Category: Rants

Earth Hour 2009

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Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. Now, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote.

Yes, it is this simple. By switching off the lights, you cast a vote for Earth and a vote against climate change. This year’s target is to have 1 billion people switch off their lights as part of this global vote.

Vote Earth by simply switching off your lights for one hour, and join the world for Earth Hour on March 28, 8:30-9:30pm local time.

Do this for our planet. It’s the only one we’ve got.

Climate change aside, the environmental problems we are facing are staggering. If we do nothing about it or act too late, these damages may become permanent and possibly irreversible. The rapid loss and desertification of our forested areas, and the loss of Arctic ice, along with increased pollution of our oceans and loss of fisheries are some of these problems. You may not know that today there are 40 times more plastic pollutant in the sea than plankton, and marine life is eating these. You may also not know that incinerating rubbish for landfills releases dioxins – a lethal toxin – into the atmosphere.

Thus, Earth Hour shouldn’t be the only time you do your part for Earth. A lot of the above problems are caused by our exploitation of our planet’s resources, a consequence of our consumption patterns. The end products we use, all contribute for the damage we are causing to our environment – right from raw material extraction to its manufacturing and ultimate disposal.

You might not be aware that some products these days are designed with built-in obsolescence – a design strategy that ensure you will need to dispose of the product after 2 – 3 years even when it’s still functioning. Take for example, how CPUs moved from being socket mounted to slot-mounted and back in the past 10 years, or the laptop that comes with one extra RAM slots that will only take RAM modules up to 2GB of RAM or chipsets that refuses to recognise anything more than that. Tough luck if you are one of the rare few having a 4GB memory requirement – you simply end up buying either a desktop or another laptop at obscene prices.

obsolescence –noun the state, process, or condition of being or becoming obsolete.

Beyond that you have other products like digital cameras that comes with memory expansion slots incapable of reading the latest memory cards. While it may not be necessary for you to put in the biggest memory card available, what is most infuriating is that it is too expensive or even impossible to obtain the ones that it does read!

When built-in obsolescence does not force you to upgrade or replace the product, it is then perceived obsolescence. Perceived obsolescence usually comes in the form of peer pressure, for e.g. that nice little new phone that has animated wallpapers, a 5-Megapixel Camera, or your colleague getting a LCD to replace her CRT. None of these things really enhances the main features you use or increase productivity. You are simply pressurized into buying them because you don’t want to look old fashioned.

Simply put, let us be clear about our needs and not our wants. Do your part in reducing the exploitation of our planet. Give our planet a chance.

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Site Introduction: Twitterfall

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Caught in Action: An Update Dropping Down

dk99 introduced me to Twitterfall, which allows me to set up ‘Custom Searches’ with certain key topics so all Tweets with the keyword will be displayed. I find that it also serves the purpose of getting near-realtime updates from my friends by linking my Twitter account to it.

Now, I can keep track of all Tweets on topics I am interested in, like Window 7, Psystar, the Blackberry Storm for example. Results are pushed to my browser and I no longer need to refresh my Twitter page regularly. It allows me to get up to date information on what people say about these topics on top of my usual feeds from CNET and rss feeds of blogs.

On top of that, it also spares me the need to follow more people and this means I do not have to put up with other comments which I might find irrelevant. Incidentally, when I added “Northwest CDC” as a custom search, I find that the links on some of those Tweets no longer worked, especially those from CNA itself. That sort of confirmed dk99’s points in this blog post.

Indirectly, Twitterfall has addressed one of my perceived inadequacy of Twitter – it’s lack of an auto-update feature. Now I no longer need to regularly refresh to check for updates. So, if you had always preferred Twitter over Plurk, check out Twitterfall to get a renewed experience of Twitter.



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Musing: Alleged 8-Month Bonus

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Ah… bonus, bonus, bonus.

