Fun with SEA games stats

I've always found medal tallies to be rather unfair because of differing socio-economic conditions and populations. Besides, folks in 1984-ville are always harping on the argument that we don't win as many medals on the international stage due to a small population size.

So, I've decided to correct this apparent injustice and show you a FAIR comparison, IF we had enough people to, as Wifey puts it, drown other countries with our spit. What better time than to do it now when the SEA Games is in full swing.

So here's the gold medal tally as of 5pm today:


Source: Official website of the 2005 SEA Games

Which is totally unfair because we have, what, 4 million people (including foreign talents?) as compared to over 200 million in Indonesia.

So, to paraphrase the words of some of our elite, people need to understand the special situation that exists in Singapore lah! Cannot anyhow rank, must do some appropriate massaging adjustments...

So, if every country won gold medals at its current rate and had the population of the largest country in Southeast Asia (i.e. Indonesia), this would be a fair estimate:


Population figures from CIA World Factbook

Again, to paraphrase a good friend of mine from Malaysia, Singapore BOLEH! 492 gold medals in this SEA Games! But only if we could squeeze 200 million people in our cramped chicken coop luxurious HDB apartments. Not a palatable idea.

And what if every country had the moola of the richest country (i.e. Singapore)?


GDP figures from CIA World Factbook

Ok...so we're terribly inefficient at winning medals given the amount money thrown around. Well, it shows that having money isn't going to solve our sporting woes. And I wouldn't want to squeeze with 200 million people here so buying medals importing foreigners won't cut it either. But anyway, this second method is not accurate because I don't have $27k so the CIA must be lying!!

btw, is the DOS hiring? heh...


Technorati tags: SEA Games, Humour

I need a break...

Normally I don't laugh at this but it cracked me up. Looks like I really need a no-brain vacation time-off from my yet-to-be-completed thesis.

Got the link from Cowboy Caleb's blog, where Kenny Sia's guest blogging.


Technorati tags: Humour

PhD comics

Comic strip copyright of Jorge Cham

This was something that started out as a hobby but grew into something else. And he gets featured in Nature...

heh...

I like The Thesis series the best

First
Second
Third
Forth
Fifth
Sixth
Seventh
Eighth

And I beat the record by 6 months!! Muahahahaha.....


Technorati tags: PhD Comics, Humor

blah...

Just dropping a note to remind myself to blog. Busy with thesis and such, blah...

On another interesting note, Singapore has been described as a "rogue Chinese port" by an ex-PM of Australia over the Nguyen case.

In case you're wondering, he's (Nguyen, not the ex-PM) due to hang at 6 a.m. this Friday.

Another comment about the death penalty, this time from a blogger in Pittsburgh


Technorati tags: Singapore, Current Affairs, Capital Punishment

The Burmese enigma (Part 2)

1. Part 1

Well, ever since the Nyugen case erupted, I've been reading more about the illicit drug trade. Apparently most of it that pass through this region originates from what's known as the 'Golden Triangle' area around the borders of Burma, Thailand and Laos.


Image from BBC online

Here is an interesting story from The Australian about Singapore's trade relationship with the military junta in Burma, which is apparently profitting from the drugs trade.

Here is another take on the illicit drug trade in the Golden Triangle. It was an interview given by Adrian Cowell, a British filmmaker who ventured into the area during the 1960s.

Excerpts:

"...I think when the revolutionaries [Burmese revolutionaries fighting the regime at that time] started with opium, they were all idealists, and they did not want to have anything to do with opium...They now are inevitably taxing opium, because actually it's a major source of income for them, and they cannot survive without taxing it....And gradually, as opium dominates your taxation system and your military system more and more, that begins to twist what you're fighting for and who you are. And it's a dangerous thing. It's like any source of finance..."

"...Opium has been a medicine used by their societies and cultures for thousands of years....So that we have banned it here, they regarded it as normal. Heroin only really started to be taken by the people there in the seventies, but it wasn't widely spread. But in the eighties it became very widely spread, and they can see themselves destroying their own society with heroin..."

So idealists start out with the noble aim of fighting for autonomy end up being corrupted by big money.

I end with a quote from Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace prize laureate whom I admire...

It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.


Technorati tags: Golden Triangle, Opium, Heroin

mrbrown has a third...

Congrats to mrbrown on the birth of his third child and second daughter!


Photo from mrbrown's site

Do pop by to say hi to him, who, according to himself, is a nervous wreck now...


Technorati tags: mrbrown, newborn

The Burmese enigma

Photo from BBC online report

The BBC reports an unexplained move by the military junta in Burma:

"Burma's confirmation that it was shifting its seat of government has left many analysts at a loss to explain the move..."

