The corporation and the psychopath

Watch only if you have time to spare. It's more than 2 hours long.

I watched an intriguing documentary during sociology class this week. It basically defined the corporation as a psychopath, and proceeded to list out why it was so by checking off its characteristics on a psychiatric assessment sheet.

Just before the documentary got to its gist though, it had this entire section detailing why the corporation could not be personalised, despite people often attaching personalities to them. So it went like "McDonalds, what is McDonalds to you?" And people would go "young, energetic, outgoing, enthusiastic", and Nike would be "cool, hip, sporty...'" you get the idea. But I guess, that has a lot to do with branding, because to motivate you to buy its products, a corporation has to make you identify with them first, and people identify with like-minded people or people they look up to.

Then they went on to say the corporation was a machine that has no soul, it just wants your money, and so on. And hence, it is now humanising the corporation by comparing it to a psychopath.

But minor logical hiccups aside, the scariest part of the documentary was how they stripped the corporation bare for what it was, a profit-making machine, at all costs. It might seem a no-brainer, but the eye-opener was to at what lengths corporations would go to ensure they made a profit, including the blatant disregard for the sanctity and value of human life.

I found especially revolting how corporations would weigh the savings in cost of polluting the environment against possible litigation, and choose to pollute the environment by dumping industrial by-products into rivers if it cost less than potential legal damages, because the bottom line was key.

Never mind all the babies getting born with missing arms and legs downstream. Well, I guess the parents of these children could sue, but if I've made enough money I can hire the best lawyers to make sure you never get a cent, or I could pay a token sum to keep you quiet.

And some of the things these corporations do, is the cost really mitigated by the monetary payment? How much money can really take away the suffering that a family will go through when a deformed child is born to them? And, the amount of oil BP has released into the oceans following the Deepwater Horizon spill, perhaps no amount of money can buy back the loss in ecological diversity that must have already resulted.

Which was really the result of BP trying out a new revolutionary drilling technique while gambling on the possible risks, because the lure for higher profit margins was so great. The article for that is here, and it is also another good read. It really makes me wonder what kind of legacy we are leaving to those still not born, who will live much harder lives than those already living.

Really, money is nothing but a temporal asset. Its value changes with inflation, it is only accepted by people who recognise it, and it is just a promise by governments to give you something that you can use to exchange for something you really need. Have you ever wondered why money doesn't give you satisfaction sometimes? It's because what you want is not money, but what money can buy you. And the things you really want, money cannot buy.

The documentary likened the way we were living now to us taking off in a malformed airplane. We think we are flying, but really, we are in freefall. And some of us know that sooner or later we're going to crash, because they can see the ground rushing up. They are trying to warn the others, but they are too caught up "flying" to realise that it is a matter of time before the end. It is basically, unsustainable.

Anyway, I googled the documentary after watching it. It's like the natural thing to do these days. You see something interesting, you google it. And I found out it had won many awards, it was actually based on a book, and it can be found on Youtube.

I think it's really important to never stop thinking, asking questions and trying to know everything you possibly can about anything at all. The world gets dangerous when you start taking things for granted.

In Ukraine, plane comes out of building.

If you have five minutes, watch this. It will change the way you look at light shows.



If you have just one, watch the emancipation of Mimi @ F1 Singapore 2010.

Some classic self-introductions from Miss Universe 2010

I know, the obvious question is why I would be watching this. Hmm, I was trying to find out how to be a better guy from a bevy of beauties.

Okay, I'll admit it, I watch anything that's funny, and this certainly qualifies.

Anyway, showcasing... some of the best.

Ms Universe - Canada



"It is very unfortunate, but I've never been on a bad date." Someone slap her please.

Ms Universe - Indonesia



"When you down, women can make you up." Lol, damn wrong can.

Ms Universe - Singapore



How could I miss Singapore out. The way beauty paegeant contestants here are produced, it's almost guaranteed that we get a good laugh, every time. Veneers from your dentist is the best present you've ever received? Seriously? I thought my life was sad but you make me thankful I breathe and walk this Earth, and that I got a Lego set for my 7th birthday.

