Moving to VOX

I'll be making the move to 'VOX' as the 'new blogger', that is reputedly out of 'beta', is, well, a load of bollocks. I won't get into details here with regards to the reasons for this move. But for now, my 'hmmms' may be accessed at the belowmentioned site. You'll have to register if you want to post comments i'm afraid. Talk about 'nationalising' bloggers via these relatively exclusive sites. tch!

ed-infinitum

gadgit.vox.com

Ma Don't Laaa

“Madonna's record breaking Confessions Tour filmed at London's Wembley Arena during her worldwide sold-out 25-city run in 2006 has been banned in Singapore for her performance on a massive neon cross in a mock-crucifixion.”

fridae

Photograph modified by Gadgit

I don't see why it ought to be banned because of the 'mock crucifixion' scene (personally, I don’t think much of this ‘artiste’ with her superficial lyrics and simply arranged ‘music’ which is no more than an accompaniment to primitive sexuality and attempts to pander to an insignificant people seeking significance vicariously). After all, though the crucifix was popularised by Jesus' crucifixion, it was a common enough tool for retribution in Roman times. Perhaps, the bimbette was trying to emulate one of the thieves crucified on either side of the Christ – but I suppose it takes more than a ‘singaporean’ to realise that. We ought not to allow the Christ to monopolise the cross where others besides Him especially since others too were afforded this dire conduit to the next life by the Romans.

However,

the meaning and usage of symbols is not independent of the common perception of it. The user of a particular symbol, unless s/he is unaware of its common association, or makes it clear that it is being utilised with an alternative meaning, is guilty of misrepresenting, falsely associating, or compromising the integrity and sacredness of its associated value. Hence, I would inquire after Madonna’s intentions before supporting any such ban.

Banning this and that..

…may be seen as little more than an effort to either show the people ‘who's boss’ and thus train them in the art of submission, or, indicative of deficiencies in general logical abilities by the banning party, or, indicative of a logically-disabled people who have trained the banning party to do as they please when they please with little thought by their being unable to offer consistent and logic-based opposition.

With rights come responsibilities. But, we would be well advised to keep in mind, that taking up the right responsibilities have historically been proven to be the harbinger of more rights. To allow one’s development to be dictated by the mores, requirements and solely take on the expected ‘responsibilities’ of a particular system is to simultaneously cause the disabling of the imaginative and creative faculties required to improve it.

malaysia singapore philippines hong kong christianity madonna

on Beauties and Bimbettes

beauty or bimbette?

The aforepictured has been included in the ‘top 10 most beautiful bloggers’ list, or something to that effect, by ‘Gizmodo’ - a foreign ‘tech’ site – well, one cannot expect to much from ‘techies’, by way of perspectival intelligence, I suppose.

I suppose it take a greater mind to confuse ‘beauty’ with ‘personality’ – intelligence, humanity, wisdom, sensuality, spirituality, and basically all that illustrates the different facets of the human persona. (in this sense, xia xue and others of her ilk are little more than bimbettes who are deemed 'beautiful' by equally decrepit perspectival retards comprising a significant proportion of the masses.) When one develops beyond the miniscule limits imposed by this ‘modern’/americanised experience of reality, one would reach a realm where one, putting it in terms which the simple-minded folk, aka ‘singaporeans’, would understand, would fail to get ‘turned on’ unless the individual possessed an appreciable degree of the aforementioned qualities.


It, however, takes a lesser mind

...to get ‘turned on’ simply by attributes such as symmetry – between one half of the face and the other – particular and promoted skin tones/body types within a particular space and time. Those whom are susceptible to such ‘preferred’ types have little claim to individuality. They are, if truth be told, little more than impressionable victims of the influences crisscrossing our sensorial and experiential purview within a particular space and/or time.

Just because we started off, evolutionarily speaking, as animals, does not mean that we have to continue along this path – as evidenced by the masses instinctually appreciating particular body types, features or tints…moronic/gizmodic nominations. It is the ability to transcend our current perspectival state via imagination, critical introspection and reflection that distinguishes us from the non-human animal kingdom. Human beings ought not to allow social influences to determine their instinctual content. If so, then they are nothing more than animals with different (programmed/instinctual) tastes. An informed and intelligent ‘preference’ is the result of attempts to transcend the boundaries laid by the accepted influences of any time.

