Boy, 9, sued for hurting classmate

"Peter (not his real name), 45, told Shin Min Daily News that his nine-year-old son received a court summons two weeks ago. He was shocked, and could not understand why his son had to appear in court.

The summons stated that his son is to appear in the Subordinate Courts in March, accompanied by a parent. A classmate's mother has accused Peter's son of assaulting her son last year, resulting in a fracture in his right wrist and head injuries."

Read more here.

Regardless which boy is telling the truth, or whether the adults are equally childish, I applaud the action taken, because this will help to restrain the wanton behaviour of kids and perhaps even adults. For those who like to claim 'freedom of expression', suing someone is one such expression too, albeit not a common one in Singapore... At least... not yet.

Root of the problem: It is ridiculous how children are allowed to play 'freely', as part of freedom of expression, these days.



Not only are they not stopped by parents/tenders to scream, shout, run, push/pull/hit things/people, they are encouraged to do so. As part of freedom of expression? Or some kind of new age parenting principle? Or just that it's easier to not do anything to restrain the child?

Such behaviour is easily observable in offline and online public spaces.

In an offline public space such as a shopping centre, you can observe parents and their kids directly. The lack of action to stop their kids + active encouragement leading to more screams and shouts. One of the most ridiculous I've seen was a father playing with his little boy. Kid was shrieking as the duo chased each other on the wet floor beside the swimming pool, jumped into the pool, climbed out, and repeated the cycle. I guess there are 2 ways to end that cycle. Either they get tired and stop, or one of them gets injured then it's not so much fun anymore. Common sense really isn't very common. It wasn't clear which of the two was the kid. O_o

Online, you can get into these parents' minds and read about their thoughts (i.e. intention) as they describe what a fun weekend they had provided for their kids, by inviting the cousins over to jump from the masterbed to the floor in their HDB flat, complete with uploaded pictures of the precious moments. The following blog entry: How the parents found out that their neighbours living downstairs are 'crazy', because the latter complained about the loud noises from the above. The fact that these adults blog about their thoughts/parenting choices openly demonstrates that they think those are alright.

While these play activities may be 'cute' to watch when they are toddlers, such encouragement leads to ill-developed sense of what's 'right' and 'wrong' when interacting with others. Firstly, the kid does not realise how his screams/actions affect others. Secondly, the kid does not care.

For parents who like to act blur (coz it's the easiest way out), this arrangement sounds fine, until the parent of some other kid sues, or worse still, your kid comes home with a broken arm. Then try explaining the situation to your child, and make a public claim that your child is 'traumatised' by the unnecessary act of being sued. =_=

Liberalism, atheism, male sexual exclusivity linked to IQ

I've always thought that this is a fact, but of course, with neither scientific proof nor legitimacy, nobody would have believed me anyway.

"Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa at the the London School of Economics and Political Science correlated data on these behaviors with IQ from a large national U.S. sample and found that, on average, people who identified as liberal and atheist had higher IQs. This applied also to sexual exclusivity in men, but not in women. The findings will be published in the March 2010 issue of Social Psychology Quarterly."

Read more here.

This is the best bit of the report:

"None of this means that the human species is evolving toward a future where these traits are the default, Kanazawa said.

"More intelligent people don't have more children, so moving away from the trajectory is not going to happen," he said."

Damn... I wanna read the March 2010 issue of Social Psychology Quarterly. This is controversial stuff. It redefines the rhythm and direction of human evolution. Implications abound!!

I hope nothing bad happens to the author because there are more conservatives than liberals out there. They would not be happy with these findings.

The Costs of Diplomatic Immunity

Dr Ionescu had reportedly said:

"Someone died.
It's not something solitary, but happens all over the world.
There are bigger stories out there".

Read report here.

This is beginning to look stupid for everybody.

This guy is not coming back on his own accord.
If justice cannot be had for whatever reasons, minimally, a good sum of money ought to collected from Romania and given to the families of the victims. This shouldn't drag on endlessly in a game of "see who can tahan longer" or "see who more kuai lan".

