Fighting fire with a flamethrower

S'pore's vigilante justice triumphs as a Chinese scholar takes a whole bunch of penalties for a careless, emotional outburst online. In an instance of fighting a matchstick with a flamethrower, there are even a couple of [those whom I shall respectfully address as] commentators who argue that the penalties are not harsh enough, blah, blah.

While it is true that the scholar's online rant was 'improper, insensitive and disrespectful to the community' and did, indeed, '[stir] up considerable unease, distrust and ill-will within and beyond the university community', the latter bit was due in no small part to the overly sensitive, easily-provoked, thin-skinned nature of an insecure yet belligerently vocal community that will not stand for the slightest criticism.

(This is also likely to be the same community that criticizes its government for being unable to take criticism. Hence the community is but a reflection of its government, but anyway...)

It's a double standard that our active netizenry will take any opportunity to post all kinds of unflattering criticism at anything and anyone, but when someone dares to say something against us, the pitchforks and torches all come out to celebrate a good lynch party.

For a slight, we will extract vengeance to the full extent of whichever law we can bring to bear on the case. Because of a misplaced word we will take the opportunity to burn an effigy in protest of our sad, miserable, deprived existence, and to decry all the misfortunes we have been cursed with living on this tiny dot of an island. Too bad if our straw man also happens to be a real human being, albeit with a foul mouth and a quick posting finger.

Who cares about the ISA looking over our shoulders ready to detain us for inciting violence or causing inter-ethnic or religious tensions? The local neighbourhood watch is an even bigger threat to our freedom of online speech.

Too punishing for apples

Recently, the kids were considering the question about the acceptability of implementing extremely harsh punishments (EHPs for short) to combat crime. One of the points I asked them to think about was about how EHPs affect how people function in society.

Read: Steve Wozniak: Apple couldn't emerge in Singapore

According to Woz, the intolerance of 'bad behaviour' (wrt the perception that harsh punishment is the expected result of such) prevents people from realizing their creative potential. As a result, great talents do not arise from among our people, let alone market drivers such as Apple.

The Woz has a point. If a people works to avoid punishment, they are a people that are afraid to take chances, to experiment with new ideas, to "think different" (as was Apple's motto in 2007). Instead, it is in our interest to keep the status quo, and to achieve success by replicating the success stories of our more illustrious predecessors rather than craft success stories of our own. Sadly our best examples of successful people are bureaucrats and property tycoons. Not an apple among the lot.

By the way, it isn't just about EHPs applied legally in a top-down manner, but because that is the system the people have become used to, they apply EHPs horizontally as well. People punish each other for slights, hurts and errors because punishment is the only means of redress that they perceive is open to them. EHPs also apply internally as people punish themselves hard too, for failing to meet their own expectations.

Fear of punishment makes us give up easily, usually at the first sign of failure. Neither Rome nor Apple was built in a day, yet that's what we expect of ourselves.

We have a very safe and secure society, and that has a lot to do with our laws which promise harsh punishment for wrongdoing. But we'll just have to be content that while we live in a sheltered orchard, we'll never grow our own apples.

Driven to austerity

Here I am looking at cars I can't afford. As it stands, what car can I afford? With the COE breaching $80k, the cost of my current ride has more than doubled what I paid for it around three years ago.

And that explains why I'm at the service centre. It's time for M2's mandatory Authority prescribed roadworthiness inspection, and I'm getting the necessary adjustments done beforehand.

So far that's already cost me pre-service inspection, car battery replacement, transport to inspection venue and inspection fees. o_0

And seeing how car prices have gone beyond the pale, I went ahead to extend my warranty for another two years. Better to pay a four-figure sum for replaceable parts now than a six-figure sum for a total replacement in a couple of years' time. Don't know if my math is sound, but I paid it anyway.

And that's not all: another four-figure sum is due on renewing auto insurance for this year, and that's even before they let me pay my road tax.

Looks like another austerity drive is on the cards...

Tea to lose your head over

Special occasion! The 'A' stands for 'Antoinette', as in Marie 'Let them eat cake'. It's a little place just off Lavender Street. Ambiance is cosy and intimate, with small tables for an afternoon of sipping tea and picking at pastries.

 But since it's more than tea and cakes we're looking for, we start with the salad Antoinette. There's so much crab meat in here it feels sinful not to have to crack through crabshell to get at it.

My beef bourguignon. So tender and so full of cow fat! It could have clogged my arteries there and then, and I would have had a heart attack and died, and gone straight to heaven. Fortunately, I survived to counter-attack...

what remained of June's crepe Florentine. The pancake, ham and egg it was almost like having breakfast all over again. So good.