As the saying goes,

*“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” The appreciation of the idea of evolution ought not to be confined to the historical study of humanity. Rather, evolution goes on within each and every one of us. Reaching adulthood is not a validation of the end of evolution within us. In fact, adulthood is the time when we have the potential to engage in open-eyed evolution – that is, we are supposed to be able to increasingly engage in intelligent critique and critical introspection. That is when we are supposed to be able to distinguish the good from the bad without and within, or at least make more informed, intelligent and objective attempts to do so. That is when we are supposed to reevaluate the sense of all that we have learnt to appreciate – despite our being able to hold down a job and earn wads of money(most people tend to think that this latter ability is a validation of their having become ‘mature’ adults. The truth of the matter is that all they have achieved is ‘use-value’ which is just one component of ‘human value’.) Thus, in my adulthood, I question after sense of my sensibilities rather than see my adulthood as a validation of the said sensibilities. It is this that validates my adulthood and maturity.

Maturity is not a state of knowing.
It is a state of knowing that all that is known to be fact may be fictional.

Just because there aren’t any awards

...for ‘top ten most insightful/wise/intelligent/humanitarian/etc blogger’ does not mean that such aspirations are not more worthy of mass appreciation. Cretinous individuals/institutions that promote ‘most beautiful blogger awards’ via the narrow criteria of physical features or pop/ular appeal simply diminish human potentials, evolutionarily speaking, by detracting mass attention from the significant to the trivial.

ed-infinitum
- a singaporean in locality, not personality.


*Corinthians chapter 13, verse 11


singapore malaysia philippines india hong kong uk sociology psychology

The Passion of the Indian(ised) Mind

The truth of the matter is, when Indians - given the advantage their historically critical, introspective, ever-changing, perspectivally-multifarious and multi-faceted culture endows its practitioners - are located in non-discriminatory and truly multicultural conditions without any one culture or its practitioners being purposefully afforded greater social prominence, or marginalised on the basis of the archaic notion of 'race', they will progress to be that which their culture trains them to be - highly intelligent, innovative, creative and vibrant.

This is the legacy of their culture and which is embedded in a myriad and multitude of ways within their cultural practices and perspectives. It would not be untrue to say that 'to be Indian is to not be Indian'. That simply means that the Indian, historically, has never 'enjoyed' the luxury of a static state of affairs due to the constant cultural upheavels that is a feature of Indian history. Thus, the Indian mind has never had the opportunity to rest and enjoy things today the way it has 'always been'. Thus, its critical hyperactivity along with its ability to accept that which is novel and embrace the non-traditional. We can say that Indian culture is dialectical and is in constant flux because of historical conditions that never allowed it to be otherwise. Thus, many components of this culture, via its myths, rituals, perspectives, cuisine, etc, embody this.

But such a legacy is laid waste given inoptimum conditions. This is when positive potentials that may be leftover from their familial experience is channelled down less positive or progressive paths. Thus, Indian passion and vibrance, amongst those occupying lower economic strata, frequently sees it being translated to aggressive tendencies while these very propensities are translated, given optimum conditions, into innovative, insightful and creative produce. Such is also the case given the temperament of children. Some of them are endowed with a more 'hyperactive' temperament. Given optimum conditions and equal access to resources and advantages within a caring environment, this can lead to much vibrance in the right arena. Inoptimum conditions, inversely, may just see such vibrancy being directed down the delinquent path.

When this is considered, it is only to be expected that India has become the brains of Asia and a mainstay behind that of the west - though it may also be argued that Indians becoming prominent in the vaunted fields of today does not do their culturally-trained propensities justice. They are capable of much more. Additionally, its cultural advantage is also that which once produced the likes of the Mahatma (Gandhi).

(one of the main contributory factors behind Indian passion, vibrancy and critical intelligence is the relative conceptual and cultural instability - due to invasions and intercourse with intelligent cultures, failure of emperors to form a state like, for example, China; the non-centralisation of education; the prominence of independent philosophers; etc.)