Hope we (average citizens) now have a better understanding of what diplomatic immunity means, especially when something goes wrong.

Singaporeans trust Gurmit Singh more than any local politicians!

Gurmit Singh?!! Where's MM Lee or any of the Ministers/MPs?
Why not one of the news presenters?
Or a major religious leader?

Very weird leh... Do Singaporeans really know who Chan Sek Keong and Chan Heng Chee are?

Read the report here.

Becoming a Volunteer

I met up with a Volunteer Coordinator yesterday. Apart from my Girl Guides days and the occasional visit to the old folks' home/ school newspaper collection, I have not been volunteering on any real basis.

Corporate social responsibility is meant to be more than adopting a charity. Regardless, firms just see it as the latest buzzword for an old tradition. Personally, I find those 'employer-adopt-a-charity' drives highly dodgy, mainly because of the once-off nature of the adoption. Commercial organisations tend to change charity adoptees on an annual basis. That's not so bad if the commercial organisations contributes with cash only. It's extremely disruptive to the adoptee, when the commercial organisations wish to create a "XXX Ltd - XXX Charity Day". An once-off visit, event, and rah rah session to boost company morale and gain publicity, mostly amounting to 'charity tourism', for which the receiving organisation has to spend resources to manage.

I remember listening to some yuppie lawyers over wine one evening, about how they had spent a Saturday morning collecting newspapers. The newspapers were then weighed and sold. Proceeds were donated to charity. They spoke of how hard they worked at it. And I was like... An emperor's new clothes moment... "Why didn't you just give money? You guys have so much money. Why take the redundant step of collecting newspaper? How much can you collect anyway?" Hmmm... I wonder who is doing who a bigger favour. The lawyers helping the charity with a extra tiny bit of cash, or the charity giving the lawyers a shot at redemption? I guess it's a win-win situation. Well... sort of.

While money is great, it is not all that a charity organisation requires to keep its operations going. There are many ways where one can contribute as I was told yesterday. You can contribute by moving stuff around for them, befriending the needy, helping out with administrative work etc.

Hence, in my opinion, the key to sustainable volunteerism is 'commitment' and 'fit'.

'Commitment' is how much both sides, i.e. the volunteer and the receiving organisation, want to maintain this relationship. It takes time, energy and of course... money.

'Fit' is what the volunteer can do for the organisation, and also how the organisation can extract value from the skills/experience/strengths of the volunteer.

I can't wait to go for orientation to familiarise myself with the organisation, and to find that spot through which I can start contributing.

In-Built Tragedy in the Everyday Life

What would you do if your son rapes your daughter?
Not once, but thrice.

Read the article here. *CAUTION* It is a depressing read.

3 rapes and multiple accounts of molestation over 3 years. The father denied it. The mother did nothing. "One is my son, the other is my daughter. What can I do? I thought that if any action is taken, it must be her decision," she said, leaving the daughter to agonise over whether going to the police would make her parents sad!

This is just revolting. My fingers are quivering, and my mind, tingling with numbness. I bet the son is the favoured child in the family, even though the parents would never admit it. I love all my kids.

Take a step back and breathe in the enormity of this 'story'.

Imagine... The State/Govt places so much responsibility on the family unit. E.g. The family has to ensure that the kids are born (please have 3 and more! And according to most recent reports: Please have them while you are young... like 25! ), fed, clothed, washed, educated, medicated... supported mentally/ physically/ financially/ spiritually... the list goes on.

The assumption is that the family:

1. Knows what it has to do,
2. Is rational at making decisions (e.g. which parent goes out to work, how many kids can we afford to have, buying a home, which values to be passed onto the kids, whether kids sleep in the same room etc), and
3. Is ready to make those decisions.

This particular family is an extreme example of the failure of those assumptions. Of coz, pacifists can't wait to point out to me that this is merely an anomaly lah! It's sad, but overall the family unit still works lah!

