Capital Punishment

"State-sponsored killing is inhuman, its effectiveness as a deterrent is as best unproven and it is no less prone to miscarriages of justice than more easily reversible sentences."
- The Economist, Dec 17 2005

Fiat Lux

I have seen the light!

Burrrrp

Roast pork belly, mussels in white wine, fries, beer, and the company of a fellow Cal CE grad. Was it a wonderful evening or what?

PocketPC at Macs

Have you experienced PocketPC ordering at McDonalds? Today I had dinner at the Tiong Bahru Plaza Macs outlet. I originally wanted to go to the food court but since it was late and I was too lazy to climb upstairs, I figured I'd just grab a quick bite. However, once I got in line and realized how crowded it was, I started having second thoughts..... until this girl came up to me with a PocketPC and said "can I take your order sir?" Well, she came up from behind and I almost freaked out right there, until I realized they have this new system where the waitress takes your order in the line using a PocketPC! She then gave me a number to present to the counter when it was my turn; fast and efficient, the way fast food is meant to be! Oh, the waitress was wearing a LiveStrong band. Why does it matter? Cos the LiveStrong band is for a good cause, is made by Nike, is made of silicone, and is cheaper than all those knock offs out there, so go support the Lance Armstrong Cancer Foundation!

Ok, so what the hell was I doing at Tiong Bahru Plaza in the middle of the night anyway? Well, today was a very busy day. Work just kept coming in the minute I stepped into the office. And it just kept coming and coming.... On a Monday too huh? Thank goodness bonus is coming in a few days' time, at least that's something to look forward to!

So just as I was about to leave the office at around 8pm, somebody called on my cell phone. "Hello M, E here." Nobody calls me at 8pm, if its a friend, usually its an sms, so I figured it must have been somebody from the bank soliciting. Probably trying to sell me some unit trusts linked to CAO or citiraya, or maybe another credit card or something. So I sheepishly answered "Yes??" And she replied, "Eh, I ask u something ah..." It was only then that I realised it was somebody I haven't talked to in such a long time, and I almost shouted "OMG, WHASSSSSUPPPPP!" when I realised that my boss (and his boss too) were still in the office! What an eventful Monday evening!
;)

Freakonomics

In the bestselling book "Freakonomics", Steven Leveitt advocates that "abortion was one of the greatest crime-lowering factors in American history." This conclusion was based on research done by himself and John Donohue which was published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 2001.

However, an article (Oops-onomics) in last week's issue of The Economist states that 2 economists at the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston recently discovered that Messrs Donohue and Levitt committed "an inadvertent but serious computer programming error" which, if removed, shows "that the impact of abortion on arrest rates disappears entirely"! Ooops!

Anyway, shame on anyone who thinks that unwanted children should just be aborted to reduce the crime rate. If that's the case, is he advocating that unwanted people be killed off too? Those jobless do not contribute to society so does that mean they should be killed off? How about those unreformed criminals who are a burden to tax payers money? Kill them off too? What a ridiculous argument some pro-choice people have!

An apt conclusion to the article in The Economist sums up the boo boo: "To be politically incorrect is one thing; to be simply incorrect quite another."

Is there any environmentally friendly source of energy?

Is there a panacea to our every growing global energy woes that does not cause environmental pollution? At the moment, no. Oil, coal and gas, which require large amounts of combustion, are obviously out since their waste products contribute to the greenhouse effect and global warming.

A few decades ago, hydroelectric dams, harnessing the power of moving water, were cited as the next big thing. However, today, dam construction has proven to be ecologically damaging, resulting in siltation, adverse thermal gradients upstream, destroyed habitats, amongst other woes. Many parts of the US have banned the construction of new dams, and environmentalists have condemned the Three Gorges Dam in China.

Lately, there has been a lot of revived interest in nuclear power. Politicians say less greenhouse gases are produced by nuclear power, so it solves all our problems! If only things were that simple.... Firstly, nuclear power plants discharge large amounts of hot water (product of the water-cool process) which gets dumped into the rivers and lakes, killing all the fish in the vicinity. Secondly, there is NO KNOWN method of safely disposing nuclear waste. And yes, I mean it, despite what those politicians tell you, there is NO KNOWN method of safely disposing nuclear waste.

So what about wind power then? What can be wrong about wind power? Well, its been shown that to generate sufficient wind power, you have to use lots and lots of wind turbines. So many that people use the term "wind farms". And wind farms need to be placed at the top of a hill to be effective. This takes up a lot of good land and kills scores and scores of birds! Yes, you'd be grossed out by the carcasses found below the wind turbines.

Now we come to solar power. Harnessing the power of the sun is probably the best we've got. However, for it to be of any use, you need to have a large solar farm, which is very expensive, and difficult to maintain. By the way, solar cells are made of silicon, and producing silicon creates pollution.

