Recently I was thinking about the GST Offset Package Singaporeans are getting now. At first glance, it was a dream come true, like the one before - free money! But when I dwelled upon longer, I realized that this money, all S$5b of it, is entirely from taxpayers' pockets! That's practically just giving our money back to us!
First of all, have we forgotten what taxes are for? Why isn't the government spending our money on more practical things! For S$5, they could have done many other things that can offset the lower income group, like raising the pay, directly or indirectly, of lower income jobs, or blue-collar jobs. They could have raised the pay of teachers. They could have created a trust fund for some charity, and stop fukin making students waste their time selling fukin flags!
True, it does exactly what the name says - it offsets the GST hikes. But, aren't there many ways to achieve the same goal for the "lower-income groups"?
I must admit I am no economist, but is this not common sense? This money is of little use to us in the long term, but it sure grabs our attention. While giving us our own money seems like a damned good way to help us, for S$5b, you could have built and maintained a few free clinics for the needy for years! Or set up a pro bono legal firm for them!
Heck, with the things the government is capable of doing, they can easily make it compulsory for all practicing lawyers to spend a few days per year in that firm. Like NS, except it's for lawyers. Maybe it's already done, I don't know. But I know for sure S$5b can cover all the expenses for a few of such firms for decades. Pro bono firms won't have much in the way of expenses except for rent and utility bills and beverages. Very likely, they wont even hit S$10k a month!
That's what they have in the U.S.! According to this link here, all their lawyers donate at least 50 hours a year for precisely those who cannot afford a lawyer. What would the poor need a lawyer for? What about a will, just so that drug addict in the family won't get a single dime from a dying parent? What about for the elderly father to sue his son for selling his home without his consent?
And free clinics! Why not? At the moment, we pay about S$10-20 for simple medicine like those for flu or a cough in polyclinics. I don't know if they are already completely subsidised for the very poor or the elderly, but if they aren't, with S$5 they could have easily done so!
With free clinics, you can allow entry only for the "lower-income groups" and the elderly. How can that be done? Simple. You can always issue special passes or set up IC scanners at the entrances. C'mon, if they are able to save that S$10-20 everytime they fall sick, that's about 5-15 meals for a lot of people. At the same time, you can reduce the queue time in polyclinics.
I never thought there are such poor people in Singapore, until recently I remembered those elderly women (or men, sometimes), searching within public trash bins for empty cans. Sometimes, if one goes to the hawker centres at the right time, you can see kind-hearted hawkers giving them a free lunch. Sometimes, they can be seen in the wet market asking for the cheapest stuff available - leftovers that no one is buying and will never buy, aka stuff that are almost (or already is) rotting.
This is something the regular guy doesn't see unless he is aware of this and keeps an eye out for such. These days, my family doesn't throw our cans in the bin anymore, because my mum frequently sees this old lady who collects them to sell somewhere. What is really surprising to me is that she actually thanked my mum profusely when she first "donated" them.
These people deserve to live too! So what if they grab the free tabloids, like Today, from the racks in stacks? Let them! We don't need it, we only want it. They not only want it, they need it! Needs come before wants, and that's pure common sense.
I'm not thinking about karang guni when I mention "lower-income". They buy newspapers from us for a few cents per stack, or sometimes pick them up for free outside our flats. Then they choose all the usable pieces and resell them to hawkers and anyone else for about $0.50( I think) per kg. And you think they're "poor"? I'd put them under "lower-middle"!
I cannot get rid of this thought from my mind. S$5b wasted just like that! Half of it is probably given to those who don't need it. Think of how much can be accomplished with just a mere third of this sum!
Thursday, 14 June 2007
Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Rant 060 / Mr Anonymous must be older than God
Cute...
And you thought hobbits were short?
Bet you never wondered if Mao ever had a Christian name...
From http://theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21883831-2702,00.html?from=public_rss
"... We're talking about turning over Australia's only nationwide telecommunications network to a consortia run by the Singapore Government. That's a government that executes people, number one... It's unbelievable."
Oh wow.
Finished Olympos yesterday. Couldn't let it go until I finished half of Chapter 3 and the whole of Chapter 4. It was a very good read, but the ending was not as I expected it to be. And the 2 books, Ilium and Olympos have too many references to Shakespearean sonnets and plays for me to understand everything.
For one, the ultimate villain was a thing called Setebos, which is apparently a creature from Tempest(I think), and the Iliad. There were also Prospero, Caliban, Sycorax and Circe - names that I could not relate to because I have little knowledge regarding Shakespearean works. I believe there were special significance in these names which could only be understood by those familiar with classical literature.
Even though this duology is like a sci-fi adaptation of the Iliad, unlike the latter, there are those who die nameless in this story. I can see much effort made in naming everyone who died, but near the end, things were moving too fast for the writer to identify everyone.
But still, the humans in this books have almost every special ability that anyone can think of, from instantaneous teleportation to invisibility to sharing knowledge by just touching.
And the scientific explanation to the invulnerability of Archilles is astounding- his life's probabilities were changed such that the chance of him dying his appointed death (being killed by Paris) was an absolute 100%, leaving no chance for him to be killed by anything and anyone but Paris(not Hilton, but the lover of Helen).
