What Singapore MUST learn from the Toyota fiasco

Not so long ago Japan was the fire brand of the manufacturing world – remember Sony’s Akio Morita and the famous Walkman. Along with a slew of products that virtually dominated every sector of the audio and visual consumer market – you name it, everything from fruit juicers to ultra silent air conditioners that sipped rather than chugged down electricity – Japan was the king of the hill.
These days with the advent of Ism a la courtesy of Apple et al, Japan is resembling a beleaguered dino as it market share fritters away – its virtually lost it’s tech primacy in the audio and visual industry to the likes of Apple who just came in from the blue and did a spot of drive by shooting.
Alas, this seems to confirm the widely held belief Japan may have lost its mojo for good. And this begs the question; how did a country which once spearheaded the world in innovation and creativity suddenly become so blunt that it cant even have the decency to commit hara-kiri without using a WMF made in Germany kitchen knife?

Well this may come as a great surprise to most people who have only a superficial knowledge of manufacturing history – in truth, Japan Inc has NEVER been a innovator and creator any more than you can credibly claim some one who lives in a cave is an archeologist – the secret recipe for the Japan’s success was predicated on only a few set pieces – built the same stuff the white man have been building but make it cheaper and more reliable – in other words, Japan is just a copy cat; but as far as copying goes; they were exceedingly good at it to the point of even bettering the masters when it came to quality, reliability and dependability.

While that secret recipe may have worked in the 80’s; it’s been waning since then: One reason has to do with what I refer too as the glass ceiling of productivity and the quality – contrary to popular belief; there is no science to higher productivity; it can be aped with remarkable ease and these days even if you go to countries like Kashmir; don’t be surprised if you find overseers who usually chain kids to weave silk carpets talking about total quality management (TQM) along with Six sigma. Even in Chinese sweat shops that regular churn out fake Rolex watches – quality control along with the Japanese idea of Kaizen features– my point this morning is simply this: higher productivity and quality alone doesn’t necessary confer a firm the copper clad guarantee of competitive advantage any longer – think about it – if everybody buys into the same book and manages to built something right the first time with half the man hours, time and resources – then where is the diffirentiator?
To heighten the competitive even further – cold facts suggest consumers these days have come to expect quality as de riguer – and they dont even have any qualms about banging their pots and pans if they feel, they have been short changed. That sort of consumer zero tolerance simply means ordinary folk aren’t going to settle for anything less than the best, not even when it comes to dead cheap products – gone are Soviet era days when someone would gladly buy a one black sock and another white one only to dye the latter black and exclaim “whooopeee!” – and here comes the rub: consumers these days are so accustomed to quality – they no longer even expect to pay a premium for products and services any longer – don’t believe me, when was the last time you saw the word deluxe? It’s expunged from the consumer consciousness – the narrative these  days goes something like this, if you pay peanuts you’re expected to get something more than monkeys – these days even peanuts like a cheap Toyota Vios that comes with an accelerators that have a mind of it’s own simply spells disaster. And this new consumer calculus applies to everything from the pay scale of CEO to politicians – if the goodies don’t come in fast and furious , that simply translates into risking the trust and getting embroiled in a public relations nightmare – people are demanding quality on the cheap!

Against this unforgiving business landscape – its not surprising for firms these days to regard higher productivity, quality and cost competitiveness as a precondition of doing business, that’s the minimum baseline – like I said, quality alone no longer has the power to confer the power of competitive advantage – instead world class firms these days are redirecting all their brain muscles delivering value in the form of innovation and creativity – stands to reason; a chair that uses the same quantity of plastic but is well designed with the appellation of chic will always command a higher price than one of those plastic chairs you find in a food court – one reason why Japan is losing market share is due to in part to its over dependence on the whole idea of higher productivity and quality; as a consequence their response to the new innovations such as the Apples incursion into the audio and visual industry can only be politely described as dilatory and inept, because innovation and creativity in Japan was grossly neglected, they just put all their chips on making it better and left out the beef -like how do I deliver the “wow!” effect?
Over the last ten years, I cannot think of one instance where a Japanese company has done a good job in coming up with anything innovative and creative. The pattern of the sales pitch remains basically the same template they have been using in the 80’s – reliability and cost effectiveness – apart from that occasional robot that can handshakes with dignitaries and life like silicone sex dolls that can even give comfort and pleasure to perverts; they haven’t really stepped on board the innovation and creativity bandwagon.
And one big reason why they haven’t been able to make that quantum leap is because despite its technological sheen – Japan is essentially an ultra conservative country; where the cultural element still plays a preponderant role in management – business culture hasn’t really changed since the Tokugawa period – seniority, rank along with strict ritualized hierarchical lines of management still reside deep within the DNA of even the most “innovative” firms in Japan – and that simply means the Japanese haven’t really mastered the art of dealing with the shame and embarrassment of failure and that translates into a form of stasis – where if you fail, please fail conventionally or just dont rock the boat: result: innovation and creativity is squeeze right out.

This is what I call the China syndrome circa Imperial China just before the gun boats made their appearance of course – its a corrosive high and mighty attitude that assumes – we are the best in the world, we can do no wrong – that sort of mind set simply goes a long way to explain why Toyota’s dodgy pedals have been given the perfunctory treatment “don’t worry just be happy” – you see just as the China Syndrome was once responsible for the fall of Imperial China (as they believed, they were the masters of the universe) that simply means the stuff of exploding laptop ball burning batteries, appliances with their own minds along with dodgy car pedals can NEVER be a Japanese firms problem is has to be another firms’ problems.