For an example of close-to-optimum conditions, the reader might want to peruse the following BBC article,

Sea-Change in UK-India Relations



malaysia singapore india uk hong kong philipines culture

Ah-sian Cup

Seems that there has been much hue and cry over ‘Singapore’ winning the ASEAN Cup - I personally heard much cheering from my window last night and wondered if the mee pok shop at a nearby KopiTiam had decided to up the ante against the other shops by throwing in an additional fishball for orders. To illustrate,

“YAY!!! WE WON IT. YES. YES. YES!”

the above ejaculatory excerpt taken from mornizstar


"hmmm..."

No you didn't. The TEAM won. You are just trying to claim credit for their victory simply because you gals/guys relieve yourself within the same geographical locality. Methinks these sad people ought to try to claim credit for what THEY personally do and not attempt to vicariously claim credit by dipping their respective pinkies into the beam cast on another. If you are going to claim credit because they are 'singaporeans', then all men in the world can claim credit because those in team are 'men', or all people in the world sharing approximately the same height, length of hair, features, tint, etc, as those in the team could also claim credit. So, if one was to think about it a tad bit further than that which the all too average singaporean is accustommed to, one would realise that the appropriate and intelligent response to ‘singapore’ winning the ASEAN Cup would be,

“THEY Won it. Yes. Yes. Yes!”

In which case – because of the substitution of ‘we’ with 'they' – one would inevitably be led to wonder why we are making such a fuss over another’s victory - "Oi! They win what. Why you so happy?!"

Such abject idiocy. Ah sian man.


singapore malaysia india hong kong football sociology psychology

Vid on Vista

Well, the hullaballoo has started over Window's 'Vista'.

I suppose when we are located in an age where people create a fuss about anything only when they are 'trends', and simply because they are 'trends' as opposed to these 'trends' being worthy of being 'trends', 'Windows Vista' would feature quite highly on blogger 'tag' ratings (ref. technorati). I dare say that it would not be untrue to state that the 'trendy' are those who have the least amount of individualism and thus depend on the 'latest' or 'trends' to feed their feelings of self-worth. I always thought that 'style' was supposed to be an extension of the substance within, as opposed to it disguising the void within.

Anyway,

those of you who want to know what this 'vista' thing is all about, either because you are one of those mindless reflections of trends; because you are curious by nature; or because you want to know what's tickling society's fancies at the moment in order to understand its current state of mind, follow the links that follow to view a short video on the Vista (courtesy of bbc's 'click')

*

play via realplayer

tip: I personally use realplayer to play videos from 'click'. All one has to do to watch it is to click the above link, wait for the video to start playing on realplayer, and then immediately press 'pause'. The video will be downloaded - as can be witnessed by the extending line beside the 'play' button(this line can be best viewed when the player is maximised) - and once the 'line' extends to the end, it can be played without 'stutters' while giving the viewer the freedom to fast-forward, rewind, or watch it all over again.

play via windows media

video windows vista malaysia singapore india hong kong vista

Customer Disservice in Singapore

I had written to a local bicycle accessories distributor (sportsbilt.com) for some information regarding a particular product. The response, I must say, was exemplary.

1.
Hello Adrian,

I would like to know if you entertain members of the public or do you just deal with retailers. I would like to purchase a helmet for personal use and understand that you carry a wide stock. If you do entertain members of the public, what would be your opening and closing times? Am looking for a 'bell ghisallo(black/grey) though I would like to view other designs as well.

appreciate your advice,

Ed

2.
Greetings Ed,

Yes, we do entertain walk-in customers.
Our operating hours are from 9am to 5am. We are off on weekends. Please give us a call before you proceed as we might be out of office due to delivery, entertaining of foriegn dealers, lunch etc.
You are looking at Bell Ghisallo Black Carbon. At the moment, I have 3 medium size in stock.
We are the sole distributor for Bell, GIRO, SixSixOne, Troy Lee Design, Finish Line, White Lightning, SweatGUTR, RAVX and one of the distributors for FOX servicing Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand...
If you are interested in any products of the above-mentioned models, you can approach us.
Please note that we are operating as a distributor and therefore, we do not have any NETS/Credit Cards service. We only accept cash.

Thanks & Regards

Adrian Teng

3.
Hello Adrian,

Thank you for your prompt and most instructive response. Hope I will be able to find the time to visit your site in the near future as the 9-5 hours make it quite difficult. Will certainly try. I will, as advised, give yourself a tinkle prior to my visit.