I suspect I am in no position to complain about another person getting his bonus when I was earlier protesting in another blog post and justifying why I should get mine. After all, my current employer got a bail out from the government gahmen of its home country and they wisely decided against giving out a hefty bonus. In my case, it didn’t matter that the branch here was have a record year [in profits], and the foul up was in other locations. That’s not even mentioning that not all of my employer’s funding come solely from donations or gahmen funding.

So if you consider that I am being hypocritical for flaming the North West Community Development Council [NW CDC for short] for allegedly giving out a 8-month bonus to its staff [citation needed] while I justify my right to a bonus, perhaps you should look at some of these facts that I gathered from the Annual Report FY 2007 downloaded here.

See the above? The gahmen gives the NW CDC an annual grant of $1 per resident living in its district for funding its programmes, and the gahmen matches every dollar with $3 or $4 depending on how that money is raised. The gahmen also funds the operations of the CDC offices.

In other words, all of these money are donations and state money. Now recall our outrage when we heard the kind of pay and bonus TT Durai, former CEO of NKF, is getting? (And no, I am not implying or saying that there is any kind of misconduct such as those of Durai and the old NKF here.)

Now, let us take a look from which ministry did the gahmen fund the CDCs. Perhaps it is from the MCYS [see below]?

Hmm.. the MCYS. Isn’t this the very same ministry which decided that it was good enough for the needy taking grants to just have $1 more a day? If they are indeed financing the CDCs, perhaps they don’t have to be so tight with their purse strings anymore if they can look at how they can reduce their expenditure with regard to the CDCs.

You might be concerned that doing so might be of impact to operations of the CDC since the gahmen is where most of the money is coming from. So, let’s look at just how much money does the CDC have. According to figures for FY 2007, they have a whopping S$49.1 million in reserves. That means, for someone to get a 8-month bonus, the figures below would have substantially risen for FY 2008.

So why the heck should the gahmen still give them money considering their current reserves and when even the gahmen itself has cut salaries and bonus to reduce expenditure? In fact, while town councils justify their sinking funds by arguing that it is needed for emergencies, and perhaps even upgrading projects, what are these CDC reserves for? Isn’t part of the money the gahmen pays into these reserves an unnecessary burden the people like you and I have to bear? Perhaps the gahmen should consider giving the money back to all Singaporeans in the form of GST rebates or even, more job credits!

But all of above isn’t any more infuriating than the following:

Dr Teo Ho Pin said: “The mayors do not decide on the salaries, the increments, the bonuses of all our staffs at the CDC… We chair the CDCs, to spearhead the CDCs… I do not know the salaries, I do not know the bonuses of all my staff.”

[粤] 十问九唔知! [Cantonese: Sup Mun Gau Um Zee / Translation: 10 Questions, 9 Don’t Know.]

I was actually expecting Teo Ho Pin to give the usual elitist Tali-PAP answer to justify just how outstanding these people are to deserve a 8-month bonus. I also wondered, when outstanding performance gets a 8-month bonus, then how much is average performance getting?

Sadly, Dr “Don’t Know” Teo doesn’t even tell us who might know. Perhaps he doesn’t even know who is the person we can ask either. In fact, It makes me wonder, is there anything he actually bothers enough to know? Even when there is no wrong doing here, it brings to mind former NKF Chairman Richard Yong, who during cross examination in court was exposed for not knowing what he signed when he awarded TT Durai with more money. Is he not required to even approve any of these things when both my branch and HR managers are required to sign on my bonus letter?

It is my considered opinion that this is a dereliction of duty when a person didn’t even consider it his responsibility to watch over the expenditure of something he chaired and spearheaded when it takes money from the gahmen. It is a gross failure to the very people who voted him. Thankfully, this time round he didn’t tell us to be grateful for these individuals, just as we should to the town councils which invested and lost money, even though “Don’t Know” Teo possibly also does not know who made the decision to invest that money. i.e. 凭父拢不知 [Hokkien: Lim Peh Nong Um Zai / Translation: Your father me all also don’t know.]