And what's with the stiffness, the government isn't going to throw you in jail if you do a Ris Low.

To be fair, the video editors screwed up the video by putting in the same answer for her 1st and 2nd questions. But I went to watch the video for Ms Malaysia and she was much better in every way, which kind of makes me sad.

And of course, saving the best for the last.

Ms Universe - China



My immediate reaction after watching this was to laugh out loud. Like seriously, she makes Ris Low look intelligent. After that, I just felt bad for her, but really, what was going through her mind.

This is what she was trying to say before the ridiculous segment on noises, which was so funny I nearly got a stitch.
1. "I wish men in China would be more respectful."
2. "Shoes, they'll bring you a long way."
3. "I'm nineteen, no bad date[s]."

And rockets go "pong-tiewww" in China, but that has nothing on the "Robot."
No kidding.

Tennis lesson.

Few things inspire me more than tennis. I grew up watching a generation of greats, like Steffi Graf, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, and somehow tennis was always a game that these people played, something distant and alien, something I watched but that was it. However, it never took away any of the wonder I felt when I saw them hit those fantastic volleys and serves.

My dad used to play the game too. And I have many memories of childhood where I waited at the side of tennis courts while he played, but I don't really remember him in action now, all I remember were the times when he was done and it was time to go home.

Once, when I was in primary school, I joined the badminton club. I remember I didn't have a badminton racket then, and the only rackets at home were his tennis rackets. I tried using one of them to play badminton. It was a joke, not least because the racket was really too heavy for me, and I would end up swishing at nothing but air. My mom later bought me a badminton racket at a neighbourhood sundry stall. I wanted a Yonex. She bought me a cheap knockoff brand that started with the letter "Y". I still use it.

Now, several years on, I'm much older and I play tennis myself, and playing the game drives me crazy. It unleashes some sort of inner perfectionist in me. I want to play every shot, and I want to play it well. And it pisses me off bad when I don't take the shot perfectly where I want to take it, but I also know that playing the game well takes years of practice.

In lesson today, I learnt something that is part of every tennis player's main arsenal, the serve. I'd learnt the serve before, but I've never really been good at it. A serve is the first shot a tennis player plays, but it is also the hardest. Simply put, it consists of 5 to 6 different individual movements all coordinated together to deliver that perfect serve.

It was to say the least, extremely frustrating. For every 10 balls I hit, only one would be anything resembling correct technique. And for the other 9, if it wasn't the toss that went awry, it'd be the backswing, or where I took the ball on the racket. Sometimes, I would even miss the ball totally and it would land right back onto my head, which made me feel more than a little silly. And the tennis instructor would stand at the side and correct my moves with phrases like "you're taking the ball too low, you're not tossing high enough, bend your knees, pronate your forearm and hit the ball upwards"

The last one always gets me. Somehow, you're supposed to toss the ball straight upwards, and launch yourself at it extending your whole racket arm at the ball. And you have to hit the ball upwards, not forward as you might think. Apparently, it topspins the ball so that it clears the net high and then dips sharply downward so that it hits the service line. If it all sounds like greek to you, imagine what it is like trying to do it.

And the thing about finally doing a good serve as a beginner is, after you've done one you feel a little smug about it. You forget that tennis is actually a rallying game, so when your opponent hits one right back at you the result is a mad scramble to return it, which inevitably ends in failure.

I guess that having an understanding of how difficult playing the game is increases my appreciation for it. But I know that if I am to ever play tennis well, I will have to iron out all the little things, like keeping my eye on the ball, taking the ball at the right place, using the body to generate power, not the arm, and so on.

If not, what my coach said today will ring true.

"You can learn tennis, but at the end of the course, maybe you still won't look like a tennis player."