Best regards and have a great day,

Ed

4.
Greetings Ed,

Once in a blue blue moon, I do come back to office to settle some paper work or to clear up the store during the weekends. You can e-mail me or SMS me on Friday to see if I am coming back on the weekends.

Thanks and Regards,

Adrian Teng


end~


Thoughts...

Most companies here (in singapore) thoughtlessly spout out ‘off-the-rack’ responses and do not adequately, if at all, entertain queries that do not have such ready-made responses available within forearm’s length. In other words, ask a question which most people don’t, and you can expect no response, or a simple, “It’s company policy”, or “that’s the way our company operates” – which is synonymous with, “Aiyah, it’s like that one laa/lorr/lei”. Only those questions that most ask are entertained.

These so-called ‘customer-care officers’(yeah right!) tend to reflexively ignore anything that requires thought on their part. The ‘consumer’ is indeed treated as nothing but a mindless ‘consumer’ and not as a human being whose particular concerns require listening to or thoughtful digestion. Thus, as assumed 'mindless consumers', they are accorded the treatment such mindlessness is perceived to deserve - mindless customer care. One robot serving another robot.

All people are treated as one homogenous consumeristic mass. By this, we are implicitly told that we as individuals ought not to concern ourselves with that which other consumers are not concerned with, or that which the company does not deem worthy of consideration as it does not translate to immediate profit. We are told to think, feel and act as others do and, “Aiyahhh, don’t think so much laaa”, or “Wahh, think so much and ask so many questions for whaaaat!”. By 'thinking', 'feeling' and 'acting' as others do simply because others are doing it basically reduces it to not thinking, feeling and acting as individuals but doing without thinking what everyone else is. It is via such an approach that the individuals comprising society are, over time, homogenised into little more than a singular blob of mindless consumers - which is one of the elements comprising the core of 'singaporean' identity, and one which I deign to accept without a disclaimer, i.e. "singaporean in locality, NOT personality".


This, however,

was not the case in my exchange with ‘Sportsbilt’(sportsbilt.com). Not only were all queries answered, the delivery and content were also polite, informative, prompt, and most importantly, anticipated my personal difficulties. Empathetic effort was also tailor-made to take into consideration my difficulties in visiting the said outlet during normal operating hours and a further response by Sportsbilt, via the helpful and empathetic, ‘Adrian Teng’, followed. In this, it was impressed upon myself that I was not merely a ‘consumer’, but an individual whose personal concerns were worthy of consideration. Such a response validates the human within us as opposed to that of the unthinking ‘consumer’. We are not seen as merely money-making opportunities but people of individual self-worth as opposed to self-worth being derived from mindless conformity to the masses. When the human being is constantly treated in such a positive manner, the self is validated and individuals will tend not to discount their own personal ideas and feelings. This will feed their overall sense of self-worth and self-efficacy, and, in turn, fill the motivational reservoir within us that, again, in turn, feeds our artistic, creative and intellectual propensities and potentials - in other words, we become more, amongst others, 'british' or 'indian'.


Other local companies..

...would be well-advised to take the aforementioned into consideration in their dealings with members of the public. It is the way they are treated that determines their future development. When people take bad service, or service that does not appreciate their individual selves, as the norm, they become lesser people. In other words, as the field for the expression of the self is contracted, so is the self likewise contracted - it is a dynamic relationship. And as lesser people, not only are lesser expectations placed on themselves as human beings, fewer expectations are placed on companies. This, in turn lowers the developmental standard of companies and their overall empathetic performance which is important when it comes to the development of their innovative and creative potentials.


At the heart of innovation and creativity...

..lies the motivational force of empathy and meticulous attention to detail. This is practiced mostly when it comes to the general ability to take into consideration that which one is not accustomed to. In this, amongst others, lies the potential of human progress. The relationship between an individual and service provider is dynamic. The increased and individual expectations placed on companies, and the validation of these individual expectations and concerns by the companies paying attention to them practices them in paying attention to detail and enhances empathetic potential. This will lead to innovation and creativity which the individual benefits from and which in turn develops her/his potentials further. This in turn leads to increased expectations and more profound concerns which in turn lead to increased demands on the company. This is how the spiral of progress is effected.