Link

Burma moved its capital from Rangoon to Pyinmana, a landlocked city that it will build from scratch. Pyinmana is more isolated from the outside world and has less developed (if none) infrastructure than Rangoon.

Speculation has ranged from a regime paranoid about being invaded by external forces to the same taking the advice of fortune-tellers. And according to inside information it will be named Nay Pyi Daw.

The world has yet to come to grip with a military junta overturning the result of a democratic election, imposing a dictatorship and changing the country and capital names to Myanmar and Yongong. The junta and name changes are, however, not recognized by rest of the free world.


Technorati tags: Burma, Myanmar, Current Affairs

Neonatal jaundice

Mine eyes have seen thy glory

A bit of sun never hurt too much. Except maybe my own eyes. Anyway, her bilirubin was peaking at around 13 mg/dl and it should come down by the end of the 2nd week. So there's no need to put her under photo therapy. She can get her own tan in future when she wants to...

Technorati tags: neonatal jaundice, photo therapy

Death penalty

Photo linked from The Age online

No matter how one sees it, taking another man's life is a serious matter, legally sanctioned or otherwise. Brutality or deterent against serious crime? No matter what statistic one quotes, the end result is always heart-wrenching for families involved.

For a report from the other side of the fence, read Aussie newspapers like The Age.

Excerpts:

"Nguyen Tuong Van's twin, Khoa, wants to visit him on death row in Singapore to say goodbye. It will be the first time the 25-year-old brothers have met since Nguyen was arrested in 2002 with 396 grams of heroin he was carrying for a Sydney syndicate to help pay Khoa's debts. It is believed that Khoa will seek permission to meet his twin in the maximum-security Changi prison in the days before the Melbourne salesman's dawn execution on December 2."

"TWO popes have now appealed to the President of Singapore not to hang Nguyen. Before his death earlier this year, Pope John Paul II requested clemency for Nguyen. And it has now also been revealed that his successor, Benedict XVI, similarly wrote to President S. R. Nathan earlier this month."

For another opinion of a friend of mine, read this post.

Me? I do not agree with the death penalty but a lot of my fellow countrymen do.

Does taking the minority view make me wrong?

Am I condoning crimes?

What about criminals then?

We need to see the criminal from the crime. Just as how God (or a higher power of moral authority or religious belief you subscribe to) sees us from the sins we do everyday.

So what's your take on this?


Technorati tags: capital punishment, death penalty, human rights, drug trafficking

thoughts about dad-hood

Not much actually.

I had the impression that there would be a light shining from above once Faith was born. Well, not that dramatic but you get what I mean.


Faith salutes!

Truth is, everything still feels about the same.

Except maybe things that used to bother me don't anymore. And things that didn't bother me are starting to.


Pre-bowel movement expression. Say "oooo."

Things like:

1. Will Faith end up with myopia like 90% of other kids at school-going age now?

2. How do we bring kids up in this place where a person is valued by how much he/she earns?

3. How do we make sure Faith doesn't lose her sense of wonder in a place where thinking and questioning are taboo but conformity is highly valued?

4. Will Faith be mentally myopic?


After-shower wakefulness.

I am seriously contemplating a life outside of 1984-ville. Melbourne specifically. This is not new. I've flirted with the idea of settling Down Under many times. Having stayed there for an extended period too. Now there's a sense of urgency in this. Perhaps I see truckloads, ok, well maybe not truckloads, but another close relative preparing to uproot his family to a more genteel place.


Posing for the camera.

Fuck Screw (update: Wifey objected to my use of strong language) patriotism. Sorry. I don't like vulgarities but some TV news report in the background was extoling the virtues of our great and glorious regime. Anyway, patriotism is a word used by politicians and war-mongers to justify mass killings. My only loyalty is to family and friends. These are the people who are real to me, not some nebulous ideas. For the matter, not even the nearest neighbour separated from me by a 20cm thick wall.

Maybe I'm beginning to understand the lengths which parents will go and the risks they take for love of their families.




Technorati tags: family, love, fatherhood, migration

Remember...

...this post?

Looks like another aspect of this issue has been picked up by the IHT and serialdeviant. This time concerning Singaporeans' treatment of slaves domestic maids.

The maids pay hefty agents' fees to work here. First few months if not year of their pay is used to repay monies owed to agents. Get paid little by the employers if at all. Abuse is not uncommon. Days off are subject to the whims of employers. They get sent back to their country of origin if employers are unsatisfied. They get looked down socially by the rest of the people here.

Would you work 24/7 for $200 a month?

Sounds like indentured labour to me.


Technorati tags: slavery, discrimination

got tagged again...

This tagging thing is going wild.