But who can deny that there are less extreme yet equally detrimental consequences taking place everyday in other family units. The same favouritism, the same resistance to do what's right... It's okay as long as:

1. No one talks about it (denial), or
   
2. Many families are going through the same shite, so it's 'normal' and acceptable. 没有这样难的啦！谁谁谁也是这样嘛！

If 1 in 5 people around us had HIV, the deadly virus would be less scary. Because it gets 'downgraded' in our minds to the common cold. This is not something I've made up. Such a statistic and mindset about HIV are prevalent in certain parts of Central Africa.

But we are not third world, we say! Really?

We like to pretend that because we have art galleries, musicals, red wine, internet, iPhone, lip gloss and a high GDP per capita, that we are progressive, civilised and 'world-class'. But in fact, we are far from it. We are merely 暴发户s. Our social and collective consciousness has neither progressed along with GDP growth nor its attendant inflation rate. It has, in all likelihood, regressed.

The Couch... With a Twist

ChannelNewsAsia has this TV programme called 'The Couch' where a pair of 'celebs' such as Joscelin Yeo and her brother, Eric Khoo and his rich friend etc, are invited to sit on the same couch and have a conversation, prompted by a set of questions from the producers.

(I can't find website, pics, links of the Couch online though.)

I was doing the dishes on Sunday morning, when I caught some bits of conversation between Joscelin Yeo and her brother. They talked about their sibling relationship, tough times of their lives etc. Mostly 'inspiring' stuff.

Wouldn't it be a great watch if the producers of the Couch had invited 'average everyday' people instead? Example, someone who used to be in Top 5% of his cohort (went to top schools), but now stuck in an average dead-end job with little savings and no girlfriend. Get him and his sister who went to poly, is now married to an Army technician, and have 2 kids.

Then give them a set of questions such as 'As a child, what was your ambition?', 'Do you think you can still achieve your childhood ambition?', 'Do you think you are successful?', 'What pains you the most so far?', 'What makes you happy?', 'Describe yourself assuming you are 80.' etc.

I guess it wouldn't work.
Coz in a society where 'face' and 'shame' are very much ingrained in our psyche, it's much easier to go on national TV to talk about failures, pains, losses, love, family etc, only when you are deemed successful by 'society' and yourself. It's much much tougher to get someone who has not achieved much to agree to be on TV and talk about why and how they are not 'winners', but 'losers'. What's more... 'losers' can't hold themselves well on TV. They don't look/sound good... Probably speak Singlish, instead of American-accented English.

But hey! This alternative format may shed more light than the 'inspirational stuff' you and I are used to.

Maybe not Channel News Asia (atas channel mah!). Maybe Channel 8 or... 5. And maybe, it'll not be the Couch... But more like... The Stools.

Stranger than Fiction

Watching this 2006 film makes me really glad that I've learnt the English Language enough to enjoy the former.

It's fiction. But as enjoyable as fiction should.

I love the buildings the many characters hung around in. And the furnishings. Space cadet bedsheets and designer chairs sharing a common space?! =))

A conversation between Harold and his colleague...

Harold: Dave, can I pose a somewhat abstract, but purely hypothetical question?
Dave: Sure.
Harold: If you knew that you were going to die. Probably soon. What would you do?
Dave: Huh. I don't know. Am I the richest man in the world?
Harold: You're you.
Dave: Do I have a super power?
Harold: No. Why would you have a super power?
Dave: I don't you, you said it's hypothetical.
Harold: Fine. Yes. You are really good at Math.
Dave: That's not a super power. That's a skill.
Harold: Dave... You're good at Math and you're invisible. There.
Dave: Okay. *thinks* Easy. I'd go to Space Camp.