La piece de resistance, this beautiful jewel of a cake known as... Antoinette! Looks like it's solidly encased in a shiny hard candy shell, but that's just the glazing. It actually has an amazingly soft, mousse-like texture surrounding a slightly harder core of chocolate. The strange blob on top is a jelly capsule containing a sweet berry jam. Still, the entire confection was perfect; not too sweet; and this one tiny thing was sufficient dessert between the two of us. Earl grey d'Antoinette (what else?) a very easy-going tea to wash it all down.

Mmm... satisfaction to the max. :)

On the last day of spring break

On the last day of spring break, this is what the wife and I did:

Ate ourselves silly at Itacho. Don't be fooled, this little platter of sushi was just the appetizer.

Used up our last complimentary coupon for two to watch The Lorax which was an ok animation with catchy musical numbers, though I found it too overbearingly preachy and used cute animals to up the guilt factor to the point of exploitation.

We went shopping for new footwear to replace the wife's worn-out treads; and got a staff discount on a pair of berms to replace my embarrassingly holey ones.

And just when we thought we were all shopped out, the wife succumbs to the dark side. It wasn't difficult to fall, though, because the acolyte attending to her was so attentive it was like the wife was the only customer of the evening, though there were others waiting in the queue. I don't know if it is standard service provided by M1, but Ms Acolyte went to the extent of slowly and patiently applying the screen protector on both sides, making sure it stuck perfectly -- no dust particles, no air bubbles. Beautiful job!

That's what we do on the last day of spring break.

Mass Effect 3: the Reapers are here!

The galaxy faces the biggest ever threat to organic life, yet the disparate galactic races are more interested in tearing each other's faces off than deal with the mechanical menace of the Reapers. Once again, the human Spectre, Shepard, has to rally his troops and save the galaxy... but first he has to escape the burning wreck of his home planet, Earth.

The Mass Effect story is truly breathtaking in scope. It encompasses timelines counted in stellar cycles and the spatial breadth of the Milky Way. The enemies, the Reapers are each "skyscraper sized" and each requires a fleet of warships to bring down. There are thousands of Reapers actively harvesting the galaxy of organic life. Against such odds, it's surprising what one charmed person can do to salvage the situation. It's in the dogged determination of doing the smallest of things that may have the widest implications; "for want of a nail", as it were.

Among the smallest of things are Shepard scouring both shops and planets for spare parts to fix this and that here and there. Any advantage is better than no advantage against an enemy of this scale. Thankfully, that's not all he/she (player's choice) does. The Shepard's main mission is to unite the galactic races to join the common cause of ridding the galaxy of the Reapers once and for all.

The meat and potatoes of ME3, as with the previous installments, is the boots on the ground fighting in third-person. Whether against "indoctrinated" aliens or rouge human factions, you have the choice of fighting style which you build your Shepard to exploit. Whether it's up close and personal with melee or shotgun, or my preference of sniping heads off via a zoomed scope at a distance, the idea is to find cover (of which there is plenty) to hide behind while being shot at, and taking your shots as opportunity presents itself. At the same time, you have to guard against having your position flanked, which usually results in disaster.

You also have a choice of two squad members per operation from a range of possibles. It's best to mix strengths, preferred fighting styles and support powers in order to make the best use of coordinated attacks. And because teamwork is vital to survival, much of the game also involves a lot of talking and making nice with your colleagues on board your starship, Normandy II. Talk nice enough with one preferred crew member (comprising a jumble of human and alien races -- it's an equal opportunity starship) and there also appears the opportunity to start or rekindle an on-board romance. Emotions are universal... and apparently biology is too. Ahem.

And there is the heart of the Mass Effect franchise. The storytelling is emotionally involving, especially since choices and mistakes made in the previous two installments linger throughout and have an impact on #3. The name wall on the crew deck of the Normandy lists fallen comrades, and it's sobering to see how many familiar names appear there. It's a testament to the depth of the story when for nearly every name you can recall a backstory and also the circumstances of their demise.

And even in this last episode, the message rings home: in war, friends die. For Shepard, and for you the player, the objective is to minimize the casualty list, save as many as you can. Though often, the choice either isn't yours to make, or it's a choice you have to make.

ME is less of a game and more of an interactive theatrical experience. The animated actors deliver enough pathos to make you feel their hopes and anxieties and mourn their loss if it comes to that. The soundtrack is well-orchestrated to create the appropriate moods: stirring space battles or the piano solo that is so emotive when Shepard gets the "best seats in the house" while watching the Earth burn and waiting for the cavalry to arrive.