Just watched Next, a movie starring Nicholas Cage. It was quite fascinating to see how the ability to see into the future, even if it's only only 2 mins ahead, can be used in such ways. A person like that can do anything he wants and have anything! He can always know what to say, and what to do. He will never be killed, except by old age or disease, because any unnatural death will be known 2 mins before it happens. It's freaking cool.
On the other hand, I wasted a few hours of my life watching this horrifying british movie named Hot Fuzz. An absolute waste of time, combining gory violence with ridiculous stupidity, I did laugh at some parts at first, but the complete illogic at the end totally put me off. In fact, I was appalled by the actual plot revealed by the "twist" near the end of the film.
It is like getting a girl with really huge boobs stripping in front of you, only to find that they sag so much they almost touch her pubic hair. I am so sorry I watched it. I will never do it again, I promise.
On a happier note, my German exam just ended. I hope for at least some decent results, aber meine deutsche ist Scheiße. Holidays again, albeit only for a weekend. Next: Spanish 1.
Tschüss!
Sunday, 10 June 2007
Rant 59 / 2 Rights Make A Wrong, 3 Rights Make A Left, And 4 Rights Make A Square
Ever noticed how experience is valued that saying that one has decades of experience in a certain field automatically makes one an expert?
So if some really bad parents who teach their children all the wrong things and end up with kids who are alive( but wishing they were dead) comes up to you and cite their 30 years of successful (hey, their kids are still doing well... in rehab) experience in the field of Parental Guidance, would you listen to their advices or buy their "How-to-be-a-successful-parent" books?
Experience would have been a useful measure of expertise, if not for the millions of losers who suck at what they do and still stay in their jobs.
Now why is that?
Simple. There are jobs that will always be there, whether or not anyone wants to fill that seat. If no one smart goes for it, then eventually, someone not-so-smart will appear and take that job. And all hell breaks lose, as it always does these days.
Like all the people whining about the government, never stopping to breathe and take a break, and making a fuss out of every little thing that the government does. If they're so smart to notice all those things that were done wrong, and knows how to do all these things right, why don't they come up and do it?
It's fine to speak up about things that don't satisfy you once in a while, but if you are going to talk as if you find the world offensive, why don't you do something about it?
This sense of belonging is overrated. Loyalty to a country is fine only if you are satisfied with the state of it. If you are really against how things are done in your country, why don't you just leave it for another country that does things just the way you like it? Instead of whining day and night about how high taxes are and how jobs are hard to find these days and how the government should do something about it?
Yea, this is what I'm saying: If you are unhappy about your country, and has no desire to do anything to improve it other than describing it to the world, then leave. It's not like anyone is going to try to kill you if you leave.
This sense of belonging is overrated. Loyalty to a country is not necessary if you do not love the country. The government is the country. The people is the country. And since the people chose the government, why doesn't the government represent the country?
And when I say "chose", I mean allowing them to wield power. Not doing anything about the government is the same as allowing them to go on, and that amounts to choosing them. Because if you aren't choosing them as your leaders, why do nothing about it except whine?
It is bullshit when someone digs up all sorts of deeds of the government, and put them in such a way that they seem so wrong, then end up doing nothing after that.
If you have a better way of doing things, use it. If you don't, make do with what you have. You can't have everything under the sun!
Sometimes, it is hard to tell whether suicide is the bravest thing a human can do, or the most cowardly. How can you say it is easier to die than to face your troubles, when no one alive has any personal experience in this? How can you say suicide is the hardest thing to do, when it seems so much like an escape instead of a solution?
Therefore, it is pointless to say that it is an extreme method. It is really just another method of dealing with trouble. There are worse ways than suicide when dealing with deep shit. At least it doesn't make the situation worse, after a while.
When someone accidentally makes a mistake, should he be held responsible for whatever happens from it?
How can he not be? If someone accidentally knocks a person down and kills him while driving, does it make him less guilty? Is the guy lying there less dead?
It is bullshit if you completely forgive someone who does something wrong by accident. People make mistakes alright. So... let's forgive all the soldiers who had, have and will kill their friends with their "friendly fire". Let's forgive all drivers who had, have and will cause accidents. Let's forgive all crimes that were done without deliberate intent. Including manslaughter.
So if some really bad parents who teach their children all the wrong things and end up with kids who are alive( but wishing they were dead) comes up to you and cite their 30 years of successful (hey, their kids are still doing well... in rehab) experience in the field of Parental Guidance, would you listen to their advices or buy their "How-to-be-a-successful-parent" books?
Experience would have been a useful measure of expertise, if not for the millions of losers who suck at what they do and still stay in their jobs.
Now why is that?
Simple. There are jobs that will always be there, whether or not anyone wants to fill that seat. If no one smart goes for it, then eventually, someone not-so-smart will appear and take that job. And all hell breaks lose, as it always does these days.
Like all the people whining about the government, never stopping to breathe and take a break, and making a fuss out of every little thing that the government does. If they're so smart to notice all those things that were done wrong, and knows how to do all these things right, why don't they come up and do it?
It's fine to speak up about things that don't satisfy you once in a while, but if you are going to talk as if you find the world offensive, why don't you do something about it?
This sense of belonging is overrated. Loyalty to a country is fine only if you are satisfied with the state of it. If you are really against how things are done in your country, why don't you just leave it for another country that does things just the way you like it? Instead of whining day and night about how high taxes are and how jobs are hard to find these days and how the government should do something about it?
