World Cup kicks off in Brazil successfully

For a while I was wondering if Brazil could pull this off but as D-day approached it became quite clear they would be OK. The western media don't like them very much isn't it? But there wasn't enough alarm and noise to suggest that it would fail.

And J. Lo made it.

Got this in my whatsapp this morning when I turned on my phone. Completely biased. How else coming from a British newspaper?

On a more positive note, the Telegraph believes its audience math isn't that poor. This is a venn diagram, stuff I learned long ago in secondary one.

I know next to nothing about this beautiful game which was on the cover of the Economist magazine last week. Given that there are so many people around me talking about it, I can't not helped knowing right? So Brazil played Croatia last night when I was asleep. Brazil won 3:1 against Croatia. Good for the Brazilians but why did it even let in one goal to the other side? 2:0 would be more satisfying, yes?

So it was the AirWheel

Saw a couple of times an ang moh in business suit crossing the road at Napier Road from the Botanic Garden side to the British High Comm. Looked really fun and I was wondering then what this gadget was.


But this thing isn't good for exercise. On the other hand you don't want to sweat it out unless you have decided to right? Our weather is just too hot.

Tharman doesn't talk stupid at all

Tharman is one of the few ministers I never ever recall him talking stupid. He is the sort we are not paying enough. Sure, the PM would say if only in private if he could have more like him and it is to his credit that he recognized his ability and promoted him. Come on, Tharman wasn't a scholar and he even took his A levels again. In other words, some will say he is one of us even if in reality he is streets ahead smarter.

And it is wonderful to see him use the noun "everyone" correctly. "Most" is not the same as "every" or "all".

Worrying about Dengue again

Last year we worried about the daughter getting dengue before the A levels. This year we have to be watchful for the other girl taking her O levels. Major exams here are no fun but they aren't as bad as those in Korea. 

My neighbor downstairs was bitten last year by Aedes mosquitoes at work and she came down with a bad case of dengue. It was no fun at all. 

Defamation: Remember Chiam sued and won

When the PM claimed in parliament that PAP ministers and MP are people of integrity and beyond reproach, I had my doubts thinking only with my gut. I couldn't come up with any examples to the contrary but I vaguely recall if I mine my blog there would be evidence.

Older and more experience people have counseled me for as long as I could remember that there is no such thing as a clean politician. I believe I have a YouTube clip in a post here from the movie, "Lincoln" which Honest Abe lied about a Confederate peace party in town to talk peace. Abraham Lincoln had deceived Congress in order that they would pass the amendment to free the slaves.

I can't stand hypocrites. Never cut them any slack. And of all PAP stalwarts Dhanablan had a solid reputation for integrity. Well that bubble is burst for me. Who among the men in white fond or nurturing a reputation as whiter than white could wash whiter than Dhana?

Indeed politicians can be as good as honest but living in integrity beyond reproach? Even saints and archangels couldn't if they have to do a political leader job. Well what is new? The PAP leaders are always over selling themselves and this pattern had caused a more informed and questioning electorate to lose trust in them.

OK, I managed to find the post Lincoln misrepresented his knowledge, not on YouTube but Vimeo.

Update: 11:05am

More convenient to just reproduce the Vimeo clip here.




Update: 11:15am

I don't care what others think but this fellow have give me the impression as PAP's attack dog in and outside parliament. A person in such a role better not be guilty of hypocrisy or surely lose all credibility.

Thanks to Andrew Loh who had put together the latest evidence. Folks like me would never do this because we are just too busy with other things.

The PAP behavior is taking us down the path of politics like elsewhere. They only know how to behave when there are no opposition in parliament but we can't allow them that because experience proved that they would abuse their position to take us for granted.

Link to Andrew's article at TOC.

History of reserve currencies

I don't completely agree with this chart from Double Line but it is very interesting.

No one had lasted as a reserve currency for more than 120 years. Anyway this is just the western perspective and for most of those times, I thought gold and sometimes together with silver were the "reserve currency". Both metals were also trusted on the side of the world in China, which was the largest economy for at least half the timeline shown.

We will lose most of the scholars

I have just read this as an email from my ex boss. This might be the German experience but it has a very familiar ring here too. Just like the Germans we will likely lose almost all of the foreign scholars the government attracted here to our schools and universities. Many will go home but in our case there is plenty of anecdotal evidence they will continue their journey heading to America. Both my kids have many PRC and ASEAN scholars in their classes and almost none of them integrate with the local students. When they finish school and fulfill their scholarship requirements they are going home. My elder child has a PRC classmate from secondary school to JC who wanted to be here 'permanently' but she has no interest to integrate at all. She even took herself out of the class whatsapp group at the first opportunity. I think she will be sticking around only for the economic opportunities and may be avoiding a less than happy family back home.

In the past, we were forced by circumstances to get along. It was expensive and often untenable to go home. You could only maintain contact with snail mail then and as a kid I saw how the older generation struggled with putting down roots here and respecting and accommodating those from  other races and religions. Today immigrants are completely different. They play both sides and enjoy the best of two or more worlds. No wonder citizens feel like suckers.

We will have to live with the poor ROI putting money on these scholars and also alienating locals who saw themselves denied places in top schools and universities here. In fact, we are even losing our own people to the US. Just heard about two of them over the radio this morning. Sure, they are still Singaporeans but they are contributing to their professions in LA.

Update: June 15 8:55am

Came across this in the Sunday Times early this morning. Andrew Ng was educated at RI.