Your/My Site is damn Boring and Infantile

SingaBloodypore writes that Singapore Blogs are infantile.

So the few bloggers that actually care about what he wrote, please refrain from using cutesy fonts like tHiS, and stop writing about your daily inane activities and stop posting/taking silly faces. And from today, start writing on events of great importance like casinos. And stop writing thing like what happened in your last dental appointment. No one cares. Ok?

I have ranted in the past about this, and I've come across a fair share of horrible blogs with bad midi music, but I've realised this:

Just as there are serious books in the bookstore, there are also comic books and humorous books on sale there. You don't just read serious weighty books on politics/science/economics do you? Sometimes, you take a break and read a frivolous trashy celebrity magazine.

Yes, Singapore has very few "serious" blogs. And sometimes, when the blogs that get the most hits are those like Xiaxue, you start to realise where the typical Singaporean websurfer's interests lie. You ask why?

The same reason why the Speakers Corner failed. Thats why. Lack of an audience, and Lack of people with an opinion. Those with opinions are mostly busy driving taxis to give a damn about blogging.

Another thing, Microsoft has a new slogan/mantra for its next operating system.

"It Just Works.

Apple Users has been saying this about their computers for all these years, Bill.

Links of the day:

Learning to Eat Everything - For Non-vegetarians

Cool Tools

The Minty Fresh Feeling

"Teeth allow us to eat, and so are emblematic of life. Teeth resemble bone, protruding visibly from an otherwise skin-veiled skull, and so remind us of death."

Today, in a last ditch attempt to salvage my teeth, I decided to go to the dentist - voluntarily. I had to, years of coffee drinking has finally made my teeth so damn stained.

For matters like dentists, and especially things related to the health of my teeth, I practise the simple axiom of "Go when you need to, not when you want to"

Why is it that the dentist experience I had when I was in primary school and now, is the same?
Has Dentisty not improved in anyway in 20+ years?

The dentist still uses the same electric bore to drill your teeth, while you cringe in agony in the dentist chair, which is propped so far back that all the blood rushes to your brain.

You still rinse your mouth in the little basin beside the chair, and you still have the same amazement that "Whoa, so much blood ah" when you spit out.

You always get more than you bargain for when you visit a dentist. You come in with a simple request to check the teeth and give it a good polish, you leave having new knowledge that a painful wisdom tooth extraction is a forgone conclusion (it is just when I choose to do it), and that your gums are weak as fuck. And that now, a checkup + polishing costs $70 dollars. I suddenly have the urge to run back to my primary school dental nurse for a free checkup.

It'll still be as painful, but it least its free.

I don't know what was more painful, the feeling that you want to shout in pain, but can't, as your mouth has one electic bore boring away, a tube sucking up your saliva. Or the wide-mouthed shock you have, when the nurse tells you the bill when the ordeal is over.

The parting gift from the dentist was: "Come back here same time next week for followup"

No prizes for guessing if I will go back next week.

Singpapore Implements a Tax on Stupidity

So its confirmed. Two Casinos are coming our way. Ho say liao.

Heres' the things we probably can expect sooner than later:

• New ways to get money without really working hard.

• Instead of "How i became a millionaire through Options Trading" adverts in Straits Times, we have "How i became a millionaire through Bacarrat", with photos of successful seminar attendees to boot. Options Trading suddenly becomes the less risky option.
  

• Instead of complaining that Singapore is a boring place for dating couples, where activity consists of alternating between shopping and movies, we have now a integrated resort to go to.
  

• Cheap Buffets at Casinos.Nuff Said.

• Who cares about roller coasters. Nothing beats the exhiliration of your kid's college money hanging on the roll of a dice.

• If Daddy has no job, at least he can work in the Casino. If he can't work there, at least he can win money for our next meal there. If he can't win, at least he can steal/rob from some guy who won some money there. Opportunity for All!
  

• Instead of blowing my cash in toto/4D/Soccer betting, I can blow all of them in blackjack! Instant Gratification!
  

• Sentosa becomes even more expensive to go to.

• At least we don't need to lie to ourselves saying that we're going to Sentosa to enjoy its fine,pristine white beaches, or for the bloody pink dolphin show or to the dismal Volcanoland.
  

• If you are anti-casino, you can declare proudly that you have not even visited the casino. While in your heart, you are just super curious and want to enter take a peek, and bet.
  