Since different choices lead down different paths, there are multiple endings to be experienced. Regardless, for my run, I believe I have experienced the most logical and satisfying one. It effectively guarantees that an ME4 is impossible, that the story has finally played itself out, and I can get back to my life again. Phew!

Content with Content but value in Values

The industry has set some new targets. We've been so focused on academic goals, it's time to bring back values. That's what I've been saying all along. In the practical sense, it's the way to go because what is abundant is cheap, and what is scarce is treasured. Today, Content (information/knowledge) is so abundant it's virtually free. What we've grown so scarce of is Values, and if we casually scan our immediate environment, it's clear how lacking we are in this basic human trait. So people who chase after Content, hoard it, and seek to capitalize on it are going to be disappointed in how little return they are going to get out of it. Those who will benefit most in the near future are those who have cultivated the right Values that can guide them in putting the freely abundant resource of Content to the best use.

By the way, I'm referring to Content and Values within the context of my pet subject, GP, hence I am looking at the issue as an academic working in the industry, not as a layman. Lately, campus has been looking to add value to our year-end results. Not that it hasn't been a preoccupation before, but now that our intake has been attracting increasingly better performing candidates, it's been getting harder to add value to our students year after year, since by their 'O's they are already doing well in their academic subjects.

It's difficult for us, especially, because we once had students who were happy enough to pass their 'A's; but now our students are aiming for top grades. Our strategies have to change, not in little increments any longer; we have to take bigger and bolder steps. I can only speak for my subject, so I will venture to examine how our grade rubrics work in order to suggest what else we might be doing to squeeze out that extra value to meet and exceed our new expectations.

Remember that there is little value in abundant resources and a much higher value in that which is scarce? Since Content is abundant to the max given our electronic information access and retrieval capabilities today, providing more Content for the kids to study adds little value to their learning. Content makes the difference between outright pass and fail, though, so there is still a bunch of students whom we must feed Content to and they must be content to just scrape through. But if we examine the GP rubric, the higher grades are attainable by exhibiting good judgement in evaluating Content knowledge based on strong moral principles backed up with logical reasoning, communicated clearly and succinctly to others.

If we're wondering how we have the time to 'cover' so much Content and so much skills training in the slightly less than two years that we have with each cohort, I say we up the emphasis on the skills we are lacking in and downplay Content teaching (what most people are so worried about) which is so abundant, it's valueless. After all, in grading GP papers for so many years, it's clear that depth of content does not gain additional marks but instead distracts the candidate from responding to the main question who then fails to show evidence of thinking, reasoning, evaluating and communicating, thus resulting in mediocre to near-fail grades.

Let's be assured that knowing a little about many 'topics' makes a candidate more flexible in dealing with the tough moral questions that he or she will face at the 'A's than a candidate with a lot of knowledge about only a few pet topics. A daily scan of the news as a personal habit is much more beneficial to a student, because it allows him or her to participate in the up-to-the-minute global conversation, than a topical content package that provides a false sense of security. Such packages are more for assuaging guilt than they are useful in training young minds to become global citizens of the 21st century.

Since the JC timeline is two years duration, I think the first year we should train the kids to source Content for themselves, that is to plug themselves into the daily flow of news, to observe patterns of human interaction and to identify people, concerns and events that repeat themselves over time. It's throwing them into the pool at the deep end. It'll be chaotic as they flail about, struggle, curse and complain but most will get the hang of it, while those who are seriously going under are the ones we are watching out for with the rubber ring.

Second year, we push the kids out more to exercise their moral judgement, critical thinking and communication skills as a natural follow-up from their previous experience. Second year is not the time for Content drilling any longer since (ideally) they have already immersed themselves in the ebb and flow of global information currency. What they need now is to be able to pick a point on the Content map and navigate their own way there, and this is going to require more kids getting involved in classroom interaction and less of teacher-talk which just eats into valuable training-time for the kids.

The reason why I've brought up this discussion on values education is because the industry, bless the top management, has clear and good intentions for the needs of our nation but, like the bureaucrats that they are, their only solution for encouraging schools to embark on Values education is to throw money at it. People have the wrong idea that Values education is a separate entity from Subject education. It's not. In fact, Values education is integral to subject mastery (at least it is for GP) and to reward it with money and certificates gives the very wrong impression that a person's values can be exploited for personal gain, and that values are used to differentiate people from one another instead of integrating everyone inclusively through the sharing of the same values in common with one another.

All the more so that we send out the right message of Values education because we are finding ourselves living in an increasingly diverse society, where tension between people groups is running alarmingly high.