But does he really not know, or simply just plain ‘bo-chup’ [Translation: Can’t be bothered]? Here’s another piece of his ‘Teo-isms’:

Dr Teo Ho Pin then said: “The economy only start to worsen during the last 3 months of 2008. The performance of the economy during the first 9 months is still not bad. We have to look at the matter from the entire year’s perspective. Hence, it is not unreasonable for CDC staff to receive 8 months of bonuses.”

Familiar argument here! Because this is what some unhappy traders overseas used as argument when they tried to justify their ‘right’ to their bonus.

So do you not or do you know now, Dr Teo? Make up your mind!

Whatever the case is, as one of my netizen friend said, the Tali-PAP needs a new publicist. If the Tali-PAP does not want to consider that, then they should consider asking Dr ‘Toxic Asset’ Teo to retire before the next election. He clearly isn’t cut to be in whatever position(s) he is in now. Of course, they shouldn’t forget to ask ‘Wua Kan Seng’ to join him too when they are at that!

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Commentary: Internet Radio Cessation

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Since the end of February, I have been wondering why I can no longer get Internet streaming of SAFRA’s 88.3JIA FM. I realised that it isn’t a network / technical issue only after someone on Plurk said something about the Internet streaming by Mediacorp radio stations were also suspended as a result of pending legislation. But no matter how hard I looked I remained clueless about this legislation. Finally, here’s something on the mass media that tells the general public what is going on.

Is it RIP for Singapore internet radio?
Channel NewsAsia – Wednesday, March 11

SINGAPORE: She lives in China, yet it’s a family of familiar voices from Singapore that have kept Jennifer Seah informed and entertained.

For the past two-and-a-half years, the Singapore housewife, whose husband works in Shanghai, has been tuning into MediaCorp’s Internet radio streaming service which has been online since 2000.

“It’s wonderful to be able to tune in to familiar voices from home when you are abroad,” she told Today. So she was very disappointed when, earlier this month, most of the Internet radio streamed out of Singapore suddenly went offline.

The reason: It is going to cost broadcasters thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars each year in licence fees depending on the number of stations they operate.

After an amendment to the Copyright Act in December, broadcasters here have been locked in talks with the Recording Industry Performance Singapore (RIPS).

RIPS is the collective licensing body of 13 record companies that issue licences to broadcast music. The new fees come at a time when the global economy is in turmoil and advertising, the lifeline of media companies, has been badly impacted.

A MediaCorp spokesperson explained to Today that, previously, radio stations were exempted from paying record companies when the songs played over the Internet were part of a radio simulcast, but now this exception only applies to broadcasts over the airwaves.

“The service will be resumed if we can come to an agreement with RIPS,” said the MediaCorp spokesperson. “We have received feedback from Singaporeans tuning in from overseas as well. The public have been concerned and requested to know the reasons behind the cessation.”

So far, MediaCorp’s 18 radio stations as well as Safra Radio’s two stations – Power98 and 88.3JIA FM – have stopped their Internet radio streaming service.

Sources told Today that SPH UnionWorks, which operates Radio 91.3 and Radio 100.3, is still in talks with RIPS and has a few more days to reach an agreement on the new licence fees. Mr Jamie Meldrum, 39, programme director for Radio 91.3 declined to comment, citing the fact that negotiations were still ongoing.

In the United States, the debate over royalty fees for online radio streaming has raged for years with commentators lamenting that the fees will one day kill Internet radio. A day Mrs Seah hopes she will not witness. “I hope the streaming service will come back soon and be even better,” she said. – TODAY

Ahh… record companies again. It has always been in my opinion that these record companies are nothing more than greedy little blood suckers. It is also my considered opinion that with artistes living an extravagant lifestyle, there is no reason why the consumer should continue to be fleeced to pay them. They can call it by some grand name, like protecting intellectual property or encouraging creativity or whatever, but I simply won’t buy it.

In fact, why are we paying these performers again and again for a one-off performance? For their talent?