Yea, this is what I'm saying: If you are unhappy about your country, and has no desire to do anything to improve it other than describing it to the world, then leave. It's not like anyone is going to try to kill you if you leave.
This sense of belonging is overrated. Loyalty to a country is not necessary if you do not love the country. The government is the country. The people is the country. And since the people chose the government, why doesn't the government represent the country?
And when I say "chose", I mean allowing them to wield power. Not doing anything about the government is the same as allowing them to go on, and that amounts to choosing them. Because if you aren't choosing them as your leaders, why do nothing about it except whine?
It is bullshit when someone digs up all sorts of deeds of the government, and put them in such a way that they seem so wrong, then end up doing nothing after that.
If you have a better way of doing things, use it. If you don't, make do with what you have. You can't have everything under the sun!
Sometimes, it is hard to tell whether suicide is the bravest thing a human can do, or the most cowardly. How can you say it is easier to die than to face your troubles, when no one alive has any personal experience in this? How can you say suicide is the hardest thing to do, when it seems so much like an escape instead of a solution?
Therefore, it is pointless to say that it is an extreme method. It is really just another method of dealing with trouble. There are worse ways than suicide when dealing with deep shit. At least it doesn't make the situation worse, after a while.
When someone accidentally makes a mistake, should he be held responsible for whatever happens from it?
How can he not be? If someone accidentally knocks a person down and kills him while driving, does it make him less guilty? Is the guy lying there less dead?
It is bullshit if you completely forgive someone who does something wrong by accident. People make mistakes alright. So... let's forgive all the soldiers who had, have and will kill their friends with their "friendly fire". Let's forgive all drivers who had, have and will cause accidents. Let's forgive all crimes that were done without deliberate intent. Including manslaughter.
Friday, 1 June 2007
Rant 058 / Games, Life and Books
NS2 concept art:
Marine in railcar pissing in pants while facing a charging onos
Marine in railcar pissing in pants while facing a charging onos
NS2 isn't anywhere near completion, but what they're revealing to us players are really interesting. The onos will be there, and it will be bigger than ever! Or so it seems in this picture.
Me luv ONOS!
Okay, I admit: I suck at onosing. A proficient onos never dies. It is able to ass-rape several marines who are firing at it the whole time, dance on the corpses for a bit and run to a gorge for heals.
Me?
Let's just say I don't know when to retreat. I charge into a group of marines, ass-rape a few, and die in their midst, wasting 75 res for 2-3 enemies. And to explain the significance of 75 res, usually it takes abt 8-10 mins from start of game to accumulate this much.
I'm much at better as a gutless lerk. Never the sort who flies in for a few bits. Not me. I prefer to fly to a remote spot, spray gas, and fly off. Let the skulks do the biting; I'll soften the enemies for them with my gas. I'm an Adrenaline Lerk, not a Celerity Lerk.
Today, a professor was telling my lecture group about this genius senior who got a scholarship from MIT 7 years ago. Absolute genius, publishing a textook, several international research papers, a patent, but no girlfriend. And one friend of mine later attributed it to the reason: "God is fair."
We all LOL'ed.
Just when I got a new router to replace my old one, my desktop breaks down. For $35 I had it checked at Sim Lim. And the problem? MOTHERBOARD KAPUTT!!! AAAAAA!!!!
This is so fucked up! Just when I thought I will be able to play the whole night without disturbance. Well, I still can, but this is only 'cos my bro just went to bed. Tomorrow, I will have to return to Sim Lim to pick up my desktop. Not my bro, who's the one who needs it most, but me, 'cos he needs to go do some stuff for NDP.
That comp is only 1+ year-old!!! This totally sucks!
Ilium is the best Sci-fi novel I have ever read. Its sequel, Olympos, is equally outstanding.
Ilium is like a modern translation of the Iliad, set in the distant future of our Solar System. Apparently, the Trojan War is occuring again 6000 years after the actual War we have all read about! This time, there are reconstructed (or cloned using their ancient DNAs) scholars, who are experts in the Iliad, watching the whole event in the background, and reporting to a Muse daily on how close things are following the real Iliad.
Futuristic technologies are employed by these scholars (aka scholics here) and the immortals, like Quantum Teleport (QT), nanocytes (nano-robot healers) and etc.
Almost all the Greek gods and goddesses and heroes are in this story, just like the Iliad. Zeus is the ultimate Greek god, and he actually shows his strength in the story. He is the only god in this story who knows how the events will turn out, and will stop at nothing to make things happen that way, including banishing fellow immortals to the pits of Tartarus.
Archilles is god-like in the Iliad, and he is still so here. In fact, he gets to kill quite a few gods in the war, like Hades, for one. He is able to move ultra-fast like the gods, which helps him kill the gods before they can QT away. And he is inhumanly strong and etc.
Unfortunately, gods are gods. Here, they can be resurrected in "healing vats" on Mount Olympus, as long as at least a sliver of their body remains undestroyed.
So what's the difference between reading the Iliad and this? Big diff! The actual story starts when Aphrodite, the goddess in charge of the Muse controlling the scholics, summons our hero, a 21st century classics professor, and instructs him to find an opportunity to kill Athena. Giving him the Hades Helm(every teenage boy's dream: invisibility even from the gods, except Aphrodite herself) and a QT medallion which can trace other QTs' destination.
