I've said this a few times before and apparently I'm not the only one to see it. Nationalism and building a national identity is no longer top priority in the to-do list of the government because of the necessity of bringing in so many foreigners that their combined influence will overwhelm the native culture, however little it is.
Ever played the Civilization games? I'm talking about a Cultural Victory here, and Singapore-born Singaporeans aren't the winners.
We've always lacked a cultural identity. That's obviously because we lack history that we can be proud of. But we're getting pass that point. One change I've noticed is that Singaporeans actually like local singers in recent years. That's a good thing. Fans of these singers, even if they don't know it, are helping the local culture grow.
What can ruin this is if we begin to have celebrities who don't sound local (other than those who sound European/American because that has always been the direction we've been taught to go anyway). The day I see it shall be the day I know we're in deep trouble.
Foreigners who have that Singapoean/Malaysian accent are alright. It makes them appear naturalized.
As for everything else that forms a national identity, they will come eventually. Whether we have enough time to get to that point is another story.
"Good deeds are like pissing yourself in dark pants. Gives you a warm feeling but no one really notices."
- Jacob, Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2 in Hardcore mode is hard. I was quite shocked, actually, when I could die multiple times in missions I've completed in a single try in the last run.
It could be that I'm now playing as an Engineer, one of the three classes that have no expertise in weapons other than pistols. Hence, I lack firepower.
Not really used to that, but I'm beginning to get the hang of it.
My first run was completed as a Soldier, which means I could use the best guns. Hence I was used to shooting the heck out of everything. Took me several missions to realize I can't rely on mainly pistols to kill.
As an Engineer, I specialize in tech abilities. Among them is the Drone, a great decoy. It doesn't last long and doesn't hurt shields and armour much, but its cooldown is short! In addition, somehow enemies close by have to focus on killing it first.
This means I can constantly distract a single opponent while allowing my AI teammates to take down other targets.
Doesn't work so well when fighting 4-5 targets, so I have to change my strategy when there are over 3 enemies.
Fortunately for me, completing Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 enables me the bonus of having another ability that my class does not offer. In my case, I picked Reave to offset my lack of biotic powers.
Overload is a given since no Engineer can leave home without it. Together with Miranda's Overload, I've got enough to take down most shields quickly without investing a lot of skill points on it. After that, I Reave like crazy. If there's only a single target, I realized I can now just Reave it to death. The cooldown is exactly as long as the effect, so I can reuse it the moment the target recovers.
When there are multiple targets, that's where Zaeed and later, Jack, comes in. Concussion Shot and Shockwave/Pull are good for stopping targets that are getting too close, though they need to be de-shielded and de-armoured first.
At the very worst, I send my Drone as a decoy while I wait for Miranda's abilities to cooldown.
Fortunately, even though the enemy AIs in ME2 are more aggressive than those in ME, relatively few enemies will actually try to charge and melee us. When I meet any, eg Krogans and Harbinger, they become my first priority.
I have come to the unpleasant conclusion that this hand-cranked flashlight does not have a rechargeable battery. This fits all the things I've noted in the previous rant. Without a rechargeable battery, the switch does not close the circuit. Instead, it functions as a switch between 2 different circuits. One holds the battery that has now gone almost completely flat. The other uses the dynamo.
Now it all makes sense. The light does not flash brightly when I squeeze it while it's "switched on" because the dynamo's circuit is not connected to the LEDs. If I pump it for a while, the light does not become brighter when I switch it on because no energy was being stored while it was switched off.
I'm pretty sure there is a way to change this torch to what I originally thought it was but it's beyond my abilities to do so. For example, I have no idea if the dynamo would melt any battery I put in and if the new battery would overload the LEDs or something.
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