Here’s some facts you might not already know. It is no longer like the past where artistes must do it over and over again, and only the best recording is replicated onto the media to be sold. With modern technology today, the artiste can make 100 recordings of the same song, and a technician can pick the best parts out of them to create the perfect digital recording, or the artiste can just repeat the part necessary and the same technician will replace it on the digital recording to make it more perfect. And this is even more true for music videos.

And it is not as if all that many technicians are also going to be paid the millions and enjoying the extravagant lifestyle, right? Not to mention the technology providing these capabilities will simply be a one-off investment and after a few recordings the ROI [Returns On Investment] will be achieved.

If you don’t believe me that these artistes aren’t all they are cracked up to be, consider the many occasions where artistes are caught lip-syncing on stage. How about the many artistes caught breathless and panting, and that’s not even in a concert but some times just one-off public performances?

Oh… if you are wondering how all these had to do with the licensing, I am simply pointing out the one thing I cannot agree with – i.e. these people are paid for their ‘talent’. In short, I am asking, what talent is there when these people at times failed to rise to the occasion or sing much worse than the usual karaoke pub regular? Consider why should someone who isn’t any more infallible than you and I be paid millions to enjoy a lifestyle you can only dream about!

Did I also mention, that there are also some performers languishing and complaining how they are ripped off? I mean, if all these licensing stuff is going to protect intellectual property and encourage creativity why do we always just see a few individuals dominating the scene for long periods of time and not relinquishing their position on top? Clearly it’s more like the money is taken to make a concerted effort to keep them up there to create the impression of rarity, isn’t it?

Really, I think radio stations should just go back to short-wave (SW) broadcasting, so people overseas can pick up their transmissions. And these blasted record companies can suck vacuum, or their little fat thumbs.

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Commentary: Dialects and the Bilingual Education Policy

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If the lightning strike on the back of the Merlion’s head is meant to be a wake up call, it certainly hasn’t gotten its desired effect. Instead of the Merlion, that bolt of lightning might have better effect if it fell on the collective heads of some of these bureaucrats in the higher strata of the civil service, such as the person who wrote the below.

Foolish to advocate the learning of dialects

I REFER to yesterday’s article by Ms Jalelah Abu Baker (One generation – that’s all it takes ‘for a language to die’). It mentioned a quote from Dr Ng Bee Chin, acting head of Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies: ‘Although Singaporeans are still multilingual, 40 years ago, we were even more multilingual. Young children are not speaking some of these languages at all any more.’

To keep a language alive, it has to be used regularly. Using one language more frequently means less time for other languages. Hence, the more languages a person learns, the greater the difficulties of retaining them at a high level of fluency.

There are linguistically gifted individuals who can handle multiple languages, but Singapore’s experience over 50 years of implementing the bilingual education policy has shown that most people find it extremely difficult to cope with two languages when they are as diverse as English and Mandarin.

This is why we have discouraged the use of dialects. It interferes with the learning of Mandarin and English. Singaporeans have to master English. It is our common working language and the language which connects us with the world.

We also emphasised the learning of Mandarin, to make it the mother tongue for all Chinese Singaporeans, regardless of their dialect groups. This is the common language of the 1.3 billion people in China. To engage China, overseas Chinese and foreigners are learning Mandarin and not the dialects of the different Chinese provinces.

We have achieved progress with our bilingual education in the past few decades. Many Singaporeans are now fluent in both English and Mandarin. 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.

That was the reason the Government stopped all dialect programmes on radio and television after 1979. Not to give conflicting signals, then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew also stopped making speeches in Hokkien, which he had become fluent in after frequent use since 1961.

Chee Hong Tat
Principal Private Secretary
to the Minister Mentor

First of all, this high level civil servant serpent ‘self-owned’ (or ‘self-pwned’) by writing this extremely stupid piece which suggest to everyone that our language policies are as such because Singaporeans are linguistically challenged. I’ll make a daring prediction that he won’t survive by the side of our illustrious Mentos Minister Mentor for too long as the MM does not to suffer such fools lightly. As a personal advice I would suggest Chee resign on his own so as not to tarnish the MM’s good name.