OK Go - White Knuckles

OK Go has a penchant for doing experimental and quirky music videos, and this is no exception. I'm sure everyone is familiar with their treadmill video, and they have gone from treadmills to plastic bins, white swiveling chairs and dogs. I'd put more examples here but EMI is a bitch that doesn't let me watch their videos because of "copyright".

The perils of living in Singapore, where the need to enrich yourself creatively is constrained by the poor market potential of the little red dot.

Anyway, I'll give OK Go stars for creativity but they should have channeled more of that into the song too. Never mind, this too shall pass. Maybe they were too busy trying to train the dogs.

In terms of creativeness though, I haven't seen many videos that can beat this one. It's been a year now and I'm still waiting.

Channel 8 - 最亲切!!

This actually occurred during the 9pm Ch8 drama just now.

I knew Ch8 dramas were getting bad, but this is a whole new level of rubbish. They don't just want to give you shows now, they want to show you some love, and on national primetime TV too. A full 10 seconds or so of it. But really, just give me the damn show. I don't tune in to Ch8 at 9pm to watch subliminal, or not so subliminal messaging.

Source: hardwarezone forums

Is this NUS? Damn it sure looks like Hogwarts.

If Xinhuanews is to be believed, this is apparently what NUS looks like. I live in Singapore and I had absolutely no idea. There must be a platform 9 3/4 somewhere that leads to this place, because it certainly isn't Kent Ridge.

If it was I would have enrolled myself in it, a lack of a communications faculty notwithstanding. I mean, who cares about journalism if you can go "Expecto Patronum!"

I just wonder what my patronus would be, I think it might be a giant hamburger or chocolate truffle. But I digress.

Credit goes to KJ for digging this up. It was such an epic fail I just had to print the screenshot of it for posterity.

Oh, and NTU isn't on the list. But of course. It might not even make a list of the best 20.

The crap we put up with getting on and off an airplane.

Source: theoatmeal.com - A hilarious site full of sarcastic comics, much in the vein of explosm, and sometimes, just as morally vague.

mr eraser.

So cute.

NTU falls 100, no 101 spots, to 174

NTU falls 100 spots to 174

NTU's ranking plunges in revamped Times Higher Education list

By Amelia Tan

Related Link

TOP 10 UNIVERSITIES

NTU's chief planning officer and registrar Chan Kwong Lok reiterated that because of the change in criteria, there was no basis of comparison between this year's and last year's rankings. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

NANYANG Technological University (NTU) has tumbled 101 places in a revamped ranking of the world's top 200 universities.

It has plunged from 73rd to 174th place in this year's edition of the widely viewed Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, published yesterday.

Rest of the article is here

I'm definitely alarmed. I mean, I didn't see this coming. How could anyone? I mean, I knew NTU was bad, but who knew it was this bad? If I knew that NTU was going to become the 174th best university in the world before I had a chance to graduate, I would have asked my parents harder to send me to like Australia. More fun, less stress, and the degree is worth more too!

Well, this is pretty shit because the fact that I haven't graduated when this happened means it will definitely affect my job prospects, or applications for further studies. And I would really like to ask, which university drops a 100 places in one year? It is an impossibly dismal showing, unless NTU's ranking has been inflated all along, and this inflation has been exposed for what it really is.

Well, I guess one could say that rankings aren't always objective and conspiracy theories probably abound, but I bet Dr Su is having more than a few sleepless nights wondering how he could have screwed up the university ranking so bad. I guess this is a reality check, a slap in the face after all that crowing about how NTU was the games village for YOG.

Reality check: NTU only became the games village because the cost of construction rose and it became too expensive for NUS to complete the construction of facilities on time. NTU was never the first choice for the games village. So stop crowing already.

Some academics have said that there is no basis for comparison between the rankings from last year and this year due to different measurement criteria, but apart from NTU and a clutch of other universities, most universities, especially the top ones, moved little from their previous rankings. If the criteria weren't objective, there would have been major reshuffles all round.