Going to Space Camp is Dave's childhood dream. Nothing to do with the super powers he wanted to have. And being good at Math and being invisible were... precisely... Harold's 'super powers'. That's all he has that differentiates himself from everyone else. I know quite a few people who are good at Math and invisible. And I don't think they would be as good-natured as Harold in face of a similar situation.

In fact, I can imagine most people reacting angrily in the way Harold did, if and when a voice or someone else points out quite honestly the banality of their lives. And I must say Harold took to it most positively. Most people would just choose blame the voice/person, be in denial and/or numb their senses through whatever means. That's the power of fiction.

And maybe this is why Harold was given another chance. Of course, this only happens when the controller of Harold's life is in fact... 'human', i.e. Harold and Karen Eiffel. Another specifically fictional characteristic.

The Case of Itaewon Homicide

A movie based on a real story... without a 'proper' ending... This is why.

Itaewon... We were there recently. I didn't remember seeing a Burger King.

In the film, the protagonist was smoking in the back alley, and had to put out his cig. He flicked the burning synthetic tobacco onto the ground with a single clean motion, and kept the butt in the pocket of his jacket. I hear this is something one learns in the Korean millitary so as to not leave a trail for the enemy in the jungle.

Will or has this film been shown in Singapore?

Trailer...

Saturday Soothe

We went for an early start to our Saturday. Breakfast at Crystal Jade, then haircut by Jonathan at Next.


Afterwards, we headed for Centrepoint. Robinson's SALE!! Very tempted to replace our crockery set with the Korean blue porcelain ones. Kimchi on porcelain! Classic!!

Took a short walk to Mandarin Gallery and joined the infamous IPPUDO queue. We must have waited for 15-20 minutes before getting our seats.

After a while, a really cute chick came in with her boy and sat at 2 tables away. I may be mistaken, but I think the boy was JJ Lin. He looked really tiny in person.

Started our lunch with a Japanese Kong Bak Bao (KBB) and some pickled vegetables.

The KB melts in your mouth, but was a little salty for my taste.

Following recommendations by the waitress, we ordered Ramen No.1 and No.2. We didn't know which was which when the ramen bowls arrived. Anyway, both were delicious.

This bowl tasted like the Bedok North Bak Chor Mee with miso. Flavourful. Savoury minced pork.

Makes one wonder if anyone would pay SGD15 for a ramen bowl of Bedok North Bak Chor Mee? I would! Especially in a dreary and rainy Cambridge winter evening.

SGD15 for a bowl of ramen isn't as crazy as it can get. According to Reuters, it can cost more than USD100 per bowl at a top restaurant in Tokyo.

This bowl is lighter on the tongue than the above. More comfort food-ish.

The best part of these bowls was the ramen. The texture is slightly smoother than my favourite wanton mee. Mmmm...

IPPUDO and Jones The Grocer are on the 4th floor, just a few steps away from each other. The crowd at IPPUDO is overwhelmingly Asian (Singaporean, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese etc), while at Jones the Grocer, it's overwhelmingly white. Perhaps this is the answer to Uniting Oriental Asia and Asians: Neither a Korean drama, nor Asian Games... But a bowl of hot soupy noodles... 面文化.

Egg Baby

In a span of a few days, I have been reminded twice of the 'egg baby' I had back in school. So, I have decided to blog about it.

As part of home economics back in St Nicks, we were taught how to take care of a baby, e.g. bathe the thing. In order to simulate the fragility and responsibilty involved in taking care of a baby, we were each given a hen's egg to carry around for x no. of weeks.

Sounds easy enough?

It was a disaster for me!

The rules were simple. This is your egg. It is your child, your baby. You may decorate it, make a cot for it, give it a name, whatever, but you must carry it with you at all times, this includes bringing it to and from home/school, during recess, going to the loo etc. Hence, you may not park the egg under your desk, hide it in the class cabinet, or tie it up in a plastic bag as your baby needs to breathe. Spot-checks will be carried out. If you break your egg, you have to declare the tragedy to your home econs teacher and exchange its remains for a new one.