Geo-thermal power was supposed to be the next big thing. Except that it didn't become anything... 'nuff said.

So is there ever an environmentally friendly source of energy? Probably not. So are we doomed to having to live with a dying planet? There may not be an environmentally friendly source of energy, but there is an environmentally friendly solution: ENERGY CONSERVATION.

There was a fish....

There was a fish
Just a teeny weeny fish
And the fish was on the hook
And the hook was on the rod
And the rod was on the hand
And the hand was on the boy
And the boy was on the rock
And the rock was on the bank
And the bank was by the stream
And the stream was on its wa-ay.....
And the moon shines high in the clear blue sky
And all is bright and gay!

Theta Chi

That's Chris with the axe after this year's Big Game. We just had a little alumni gathering just now to watch the Big Game, and LV was there! I haven't seen LV in more than 3 years. 3 years seems like a really really long time ago! The last time we met, we were playing basketball with the Indonesions along with N, PP and YJ at the Albany Middle School along Brighton Ave. After shooting hoops we adjourned to the usual lunch at the mee pok place at Ranch 99 (where I usually just park my car illegally somewhere at the back). That particular day I had a long chat with LV and N after lunch, and after that, I never saw them again, and never really played basketball again for that matter.... I did, however, in my last days in the "Land of the Free (and home of the Bears!)", introduce my juniors to this wonderful basketball court, so that the tradition of Saturday basketball would carry on...

LV said that this Indonesian guy in his batch "revived" a frat along with some other smart guys he gathered. These smart guys would go on to win the frat "academic honors" and eventually steal the StanfUrd tree! I thought about it for a while, and I remembered that there was indeed one frat which had an Indonesian and a lot of smart guys, and that was Theta Chi on Frat Row just to the south of the Piedmont "circle". I used to hang out at Theta Chi with my floormates in freshman year. Theta Chi was an unusual frat. They didn't drink much (I think I enjoyed the free drinks more than the Brothers did), but they had real good BBQ ribs! There was this real tough guy called Art who was like one of the big Brothers. He was a personal trainer at the RSF and would be the bouncer at the door during parties. All you had to do was to befriend this guy and you'd have no problem getting in! I gained his respect by trashing him at pool one day after he had downed like 10 drinks (I don't really play pool haha). Towards the end of freshmen year Theta Chi bought a karaoke system, and they practically karaoked to "punk" all night long! I had absolutely no idea that "punk" was karaokeable....

Our sturdy Golden Bear
Is watching from the skies
Looks down upon our colors fair
And guards us from his lair!
Our banner gold and blue
The symbol on it too
Means fight for California
For California through and through!

Infantry

More exerpts from "The Yom Kippur War" by Abraham Rabinovich:
"The Israeli armored units, no longer presuming to win the war by themselves, called for foot soldiers.... As at Tel Shams on the Golan, the infantry proved capable of rapidly overcoming resistance that had stopped armor."
Armor calling infantry for help? Go infantry! Now that's what I'm talking about! Hooah!

Bread of life

Bread of life and cup of hope
We come as gift to you
Change our hearts, fill us with peace
Transform our lives anew
Open our eyes so that we might see
Your presence in one another
Your life poured out in love today
Unites us all in you!

Loving Lord, Creator God
Open our eyes to see
The good that lives in each of us
That called the world to be
And when we fail to see the good
When friendships falter and crumble
Give us the courage to forgive
That we may live in peace!

Living Word, O Son of God
Your love shows us the way
That we may live in harmony
And from you never stray
Wipe all oppression from our midst
Give us a love for all people
Your song of justice sing in us
To live for peace today!

Scorpions: Silent and Effective

On my way home this afternoon, the cab passed by Bedok Camp at the eastern end of East Coast Road. Bedok Camp was home to the Scorpions (3SIR) for the last few decades, but now it stood silent and deserted, ready to be torn down. I haven't gone by this area in ages, but it still seemed the same, and I could almost hear the men of the 8th mono chanting "Scorpions, To be Respected!" in the parade square after their Saturday 8km run. Across the street was our favorite "Bedok Corner" hawker center, which has now been renovated and given a name: Bedok Food Center. I wonder if they still have my favorite salted fish fried rice (Giam Her Char Png), ching tng and Hokkien mee. And right next to the camp was that little patch of "forest". They didn't allow us to dig holes in the camp, so myself and the Mortar Platoon were marched to this "forest" outside to practice "digging in". It's funny how the Mortar men spend most of their time during an exercise just digging and digging, and then digging again; but when they are finally done, its time to cover up, redeploy, and start digging again. What good training for a second career as a gravedigger!

Since the appearance of the Main Battle Tank (MBT) in WWII, armies throughout the world regarded the infantry as second class soldiers whose only role was to clean up after the armor had finished its job. The blitzing tank was too fast for artillery, and could run down infantry. It was practically invincible in large numbers on the battlefield. That perception changed in 1973....