This wasn't mentioned in the Iliad. Scholics don't exist there! And this is where all the actions starts.
There are lots of fighting scenes in the 2 novels. In one part, Pallas Athena injects certain nano-robots into Diomedes, which transforms him into a superhuman for a while and amplifying his natural electro-magnetic fields into "an aura of fire", making him just like what Homer (author of the Iliad) said he would be. He became so strong, he managed to injure Aphrodite in spite of the forcefield around her.
And who can forget Helen? The most beautiful woman in the world - and a slut, according to this book. Yes, she is one of the more important people in the story, and she's having sex with not just Paris this time.
Sci-fi always has robots, and here, robots come in swarms. In this story, our robots are called moravecs, and are a combination of organic material and metals. More metals and organic stuff here, but they have a combo of organic and electronic brains. Convenient, when you want to forget something. Just shut away the organic side, and delete the memory in the electronic side.
The weird thing is, the robots here are often fans of our classical masterpieces. The 2 most important robots in this story are practically experts of Shakespeare and Proust respectively. I skipped many paragraphs in their conversations out of my complete ignorance of these 2 guys' works.
And Earth! Earth is still here, but humans here are evolved to such a degree that they are born with nano stuff that allows them to connect to much higher forms of the Internet. In this era, there are the proxnet(like radar on your palms), farnet(the higher form of the Internet, allows users to even see other people through invisible cameras from the air at any angle), and the most amazing Allnet(allows user to see ANYTHING, even flows of photons in place of sunlight, every molecules in everything and etc).
Dan Simmons, author of Ilium and Olympos, seems to be really good. I'm going to buy his older works some day. Like Hyperion, and its sequels.
By the way, Ilium is Troy. And Patroclus is revealed to be the gay buddy of Archilles! More depth, woohoo!
Friday, 25 May 2007
Rant 057 / Batman was bitten by a radioactive bat, and shoots guano from his wrists
Inner peace.
Introduction
Inner peace is commonly achieved through a harmless and simple process known as Death.
This is widely used by the common Man as a cure for a huge array of illnesses that are, left untreated, rather annoying, like cancer, schizophrenia and workaholism.
History
Inner peace was invented during the Stone Age by Tugg son of Fugg son of Yugg. An inventor, among many things, like his father Fugg (also known as the inventor of the wheel), he spent most of his time contemplating creative ideas while clubbing his wives. While most of his ideas were discarded after a few unsuccessful attempts (including 2nd-hand car trades, real estate investments, and insurance sales), some certainly caught the eyes of his fellow clubbers.
Inner peace was a concept that was so radically new during that period, almost no one understood the benefits. Certainly not Tugg, who was really trying to find a cure for cancer. A entrepreneur by nature, he understood that the best achievers do not just make full use of the first opportunity they see, they also create opportunities for themselves.
Though no one needed inner peace, he saw that such a pointless concept shouldn't be wasted, and set about creating a demand for this knowledge. It was not easy, convincing everyone that all their problems was caused by the turmoil in their souls. It was completely false, due to the fact that all they did was hunting and clubbing.
But in the end, everyone was convinced by his words, which were clearly carved into the 80-pound spiked club he always held in his hand. By hook or by crook, he had all his tribesmen sitting still for hours on end, and staring into a peaceful nothingness.
Inner peace.
Rediscovering yourself.
It is easy to say the words, but do you really understand what they mean?
Will you use them as an excuse to do what you have always wanted to do but never dared?
Or will you contemplate your actions, and figure out the best way to change yourself?
There are shortcuts. There are always shortcuts. You pay some guy with your blood, and he will tell you another way to live. He will have dozens of certificates you could have bought at $50 dollars apiece like he did if only you have the right connections.
Everything he tells you, you could have figured out if you had just sit down and thought about it.
Everything he tells you, you could have thought of but never dared to try.
Inner peace is a faraway idea that dwells in the depths of Mordor near the northern edge of Neverland. He flies with Peter Pan all day long and whispers sweet nothings into the ears of Cinderella.
One way to find inner peace is to let go.
Because there is a price of everything, and because it is the price of everything that causes most troubles in life.
But if you can only stop yourself from buying anything, you will be able to stop paying for everything.
And when you no longer have to pay as much, there is peace.
Thus, purge yourself of Desire.
Now what is desire?
Introduction
Inner peace is commonly achieved through a harmless and simple process known as Death.
This is widely used by the common Man as a cure for a huge array of illnesses that are, left untreated, rather annoying, like cancer, schizophrenia and workaholism.
History
Inner peace was invented during the Stone Age by Tugg son of Fugg son of Yugg. An inventor, among many things, like his father Fugg (also known as the inventor of the wheel), he spent most of his time contemplating creative ideas while clubbing his wives. While most of his ideas were discarded after a few unsuccessful attempts (including 2nd-hand car trades, real estate investments, and insurance sales), some certainly caught the eyes of his fellow clubbers.
Inner peace was a concept that was so radically new during that period, almost no one understood the benefits. Certainly not Tugg, who was really trying to find a cure for cancer. A entrepreneur by nature, he understood that the best achievers do not just make full use of the first opportunity they see, they also create opportunities for themselves.
Though no one needed inner peace, he saw that such a pointless concept shouldn't be wasted, and set about creating a demand for this knowledge. It was not easy, convincing everyone that all their problems was caused by the turmoil in their souls. It was completely false, due to the fact that all they did was hunting and clubbing.