As the extremely agreeable child that I was, I was totally excited about this exercise.

I carried the damn egg EVERYWHERE, made a cot for it out of a tissue box (probably destroyed a nice new box of tissues for that) filled with cotton wool, bathed it, gave it a name (though I can't remember the name), and talked to it constantly. Come to think of it, I was a little creepy. O_o

I thought I was doing very well because everyone else was killing her baby. I took such great care of it. *beam*

That fateful morning, I boarded Bus No. 76 as usual, placed my file on the seat next to me, then the 'baby cot' on top of it, so as to free my hands to remove my bag from my back. At the moment, the bus jerked. The baby cot was violently flung to the bus floor, my baby rolled out of his cot (check out the gender preference at such an early age) and was smashed into a million pieces and a sticky mess. It had happened so fast that all I could do was to say,"Shiiiiiiiiiite!"

At the moment and for the first time in my life, I confirmed that I was such an irresponsible mother. I swiftly decided that since my baby was oredi dead, there was nothing I could do about it. And so, there was no need for me to touch it. YHEW?! So, I looked the other way for the rest of the 45-minute bus trip.

Sheepishly, I made my way to the home econs room during recess time that day to declare the death of my baby. If I remember correctly, my teacher made a mark beside my name on the list, and asked me what happened. After listening to my story, she gave me a look and said,"See? You must always carry it. Not place it on a bus seat. Would you place a real baby on the bus seat or on the NTUC check out counter?" Though I felt damn guilty, the little voice in me went,"How I know? I would put my hamster on the bus seat."

Upon receiving my second baby, I felt like I'd just gone through rebirth. I held it closely, and perhaps even kissed it. "Donch worry! I will take care of you! You will not die a terrible death like Baby 1!" I declared confidently.

I can't remember whether it was that same afternoon or the next. I was to clear out some stuff from the Girl Guides' den (I was the Quartermaster), and needed my hands to be free. So I checked if the teacher was in sight, then placed the egg in the pocket of my pinafore before getting to work. Just as I got into the groove of moving the stuff out of the den, my body turned and that swung the fragile baby right into the door frame. Instantly, I heard that familiar and fatal crack, then started to feel something wet against my thigh. Nabeh! This motherhood shite is really tough! My friend laughed at me. =_=

Even if your school or your child's school doesn't practise this, perhaps it's useful to try it out. It's definitely an unforgettable experience.

When I told 'Good Fren' about this, his immediate response was how to 'beat the game'. E.g. Build a reinforced carrier/container for the egg, tape the egg to your arm, no need to declare egg death to teacher, just replace with another egg etc. I was like... But that's not the point, you boys' school product!!!

Uploading Vids Online = Public Distribution

Pastor Rony Tan is in trouble again.
This time not for putting down Buddhism, but for putting down gay people.

85 people including filmmakers Sun Koh and Royston Tan have lodged police reports over the long Chinese New Year weekend about pastor Rony Tan's offensive comments concerning gay men and lesbians in an online video.

[Click on the above to access
the article on Fridae.com and Pastor Rony Tan's video.]

Here are some quotes by Paster Rony Tan from the online video which was put up on the Church's website:

“If we don’t warn people against this, then there will be more and more homosexuals because many of these people will be harassing and seducing young boys, and they in turn will become homosexuals,”

"If you allow [homosexuality], next time people will want to get married to monkeys. And they will want rights. They’ll want to apply for HDB [a colloquial term to mean a government subsidised flat]. With a donkey or a monkey or a dog and so on. It’s very pathetic.”


You get the drift.


The gay community obviously feels strongly against these comments. I'm not gay and I feel the same way too. What's up with the association with paedophilia and bestiality?! He totally sounds like an out-of-control online flamer.

However, even though I feel uncomfortable with his words, whatever he preaches to his followers is not my main gripe. That's something between his followers and him. A 你情我愿 relationship between follower and leader. Religion is a personal pursuit, and especially so in a multi-cultural context such as ours. It's fine when religious teachings, especially such contentious ones, are conducted behind closed doors.