In the opening days of the Yom Kippur war, Egyptian infantry inflicted devastating losses on the Israeli tank divisions at the Sinai front. The armor fought valiantly, but were no match for the swarming infantry armed with saggers and RPGs. Limited Israeli artillery batteries did not do much damage to the dug-in Egyptian troops (that's why infantry practice digging when they are not moving...), while themselves being subjected to counter-battery bombardment. The tank was king no more...

Alrite, enought depressing war talk already. It appears that I'm very likely to be joining PromiseWorks. If anyone else is interested, just let me know!

Unetaneh Tokaf

This is the prayer every Israeli chanted on the morning of Yom Kippur, 1973:
"On Rosh Hashana it is written and on the day of the fast of Kippur it is sealed... who shall live and who shall die, who in his allotted time and who not, who by water and who by fire, who by the sword..."

The Yom Kippur War: The epic encounter that transformed the middle east

I have finally started reading "The Yom Kippur War" by Abraham Rabinovich! I've been anticipating this book for months, and even ordered it on acmabooks.com.sg a month before its official release. Yet, when it finally arrived, it sat on my bookshelf for a whole month, 'cos I was just so busy with other stuff! I finally opened the wrapper yesterday. I was motivated to buy this book after reading "The Six Day War" by Michael Oren. That other book was really deep and analytical, so deep that most people thought I was crazy reading such stuff, but it was really good. So I opened "The Yom Kippur War" expecting another round of deep analytical reading (I'm an engineer, bring it on!). Surprisingly though, its been quite a pleasant read so far! Just the right mix of analysis and narrative, concise and precise, just the way I like it! Michael Oren critiques that it's not as analytical as most readers would like to see, but what the heck, it makes for a good bedtime story.....

The background:
Israel was formed some 50 years ago by Jewish immigrants leaving Europe for Palestine after the Holocaust. These Jewish immigrants received weapons and ammunition from the US for being an ally during the Cold War. The Arab countries, resentful of the Israelis, received military aid from the Soviet Union. In 1967, a whole bunch of Arab countries decided to attack Israel in what was known as "The Six Day War". The main culprits were Egypt to the West, Syria to the North, and Jordan to the East. Though largely outnumbered, Israel destroyed the entire Egyptian airforce on Day 1, and subsequently won the war in 6 days, capturing the Sinai in the West, Golan Heights in the North, and the West Bank and Jerusalem in the East. Small skirmishes followed in the coming years, but Israel pretty much became complacent after they established military superiority in the region.....

The setting so far:
The year is 1973. It is the week before Yom Kippur, one of the holiest days for the Jews.
Egyptian infantry, armed with water cannons, RPGs and sapper missiles are preparing to rush east across the Suez in a daring raid on the Israeli outposts at the edge of the Sinai peninsula. Anticipating an onslaught of Israeli tanks, the amount of antitank weaponry they are carrying will allow them to create a beach head with the densest antitank defences ever faced by any military. Meanwhile, SAM sites on the west of the Suez are ready to provide anti aircraft coverage, while tanks positioned on ramparts provide a barrage of fire on the incoming Israeli tanks.
On the east of the Suez, the Israeli outposts are thinly manned by reservists behind 60-ft high sand embankments. Fortified tank positions (known as "fins") are unmanned, and the Israelis are not anticipating an attack.
The story contiunes......

Quotable quotes from the Today paper

"Rich or poor, each of us has only one life to give to protect what is ours."
- Raphael Leong

"GEPer, leper -- I wonder why the words look so similar. Coincidence? Perhaps not... It's nice to have brains, nice to have a label recognising that you're not doing badly in school. What would be much, much nicer would be not having the ego to match."
- Edric Sng (former classmate)

Conformists

Just read this in the Today paper:
"One problem is that "gifted" individuals are often "non-conformists" who have difficulties blending in..... Gifted individuals are the ones who scan the environment and decide what is worth doing and what is not..."

It is unfortunate that GEPers and the GEP program have been getting a lot of flak from the public lately. A recent issue of The Economist described Singapore as a "highly conformist society." A couple of people I spoke to actually thought that was a compliment. Trust me, The Economist had absolutely no intention of singing our praises! It would actually do us some good to have "non-conformists" who are able to think creatively and out-of-the-box.

Then there is the accusation that "they become so comfortable with other GEPers that even outside the classroom they prefer each other's company." Hello! At that age who doesn't hang out with their own kind/classmates? Ah Bengs prefer each other's company, so do secret society members. What about the jocks who do sports training everyday? Or the "english-educated" rich kids? Or those in SAP schools? Hey, boy scouts and girl guides hang out in little cliques too! I can't believe anyone could be so narrow minded as to think it is a problem for kids at that age to hang out and form cliques with others who they see in class everyday.....