But in the end, everyone was convinced by his words, which were clearly carved into the 80-pound spiked club he always held in his hand. By hook or by crook, he had all his tribesmen sitting still for hours on end, and staring into a peaceful nothingness.
Inner peace.
Rediscovering yourself.
It is easy to say the words, but do you really understand what they mean?
Will you use them as an excuse to do what you have always wanted to do but never dared?
Or will you contemplate your actions, and figure out the best way to change yourself?
There are shortcuts. There are always shortcuts. You pay some guy with your blood, and he will tell you another way to live. He will have dozens of certificates you could have bought at $50 dollars apiece like he did if only you have the right connections.
Everything he tells you, you could have figured out if you had just sit down and thought about it.
Everything he tells you, you could have thought of but never dared to try.
Inner peace is a faraway idea that dwells in the depths of Mordor near the northern edge of Neverland. He flies with Peter Pan all day long and whispers sweet nothings into the ears of Cinderella.
One way to find inner peace is to let go.
Because there is a price of everything, and because it is the price of everything that causes most troubles in life.
But if you can only stop yourself from buying anything, you will be able to stop paying for everything.
And when you no longer have to pay as much, there is peace.
Thus, purge yourself of Desire.
Now what is desire?
Friday, 18 May 2007
Rant 056 / Pls Make A Sequel For Eureka Seven!!!
I have learnt not to watch any series of animes that I have not watched before. I shall be sticking only with those series I have watched before, namely Naruto, Bleach, Code Geass, and Eureka Seven.
Well, Eureka Seven probably won't be having new seasons anymore, but I am very much hoping that the studio behind it will change its mind. It was definitely very memorable, and the ending left me wishing for more.
Not that its ending at ep. 50 was bad; it was almost perfect. It wrapped up almost all loose ends nicely and left little room for a sequel. Even the director stated that there is nothing to say about the main characters anymore, and that there is no plan to create a new story around them.
This certainly shows in the fact that even though there are 3 games created from this series, 2 of them do not touch the main storyline, and the third is only about the first half of the main series. A fourth is coming out, but it, too, is about some other guy.
THIS SUCKS!! I WANT MORE!!!! 50 episodes are too few for a story as good as this!!!
Eureka Seven also taught me not to go for more animes. I do not pretend to understand why this happened, but after watching all 50 episodes, I felt depressed whenever I thought of this anime. This actually lasted almost a week! Maybe I miss it, or I felt really sad about the end. But I truly do not understand this.
I have little experience in feeling as sad as this. That is precisely why I should stop watching anime: I cannot handle excessive amounts of sadness from sources I do not comprehend.
But I cannot stop myself from watching new seasons of the 4 anime series I mentioned, if they are released. I am hooked!
Therefore, I will have to limit myself to these four, and no more.
But I want them to make a sequel for Eureka Seven!!!! RAWR!! I simply cannot accept the fact that they aren't even mentioning any plans for an OVA!!! WTH!!! Even an OVA would be nice...
I WANT A SEQUEL!!! I CANNOT STAND THIS ANYMORE!!!!
NTU admin is t3h P\/\/N5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!@#!(#$%^&*(?"}?!!!!!!
It sucks so much, I have to wait days after I have started school before my course list in the uni website includes my maths module!
My phy lecturer forgot to upload the latest notes for us, causing him to waste 30mins of precious lecture time by releasing us early. The bad thing about this is that he will have to go even faster than he already is.
I want a sequel for Eureka Seven!!!!! GAH!
Did you know that your grand kids probably won't be able to eat sharks' fins in their time?
Did you know that Scientology is a religion?
Did you know that God invented mass orgies? ( If he exists)
Did you know that Holy Water consists of 2 molecules of Hydrogen, and 1 molecule of Holy Jesus in between, making it H2J?
Dude, Where's My Time Machine?
Got Blog?
Everyone wants happiness. That is what all humans really want. Not money. Not concubines. Not power. Not success. It is the happiness that they bring that matters. These things, and the countless others like them, are merely different means to the same goal, separate paths to the one dream.
But there are those who do not understand why they are doing what they are doing, and conclude, with the little comprehension that they have, that they really want what they're trying to work for.
Part of me feels sympathy for these misguided souls. The rest of me understands that this is natural evolution in action.
Evolution works this way. It's not as if the chicken became a chicken overnight with feathers all over, wings and drumsticks(LOL!) and all, from the prehistoric bird they descended from. Even if that did happen, it was most likely an isolated incident, with the chicken dying soon after birth.
And that doesn't count.
What really happened was a tiny change at first. Maybe the prehistoric chimp that Man once was found it necessary to stretch a little higher to find food, when they shifted from the vast savannas of the post-Ice-Age era, to the forests and jungles of the later times. Soon, most of the taller monkeys with the straighter pose seems to fare better, and one by one, the more primitive monkeys find it more difficult to adapt and died out.
Then a few of the taller monkeys find it better to move on two feet at times, especially when travelling long distances. Soon, those who can walk on two legs for longer periods are able to survive better, and so on...
And so it is still, today. Everyone does what they do, different from anyone else. Those with the better qualities survive better, and those with too many undesirable traits eventually go extinct.
