Observations - 21st October 2010

"The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side." - James Baldwin

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I can't recall a single instance where a public petition was effective in Singapore (Chek Jawa was positioned as "The government's decision was made after consulting with various government agencies and marine life experts", and nature is a very uncontentious issue). Yong Vui Kong will not be the first. In fact arguably it might even be counter-productive - they do not want to be seen to be bowing to public pressure. In the past when a softer approach was taken (albeit with stronger interests) more leniency was shown - see the banned-but-not-banned book on the death penalty.

Lim Swee Say and other Ministers think their economics is better than NUS's labour economist Hui Weng Tat. Maybe this is because they're paid better than him - QED.

Maybe in Singapore saying "I'm so angry I'm going to explode" means you're a would-be suicide bomber. Likewise, "I'm going to blow you away" (this is all keeping in the theme of burning the PAP). Probably you can also get charged for sedition for accusing Muslim politicians of indulging in pork-barrel politics or labelling them as underdogs.
Addendum: This refers to Abdul Malik Mohammed Ghazali who wanted to "burn Vivian Balakrishnan and the PAP"
Keywords: blow up, joke, violence, threats, ex ri

The NLB has 4 copies of John Loftus's The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails. Sedition!

"The SAF is a microcosm of Singapore society" - Teo Chee Hean. Yeah, i.e. Fucked Up

M. Ravi must be the world's "worst" lawyer. When was the last time he won a case?


The more butchy of a lesbian couple I saw on the MRT had 3 buttons spelling out 'GAY' and was wearing a t-shirt with a rainbow on it reading, 'Smile If You're Gay'. There's something called trying too hard!

I wonder how many of the people railing against foreign talent visit non-Singaporean prostitutes

It seems only women have human telephone alarm clocks ("give me a phone call at 9am to wake me up"). Meanwhile, more than 90% of the time, the ones I see taking cabs are girls. These observations are not unrelated.

Tim The Great's theory: the girls eating in aircon are prettier than the girls eating outside

I was waiting to pump air into my tires, and observed 2 attendants standing by as a boy haplessly tried pumping air into his bicycle tire. He tried a few times but failed and gave up. Later, a woman came to do the same, and before she did anything, one went to help her. Female privilege!

What's with Singaporean [Chinese] girls and fish soup?! Also, there's a mindset gap issue: when in school they prefer Yong Tau Hoo, but at work they love Fish Soup

Is there a point squeezing past people to the back of the bus if no one will follow my lead? I'm told that buses in Coventry are exactly the same.

What passes for food blogs in Singapore: lots of pictures, with barely any commentary (what passes for it is along the lines of "tastes really good", "my all time favorite :)" and "This is yummy"). But then Singaporeans prefer ambience to good food, which is why the general rule for food is that good food becomes bad or goes out of business, and bad food stays around for years.


A lot of Chinese philosophy (possibly even most) seems to be a lot of rhetoric with no supporting arguments

A good way for PRCs to get into the UK, and probably the EU - say they're from Falunggong.

What can one say about a society where the ability to down copious amounts of alcohol is considered an achievement?

I got a spam mail that requested a return receipt. The nerve!

Je suis toujours confus lorsque je vois 'Product of USA. Produit des É.U.'


RT @minyvlz: @gssq let's face it I don't think any singaporean online who cares wldnt know of u

"i think more people will turn up at Mr Brown's wake than the Old Man."