• There will be opportunity for me to see if Singapore will really degrade into a island of sin and debauchery, with "bad energy" (like what these guys claim will happen).

• Finally big stars like Celine Dion and Paul Anka (who have permanent shows in Vegas) got chance to perform here... ugh. nevermind this point.
  

• Finally Singapore has a tax on stupidity.

• If you are poor and has no realistic chance of getting rich through hard work, at least now, because of the Casino, the rich guys are getting poorer! The great social leveller!
  

Its interesting to know what will be the response to the casino decision by the facts people though. One thing's for sure, some of the people who signed in the petition are probably signing up to go to the new casino.

Cock Caressing - Not What you think it is

Own a pet chicken? Miss your pet chicken when you are posted overseas? Ever wondered how to remotely caress your pet chicken? Your KFC wants some TLC?

Presenting -

Poultry Internet - A remote interactive system specially designed for humans and their poultry friends.

Solely catered for the chicken loving, doll caressing segment of the population.

Thats what I call a niche market.

click on picture to see video:

Caressed in the name of Science.

Casino Royale

This is the strongest indication of a casino go-ahead so far.

MM Lee at a conference in Fullerton Hotel

He said he believed there would be trouble with casinos, but there will be more trouble if Singapore did not.

There is no reason for the media buildup that is so obvious these few days, and no reason that the buildup will end in an anti-climax.

But then again, the devil is in the details. How will it be implemented? a Member's only operation? Where will it be built? Marina South or Sentosa?

Well, I could be wrong come 18th April.

Related:
The Home Affairs released a paper written by Chia Teck Leng, the infamous APB finance manager who used company money to gamble.

I was thinking the motivation behind why Home Affairs release such a paper, unless, well, the Casino is a forgone conclusion, and to demostrate that the Singapore Govenment has considered dissenting views against the Casino.

This is a paper detailing how the ill effects of a Casino can be nullified.
It would be different if they released a paper detailing why Casino must not be built.

Food for thought.

Missing the bigger issue

The story in brief.

PSC scholar sprouts racist views on blog. Flamewar ensues.

I don't know, but why the debate (in Wannabe Lawyer's post) has come down to why we shouldn't call him nasty names.

Comeon, the boy is an undergraduate, 21 at most, writing in a personal blog. Maybe some of his attitudes are screwed. Maybe he needs a lesson in anonymity or political correctness… but calling him a retard, a piece of excrement, a bastard who needs to be shamed, deserving of incarceration in an asylum?

Which is the bigger issue here, a supposedly well educated 21 year old undergrad sprouting racist views, or the outrage that ensue?

Yes, the choice of words used (by bloggers) in condemning the scholar is regrettable, but that is beside the issue.

Why is the debate now on why we shouldn't call him nasty names? Who's the bad guy here?

So bloody unfit

Went for the IPPT today.

It is a very bad sign when you are the last guy running, and the fat guy in front is running so much faster than you. It is also a very bad sign when the cat Z (40 yr old guy) runs so damn fast.

You know you are back in a SAF army camp when:

• You can smell the familiar armskote oil smell.
• The toilets are as dirty as it was back when you're still in the service.
• Drinks are served using cups floating in a bucket of water. You fill it up with cold water from the dispenser, drink, and throw the cup back to the bucket for the next guy to drink.
  
• There is a faint smell of shit/bad smell lingering everywhere.
  
• You get the feeling that everyone there are forced to be present for some reason or another.
• The water cooler serves un-cold water.
• You sit down on the floor for briefings more often than in civilan life.
• Wait to rush. Rush to wait.

The list goes on. Suggestions are welcome.

I suppose some extra training is in order, if I don't want RT to be forced onto me.

Here's a website i stumbled upon while surfing net when I should be studying for my finals.

Ashleigh Brilliant writes epigrams and draws them on little postcards. So far, over 30 years, he has written over 9000 of them, all of different designs/content. He sells these from his home in california.



Here's some of the funnier ones:

• I have abandoned my search for truth, and am now looking for a good fantasy.
• By doing just a little every day, I can gradually let the task completely overwhelm me.
• My life is already complicated enough, without trying to introduce organization into it.

I want to buy a bunch of those, but the online order form is a bit dodgy.
I am sure i don't want to send my credit card details in an unsecure online form.