BUT... Putting up videos on a website which anyone can access does NOT qualify as behind closed doors.

Instead, this is a deliberate act to distribute the videos, as good as printing and distributing pamphlets to every HDB flat home, office, shopping centre, Starbucks, IR, temple/mosque/church, and even to government bodies. This is my main gripe.

Re: The couple who were jailed for 8 weeks for distributing anti-Catholic and anti-Muslim publications in 2009. Even after they had stopped distributing the publications, they were found guilty.

Not funny at all.

So just because this pastor has a 12,000-strong following that he gets let off the hook?

Mingyi had a huge following too. He even helped to put together a hospital for the needy. A solid contribution to society. Regardless, he was hauled to court for his wrongdoings. If Mingyi merely had to say 'Sorry, I won't do it again', would anyone buy that?

What makes this religious leader so special?

Singapore at Winter Olympics 2014?!

Seriously? If this is not bullshite, I dunno what is. Talk is really cheap.

"We can dream the bold dream, and aspire to do more," said Teo on the sidelines of the launch of SuperSports Arena, a new, free 24-hour sports channel by local telco StarHub at the Toa Payoh Swimming Complex.

"We have won a second medal at the summer Olympic Games, so why not have an athlete at the Winter Olympics?

"It is possible and if we put our hearts and minds to it, we could have our first representative at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

"We intend to look into a project towards grooming two or three Singapore athletes for that. We'll start small. We're inspired by many tropical countries who send athletes to the Winter Games.

"Countries like Ghana, Jamaica and India (can) send athletes to Winter Olympics ... Nothing is impossible."

Erm... 2014 is less than 4 years away. I dun think novice participants from any country can spend less than 4 years preparing for competition at the Olympics level.

The only reason why we won that second Summer Olympic Medal is because we bought off-the-shelf players from China. It's NOT because we Singaporeans dreamt big, trained damn hard for 10 years, and went for the medal. That sporting spirit of tenacity and passion was bought off the shelf, coz as it happens... the policy-makers had access to national funds to 'dream the bold dream and aspire to do more'.

If creating sports stars for Singapore is meant to enhance national identity, this is going nowhere. This is more like paying someone to take your exams on your behalf. Still not clear why we are spending so much money on buying Olympic medals.

Regardless, with no time left for training plus plenty of administrative gusto and funding, this report sounds like we are being prepped for their impending decision to buy more sports people from some sports people factory, put them in a red and white T-shirt with the Singapore Flag, and make them sing Majulah Singapura with a foreign accent at the next Winter Olympics.

If we really have to buy a medal, we may as well make sure we buy the best there is.

Hmmm... I know oredi!

Let's go for Kim Yu Na of South Korea. She's exceptional at her sport (confirmed world champion at figure-skating... nothing less), and commercially profitable (this beautiful sportsgirl models for Samsung phones and is South Korea's Tourism Ambassador 2010-2012), suggesting great ROI beyond the medals.

She started skating at the age of 7, and is 20 this year. These things, as you can see, don't happen overnight.

Oh wait... Nobody said we are gunning for the gold medal. We just want Olympic medals... So buying second-best sportspeople for individual events will produce better yield.

OL Nippon

I saw a couple of episodes of this 2008 Japanese drama series online. It's called OL Nippon, and it's about how the individual Japanese executives in the General Affairs Department deal with their department's function getting slowly outsourced to China.

There are 3 Mandarin-speakers in the cast, acting as PRCs working in Japan.

In just a couple of episodes, the culture clashes and unintended consequences of outsourcing and/or introducing foreign talent into an air-tight system are drawn out... in the polite Japanese manner.