It doesn't matter that there are those who would do unthinkable acts, obscene deeds that will shatter the innocence of the regular Singaporean. These people will be stopped, by other people or by Time, and they will become a negligible minority.
And there are those who become obsessed with the means of achieving happiness, to such an extent that they work for these mere tools solely for the sake of getting them. These people, too, will shrink into a forgotten group if their ways of thinking prove to be unhealthy.
But if someday the world turns out to need people who would do inhuman things, such people will be there, somewhere. That is how Man survive. The extreme diversity of each person allows some to survive every calamity that hits Him, given enough time to rest between each.
But that doesn't mean I have to like it. That doesn't mean a lot of things, but most of them don't matter to me.
What matters to me is that
What matters to me is that you do not know what really matters to me.
You may deduce what you may, you may conclude what you think. Perception is the truth, but not the absolute truth.
Well, Eureka Seven probably won't be having new seasons anymore, but I am very much hoping that the studio behind it will change its mind. It was definitely very memorable, and the ending left me wishing for more.
Not that its ending at ep. 50 was bad; it was almost perfect. It wrapped up almost all loose ends nicely and left little room for a sequel. Even the director stated that there is nothing to say about the main characters anymore, and that there is no plan to create a new story around them.
This certainly shows in the fact that even though there are 3 games created from this series, 2 of them do not touch the main storyline, and the third is only about the first half of the main series. A fourth is coming out, but it, too, is about some other guy.
THIS SUCKS!! I WANT MORE!!!! 50 episodes are too few for a story as good as this!!!
Eureka Seven also taught me not to go for more animes. I do not pretend to understand why this happened, but after watching all 50 episodes, I felt depressed whenever I thought of this anime. This actually lasted almost a week! Maybe I miss it, or I felt really sad about the end. But I truly do not understand this.
I have little experience in feeling as sad as this. That is precisely why I should stop watching anime: I cannot handle excessive amounts of sadness from sources I do not comprehend.
But I cannot stop myself from watching new seasons of the 4 anime series I mentioned, if they are released. I am hooked!
Therefore, I will have to limit myself to these four, and no more.
But I want them to make a sequel for Eureka Seven!!!! RAWR!! I simply cannot accept the fact that they aren't even mentioning any plans for an OVA!!! WTH!!! Even an OVA would be nice...
I WANT A SEQUEL!!! I CANNOT STAND THIS ANYMORE!!!!
NTU admin is t3h P\/\/N5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!@#!(#$%^&*(?"}?!!!!!!
It sucks so much, I have to wait days after I have started school before my course list in the uni website includes my maths module!
My phy lecturer forgot to upload the latest notes for us, causing him to waste 30mins of precious lecture time by releasing us early. The bad thing about this is that he will have to go even faster than he already is.
I want a sequel for Eureka Seven!!!!! GAH!
Did you know that your grand kids probably won't be able to eat sharks' fins in their time?
Did you know that Scientology is a religion?
Did you know that God invented mass orgies? ( If he exists)
Did you know that Holy Water consists of 2 molecules of Hydrogen, and 1 molecule of Holy Jesus in between, making it H2J?
Dude, Where's My Time Machine?
Got Blog?
Everyone wants happiness. That is what all humans really want. Not money. Not concubines. Not power. Not success. It is the happiness that they bring that matters. These things, and the countless others like them, are merely different means to the same goal, separate paths to the one dream.
But there are those who do not understand why they are doing what they are doing, and conclude, with the little comprehension that they have, that they really want what they're trying to work for.
Part of me feels sympathy for these misguided souls. The rest of me understands that this is natural evolution in action.
Evolution works this way. It's not as if the chicken became a chicken overnight with feathers all over, wings and drumsticks(LOL!) and all, from the prehistoric bird they descended from. Even if that did happen, it was most likely an isolated incident, with the chicken dying soon after birth.
And that doesn't count.
What really happened was a tiny change at first. Maybe the prehistoric chimp that Man once was found it necessary to stretch a little higher to find food, when they shifted from the vast savannas of the post-Ice-Age era, to the forests and jungles of the later times. Soon, most of the taller monkeys with the straighter pose seems to fare better, and one by one, the more primitive monkeys find it more difficult to adapt and died out.
Then a few of the taller monkeys find it better to move on two feet at times, especially when travelling long distances. Soon, those who can walk on two legs for longer periods are able to survive better, and so on...
And so it is still, today. Everyone does what they do, different from anyone else. Those with the better qualities survive better, and those with too many undesirable traits eventually go extinct.
It doesn't matter that there are those who would do unthinkable acts, obscene deeds that will shatter the innocence of the regular Singaporean. These people will be stopped, by other people or by Time, and they will become a negligible minority.
And there are those who become obsessed with the means of achieving happiness, to such an extent that they work for these mere tools solely for the sake of getting them. These people, too, will shrink into a forgotten group if their ways of thinking prove to be unhealthy.
But if someday the world turns out to need people who would do inhuman things, such people will be there, somewhere. That is how Man survive. The extreme diversity of each person allows some to survive every calamity that hits Him, given enough time to rest between each.
But that doesn't mean I have to like it. That doesn't mean a lot of things, but most of them don't matter to me.
What matters to me is that
What matters to me is that you do not know what really matters to me.
You may deduce what you may, you may conclude what you think. Perception is the truth, but not the absolute truth.