Parking lot with a view

Dropped in on the lawyer who's handling the refinancing of our home loan. This is a periodic necessity as every couple of years or so, depending on the loan contract, the bank will increase the interest charged to a ridiculous level.

I don't know why it will do this because what happens is that we will go shopping around for another bank to take over the loan at a more reasonable rate. The formalities are now complete, and now we owe a new bank everything we have -- and everything we are likely to earn in this lifetime -- for the roof over our heads.

The pix represents the view from the parking lot of the lawyer's building. This is another exciting downtown parking facility, accessible only by car elevator. It costs only $5 per entry to park here from 1800 hrs to 2200 hrs on weekdays. Useful to know.

Sleep deprived

That was brilliant. After two straight nights of less than 4 hours sleep due to grading assignments, I overcompensate and have yet another less than 4 hour sleep entirely hooked on ME3.

Am a walking zombie right now... and I still have one more class to get through. Thankfully, I am prepped and ready to deliver. Afternoon classes are the worst to stay awake in, though. Urgh.

Will stick head in bin for food

Momo! I so did not raise you to be a dustbin cat! Just because the packaging we threw out still smells good doesn't mean that your dignity has to go out the window!

The other reason why I took this shot was because she reminded me of a raccoon foraging in the urban landscape. Can't think why.

Perforated pirate

I don't know what's up with Maui, but lately his favourite game is 'Pirate'. The rules: jump as high as possible on owner; climb up T-shirt; perch on shoulder; survey territory. If owner walks around, grab tight with claws and hold on for the ride, just like a pirate's parrot.

It was kinda' cute when he was a kitten, but now he's a full-grown tom. With his combined weight and adamantium talons, my home shirts have become well-ventilated; my epidermis well-lacerated. I'm even afraid of being ambushed in the dark now. It's happened before, stabbed in the back by my own cat.

Tonight, the feline identity crisis is getting both a manicure and a pedicure. Here, Maui-boy... come and get your nice treat...!

(Photo posed to simulate actual events. No animal was harmed in the posting of this entry).

Normandy ready for boarding

How lazy can one get? I'm not shopping for PC games anymore; not at the mall, anyway. I downloaded my copy of Mass Effect 3 N7 Deluxe Digital Edition direct off Origin, the online games manager EA is using these days.

Which is probably why the Challenger that used to be just down the road has packed up and disappeared. Brick-and-mortar, meet digital... wait, where are you going?


ME3 is now installed and ready to play (so much for Skyrim); but I'm still 24 hours off from the official launch date and the game's locked until then. No early preview for early birds, then? Feh!

24 hours left to complete grading all assignments! I'll never make it!!!

Plus one other thing; I believe I lost the save game I've been keeping over the past 2 installments! Not looking forward to starting with a clean slate all over again. *grumble, grumble...

Dinner with a friend

Dinner at PS Cafe with June's colleague who will soon be departing for England. On the menu we have a mixed grill assiette. Comprises a hunk of lovely fatty lamb, bratwurst sausage and a blackened king prawn served on a bed of zucchini, asparagus and ratatouille.

The yellowtail kingfish. The oozy green stuff is Romesco sauce which was probably there for the aesthetic 'cos it didn't do all that much to add to the flavour of the fish.

Just in case we didn't order enough to fill the three of us, we called in reinforcements in the form of this pork pie served with a side of couscous and a veggie kebab. It didn't matter that Jen was part-vegetarian; we finished the lot, garnish and all, including a side salad and a slice of carrot cake. Good? Yes, and we were hungry.

And here is the reason for our evening. I can say we had dinner with quite a remarkable lady in both intelligence and life experience. Retirement for her simply means an opportunity to dump the corporate world and try her hand at something meaningful, like education.

I vant to bite you

Rehearsals for Drama Night go on. Hmm, are we working on a vampire storyline?

Or 'Teen Wolf', maybe...? Strangeness is afoot.

Slow burn

Never, ever place your precious fruit-of-the-week anywhere near the exhaust vent of your laptop PC. This poor mango got cooked by the discharge of hot air over the workday and is now oozing horrible liquids from its third-degree burn. Sadly, it's become quite inedible.

Never gonna give you up

It's odd that I'm commiserating with Sirius about our ageing pets; it's usually all business with her. Her cat is a lot more advanced in age than mine, but I have been in to look after Mimi while the Wongs were in BKK, so I am quite familiar with the ageing pet issue.

