Saving the world, go green, cut carbon emission etc etc are all barking up the wrong tree. The solution to prevent the destruction of gaia and human life is to stop the relentless and reckless consumption of food and natural resources. The wanton destruction and reproduction of goods to feed the mad consumption pattern of human beans that is growing and growing, is the biggest problem to saving mother earth.
High consumption is primarily the result of high population growth and longetivity. The secondary cause of high consumption is the commercially driven demands for material goods and the hurried production and manufacturing of goods that need not be. It looks extremely good in terms of feeding the economic growth formula but at the same time lighting the fuse to destroy life on earth.
High population growth must be stopped. Has the earth reached its capacity to sustain the 6/7 billion populations, or in its micro aspect, has Singapore reached a population size that it is going to be increasingly difficult to sustain.
The mad economists will tell you that with increased productivity the earth can feed and house more people, GM food, digging deeper for oil, using advanced technology to fish the oceans, just like this island can feed and house more people, maybe 20 million. What kind of life will it be?
Can the alternative of maintaining the present level of production but maintaining or reducing the population lead to a better quality of life, with more for lesser people? If every country is to adopt growth with uncontrolled growing population, the end is sure to come faster for everyone. Is higher income, higher growth, higher population, higher inflation, higher cost of living, and the depletion of the earth’s resources the way to go?
8/03/2011
Changing trends in political persecution
JB Jeyaratnam, Tang Lian Hong, Chee Soon Juan, James Gomez are familiar names in the local political scene. They have many things in common, from being in the wrong camp, persecuted in the courts of law, for personal or political digressions etc etc. All were victims in the game of Predators and Preys. Three were bankrupts except for Gomez.
Their persecutors were tenacious, never letting go after the first bite. And they were on the run, desperately trying to fend off every attack but in vain. Once the process of the Predators and Preys game started, there was no where to hide, only how badly would they be mauled.
The last of such preys was Andrew Kuan, though he did not suffered as much, but the process was quite similar. It was like a pack of hyenas appearing from all corners in the the pursuit of their lonely victim. He was rudely dismissed and his aspiration to be a candidate for the Elected Presidency came to naught.
This game seems to have taken a different character after the last GE. On the wrong side were Tin Pei Ling, Foo Mei Har and Puthuchery. Could have been more but when the preys went into hiding the pursuit ended. The tenacity of the predators was not of the same degree and zeal. Not until the latest attack on President hopeful Tony Tan.
Tony Tan became the newest prey in the game. The attackers were different, not from any political party, but the anonymous masses in cyberspace. And the battle zone too is not the main media but the new media. The attacks came fast and furious, appearing to be concerted but not, more like spontaneous. There is no chance that Tony will end up in the courts of law, but he will face a different kind of justice that will not see him becoming a bankrupt.
Tony will appear in the people’s court of justice. It is the people, or some of the people, that are putting Tony on trial. It is not a personal vendetta or a feud. They have accused him of favouritism or abuse of authority in granting special exemptions for his son in National Service. Would this be proven or would Tony be found guilty by the people’s court? For the time being, they have screamed guilty.
Tony and his son have been defending furiously against the accusations. Both the media, new and old, were giving him space to present his case. The Ministry of Defence too issued statements to support his defence.
The interesting part will be the findings and judgement. In the people’s court, there will be no official findings or an official pronouncement. The rights and wrongs will be formed in the hearts and minds of the people. There will be just as many who will think he is guilty as those who will think he is not. One thing for sure, Tony will not be made a bankrupt and neither can the predators make any unreasonable claims of compensation from him.
The glaring difference of this game of Predators and Preys is that the victim now comes from the ‘right’ side as oppose to the ‘wrong’ side as in the past. No one will ever imagine that the elite could be put on trial and have to defend themselves to clear their names. They need not have to as it is not really a court of law. It is a kind of common law, a kind of natural justice, a prick on the conscience. The victim can totally ignore the persecution and dismiss the whole case without answering, and remain silence. The sore point is that keeping silence is no longer an option.
The rules of game have changed. The Predators and Preys have also changed. The political climate is set to be changed.
Their persecutors were tenacious, never letting go after the first bite. And they were on the run, desperately trying to fend off every attack but in vain. Once the process of the Predators and Preys game started, there was no where to hide, only how badly would they be mauled.
The last of such preys was Andrew Kuan, though he did not suffered as much, but the process was quite similar. It was like a pack of hyenas appearing from all corners in the the pursuit of their lonely victim. He was rudely dismissed and his aspiration to be a candidate for the Elected Presidency came to naught.
