Chicken Floss Buns

I often buy three of these for the girl to take to school for lunch. Decided to give them a try this morning and I thought the ones I got at Four Leaves or Bread Talk were better where the chicken floss weren't concealed in the bread.

PISA: We're No.1 in problem solving skills

Our teenagers one point edge over South Korea is as good as they sharing the pole position with us as the best in problem solving.

We should be very happy but the South Koreans should be a mile happier than us. They do not need to compete directly with foreigners like we do. When we attract the best from other places to come here, our top scores do not go as far. We are no match for the offsprings of Plutocracy and Parentocracy. The Shanghai kids if they choose to come here out of a city population of 14 million isn't going to be the number six ranked. He or she is from a privileged background. which our high world beating average cannot compete.

I agree with the PM 100% that we cannot afford to relax. I am glad he had made this point.

From hiring organizations point of view, all school systems are broken. To be practical they pick the best among the bad. So by the real yardstick of economic and life relevance let's be sensible and remind ourselves this laurel and accolade actually isn't as meaningful as hoped. Indeed we must press on. We are not competing with other school systems, we are fighting to close the gap with the children of the Plutocrats, the beneficiaries of Parentocracy. We have a long way to go but if we fail this whole place fail because the social and economic gaps will in time tear us apart.

We have no time for LKY bad hereditary theory of intelligence and talent because it is a politically bankrupt idea. Even if his idea were grounded in Science which I think not, society progress demand we respect each other as equals or we would find ourselves in due course we have no society or homes here.

NTU sends early acceptance

Closing date to apply to NTU is today but the daughter got her acceptance letter from them yesterday. Of course this isn't unique. She has heard of those with very good results also receiving their acceptance letters from NTU. There is also a second letter from the school she accepted to.

We are waiting for NUS. These days you cannot be sure you can get what you want even if you have perfect scores. There are just simply so many students also with the same results.

But as much as we could, we have always taken the road less traveled. I very much welcome the essay by David Brooks in the NYT today. It may be too idealistic but I think just to see 50% of it becoming reality is already a dream come true. In real life what is more likely is hiring practice bending away from today's sold called best practice.

David Brooks had put the cart before the horse but I know the forces are already emerging to right today's excess.

Google Map April Fools

Google just nails it completely. I am just blown away. My kids told me you can really experience it at Google Map but I can't afford the time.

Jiang warns Beijing on graft drive

This short FT article must be read together with the one on Gen Gu Junshan in the NYT.

A couple of years back I told friends that the big problem with China is that the economy, the fastest growing in the world could never grow quickly enough for the rapacious appetite of its corrupt leaders. Besides more and more people climbed on board the train over time creating a situation with too many appetites to satisfy. Then they also cannot resist boasting and comparing the wealth and influence (not direct power) over each other. The rate money is squirreled away accelerates and the masses must eventually suffer. They were working themselves toward an epic train wreck. The only problem is we don't know when and too many people has called for their denouement too soon.

Xi Jinping faces some hard choices. China could not carry so many greedy officials along. Money that is locked up is hard to steal. Cash flows are most vulnerable and that happened when the Chinese opened the tap to full during the 2008 financial crisis. Therefore stop them from spending on luxuries, i.e., stall the flow of cash because these kleptocrats are bleeding China to death in a hurry.

Xi Jinping have no choice. It is either he take down some people or everyone in the leadership would be taken down. Of course everyone is fighting tooth and nail to stay alive. Wonder what weapons and strategies he has against the tigers.

Nothing except the number of corrupt officials will change at the end of this exercise because there are simply too many of them to feed.


Update: April 2 12:15 pm

This is way beyond the pale. How not to prosecute the general? To Gu Junshan this ferreting him out should never have happened and so he is dragging others down the gutter with him especially his boss Xu Caihou who had recently retired from the Politburo. These are Jiang's men, no wonder he is so unhappy.

Update: April 3 10:10 am

An epic power struggle on in China which we cannot affor Xi Jinping to lose. China has never changed and we just need more time to prove it.

MH370: Why involve your flag?

This is from ST yesterday.

I wonder why they have to bring the Chinese state flag into this? What has this got to do with the country?

The Chinese is a nagging worry for us because they have grown to become so nationalistic.

No country I know of would bring out their state flag under such circumstances. It is just incredulous what a missing passenger plane has got to do with inter state relations. It is as if Malaysia was trying to systematically do in Chinese citizens, a completely absurd idea.

There is another angle to this. The friends and families of Chinese passengers on MH370 are trying to bait public opinion - and they succeeded, so that in turn the government muscle can be brought to bear. This is even more worrying as it would cause you to wonder when it would be Singapore's turn to get into a difficult situation with them. There are so many Chinese nationals here.

The whole saga also suggest that the Chinese government mandate to govern has weakened even further and constantly have to prove itself fit to rule to the people. Every Chinese on the street think the government is corrupt and is just tolerating it. They are quite skillful at borrowing Beijing's dagger against local officials suspending knowledge that the central government is not cleaner. It is a very complex and unique relationship. ST Kor Kian Beng had a very good article on his subject which is beyond most western journalists and thinkers are capable of grasping.

Parentocracy says we are old already

Parentocracy is the indisputable symptom that we are growing old.

I am reminded in the papers today how Athens thriving democracy lasted as long its was able to keep the elites from becoming self serving. The first test that a society is ailing is pervasive Parentocracy.

There are no pleasant cures for Parentocracy. You can either brutally renew yourself as the Golden Eagle or more devastatingly razed to ashes for a new phoenix to rise.

A culture of self renewal helps which comes about not as a matter of the will of a society leaders but its people cultural chromosomes. We don't have that. A fierce desire for freedom is the foundation to build the habit for self renewal. As freedom is often threatened, a people desirous of freedom would adapt and fight for the right to be free. Freedom also means making sure the playing field is level, i.e., Parentocracy has no chance.

Anyway the Gold Eagle or more aptly Bald Eagle rebirth is an urban legend.

Solution: Society would in time be increasingly become anti-Parentocractic. Its elites must act beyond their narrow self interest or we will surely last fewer than 250 years by a long shot. My gut feel is that most of the elites would prefer to leave when the larger society no longer welcome their presence. Unlike the Chinese or Japanese, being a Singaporean is a matter of choice and not birth.