That didn't happen, and being a minority case it really weakens the argument for the lack of objectivity of the rankings. If anything, the measurement criteria actually became more objective, relying less on expert opinions. And if the criteria are really the case, why is NUS hardly affected?

I'm guessing its because a large part of a university's rankings is actually determined by the quality of its postgraduate research which NTU is hardly strong in, but it is the graduates like me who are going to be fall guys for the bad rankings.

This whole affair sucks because it is really tough studying in Singapore. The competition is intense because of a rigid bell curve sytem, we mug our guts out for tiny gains in GPA, and now we watch all that potentially go to waste because of something beyond our control.

And I had to pay school fees during my internship when I wasn't even attending classes in this stupid school. Does that make any sense to anyone?

I'd like to demand lower school fees now. I shouldn't be paying first class fees for a third class education.

A thinly disguised parody of a well loved column.

Before I begin, I would like to clarify that this is done in a totally tongue in cheek manner. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, the real fun begins.

Blowing hot and cold

I love airconditioning. I really do. In fact, I love it so much I cannot sleep without it. In a climate as humid as Singapore's, one of the sole redeeming factors is the fact that I have aircon to battle back the heatwaves and ensure a good night's sleep.

Unfortunately, my nose hates it. In fact, any attempt to expose my dear nose to anything resembling a cool wave of air quickly brings an attack of the sniffles, and it will not leave me in peace thereafter.

I've tried all ways and means. I've tried sleeping without the aircon. My nose would be in peace the whole night, but the rest of me would be tossing and turning. One night, I even spent the whole night awake because I just couldn't sleep. Not that my nose minded. It was in peace the whole night through, and never seemed to notice my discomfort, except for the little snorts I made when I tossed in a different direction.

I've always wanted to get the nose to sleep somewhere else, but that's really hard because it's kind of stuck to my face. I can't tell my nose to buzz off, and even trying to explain the situation to my nose isn't very helpful at all. I mean, its my nose, not my ears, nor my brain.

Conversations with my nose aren't very forthcoming either. Every time I feel an attack of the sniffles coming on, I will go "Oh no, not again." All I get is silence in response, and maybe a few quick sneezes as a rebuke.

It's a pity really, because in all fairness, my nose is very accommodating.

It does not complain about the fact that it has to remain open all the time so I can breathe, or how it has to filter out dust from the atmosphere every day. It also does not complain when I walk near a rubbish dump and the smell causes it to wrinkle up in disgust. Sometimes, when my nose starts running, I stop it in its tracks with tissue paper like a wet blanket, which often brings about a sharp sneeze as a response, but like all who live in close quarters, we all have our issues.

Don't get me wrong. I really love my nose. I mean, how could I not? And we have tried ways and means to work this out together. We have tried Chinese herbal medicines, cough syrup, Vicks, different sleeping positions, putting the aircon on timer, even a damned humidifier. Speaking about humidifiers, who the hell invented those? They just make me very damned wet and sticky, and I really don't feel any cooler at all. I might as well be covered in a film of sweat.

These days, I just sleep with the aircon on. It means that I get a stuffy nose every morning, but I get a good night's sleep.

It's been 24 years now. We are still working at a compromise. Most days we get it just about right, but I really don't think that sleeping should be this way. I shouldn't have to put up with a stuffy nose every morning. I am still not completely convinced that this is the way I want my life to be.

For some real nerd cred.

There's nerd, and then there's cool nerd with nerd cred. These are actually real geek shirts, and only true geeks will know what they all really mean. It was called "minimalist" geek cred on Buzzfeed, but I love these shirts anyway, especially the Freeman one. That one is beyond awesome. Reminded me of afternoons crowbarring the shit out of roof sucking barnacles. You can buy the shirts here if you are really flush with cash.

That being said, I'll trade you three wood for a sheep.

Two short films.

