-mother"ing for change. They wanted the whole system revamped.

I wonder what that means? Pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan? Provide refugee camps for their own people? Print US banana notes to revive the economy? Change from Red to Blue? Oh, yes, change from Red to Blue. That's the only thing they have to do for a start, then the rest will follow. But what's the rest?

So, with a name that combines father "pa or ba" and mother "ma" and which starts off with an exclamation "O!", then the US got their man!

Obama it is!

Gourmet Test

This is a one-question test to see if you have the makings of a gourmet.

Question
What is the difference in taste between distilled, mineral, reverse osmosis, and tap water?


























Answer

The chemicals.

Honestly.

Pigs, dogs, and some other animals can taste water, but people cannot. Humans don’t actually taste water or even Perrier; they taste the chemicals and impurities in the water.

Did you pass the test?

What a difference a year makes...

... they did not have the sense or courtesy to keep drinks for others who have not had their share

... they did not care to leave their trash in the bins

... they left the otak otak wrappers on the window ledge

... they do not understand the meaning of pick up the litter on the floor

... their mouths are not yet fully developed, dropping satay and other tidbits all over the floor

... their eyes are not able to see things clearly, they can't even see the rubbish right in front of them

... they didn't think that spills ought to be mopped up

... they think trash cans are bottomles pits

... their idea is that dishes wash themselves up

... their belief is the food should be served to them for their picking

... and that the raw food will cook themselves

... they dirtied all the rooms in a span of less than 6 hours

... privacy meant nothing to them

... an overflowing bin is still a bin...

No doubt they were 14 coming 15 but they were nothing like my adorable students who already had developed manners, well most of them, when they were 15. My students knew to keep a room for me and keep out of it. They knew to keep the trash where they belong or at least there were trash police who would ensure that the socially less mature ones knew what to do. My students knew dishes need to be washed and made sure they were washed. They even counted the dishes before checking out and reported any damage. They kept food fresh, ensured that things went on well. They were definitely mature, taking turns to play and keeping their volumes down. There was more congeniality and much more fun.

I never recall having to stoop over washing dishes like Cinder-homme till my back ached. I never had to stand at the microwave to precook the food to 85% because the fire they started was too small and there was too little charcoal for the BBQ. My kids knew how to take over so that everyone can get some fun. Heck, even if they were not operating the microwave cooking, they would have come in to take out cooked portions so that their additional hands can make light work.

A few of them came by, of course, to ask if the food was ready but these are the ones who would, I believe, do their share of cleaning up. They won't be all packed up ready to go once the food is finished but the cleaning is not. Heck, they would even clear the bins and check that the windows are closed PROPERLY before they leave. My students would even check the lights and fans to make sure that everything was in order.

I think I want to have another BBQ with my class soon. Because they are worth it!

Happy Samhain

A friend wished me Happy Samhain when we chatted this morning.

Interesting.