Either way, let me politely correct the secretary’s misconception regarding mother tongue. I define mother tongue as either the tongue in my mother’s mouth, or the language my mother teaches me to speak when I was an infant.

Thus, Mandarin is neither of those. At best, Mandarin serves as a common language among the Chinese. It has the least to do with the language I use to speak with my mother, or even with living relatives of my grandparent’s generation. It also has very little to do with the province of my ancestors – Guangdong in China. If I recalled correctly, I read on the papers that when a new party secretary or mayor in Guangzhou attempted to eliminate Cantonese from the public announcements in their subway system some time last year, the public was outraged. The common public opinion is this: 广州不讲粤语，讲咩? [Translation: If Cantonese is not spoken in Guangzhou (Canton), then what should be?] There was so much outrage and it was so unpopular that Cantonese announcements were eventually restored to the trains to avoid massive social unrest.

Next, I consider the forced implementation Mandarin as ‘mother tongue’ an impediment to the passing on of knowledge and Chinese culture from the older generation to the younger. It creates an artificial disconnect between non Mandarin speaking grandparents and their grandchildren. In effect, a lot of Chinese culture were lost and some interesting sayings with great punchlines were lost. For e.g. the Cantonese phrase: 神枱猫屎 – 神憎鬼厌 [Translation: Cat shit on the altar – detested by both gods and demons], generally used when we refer to a detestable individual or certain actions.

It is such short sayings which relates deep meanings that makes the Chinese language interesting, and they served to nourish the interest of an individual in the language. It also pass on years of wisdom and also part of our cultural heritage. Taking the phrase 神枱猫屎 for e.g., it would have allowed us to connect with the stories of the deities.

I grew up listening to Cantonese stories told on Rediffusion (麗的呼聲) – a wired box where broadcasts are heard. My interest in 封神榜 – the story on the Chinese pantheon of gods – led me to read up on some parts of it. It was from there I knew about the Shang (商) and Zhou (周) Dynasties, and it led me to read up on Chinese history. In short, my ability to speak and listen to Cantonese (a Chinese dialect) had in reality firmly connect me to Chinese, and it served as the driving force behind my learning of the Chinese words and thus Mandarin – the common spoken tongue.

In short, it is my considered opinion that the above article suggesting that Singaporeans are linguistically challenged, and dialects being detrimental to the dual language policies, showed a lack of understanding and disconnect in the higher level gahmen with the problem. In fact, I had always considered the continual deterioration of Chinese language standards to be in part related to the Speaking Mandarin Campaign encouraging its use.

All that being said, I will move on to the point on foreigners learning Mandarin and not the dialects of the regions. While that maybe true, dialects still serve their own purposes. Some time back I called a vendor’s tech support which is located in Hong Kong. The lady on the line speaks good English, albeit with a Cantonese accent. After I reported my name and contact number, she asked if I could speak Cantonese because she could tell I am of Cantonese descent. We switched over to Cantonese and the matter was resolved quicker than it would have normally. My friend who does business in China mentioned that knowing the dialect allows you to connect with the locals there. In fact, learning a Chinese dialect and speaking it is almost as learning an European language and even better. The reason being that knowing Mandarin may allow you to get around China, and knowing the dialect gets things moving even quicker. This is unlike knowing English but not knowing French in France, where you will be ignored.

To end, I must say the above letter showed just how Chee and some of the bureaucrats appointed by our elected leaders lea-duhs despised the very people they are tasked to serve. If that is the elitist attitude that most of these bureaucrats generally espoused, it is of no wonder why some of the problems are never solved. Their elitist attitude blinds them to the very fact that they are not infallible. They are a problem in the system which needs to be expunged, the sooner the better as our elected lea-duhs relied on them to provide accurate and useful information to make proper decisions.

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