Friday, 4 May 2007
Rant 055 / Effective Absurd Metaphors
Being rational is not something everyone is capable of. Emotions become a burden because they listen to their hearts too much. Hearts are not always working together with the mind, therefore emotions can often be in conflict with logic.
But being logical all the time makes the world boring. No one likes a straight line. And being logical makes you predictable, which is taboo for me. In fact, it is antithetical to some of my personal principles in life.
In life, lies are often necessary. Most are small lies, lies so seemingly harmless that no one notices the weight that accumulates as the years go by. Therefore, if I become predictable, the lies I tell will become less effective, forcing me to tell more lies than is necessary for me now.
But lies are all the same - as long as they are not broken, as long as the truth they cover is not revealed to anyone else, they add weight to the accumulating burden of the mind.
Keep lies simple. This reduces the weight that each lie has.
Keep lies to the minimum. This reduces the number of lies I accumulate as I go on.
Tell the truth. This is the best option, and is widely practiced by leaders worldwide. My favourite option, since it keeps life from getting complicated.
But do not mistake the practice of "telling the truth" from what you usually see it as. The whole truth is always the simplest, but half-truths are more effective.
Even better is twisting the truth with lies, which can be presented as a lie, a truth, a lie that seems obviously to be the truth, and a truth that seems obviously to be a lie.
For example, when some guy tells you he masturbates everyday with a hole he drilled into a wall in his bedroom, would you believe it?
What if it is partly true, that he masturbates everyday, just not with the hole?
Or that he doesn't do it daily, but when he does...?
The perfect lie is the truth, because the best lies become the truth. And when you keep the lie intact forever, it turns into the truth. Which basically makes you an honest person.
Honesty is the best way to keep life easy. And if you lie like there's no tomorrow, and none of the truth you cover is revealed even after you're dead and buried, then you have always been telling the truth.
But this is not the only reason that motivates me to stay unpredictable. The fact is that seeing a person's face filled with confusion, surprise or shock is absolutely enjoyable. Maybe I should learn some magic tricks...
I already know some magic. Life is magic. So much of life's basic mechanics are so hard to comprehend, and/or causes such great emotions that to us, they're magic. Like how our brains work. Like how a baby is created. Like how the body creates so much strange chemicals from that chicken you ate this afternoon.
Magic.
Magic tricks are simply actions are not what they appear to be, designed to please the viewer. Whenever you do something that is not what it appears to be, it is a trick. If it produces a positive effect, it is a magic trick.
If a guy gets a girlfriend who is really a guy, it is a trick. If the parents are happy because they are ignorant of that fact, it is a magic trick. See?
Going back to lies, I always preferred to keep lies to the bare minimum, and tell half-truths when needed. When it is possible, I reveal the truth so that there are few lies in my life.
I don't lie often. In fact, I despise liars who lie out of whim. Lies break trusts, and trust is the cement of civilization. People form the breaks, and by sticking together with trust, they form societies.
Lying out of necessity to make life temporarily easier is understandable. Sometimes, there are situations when a person cannot handle the actual conditions he has received and desires to change them to a more acceptable level.
But maintaining a lie requires more lies and/or half-truths. The more complex the lie, the more supporting lies it require. Makes it look like a drug, because when a person tells enough lies, lying all the time will become the only way to maintain a "normal" life. And sooner or later, someone will manage to dig up the truth when the rate of increase of the necessary lies exceeds what one can handle.
Lying is not only something a person does to another. It can also be something a person does to oneself. In fact, I believe some people try to lie to themselves more than they try to lie to others.
There will be those who find this ridiculous, but honestly, how often do people reflect on the little things they do? How often do they think about what they have done, and figure out whether they were really lying to themselves about their motives behind their actions?
Are all philanthropists really doing what they do to help others? Or are they trying to improve their image, for one reason or another?
Think about it. Personally, that'd be one of my favoured options when I want to appear nicer than the logical eugenicist in me.
Motives. That is what most lies cover. That is the reason why most lies exist. To cover the actual motive behind actions.
There are more lies out there than most would believe exist. Everyone is really filled with lies, small lies like "I'm not balding", "that baby is mine", "I love you" and etc...
The number of lies, in truth, easily overwhelms the number of truths out there. We are all living lies, but we lie to ourselves that we are not. You are balding, that baby isn't yours and you don't love her- you just love her vagina.
You don't love your President, you go to church not because you love God, you greet your neighbours not because you like them, you work not because you need the money.
Think of why you're believing all that, and look beneath the surface. See the currents that flow beneath the waves, and you will find a whole new world appearing before you.
It may be too harsh for many, but as you become more honest with yourself, life seems clearer.
I don't believe I will go for any karaoke outing with most people.
First of all, I don't sing. I make noise.
Second, I don't usually listen to music I am able sing.
Third, I am gradually becoming antisocial again, making me desire less for social gatherings with people I do not know well. Which needs a solution that I hope to find when school starts.
Fourth, there is no fourth.
I don't feel like going, though I think I should. I don't like the deafening chinese music in there, and I don't think there is anything for me to do there but yawn.
3 : 1, Not Going wins the round.
There, I'm not going. And that's the honest explanation.
But since none of them reads this, I will need to lie again. :(
Perhaps I will tell them I'm allergic to my own singing, and that it causes strong responses in my central nervous system, often causing temporary shutdowns lasting up to an hour. So I don't sing at all. So there's not really any good reason for me to go.
