Mouse: From Logitech to Logitech

My Logitech mouse which I bought in August 2014 has made way for another Logitech yesterday. I bought it with "funny money" i.e., the rebates from buying petrol.

As a rule I typically run through a mouse in under two years. Therefore I no longer buy the pricier ones. I think Logitech used to make them sturdier. Some of the latest designs from Microsoft for keyboard cum mouse for Bluetooth connections look very good. Perhaps I would migrate to that when my Notebook eventually gives up on me. It doesn't look like happening anytime soon though. I am surprised this 4 year old machine is still serving me very well but I feel vulnerable without warranty protection.

I wished I know the secret of longevity for the mouse too.

Is the Zika virus here already?

I screenshot this on December 31 last year intending to write about it but like so many things these days, never got around to it. I had wondered when it would arrive here and how long before the media picked it up, disseminate the info, when the public start to get worried. I also thought this is unnecessary since practically all of us are so connected to the Internet, we will know about Zika long before it appears in our newspapers.

But you need the newspapers to tell a story on Zika which enough people read for them to respond together. Before that people speak quietly and those with unborn kids worriedly to each other. I think that moment is now.

It would be extraordinary if Zika has not made home in Singapore by now but I hope we never have a Zika baby, and it is disturbing I have read in our papers about any test for the Zika.

Were the deported Banglas terrorists?

I was curious about the NYT perspective. This is a dropped on your lap opportunity to compare how we report this story versus them.

The Bangladesh authorities found there were no evidence of Al Qaeda or ISIS influence among those we had arrested and deported. In fact some of them were sent back to their families.

NYT also says,

Mr. Islam said that the 14 men who had been charged “were mentally ready to get involved with terror activities at any time,” but that the police had not found “any specific plan of carrying out an attack on any particular target.”

Now that is the Singapore difference, to play it safe enough don't even think! You never know such thoughts would little to tentative half-hearted actions which we consider sufficient to bring you in. Why else would there be the ISA if it satisfies the rigors of the law right?

So who has the accurate story? Singapore or Bangladesh? For now it does not matter. In time the truth will see the light of day. There are too many stories than I have time for now. We are brutal about keeping this place safe.

Damage control was swift. See below.

What choice have they got? To be fair their lives here would be considered hardship by locals but very good by their home standards.

Just don't think armed Jihad and you would be OK. Without thought there is no action. Here even the wrong reading materials is considered prejudicial.

You know these Bangladeshi workers might actually be planning to attack Singapore but our authorities prefer to keep that a secret with only a hint that the 27 could easily have changed their minds and attack us instead. 27 of them with long knives can do a lot of damage already.

Prof Shih is right about entrepreneurship but...

As I look back, I feel that in business nothing is harder and more risky than entrepreneurship. I have also taken away one lesson which is peculiar to Singapore. To have world beating success we must choose the options which everyone think is going to fail. That was how we get here and also how we continue to be a shiny gem. In other words we always have to stay special by reinventing ourselves. To do that we cannot be too obsessed with commercial success, much less a quick pay off. Even Mark Zuckerberg from big USA is very patient and strategic. What more us?

Perhaps the first flagship entrepreneur was Dr Goh Keng Swee? It was either a successful industrial Jurong or Goh's folly. If Goh had failed we would have starved. It was as brutal as that.

We cannot compete with others on hard and even soft resources as we are simply too small. So we have to compete on insight, foresight and the courage to go it alone. It is frightening and nobody likes to live in fear. Today we talk about having fun all the time but Vivian Balakrishnan was right to share with Wired UK that for us it is about survival.

"We are not supposed to be here," Vivian Balakrishnan -- who was minister for environment and water resources until October 2015, as well as the head of the Smart Nation Initiative -- told the audience at an innovation event that WIRED attended in April 2015. "What you see in Singapore is an exercise of desperate imagination. It's not about innovation because it's sexy, but because it's survival."

A lion city must be led by lions and I hope the late lion had turned many sheep into lions. Time is the ultimate test of this experiment.

Update: 8:20am

Nevertheless the intrepid must also not be a confused bunch who are actually fools in disguise. I shared this from SR Nathan regarding Dr Goh refusal to buy untested combat aircraft in a September 2011 post which unsurprisingly Google helped me find.

Remember what SR Nathan said about Goh Keng Swee rejecting the offer for some fighter aircraft because they weren't battle tested? The wise man know the limits of cognition and theory. Now the stakes for committing to nuclear energy on the little soil we have is infinitely more severe. Singapore could practically cease to exist.

So how to strike the right balance which this government is fond of asking? That is actually the wrong question. There is nothing to balance here. Just don't be stupid. Have some holy fear and never think too highly of ourselves but also be supremely confident as well. The tension is good.

In car camera kaput

I have somethings to blog about almost every day for the past five days but simply couldn't find the time. Sometimes it is because I have to be clearer about the subject before I could write anything meaningful.

Last night the the car video recorder suddenly stopped working. Got this in March 2014 and it was very cheap. Wonder if I should replace it with the same one which cost about C$38. I can buy it at eBay for about C$31 now. The price has come down. It is also available at Qo10 for about S$34

"Tweaking" our political system

What are the powers that be trying to do messing with our political system again? Who do they think they are? Founding fathers earned the right to do such things and so we accepted the changes LKY brought but these folks have not earned the moral right to do this. Sure they own the commanding heights in parliament but that again is also voters' unique and peculiar response to the harsh realities of ensuring Singapore's success.

In political systems, small changes have great impact. Tweaking is simply deceptive selling. Enough people here clever enough to see through it.

They better explain, persuade and sell this exceptionally well or be prepared for a backlash in the next GE. I can imagine they are trying to fix the Elected President system but you cannot depoliticise that if you ask us to approve a candidate via the ballot box!

Jakarta attacked: All the brave words

All that brave speech but what counts is action. I guess that is being Indonesian. Trinna Leong cannot resist after telling how folks are staying away to round it up with the following by a college student,

"I feel much safer now..."

Yeah?

But at least their security forces do not lack courage or determination. Kudos to them.

After 9/11 the Americans showed up in force at their football games. They were not afraid. Now that is courage in action.

If something like Jakarta would to happen in Singapore, how would we behave afterward? The last time we stood in the rain but that is determination, nothing to do with courage.