In one scene, the PRC girls (one sweet and hardworking, the other brash, self-righteous and hardworking) asked their Japanese female counterparts why they wore so much make-up to work, and plainly pointed out that in China, OLs do not wear makeup, only hostesses do. O_o

In another scene, the outsourcing agent (who is Japanese) told a Japanese worker in his 50s very plainly and in front of everyone else that the latter had been hidding behind the wall of the Japanese language for too long. The elder Japanese worker had earlier commented that the PRC girls would not be able to take over his job because they did not know the Japanese language.

Of course, one must not forget that this is a drama series.
However, this is not the first time the outsourcing to China vs joblessness issue has been played up in Japanese popular culture. Earlier, I watched Tokyo Sonata.

If you know where I can buy the entire series, do leave a comment. English or Chinese subs are fine.

LNY Day 3 Lunch

A simple lunch at a friend's, with a few friends.

And a new friend who speaks a different language.

新年快乐！

Happy LNY 2010!!

In preparation for Valentine's Day

Just to make this occassion doubly depressing...

If you are over 30s and single (and overly educated as a female), you are called 剩男/女 or Leftover Man/Woman in China.

To check how much 'attraction' you have left, do try the survey below, especially designed by a Chinese dating agency for 剩男/女s. Also read this.

Leftover Women Survey:

1. Age
   23 and under (10 pts); 23-25 (8 pts); 25-27 (6 pts); 28-29 (4pts); 29-32 (1 pt); 32 and above (0 pts)
2. Features/Appearance
   Fair skin, beautiful appearance (10 pts); fair skin, proper/correct features (8 pts); fair skin, features collectively are relatively harmonious (6 pts); beautiful appearance, poor skin (4 pts); proper/correct features, poor skin (1 pt); poor skin, features not harmonious (0 pts)
3. Height
   165-172 (10 pts); 158-164 (8 pts); 172-174 (6 pts); 155-158 (4 pts); 174-176 (1 pt); the rest 0 pts
4. Weight
   45-50kg (10 pts); 50-55kg (8 pts); 40-45kg (6 pts); height 165cm and above 55-60kg (4 pts); height 158cm and below 35-40kg (1 pt); the rest 0 pts
5. Body/Physique
   Front protrudes, back perky, waist and legs distinct (10 pts); long legs, ample breasts (8 pts); fine and well proportioned (6 pts); airport + proportionate (4 pts); plump and smooth skinned + relatively poor proportions (1 pt); Either long waist and short legs, out of proportion, entire body dull, etc. 0 pts
6. Education
   Bachelor’s Degree in popular major (10 pts); 211 Bachelor’s Degree (8 pts); Associate’s Degree (6 pts); high school or vocational school (4 pts); Either third-rate Bachelor’s Degree or Doctorate and above 0 pts
7. Place of origin
   Prefecture level city (10 pts); average provincial capital city (8 pts); first-line cities (6 pts); county seat (4 pts); small town (1 pt); rural 0 pts
8. Background
   Rich/powerful family (10 pts); high-ranking government child (8 pts); parents have high positions in companies (6 pts); civil servant household (4 pts); relatively well-off (1 pt); the others 0 pts
9. Personality
   Gentle, considerate (10 pts); gentle, a little temper (4 pts), not gentle 0 pts
10. Chastity
    CN (20 pts), Not-CN (-20 pts) [CN = 处女 or virgin]
    

Leftover Men Survey:

