Annie Ee's case, Shanmugam out of touch

I think Shanmugam missed the point. People want to understand why there is a huge gap in the perception of fairness and justice between themselves and the judiciary. You cannot just ask the public to trust the system without explaining to them why this yawning gap exists, should exist and more important if we should close it. After all the law is not set in stone and can be changed. They have recently done it for drunk driving and for abuse of public security officers.

Our ministers are more out of than in touch with us.

One Dollar Pork Rib Noodles

The daughter currently in Suzhou sent me this and told me she paid 5 rmb for this bowl of noodles. I don't know where the stall is exactly except that it is near 同得兴 which I recommended to them. Unfortunately that restaurant does not open for dinner and they found themselves another place near by.

Popular: Adaptable Old Man

Chou Cheng Ngok the founder of Popular Holdings is one adaptable old man. He is already 80 years old but thought like a young man. Such types are rare. I hope he succeeds. He did the right thing to get the company off the stock market. Investors would not be patient with him.

Three Cockroaches in Four Days

For a long time there were no more cockroaches to kill at home. Those were happy times. Now the peace has been rudely interrupted. We had three of these pests in four days. The latest one was in the kitchen and what a mess trying to get rid of it. The first two were easier to handle because they were in our study room. Unfortunately they were also flying ones. Number two flew in through the open window and that sort of helped us understand where they might all have come from. Now I wonder which and what is happening at my neighbours. I don't think roaches are long distance fliers.

I think it is time to set up the roach trap as well.

Durians

Finally we bought a couple of durians. We prefer D24 ($12/kg) but there was only one left, so we added a D13 as well. Personally I prefer Mao Shan Wang in desserts than as the fruit. It is just too strong. Something tells me I won't be having durians again for sometime. May be it was just a little too much yesterday?

Daughter in Suzhou

Watching the flight the daughter's was on arriving in Pudong yesterday. First time flying with China Eastern Airlines, which we made it a point to avoid despite their very competitive fares each time we flew to the US. In the end there are so many other more important things to chat with her about that we forgot to ask her about her flight.

It was good she used the Singtel plan instead of a local one, that way we could still Whatsapp each other. When she is on WiFi, we use WeChat.

Trump: Betting on Stupid Americans

Trump wasn't commenting for you and me or any thoughtful American voter. He is reaching out to his stupid base who are the extreme sufferers of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

I am also watching how many Americans realize that the likely to pass tax reform would be bad for most of them. They have insulted themselves putting a lout in the White House, and I like to see next year if they add insult to their injury supporting the tax changes.

If being dumb is a momentarily weakness, there is still hope for America as this happens to all societies from time to time. Otherwise it is the long predicted decline of America which seemed to be postponed again and again, all the way when Nixon delinked the USD from Gold.