It is how we are appreciated that determines how we appreciate (increase in value).

malaysia singapore india hong kong psychology sociology

ConnectMeAnywhere but in Singapore

The following email exchange took place between myself and a UK company called ‘connectmeanywhere’ that enables one to make skype-like calls via mobile phones with significant reductions in international call charges. I had written to them and asked if they could set up registration for singaporeans as they were at the time only offering the said services for Europe.

Hi Ed,

We are setting up Singapore for registration and I wondered if you could help me with a question we have. How much is it to call a local landline number in Singapore? - is it charged per minute or is it a set cost per call.
Thanks; if you could help that would be great. Hope to have Singapore online asap.

Regards,
Belinda
CMA Support
*

Hi Ed,

I am happy to let you know that ConnectMeAnywhere is now available for registration in Singapore.
All new users get 25 cents of credit to test the system and we have a new product called V-Mail.
With V-Mail you can sent a voice email from any phone (registered with your account) and it sends your message as an MP3 to your contacts email address - any phone can use this, it does not have to be email enabled.
This service is free from CMA (although you have to pay to connect to the local number in Singapore)

Give it a try and let me know what you think. Thanks again for the information on the telephony providers it was very helpful.

If you create an account let me know your username so I can give you some extra credit and you can write a fabulous review! ;-)

Kind Regards,
Belinda
CMA Support
*

Hi Belinda,

I tried to register at your site but found that 'singapore' was not listed in the country menu. Advice? Let me know regarding the aforementioned soonest - and before christmas since it is a time when people are generally more amenable to novel ideas due to the positive affect induced by the season.

Regards,
ed
*

Hi Ed,

Sorry I have been on Holiday so only just received your email. Unfortunately our Singapore service was halted by the regulatory body in Singapore, which forced us to disconnect all our Singapore numbers. We attempted to have them reconnected but to no avail and have had to remove Singapore from our list of countries and refund our Singapore users. I will certainly let you know if this changes and we can connect again, sorry for the bad news but thank you very much for the support you have offered us.

Kind Regards,
Belinda
CMA Support

*


Well, so much for that. I’ll leave you to come to your own conclusions.



connectmeanywhere


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Comment on Wee Shu Min and etc

I came across a CNN article on income disparity in Singapore. Some thoughts...

"When Wee Shu Min, the teenage daughter of a Singapore member of parliament stumbled across the blog of a Singaporean who wrote that he was worried about losing his job, she thought she'd give him a piece of her mind.

She called him "one of many wretched, undermotivated, overassuming leeches in our country" on her own blog and signed off with "please, get out of my elite uncaring face".

What WSM - or , Woman of Shallow Mind - has obviously failed to consider is that 'undermotivation' is just one of the many causes of job loss. There are also a host of other factors such as bigotry and the lack of the requisite cultural and financial resources that disables many from occupying that comfortable position which WSM has obviously taken as a natural and self-acquired right. She obviously is low in empathy, ill-educated in sociological and psychological realities and, well, lacks the essentials of basic humanity. WSM ought to keep in mind that for every motivated person who 'makes it', there are thousands, if not millions more, motivated persons who did not. It is the sign of an intelligent mind where one is led to query after the causes of the latter.

From a sociological perspective, motivation, within a class-based system, can go as far as it can go in improving a person's lot in life - provided it leaves the class-based system intact. That simply means that the system has an in-built protective function - effected via a myriad of psychological, social and institutional means - that ensures that there will always be enough people to maintain the (im)balance.

People like WSM further validate the perspective that the ability to 'blog' is not evidence of intelligence. It is the content that we have to look at. The quality of an opinion, the likes of WSM ought to be reminded, is not derived from the ability to forward an opinion, but the ability to logically justify it.