A lie, fresh from the oven, served with a sprinkle of truth on top.
But being logical all the time makes the world boring. No one likes a straight line. And being logical makes you predictable, which is taboo for me. In fact, it is antithetical to some of my personal principles in life.
In life, lies are often necessary. Most are small lies, lies so seemingly harmless that no one notices the weight that accumulates as the years go by. Therefore, if I become predictable, the lies I tell will become less effective, forcing me to tell more lies than is necessary for me now.
But lies are all the same - as long as they are not broken, as long as the truth they cover is not revealed to anyone else, they add weight to the accumulating burden of the mind.
Keep lies simple. This reduces the weight that each lie has.
Keep lies to the minimum. This reduces the number of lies I accumulate as I go on.
Tell the truth. This is the best option, and is widely practiced by leaders worldwide. My favourite option, since it keeps life from getting complicated.
But do not mistake the practice of "telling the truth" from what you usually see it as. The whole truth is always the simplest, but half-truths are more effective.
Even better is twisting the truth with lies, which can be presented as a lie, a truth, a lie that seems obviously to be the truth, and a truth that seems obviously to be a lie.
For example, when some guy tells you he masturbates everyday with a hole he drilled into a wall in his bedroom, would you believe it?
What if it is partly true, that he masturbates everyday, just not with the hole?
Or that he doesn't do it daily, but when he does...?
The perfect lie is the truth, because the best lies become the truth. And when you keep the lie intact forever, it turns into the truth. Which basically makes you an honest person.
Honesty is the best way to keep life easy. And if you lie like there's no tomorrow, and none of the truth you cover is revealed even after you're dead and buried, then you have always been telling the truth.
But this is not the only reason that motivates me to stay unpredictable. The fact is that seeing a person's face filled with confusion, surprise or shock is absolutely enjoyable. Maybe I should learn some magic tricks...
I already know some magic. Life is magic. So much of life's basic mechanics are so hard to comprehend, and/or causes such great emotions that to us, they're magic. Like how our brains work. Like how a baby is created. Like how the body creates so much strange chemicals from that chicken you ate this afternoon.
Magic.
Magic tricks are simply actions are not what they appear to be, designed to please the viewer. Whenever you do something that is not what it appears to be, it is a trick. If it produces a positive effect, it is a magic trick.
If a guy gets a girlfriend who is really a guy, it is a trick. If the parents are happy because they are ignorant of that fact, it is a magic trick. See?
Going back to lies, I always preferred to keep lies to the bare minimum, and tell half-truths when needed. When it is possible, I reveal the truth so that there are few lies in my life.
I don't lie often. In fact, I despise liars who lie out of whim. Lies break trusts, and trust is the cement of civilization. People form the breaks, and by sticking together with trust, they form societies.
Lying out of necessity to make life temporarily easier is understandable. Sometimes, there are situations when a person cannot handle the actual conditions he has received and desires to change them to a more acceptable level.
But maintaining a lie requires more lies and/or half-truths. The more complex the lie, the more supporting lies it require. Makes it look like a drug, because when a person tells enough lies, lying all the time will become the only way to maintain a "normal" life. And sooner or later, someone will manage to dig up the truth when the rate of increase of the necessary lies exceeds what one can handle.
Lying is not only something a person does to another. It can also be something a person does to oneself. In fact, I believe some people try to lie to themselves more than they try to lie to others.
There will be those who find this ridiculous, but honestly, how often do people reflect on the little things they do? How often do they think about what they have done, and figure out whether they were really lying to themselves about their motives behind their actions?
Are all philanthropists really doing what they do to help others? Or are they trying to improve their image, for one reason or another?
Think about it. Personally, that'd be one of my favoured options when I want to appear nicer than the logical eugenicist in me.
Motives. That is what most lies cover. That is the reason why most lies exist. To cover the actual motive behind actions.
There are more lies out there than most would believe exist. Everyone is really filled with lies, small lies like "I'm not balding", "that baby is mine", "I love you" and etc...
The number of lies, in truth, easily overwhelms the number of truths out there. We are all living lies, but we lie to ourselves that we are not. You are balding, that baby isn't yours and you don't love her- you just love her vagina.
You don't love your President, you go to church not because you love God, you greet your neighbours not because you like them, you work not because you need the money.
Think of why you're believing all that, and look beneath the surface. See the currents that flow beneath the waves, and you will find a whole new world appearing before you.
It may be too harsh for many, but as you become more honest with yourself, life seems clearer.
I don't believe I will go for any karaoke outing with most people.
First of all, I don't sing. I make noise.
Second, I don't usually listen to music I am able sing.
Third, I am gradually becoming antisocial again, making me desire less for social gatherings with people I do not know well. Which needs a solution that I hope to find when school starts.
Fourth, there is no fourth.
I don't feel like going, though I think I should. I don't like the deafening chinese music in there, and I don't think there is anything for me to do there but yawn.
3 : 1, Not Going wins the round.
There, I'm not going. And that's the honest explanation.
But since none of them reads this, I will need to lie again. :(
Perhaps I will tell them I'm allergic to my own singing, and that it causes strong responses in my central nervous system, often causing temporary shutdowns lasting up to an hour. So I don't sing at all. So there's not really any good reason for me to go.
A lie, fresh from the oven, served with a sprinkle of truth on top.
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