"Leave Me", a short film about a broken Canon DSLR

An old film, albeit an award winning one in 2009. I watched it last year, but I saw it recently off a friend's facebook post and thought it was worth sharing again. The final shot is especially beautiful, and haunting.

And on a second note, a much happier film, "Color", a quirky allegorical take on what happiness is.

Knee-jerk. No, knee jerks.

The government recently stopped the free shuttle buses to the two IRs in Singapore, and the whole way this thing has been done makes me beyond pissed. What I see is a classic case of the government screwing up, and making Singaporeans pay for the problem. Don't tell me the government gets things right all the time, because I have two eyes and a brain and I can see.

Firstly, the routes were approved by the LTA. Could they not have seen then that this would lead to people from the heartlands taking the free shuttle, especially if the routes were planned into heartland centres? If you planned routes to HDB estates and don't expect HDB dwellers to use them, then who the hell are you expecting to take the bus?

Secondly, is it really fair to bus companies and bus drivers here to just suddenly pull the plug on a business like that? Some of these bus companies invested $2 million on new buses, and they are hiring almost 30 drivers. Just pulling the plug like this, it means they lose a lot of money and 30 more honest living bus drivers go jobless. And this is just because you want to appear "morally upright", which honestly cuts no ice with people who know it is all just a smokescreen for your screw up.

Thirdly, how can you be sure that stopping the bus services will stop the gamblers? Your $100 entry fee didn't stop them. Now you're just making sure they have to pay another $5-10 more to take the transport system to get there. Oh brilliant, why didn't I see that, you earn even more money, from ERP, and from all the other transport costs.

And what about all the other families who are taking the bus to go to the theme parks? Or the elderly people who benefit from the free shuttle because of its convenience?

Honestly, this whole farce makes me beyond pissed. It is a classic case of ivorytowerism, of people living up there in their elite world who have long forgotten to look down and see what life is like on the ground, who make summary judgments based on high-horse "moral values" and wanting to not make it "too easy to gamble."

The casino was built to earn our money, and it's about time to admit it. If you wanted to stop locals from going in, the levy would have been $1000 rather than $100, or you would have banned the locals outright. Stop trying to pretend you're looking after our moral values when all you're interested in is our money.

Introducing... Mini.

Meet Mini. Because everyone needs to go "awww" once in awhile.

Fight Club!!

S-League brawl between the Young Lions and Beijing Guo'an. The players were kicking everything but the soccer ball. One of them even launched a flying kick that would have made Bruce Lee proud.

If you don't have time, there are two fights, but the really epic one starts from 1:55 onwards.

This actually took place during an S-League match, which had to be cancelled because it seems nobody was actually really interested in playing soccer. It's so bad it's almost funny. Actually, it is. Hahaha.

I-P-P-T

Every year in a male Singaporean's life, an event comes around that wakes him up to the reality that he should really start jogging and working out again. I mean, it's so easy to sit back and just let the fats accumulate, it's like the easiest thing in the world.

Not helping is the fact that Singapore has like the best food ever. You can say anything about Singapore, except that Singaporeans don't know their food. We know our food, and we'll show you just how well we know it.

Every once in a while during lectures I will get distracted because a friend will post me a link, and it leads to a new bakery, cafe, food blog, or restaurant menu, which will get me excited and soon I'll be surfing the net for similar sites. And then I get hungry, and all I have for lunch is Canteen B. Life is a bitch.

It reminds me of the first day back in school after eight months. I saw a friend I hadn't seen in months, and all she had to say to me was "Hey you gained weight! Enjoying life right!" before telling me a few days later that her pants were dropping off, apparently because she still has the body size of a bird even after internship. Yes, you know who you are.

Another friend was more philosophical about it. When I told her about the new spare tyre, she said "the layer becomes your friend." I've never met a friend I wanted less but I guess this is one friend I'd better start working hard at getting rid of, because it sure is one kind of clingy.

And it's going to cost me a few hundred bucks when I don't pass that IPPT.