Another myth that this incident helps in dispelling is that of the 'first class' status of singapore's education system. Yes, the people here might get great marks in maths, etc. But besides proving that they are good at memorising formulas whilst exhibiting a modicum of analytical ability in a specific area, it illustrates little else. Since there really isn't a test here for generic analytical intelligence other than those tested for in specific areas, we cannot say that singapore has a state of the art education system, or, that the minds that it churns out is 'state of the art'. I, personally, have met 19 year olds of average intelligence in the UK who can hold a far more intelligent debate/conversation in areas outside of their field of study, whilst exhibiting knowledge and appreciation of profound sociological and philosophical precepts than people of any age in singapore. Now, they may not get top marks in maths, science, etc, but they are obviously far more intelligent than any person from a 'premium'-level school or University graduate that I've met in singapore. Of course, this would beg the question, 'what then is the purpose of education', or, 'what ought to be the purpose of education'? But that is another matter which i will get into at another time as it goes far beyond the scope of this article.


"We have treated welfare as a dirty word. The opposition, I think the Workers' Party, has called for a 'permanent unconditional needs-based welfare system'. I think that is an even dirtier five words," he(lee kwan yew) said in a speech on November 13.

What the opposition is seeking, I believe, is that the workers are protected against the inevitable consequences that arise from a system which the elite profits immensely and continuously from. In other words, you take from me when times are good, so you must take care of me when times are bad. We expect that from any child in her relationship towards a parent or any beneficiary towards a benefactor. If the child or beneficiary gives in return, we don't say that s/he is good but that s/he is doing her duty for s/he is paying back for what she has received. Should this not be more the case especially where no government is the 'first giver' - unlike a benefactor or a parent - since it is the people who do the giving first? If we consider this point, the people are in fact the 'parents' and the government in question, a grossly ungrateful child who has adopted the convenient belief that the parent is there to be taken advantage of for his own benefit when times are good and left to starve when times are bad.


Finally,

for the information of all, while singapore might rank quite highly when it comes to 'per capita income', the truth of the matter, according to CNN, is, that when income disparity is considered, singapore ranks between Kenya and Burundi.

I always thought that the majority of singaporeans were getting exceedingly poor when compared to the 60s through to the present. The existence of flexible debt repayment schemes only serves to diffuse the impression that we are greatly in debt and that the overall disposal income we might have in a lifetime is significantly lower than the times of our parents and grandparents. But, of course, it requires an increasingly myopic and intellectually docile population to not realise that. I suppose that's 'progress' as far as singapore goes.

malaysia singapore india uk hong kong philipines

Iphone Vid...the Yelamu, IP & the Gadgit

Well, Steve Jobs has finally revealed the Iphone - a touchscreen, 11.6mm-thin phone - that's supposed to be a break from the conventional push-button phone at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco (once the home of the Yelamu group of the Ohlone People...now the home of, ugh!, 'Americans'..."now where did i put that bugspray?"). It comes in 4 and 8 gig versions and is expected to be made available in the US in June and in Europe later in the year. The phone is supposed to cost between 500 to 600 usd.

Anyway, on an aesthetic and functional note, the iphone does indeed raise the bar with its convenient touch-screen and integration with the ipod, significant eye-room and sleek well-rounded edges that reduce the chances of discomfort/injury in those regions in close proximity to one's hip pocket. These functions are already present in many mobilephones, but the Iphone does a good job in bringing them together - so Iphone has to thank the manufacturers of other phones for these ideas...if it wasn't for them, iphone wouldn't be what it is would it?....there's no such thing as 'invention', only 'innovation'. Of course, Steve Jobs would beg to differ. I had said some time ago that the ipod is doomed unless it goes into the telco business or integrates with existing companies. Looks like Steve Jobs heard such prophetic rumblings and decided to act on, and profit from, the IP of others like myself - just as he did with the design. Good one Stevie Boy!



For all you 'gadgits' out there, I suppose it gives you something to look forward to eh. All of a sudden you have yet another reason to live! Well, congratulations!

"hmmm..."

Methinks 'Techie' isn't a good name for, well, 'techies'. To say one is a 'techie' is to claim some semblance of independent thought for the 'techie'. A 'Gadgit', ahhh, that is more like it. A 'Gadgit' lacks independent thought. A 'Gadgit' is not someone who 'acts on' but one who is 'acted on'. Something like having her key wound before she can start to act 'independently' S/he is basically made to follow trends for the simple reason that it is there to be followed. No question on the intrinsic value of such a pursuit. Not unlike running after the tide as it goes out and running away from it as it comes in. Who, or what, do you think determines the movement of the runner?

bbc

iphone uk malaysia singapore india tech hong kong philipines