This game seems to have taken a different character after the last GE. On the wrong side were Tin Pei Ling, Foo Mei Har and Puthuchery. Could have been more but when the preys went into hiding the pursuit ended. The tenacity of the predators was not of the same degree and zeal. Not until the latest attack on President hopeful Tony Tan.
Tony Tan became the newest prey in the game. The attackers were different, not from any political party, but the anonymous masses in cyberspace. And the battle zone too is not the main media but the new media. The attacks came fast and furious, appearing to be concerted but not, more like spontaneous. There is no chance that Tony will end up in the courts of law, but he will face a different kind of justice that will not see him becoming a bankrupt.
Tony will appear in the people’s court of justice. It is the people, or some of the people, that are putting Tony on trial. It is not a personal vendetta or a feud. They have accused him of favouritism or abuse of authority in granting special exemptions for his son in National Service. Would this be proven or would Tony be found guilty by the people’s court? For the time being, they have screamed guilty.
Tony and his son have been defending furiously against the accusations. Both the media, new and old, were giving him space to present his case. The Ministry of Defence too issued statements to support his defence.
The interesting part will be the findings and judgement. In the people’s court, there will be no official findings or an official pronouncement. The rights and wrongs will be formed in the hearts and minds of the people. There will be just as many who will think he is guilty as those who will think he is not. One thing for sure, Tony will not be made a bankrupt and neither can the predators make any unreasonable claims of compensation from him.
The glaring difference of this game of Predators and Preys is that the victim now comes from the ‘right’ side as oppose to the ‘wrong’ side as in the past. No one will ever imagine that the elite could be put on trial and have to defend themselves to clear their names. They need not have to as it is not really a court of law. It is a kind of common law, a kind of natural justice, a prick on the conscience. The victim can totally ignore the persecution and dismiss the whole case without answering, and remain silence. The sore point is that keeping silence is no longer an option.
The rules of game have changed. The Predators and Preys have also changed. The political climate is set to be changed.
8/02/2011
The dumb Arabs
The musical chairs of the Arabian Nights are being played and replayed over and over again. They were supposed to be ancient and wise civilizations. Somehow they never get over their colonial hangovers. They trusted their colonial masters more than themselves. They fight among themselves and ended as divided people and conquered by the West one by one.
After independence, they forgot about their colonial legacies and went sleeping with their former colonial masters. And they happily parked their wealth in Europe and America only to be confiscated or locked away when they fell out of favour with the Europeans or Americans. And whoosh, all their wealth here today gone tomorrow. And they never learnt.
Now the Brits just declared that they did not recognize the Gaddafi govt and all the monies now go to whichever rebel groups they are supporting. The Arabs are so pathetic. How are they to act as leaders of the Muslim world when they are in such a mess, and being made mince meat by the Westerners?
Would Asian and African countries learn any lessons from the Arabian fiasco and their sleeping with the Europeans and Americans. I think many Asian and African despots and dictators are still parking their ill gotten wealth in Europe and America only to be sorry one day when the loots were forfeited by their safe keepers.
After independence, they forgot about their colonial legacies and went sleeping with their former colonial masters. And they happily parked their wealth in Europe and America only to be confiscated or locked away when they fell out of favour with the Europeans or Americans. And whoosh, all their wealth here today gone tomorrow. And they never learnt.
Now the Brits just declared that they did not recognize the Gaddafi govt and all the monies now go to whichever rebel groups they are supporting. The Arabs are so pathetic. How are they to act as leaders of the Muslim world when they are in such a mess, and being made mince meat by the Westerners?
Would Asian and African countries learn any lessons from the Arabian fiasco and their sleeping with the Europeans and Americans. I think many Asian and African despots and dictators are still parking their ill gotten wealth in Europe and America only to be sorry one day when the loots were forfeited by their safe keepers.
A stroke of brilliance
Yesterday the SGX went on full time, no lunch break, to improve trading volume. And the result was immediate. During the one and a half hour of trading, without lunch break, it chalked up 100m shares traded. This, as reported, was an increase of 6.4% in volume.
I was dumbfounded. For all the years I spent in human resource management, the profession has been bugged by the difficulties in raising productivity. Money were spent to improve productivity throught mechanization and computerization. The catchphrase was to work smart and not work hard, to work intelligently and not slogging over long hours. And we did not achieve much.
Now I realized that we have missed the wood for the trees. The solution was so simplistic yet so brilliant, so effective. Just extend working hours man. And 100m shares were achieved in an additional one and a half hour of trading. Nevermind if the overall volume was down from 1.7b on Friday to 1.46b yesterday. The 240m shares lost can easily be recovered by increasing trading hours by another two hours.
