Dr Wong Mun Tat on a College Education

Today is Vesak day and we could all be at home. It is raining outside and when you have the freedom to not go anywhere the rain is a joy to watch and I can't help but see them as showers of blessings :-)

I just discussed this Letter to the Forum by Dr. Wong Mun Tat with the Children. I have often told them that they need to have faith in their studies. Radio DJs are often unhelpful casting aspersions on their education. Didn't help at all the stupid lyrics of many songs for example, "Don't know much about biology...don't much about history..." what fools, but hey, these singers are very rich! Yeah, rich and famous but ignore the laws of probabilities and worse the ovarian lottery at your peril. This is the land of Extremistan, get smart, bone up on option theory, gird yourself before you play.

Except one point, Dr. Wong said is best. I think he is off about Quantum Theory. So many of our gadgets would not be possible without it, and none of these were anticipated. Curious and creative minds were just trying to understand what and how this world came to be. That is may be the closest you could get to exploring Eden.

City Harvest Church: What Crossover Project?

This is unbelievable. These six lawyers as are hard to believe. To me they are pushing on a string. They argue like City Harvest Church is a sovereign state within sovereign Singapore! They live by another set of rules. Our laws stop at their doors. Why do they even bother to be part of the charities framework? This is totally disingenuous.

Religion is really troublesome. I just heard on radio how two terrorists killed a British trooper in broad daylight in the name of Allah. These men were warped and evil. That's not Islam.

I suspected religion and in this instance, Christianity was what caused Mary and Rick Todd to desperately hold out for proof that their son didn't kill himself. Christians believe those who kill themselves will go to hell. Huawei was a convenient bogeyman to pursue their aims. They could use that to get the US government to act. Now with all their blatant lies, half truths and stretching the truth, they are horrible examples of their religious faith. I believe they now have zero credibility with many of us. Even the western media no longer believe them.

Back to Project Crossover, it is best to quote SC Michael Khoo absurd argument here. He is not stupid but I think he can't find a better argument. This line of defence also help retain the church members' support.

That project was the church's main vision and mission, they argued. It was meant to convert people to Christianity via Ms Ho's secular music. To do that, Ms Ho, who previously sang gospel music at church services, had to "cross over to secular music", said Senior Counsel Michael Khoo.

If the church had directly funded the project and people outside of the church came to know of its involvement, that might have "defeated the purpose", said Mr Khoo. Thus, the church needed external companies such as Xtron Productions to fund and manage Ms Ho's career.

Patent nonsense. So is the good SC Khoo and CHC suggesting that subterfuge is an acceptable way to gain converts? This is really sneaky. Again and again I am reminded I prefer to call myself a follower of the Way than a Christian. We who lived by the examples of the people in scripture down to more later times like Francis of Assisi, John Banyan, George Mueller, William Wilberforce, Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu...are badly out numbered by these unrecognizable disciples. I am even beginning to think they made a bargain with the Devil which the Christ refused. This is one of the rare moments I resort directly to the Bible.

From the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 4

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

I wonder, really wonder, the likes of  CHC have not made this bargain with the Devil. Their methods smack completely like the methods of the Deceiver, which is another name for Satan. The heroes of the faith gain followers through meekness and weakness, not arrogance and strength. Through lack rather than plenty; poverty rather than prosperity....and certainly with honesty rather than deception.

And from John Chapter 8 but there are numerous similar allegations of Satan

⁴⁴ For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Why are you grinning from ear to ear Khong Hee? Those were facetious arguments. Oh, the Todds were lying without compunction too. Note to self: Mary Todd is a pastor.

Stars response to our car prices

Posts in this blog on politics are for helping me decide who to back in the next GE. Purchase posts to help me track the goods I buy especially if they were smart buys. I have also come to realize quite a few were for my children's education too but the most valuable and hardest to decide whether to write about are posts are like this one - They are like photos you shoot, hard to tell if it is worth keeping but if you choose the right ones, it is the biggest reason why I have this blog; to enjoy them much later like we all enjoy old photos.

Priceless expressions of our out of this world car prices from the stars of Fast & Furious. What a way to remember COE prices at this point in time.

Vintage Mahathr but don't be deceived

Never imagine that I would be blogging about this old fox Mahathir. This is one character which I wouldn't be surprised that history will judged him far more severely when what he had sowed during his years of premiership catches up with him. Some bits are already starting to appear.

Don't be beguiled by him. He had a hypnotic influence over too many people. How do I explain what he has said is nonsense; lies dressed up as simple logic and passed off as true. If you pushed him further, he would likely say just look next door in Thailand and then wiggle off to another direction. He was frustrating for our leaders to work with, always changing his mind and stretching the meaning of words.

Mahathir's strategy of deception is like a good movie which is believable but false. I can think of several: Jurassic Park, Da Vinci Code and the X-files series on TV. There are many more. He is a master of gross over simplification. If you know the subject well, i.e. the details and the relationships among the details, you know he is a fraud.

1. Arab Spring had overwhelming support from the people. This is not true yet for Malaysia. He hadn't used Thailand as an example because it didn't succeed at bringing down the government.

2. Point 2 is just padding. You could skip that but he needed it to join up with his next point.

3. Again nonsense. In Malaysia unlike the Arab states people are unhappy but not to the same degree or as angry as those over there. Furthermore in Syria, Assad uses brutal force. He is still standing. In fact the rebels could not win without massive external help. Nobody is going to provide Malaysian rebels such support.

4. Point 4 is padding too. Skip.

5. My Point 1 and Point 3 would make Mahathir's Point 5 untenable. It simply isn't going to happen.

The rest of his points are now not worth discussing except I like the cleverness as usual of how he rounds it up at the end because this is what most people would take away after they have long forgotten what he had said earlier. Hearers would agree with him that street demonstrations are a dangerous and terrible idea.

Vintage Mahathir is a first rate communicator but in half truths and twisted truths.

Yet another thermos cup

I have not been very successful with thermos cups recently. I hope this new purchase would break the run of bad luck. It has an auspicious beginning (some might disagree). I was ready to pay $29.90 and was pleasantly surprised to be told there was a 50% discount.

I hope this one will keep me company for many years. I am enjoying a cold drink with it. Tomorrow morning I shall fill it with hot green tea.

Alan, a menace in the office

Alan you are a menace in the office. From what I have read about you, you are unrepentant. I wish you have a boss like yourself and perhaps that would be the start of a successful learning journey for you.

Verbal abuse in our workplaces is common. I have seen too many and I had also been on the receiving end. My first supervisor threatened to knock me on the head if I made the mistake again. That was uncalled for but I couldn't resign. I needed the job and the money to get married. To this day I can remember how I felt my ears burned and I wanted to hit him in the face. My take away from that experience was a financial strategy that allowed me to walk if I needed to (an option too many workers will never have). You never forget such lessons. Well the story had a happy ending. Privately I forgave him and as I learned the ropes and became very competent, getting along with him became easy and we became very good friends.

Of course I think of my kids when they go out to work eventually and meet bastards (strong language) like Alan. While getting physical is rare, the tongue lashing doesn't hurt less. I have emailed them this story and advised them that they must never tolerate such treatment. I think all parents must share this story with their kids. If society do not tolerate such behavior, bullies like Alan will become an endangered specie. We need to reverse the trend, the workplace has become more toxic than when I first started working.

No car, so ride the MRT to school

As the car is in the service center, the daughter had to ride the MRT to school this morning. This is her first time, and a much better ride she would get on the way back but that is only because she caught the second train this morning!

Just got a message from her that she arrived to an empty school!

I hope the car can be fixed by today.