Communication

You know, much of the conflict around the world arise from a lack of clear communication. Who was it who came up with a model of how ideas get perverted in transmission? He must have had too much time on his hands be a genius. The steps go:

1. Sender forms idea
2. Idea is coded into an expletive about someone's parents a message output
3. Output is picked up by receiver
4. Receiver decodes message
5. Receiver translates decoded message into idea
6. Blood feud begins

or some sh*t like that. Should've paid attention in school.

Anyway, the original idea gets changed four times when the receiver eventually forms his own ideas about the idea. No wonder we all behave like deers without eyes.

Think I'll brush up English speech & grammar (yeah, all that SVO crap) and then maybe get a TESOL or CELTA certification before unleashing all my corrupting powers on unsuspecting fools helping poor kids learn English.

__________
education, language

The pork problem

So now my favourite Ma Ling spam is off the shelves. Something about a carcinogen.


www.roxytrading.com

It's not the first time that 1984-ville has been affected by such occurences in other places. Remember the Nipah virus scare that hit parts of Malaysia back in 1998?

Which drives home the point about how vulnerable 1984-ville is and how much its denizens are NOT in control of their own destiny.

So much for all the bluster about making it great on our own strength and we can't even solve a porky problem.

Whatever it is, I'm sure the good people of Malaysia and China are quietly enjoying their pork, fresh or canned.

__________
food

Please make sense

Read an article in the local rag about the rising trend of 1984-ville parents sending their children to international (private) instead of government schools. Apparently parents need approval from the government for their kids to attend private schools. The reason cited in the article was a need to promote cross-culture understanding. However in the same article, the writer noted that international schools have students from many countries and are more heterogenous than local schools. The environment is more child-friendly, catering even to kids with special needs.

I have only 3 rhetorical questions:

1. Can someone please make sense here?

2. Why don't we just admit that the reason for not allowing local children into what are essentially foreign schools is so we can brain-wash them early?

3. Who says I need approval for doing what I want to do for my kids?

Good behavior doesn't allow me to express myself in Hokkien here.

Fatigue

Where there is no vision, the people perish
-The Bible

I am very tired. I don't remember being this tired when Faith was born 2 years ago. In fact, I was working with frenzied energy completing the grad thesis, moving into a new place and starting a job when Faith came. There are less things to tend to this time round. This tiredness is quite mysterious. Maybe it was the 30-hour labour that Wifey went through before Joy was born. That experience was emotionally draining. Maybe the magic of being a parent is wearing off. Maybe it's the experience of seeing how the education system crushes the youth in school. Maybe it's the credit card debt. Maybe it's the thought that my two children may be stuck in this lousy place if our emigration plan does not succeed.

I need to do something different soon, like going off for a dig in Turkey or somewhere similar. One thing is for sure: I need something more than bread and butter stuff to keep me motivated.

ASEAN Summit

and the propaganda machine is in full swing, enlisting Stefanie Sun to sing praises about it, while the purge of Burmese monks continues.