So here's my soul laid bare...

Five weird and random facts about myself

1. Uncanny knack of predicting missed penalties during crucial "live" soccer matches.
2. Able to guess winning 4D numbers, specializing in missing by one digit.
3. Bowel does not take too well to hawker food.
4. Runs 10km 3x a week but struggles to pass 2.4km.
5. Ah Beng rocker wannabe (Wu Bai rocks!!).


Photo linked from here

Let me try to find 5 more unfortunate victims for this...


Technorati tags: random, weird

of copyright & ownership...

Just another indication of how powerful the online blogging community can be, blogger Mark Russinovich uncovered an attempt by the Big Boys to ride roughshod over small time consumers.


Image courtesy of Google search

This thing about Sony-BMG and the virus rootkit that they put in their latest music CDs in an attempt to screw consumers protect copyright is turning out to be a major fiasco in PR.

For those not in the know, Sony-BMG is one of the largest publishers of music CDs in the world, with labels such as Arista, Columbia and RCA, and musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Celine Dion, Avril Lavinge & Bruce Springsteen under its umbrella.

And in an moronic attempt to crush online piracy of music (yes, you! stop your torrents please...) Sony has, in addition to the music, put a piece of software known as a "rootkit" or "xcp" on its CDs. Trouble is when you pop that CD into a Windows-based PC (hooray for Macs), the rootkit will be installed without your knowledge when you try to play. What the rootkit does is to prevent your PC from making digital copies of the music.

Fine by me if that's the end of it. BUT...

In addition to the above function, the rootkit also:

1. hides itself and in doing so, will hide viruses too.

2. is not easily uninstalled and you need to be very familiar with the Windows registry system to remove it.

3. contacts Sony without your knowledge if your PC's online, whenever you play the CD, and sends information such as how many times you played the CD, your IP address etc to Sony.

4. crashes your PC when you try to remove it!

For all its efforts, the rootkit has been labelled as a spyware by Microsoft and they (Microsoft, not Sony) will be offering a removal tool for Windows users. Mark has got instructions on how to go about doing it as well but it's pretty technical. The pressure from all round has also forced Sony to stop publishing such CDs for now.

This is 1984 mentality taken to another level.

Didn't I tell you to get a Mac? :-)



Technorati tags: rootkit, xcp, Sony, DRM

of health priorities...

Image from Google search

Researchers have made a breakthrough discovery in the fight against malaria. However in the light of differing media priority, especially in this region, I don't think it'll be given much publicity compared to the potential H5N1 (avian flu) outbreak or even the lingering aftermath of SARS. All of which got me thinking about the priorities we put in healthcare.

Let's do the figures here:

Malaria
No. of people infected annually - est. 350 to 500 million
No. of deaths annually - est. 1 million

H5N1
No. of people infected so far - est. 120
No. of deaths so far - over 60

Maybe malaria may sound too dramatic to you. Ok, let's talk about something basic that we all take for granted. The lack of access to safe drinking water & diarrheal diseases resulting from drinking contaminated water.

No. of children dying from diarrhea annually - est. 470 million
No. of people without access to potable water - est. 1.1 billion

It seems almost unheard of, in my society, for people to die from diarrhea but it happens to a child every 15 seconds.

Potable water. It's something which 1 in 5 people on earth can only dream of and it's something we can do a part in, no matter how big or small.

Technorati tags: medical, potable water, malaria, fungi

some debate of sorts

Interesting debate started by Pilot n' Jo

Faith meets world...

...and what an adventure it was.

Checked in the hospital close to midnight on Wednesday with Wifey dilated at 2 cm. Obstetrician was optimistic about normal birth by the next morning. We were quiet relaxed and even had time to goof about in the labour ward.


Wifey with the nitrous oxide (aka laughing gas)

Serious contractions kicked in around 3am and the first of the painkilling devices was brought in - nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, to help Wifey cope with the pain. Although the formulation seemed to have changed quite a bit over the years and it smelled like the undigested contents of a drunkard's stomach.


Trying to help her cope with the pain of contraction

Anaesthetist came by at around 5 am (after my right arm was almost mutilated by Wifey's squeezing in synchrony with the contractions) and administered the epidural. The relief was palpable (mine, mostly).

Obstetrician came in later in the morning and it became apparent that Faith wasn't going to come out by the normal route because she was in Occiput Posterior (OP) position, meaning that her face, instead of the back of the head, would have to fit through Wifey's hip bones. The normal position, Occiput Anterior, is considered the normal and ideal. So we decided on caesarian section.




Healthy Faith at 6.3 lbs and 48 cm



Wifey was heavily sedated but still under only epidural for the c-section, turned to me and whispered, "Can we start breast-feeding now?" Trust her to stick by her boobs guns about this, even while her guts were still hanging out as the obstetrician had barely started on the stitching.