1. Occupation
   Profitable entrepreneur (10 pts); small family business (8 pts); back office civil servant (6 pts); medium to high position in company (4 pts); low-level white-collar worker (1 pt), the rest 0 pts
2. Assets
   10 million or above (10pts); 5-10 million (8 pts); 2-5 million (6 pts); 1-2 million (4 pts); 500k-1 million (1 pt); less than 500k 0 pts
3. Height
   178-183 (10 pts); 183-186 (8 pts); 175-178 (6 pts); 170-174 (4 pts); 186-189 (1 pt); the rest 0 pts
4. Age
   26-32 (10 pts); 32-36 (8 pts); 23-26 (6 pts); 36-40 (4 pts); 20-23 (1 pt), the rest 0 pts
5. Appearance
   Relatively handsome (10 pts); proper/correct features (8 pts); average (6 pts); relatively ugly (4 pts); extremely ugly (1 pt); no such thing as zero points for men’s appearance
6. Education
   Famous university MBA (10 pts); “sea turtle” returnee (8 pts); Famous university Bachelor’s Degree (6 pts); 211 Master’s Degree (4 pts); 211 Bachelor’s Degree (1 pt); third-rate Bachelor’s Degree and under 0 pts
7. House/Property
   N [many/multiple] houses (10 pts); 2 or more houses (8 pts); 1 un-mortgaged fully owned house (6 pts); currently paying mortgage (4 pts); paying 3k or above rent (1 pt); the others 0 pts
8. Car
   Audi A6 or better (10 pts); Passat-grade (8 pts); Elantra-grade (6 pts); Peugeot 307, Fit-grade (4 pts); Geely, Chery-grade (1 pt); other 0 pts
9. Place of Origin
   Europe or America (10 pts); Singapore, Hong Kong (8 pts); Korea (6 pts); China city (4 pts); other (1 pt); rural 0 pts
10. Sexual Ability
    No ED (20 pts), ED (-20 pts) [ED = erectile dysfunction]

Check out how much the criteria varies for men and women!
And how 'of good character' does not appear at all.

Personality = "Gentle, considerate" = 10 points! Heng ah! =))
But... I don't think I passed the test at all. *depressed*
The max allowable BMI for female = 16.9 leh! How to have a BMI of 16.9 and yet still be 前凸后翘? Must be artificially recreated with NASA materials.

And even though Singaporean men scores 8 points for Place of Origin, I don't think many Singaporean men can pass the test. House = Currently paying mortgage = 4 points only. KNN!

I wonder what the Singaporean Criteria will look like. O_o
We are much more complex...
Criteria ought to be weighted unequally.
E.g. For males, if Assets > SGD100million, the rest of the criteria does not matter.

The antithesis of the above is 裸婚.

The Warm Fuzzy TED Feeling

Someone I know got very excited about a speaker whom he had watched in TED.com. He was going on and on about how cool TED is and how smart the speaker is.

I hadn't heard of the speaker, so I looked him up on the great internet. Still dunno why that person is so cool. Then my friend admitted that he hadn't heard of the speaker before chancing upon the TED vid. But because of his performance on TED, he must be way cool and smart.

Then I realised what TED represents in the hearts and minds of millions around the world. TED lends legitmacy to these performers, previously unknown to the masses. TED is the 'smart' stand-up comedy. Afterall, TED stands for Technology, ENTERTAINMENT, Design.

I think TED is a brilliant concept, and its popularity, like every other popular 'thing', is built on the consumer's vanity. People seeking intelligence in a quick and easy way. The 'smart' channel. One can feel 'smarter' after watching a 18-minute speech by some guy who makes you laugh along the way. Instant intelligence-fix in a sugar (humour)-coated pill. Much easier and more enjoyable than reading a 200-page book on the same topic.

Most significantly, there is a certain associated high which one walks away with. Definitely the best takeaway from watching the performances live or on video. What's so special about this high is that it's much more 'sticky' than the ideas these speakers are trying to get you to remember and practise in everyday life.

Just watch this one.


So, let's recap...
What were the takeaways from his performance again?

1. There is a mismatch between what Science knows and what Business does.
   
2. 21st century rewards (e.g. financial rewards) in business do work, but only under a narrow band of circumstances (e.g. clear and simple tasks).
3. Those "if you perform, then you get x$x" rewards often destroy creativity.
4. Secret to high performance isn't reward & punishment, but the intrinsic drive to do things that matter.
   
5. New approach: Autonomy, Mastery & Purpose

Can you remember those?

Or will you only remember that 'good feeling' you have experienced after watching the smart TED vid, and go back for more?