Mimi was lively, vivacious, noisy and chased the big dogs around if she saw one unattended. But over the years, her sight and hearing have been failing and lately she's hobbling stiffly, like it's a pain to move around. She'd find herself in a corner and just stand there, like she can't figure a way out. She sleeps a lot and doesn't even notice my presence until I stroke her or pick her up. I wouldn't be surprised if she can't tell dream from reality any more, at least not until we make tangible contact, keeping her literally "in touch" with the world.

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her sense of taste and smell, though. She's onto her food as soon as I bring her near enough. It's clear she is still hanging on to life for as long as she is able, regardless of her present condition.

That's a lot of courage for a little dog. We human beings tell ourselves we don't want to get old. We want to avoid the pain and difficulties that ageing brings. But the little dog knows that life happens only once, and there's no sense in giving it up just because it's become inconvenient. I learned a life lesson from Mimi in just one week caring for her most basic needs. She may now be old and frail, but she's not going anywhere just yet.

When she does go, as they inevitably do, I hope the decision was hers and not ours in haste; and that we will continue to nurture and care for her as long as she needs us, right up until the end.

Double redundancy

Why have I been so tired lately? Silly me! Been running myself ragged doing classroom teaching in the morning and creating online content at night for the same students. The big problem was in feeling neglected, unloved and unappreciated when nobody seemed to be going into the online stuff I've been painstakingly putting together. (And before you ask, even though you are dying to access this massive library of GP-related material, it's hosted on a closed system so I couldn't invite you unless we share the same workplace).

Don't know why it took so long, but I've only just realized that effectively, I'm working two jobs, but only being paid for one. If I bring what I've put online to use in class the next day, the kids would have a reason to access the stuff the night before, wouldn't they? And I wouldn't have to prepare lessons using different material to use in class, although that's what I've been doing since term started. Duh! AND they would come to class better prepared, without feeling like fish out of water so much when I launch into realms of argumentative writing theory and ramble on till past lunchtime.

Have to credit Tami J Eggleston for this insight that should have been obvious, but passed me by completely. Comes from being brain dead from self-inflicted wounds.

Time out

Think I've been working too hard and getting abnormally stressed over it. But not just me, apparently. Everyone's been having a tough week for different reasons. Whether it's the quagmire of dealing with a new subject, or bulk supply orders going awry, or kids acting up, we've been fighting lots of little fires all over the place. And it's only Week 9. :p

Am sincerely grateful for short coffee breaks and little impromptu birthday celebrations with friends. That's always kept me sane, though I don't recall seeing it on this list of stress relieving tips. I think it should be #1 on the list. Maybe people generally don't make friends at work?

Pushing all the wrong buttons

It's been a troubling week on the whole. Upon reflection, I'm starting to see a pattern emerging that I am not comfortable with. The kids and I are approaching our tutorials with very different expectations and from very different perspectives. They want playscripts, I'm teaching them the rules of improv. Complete mismatch.

I've come to realize that the kids have no confidence answering questions if they haven't been taught what the answers were beforehand. It doesn't matter that I'm teaching them to answer questions through logic and problem-solving techniques. Skills that have to do with question deconstruction and response reconstruction are completely going over their heads, and it all makes no sense to them.

They simply won't try to figure things out on their own because they haven't got a model or a pre-approved answer to match and plug-in. No wonder group-work is something they dread, 'cos everybody feels stupid in a group. How can they contribute if they haven't already got an assured answer to the problem? And when they realize an answer is not forthcoming, they get upset, they rebel, and think the worst of the one trying to lead the discussion. You know who you are.

The kids often complain of being treated like human Xerox machines. I wonder, at this age, whether we can turn them back into human beings again, or if it's already too late? As it is, I seem to be pushing all the wrong buttons these days and, like actual Xerox machines, they're breaking down all too easily.

But whatever could have made our teenagers this dense by the time they reach JC? I think we can make some inferences looking at the letters in the ST Forum page of this morning, such as this one and the rest (minus the roadkill ones, although they do tell us something of our operate-to-instruction culture as well).

Now then... Education is rotting the brains of our young. Discuss.

Unplug and engage

I still want to believe in the hype about all these newfangled methods of engaging students in the classroom. Whether it's by using infocomm tools; or peer teaching; or new methods to engage the "21st Century learner"; or this discovery approach (it's not a bad way of looking at the TLLM stuff we keep hearing about, actually); I'm grateful for them all. I cannot imagine how I could possibly do my job if I were a teacher 20-30 years ago with no reliable access to the 'net.

But there are times when you really have to get medieval. Whatever we believe of the "guide on the side", always leave the door open for the sage to take back the stage. Rawr!