Everyone was happy and Wifey was up and about less than 24 hours after the surgery.



Although I wouldn't recommend doing what's in the next picture, especially just 20 minutes after they took off the drip...



Sure way to upset the obstetrician, ward nurses and all concerned. But it sure helps spread the message that keeping healthy during normal times has its advantages.

And so here I am with my little bundle, wishing the world for her.



All I can say now is Faith, go easy on the corny jokes in future.

The arrival of Faith the Rainbow

1st stage of labour has commenced.

Update:



Our doctor called to advise Wifey to check in for the night for observation. Setting off soon.

We is all operationally-ready to do our national service of procreation *thump chest*

late, late news...

..that's so outdated, it should be called "olds" instead.

Finally got my blog linked to Technorati and something interesting come up when I checked which websites have linked here.

I was actually tomorrow-ed 6 months ago. Hahaha. Guess that qualifies me to use the i kena tomorrow-ed badge on my site. So here it is...



Starwars is a subject that connects people who spent their formative years in the late 70s & early 80s. And I mean the original 3 episodes, NOT the prequels

Well, the post that got tomorrow-ed is here (had to dig out from the archives, phew!)

May the Jade-i be with you!

a $5000 peanut...

My blog is worth $5,080.86.
How much is your blog worth?

Click to find out!

Looks like a lot until I compare it with mrbrown. Like what they say 人比人，气死人. Therefore I will be contented with my value even though I can't buy peanuts...

Now I will whack tag others again, muahahahaha! I am the tagging 3-8 king!

Tiring week to come

Another week of work and more work...

Had lunch with an old acquaintence/friend/ex-schoolmate of mine who's more or less freed himself from the social shackles of being a "good" medical doctor. Thought provoking half-hour with him. Never knew anyone can really cruise through 5 years of slavery bond with MOH without losing much sweat. Of course, he paid a heavy social price in terms of performance grading/evaluation and career advancement with the establishment. However I suspect that many of our peers are envious of people who had the courage to step out the rat race and thumb our noses at social conventions.

So, Zed, if you're reading this, my best wishes to you and your wife. I will remember the days when we ran the MacRitchie circuit together with the rest of the bunch during a kinder and gentler era.

On another not-so-nostalgic note, Faith is popping out soon. Wifey has ever-so-swollen feet. You know, after almost 9 months of this journey, all I wish is for this to be over and done with so we can get into the serious business of training our daughter into another social convention buster. I was just telling Wifey I wouldn't know how to react if our daughter wants to follow her dad and enrol in med school. Wifey, in her usual sage-like mood, replied, "Just do lah."

Right. Just do lah. Not in Singapore, not if I can help it. There were many things that I disagreed with in my years here and I don't think they changed much of it, given how entrenched mindsets are.

Ironic thing is that I've been given the task of teaching human physiology to a bunch of secondary school kids. Sigh. Just when I thought I had escaped the shackles of Guyton and Ganong...


Photos from Google image search

First dinner

Despite the mess, the move has been completed with less hassle than expected.



We got the kitchen up and running in almost no time and had our very first dinner at the new place.



Nothing ever tasted as good as home-cooked stuff, no matter what the setting.

Next major life-changing event: the arrival of Faith.

Bring it on, I say...

to calm some ruffled feathers

Further update on Faith, to calm Maggie's ruffled feathers. She is fine. Thank God...

Anyway, here's something on the lighter side...

Which Disney Character is your Alter Ego?
created with QuizFarm.com

I am Peter Pan, muahahahahaha!!!

Now I will go tag other peeper to do this

Update on Faith

Her movements in Wifey has decreased. We are going to the OBGYN now. Pray for us that it's not anything bad.

4pm update: everything seems to have returned to normal. Faith kicked her usual amount of fuss inside Wifey for most of today. Non-stress CTG was normal with good baseline variability, accelerations in synchrony with fetal movements & Braxton-Hicks contractions. No decelerations recorded. Keeping our fingers crossed until delivery

Memories

Memory - all alone in the moonlight.
I can smile at the old days,
I was beautiful then.
I remember the time I knew what happiness was.
Let the memory live again.

Daylight, I must wait for the sunrise.
I must think of a new life,
And I mustn't give in.
When the dawn comes tonight will be a memory too,
And a new day will begin.

Touch me, it's so easy to leave me
All alone with the memory
Of my days in the sun.
If you touch me, you'll understand what happiness is.
Look, a new day has begun.

From the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Trevor Nunn (after T. S. Eliot)

The mess that was Sunday & Monday


The new study room