This is a remarkable discovery of a management theory of great significance. I must write an article to the SHRI’s newsletter on how to raise productivity in the simplest way and cheapest way. If the ministers and their ministries were to work through lunch, gaining another one hour of working time, their productivity would increase accordingly. And if the no lunch break is extended across the country, across all industries, viola, the country would have a 6% increase in GDP. There is thus no need to increase the influx of foreign workers and foreign talents which would bring along high inflation, high property prices, high congestion and competition for space and air.
After 40 years of independence, I think Spring Singapore would not have thought of such a great concept. We have wasted all this time trying out all the dump ideas to improve productivity which obviously did not work. And the one that works, influx of foreigners, actually works on the same principle. Increase in workforce means increase in manhours working. This is the same as increasing the number of working hours, like no lunch break.
I think we will progress more rapidly if everyone simply works longer hours. We will progress, from First World to the Third World.
I was dumbfounded. For all the years I spent in human resource management, the profession has been bugged by the difficulties in raising productivity. Money were spent to improve productivity throught mechanization and computerization. The catchphrase was to work smart and not work hard, to work intelligently and not slogging over long hours. And we did not achieve much.
Now I realized that we have missed the wood for the trees. The solution was so simplistic yet so brilliant, so effective. Just extend working hours man. And 100m shares were achieved in an additional one and a half hour of trading. Nevermind if the overall volume was down from 1.7b on Friday to 1.46b yesterday. The 240m shares lost can easily be recovered by increasing trading hours by another two hours.
This is a remarkable discovery of a management theory of great significance. I must write an article to the SHRI’s newsletter on how to raise productivity in the simplest way and cheapest way. If the ministers and their ministries were to work through lunch, gaining another one hour of working time, their productivity would increase accordingly. And if the no lunch break is extended across the country, across all industries, viola, the country would have a 6% increase in GDP. There is thus no need to increase the influx of foreign workers and foreign talents which would bring along high inflation, high property prices, high congestion and competition for space and air.
After 40 years of independence, I think Spring Singapore would not have thought of such a great concept. We have wasted all this time trying out all the dump ideas to improve productivity which obviously did not work. And the one that works, influx of foreigners, actually works on the same principle. Increase in workforce means increase in manhours working. This is the same as increasing the number of working hours, like no lunch break.
I think we will progress more rapidly if everyone simply works longer hours. We will progress, from First World to the Third World.
8/01/2011
Investigative journalism taking on new meaning
Investigative journalism is the pride of the journalistic world. To be able to fish out information of public interest that are hard to come by must be the aspiration of all great journalists who want to make a name for themselves.
Investigative journalism is taking on a new form, investigating news by the citizens and not by the professional journalists. And their reach is far wider and deeper than the professional journalists. Citizens are up in arms, with the power and tool of the internet, to make their own investigation and contribution to put to print, newsworthy news that are somehow not printable or not available in the main media.
The internet has made possible the availability of news, with no fear or discrimination, to the people. In this area, especially in countries when news are controlled and managed, investigative journalism by the people, a kind of people’s power, is taking shape. The pen is mightier than the sword. Today it is the key pad that is mightier than the pen.
The main media will now have a worthy successor to their once privilege position of telling news the way they want it. The internet will tell the news the way it wants it, in a freedom that has never been experienced before. The internet is going to be the new champion of news and information. The main media will become dinosaurs if they cannot stand up to this challenge, of reporting news that is newsworthy. Both sides can now report selectively, news that each deemed is news. The readers will have a better choice of news to read, of media to look for the news they want to know and to read.
Every citizen can now write their own news, to call his news, 'My News.'
Investigative journalism is taking on a new form, investigating news by the citizens and not by the professional journalists. And their reach is far wider and deeper than the professional journalists. Citizens are up in arms, with the power and tool of the internet, to make their own investigation and contribution to put to print, newsworthy news that are somehow not printable or not available in the main media.
The internet has made possible the availability of news, with no fear or discrimination, to the people. In this area, especially in countries when news are controlled and managed, investigative journalism by the people, a kind of people’s power, is taking shape. The pen is mightier than the sword. Today it is the key pad that is mightier than the pen.
The main media will now have a worthy successor to their once privilege position of telling news the way they want it. The internet will tell the news the way it wants it, in a freedom that has never been experienced before. The internet is going to be the new champion of news and information. The main media will become dinosaurs if they cannot stand up to this challenge, of reporting news that is newsworthy. Both sides can now report selectively, news that each deemed is news. The readers will have a better choice of news to read, of media to look for the news they want to know and to read.
Every citizen can now write their own news, to call his news, 'My News.'
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