Facebook is getting more than a little scary.

taken off allfacebook.com

HUGE: Facebook Testing New “Subscribe To” User Feature

Posted by Nick O'Neill on September 2nd, 2010 3:44 PM

Facebook is in the process of testing a new feature which lets you subscribe to all the actions of a specific user. In other words, you can receive notifications anytime a specific user takes an action on Facebook. It also appears to be Facebook’s answer to Twitter’s follow feature. As a Facebook user who has seen the feature explained to us, “By subscribing you don’t miss any updates from people you subscribe to.”

...

(The rest of the article is on the website which you can access by following the link)

Honestly, this feature has its good and bad points.

The good is, your top news and feeds aren't spammed by randoms you don't really care about, and you can finally get feeds only from those you want to follow. The bad is, even if I want to follow someone, I'm not sure I want to follow that someone that closely, especially if its someone I see in school all the time. And I'm sure most people don't want that either, unless they have some kind of attention seeking problem.

It'd be like "Hey I just saw your update on facebook 5 minutes ago!" Then an hour later, you'll be continuing a conversation with someone else in real-life that was actually started on facebook as a status update. And that's not counting the conversations started off tweets.

I had a friend who suggested that maybe if the "stalkee" had to approve subscribe requests it might take away some of the scary "stalkerish-ness" of the whole thing. I totally agree. But once that is done, can you unsubscribe the person from yourself if he/she turns out to be a real stalker and more than a little creepy? If it works like twitter, I'm guessing no. So you're going to have this weird person hanging off the fringes watching your feeds, and even if you block this person they might still be able to see your feeds. Scary? Damn hell yeah.

It also presents one very potentially awkward situation. Facebook was trumpeting this as a tool for friends and family to follow one's updates, but I'm pretty sure some people would never want their moms and dads to see just what they get to on facebook. However, if they ask, how would you say no to them? Now, hasn't this tool suddenly became a lot more awful than you'd think?

I'd say no to this stalker button. But that's just me.

What, you're bribing us with $9000 now?

oh army! off the mrbrown show

The men in white recently announced an interesting sweetener for all who have ever served NS. Basically, they want to give each of us $9000. With a catch. The catch being that if you have already completed your NS liability before the announcement, you don't get the full $9000.

If you are one of those unlucky old soldiers who has already done your full NS commitment, you don't get peanuts, sorry. Especially since peanuts are very darned expensive in Singapore.

You know, I really don't get it. The soldiers these days have it better than us, are better paid, and now they get a better bonus too. For those who already did their time to full, I think they have a case for crying foul.

It really begs the question of whether the "compensation" is really necessary, or is it meant to be a political sweetener because the government has brought in too many foreign talents and now Singaporeans are starting to feel like outsiders in their own country. More than a third of the people now at any one time in Singapore are not local-born, and one might accuse me of playing it a little xenophobic, but it's getting a little crowded here no?

I've heard some of the arguments for and against the payout, from the normative moral high-horse reasoning that NS is a duty, a service, a badge of pride and that paying cheapens the sacrifice, to the opposite end of the spectrum where people argue that it's about time someone compensated NSmen correctly for their time.

In my opinion the latter group are just people who want a free handout without due consideration of what it really means for our economy, because when the government raises taxes in time to pay for this handout, they will be the same ones crying foul. But it doesn't mean that I approve fully of the moral high-horse reasoning either, because a lot of the people trumpeting it are not the same ones who served NS.

To me, it is not an issue of whether we should be compensated or not, but rather, an issue of why now? I have to admit that the timing of this handout is a little suspicious, with it running a little close to the upcoming General Elections.

I'm not suggesting anything here, I'm just saying that it seems more than a little coincidental, like how Potong Pasir is the most rundown estate in Singapore.

Let me attempt to teach you here a lesson that apparently costs $9000. I'm teaching it to you for free, so you better appreciate it.

Sometime in the future, you will see a piece of paper that has a symbol that looks like this.

When you see that, put an X in the box next to it.