It hardly requires a ton of brain power to juxtapose this corrosive mindset to explain how this may even apply to governments, departments and GLC’s – here the Toyota PR disaster not only mirrors the pithy pathos of cognitive dissonance between expectation and a failure to deliver on the promise;  but it also  reveals how shambolic and ill prepared an institution can be when its confronted with the specter of failure and embarrassment once it buys lock stock and barrel into the China Syndrome – the real tragedy is this can only be the ONLY (you don’t have a choice once you sell yourself as the best in the world to go backwards, that’s a contradiction in terms) reaction when employees’ identities are so closely tied to an institutions image (take your pick its good to go from bent churches, political oligarchies to even your local CC auntie and uncle karaoke week end club) – loyalty to the institution overrides everything – the myth of infallibility has to be perpetuate at every cost and opportunity – without it the edifice will just come crashing down – hence the status quo ante along with all its fossilized set pieces like the cult of infallibility, we are the best in the world along with maintaining the culture of deference to leaders makes it almost impossible for those lower in the hierarchy to question their superiors or inform them about problems or to even suggest anything new; result: welcome to the empire of the bones – having a conversation with one these legends in their own minds reminds me of this comical  scene:

Never mind that Mr I cannot make ever make a mistake ended up as  a serial murderer; never mind that he or it doesn’t even know how to play chess or regularly behaves as like some petulant bed wet blanket – that may all sound sardonic, if only what I said doesn’t mirror the tragedy of truism; along with what can and will happen when you sell yourself as the best only to turn out to be a lemon. You’re a loser! And I simply don’t have time for you. No time whatsoever!

Darkness 2010 – The Brotherhood Press 2010 – This essay carries a navigation e-prom codex: 7893458901 AE / brought to you by the Mercantile Guild.

“You can fool most people to pay your tribute and even force them to bow to before your Emperor, but you cannot fool us… never….and you dont need alot of people who dont believe in you to fuck you nice and proper; as they will see you as nothing more than a cheap carpet bagger used car salesman dressed up in a top hat with tail coats…they will take you down…its only a matter of time…they will wait…and when the time comes…they will take you right down to the hottest place in hell!”

Vollariane 2001 – respond to the Aryanian envoy when the brotherhood were threatened with the prospects of total war / four days after all diplomatic efforts were exhausted the Ascension wars begun – in a dawn raid comprising of less than 60 scorpion class fighter bombers, the entire Aryanian Air force which numbered 2,000 fighters and 1,000 bombers were wiped out on the tarmac / parachutist were sent in to confuse the Aryanians and their code were broken – within less than 5 days an armistice was penned in Primus Aldentes Prime – it is widely rumored Darkness 2001 copied the entire strategy from the Sixth day war  /  The age of the typewriter: 900 years ago – recorded by the chronicler in the Book of Ages

Warning [EAM] – Emergency Action Message –  to all brotherhood readers (please circulate to PBK, ekunaba and beyond – issued under directive 16):

You see to me life is very simple if you want to post in a wolf site posing as sheep’s jumpsuit that fine. Only remember this, if you press them on why they faked the DDos attack and they find themselves cornered, bc they faked it and we have the proof – when the time is right we will release it, that way we will inflict maximum damage – they will “name and shame” you! – don’t believe me – take a look at this, if they can do it to me, you are dust, so go ahead and post there – between me and you the only posting there is two cyberwarriors and they know I know it!: http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/11/13/geoffrey-pereira-continues-to-launch-another-tirade-against-temasek-review-on-his-blog/comment-page-2/ just take a look at the entry at Sun, 15th Nov 2009 1:38 am (not to worry, I have it mirrored copied) – so you all been forwarned, post there, you die! You will be named and shamed! If they can do it me; you are dust! That’s wisdom. go there and see how they will transform into the new ST online -give them all a false sense of security, but NEVER post – remember, there is only two or at most three cybertrooper sock puppets there giving us all the impression, there is a community REAL community, it all FAKE – like I said, we go to war! – Darkness 2010

Why need to unlearn ‘old’ rather than learn ‘new’ to get out of this shit pot!

It hardly requires any elaboration – work smarter = higher productivity – there is just one problem with that straight line calculation, it’s passe, old hat and doesn’t apply any longer.

One big leveler that has redefined the traditional relationship between productivity improvements and higher wages is due to the globalization. While no one denies traditionally productivity is the fundamental building block for a better tomorrow in terms of living standards, wages rises etc. The main problem is globalization has effectively severed the valence between wage growth and productivity growth – they no longer go together like fish & chips or kopi with kaya bread.

Don’t believe me? Then consider this sobering fact, in the last 10 years productivity jumped by a staggering 11% to 12% in the US; while median hourly compensation either stayed the same or when the other way. This disconnect simply means one thing to me – before we can even get out of the shit hole; we may not need to learn anything new, rather the solution may lie somewhere in unlearning many of our timed honored assumptions. 

Am I pitting myself against productivity management guru’s like Peter Drucker, Frederick Taylor and Alfred Sloan who once proclaimed the only way to boost productivity was to work employees harder and longer. Yes! And let me share with you why – productivity isn’t a straight line graph where you can keep on going up, up and up – unless you can convince me the human species can somehow evolve bigger biceps and hardier sinews within a span of a few years – productivity has always been finite (that simply means, at some point it can never escape the law of diminishing returns) and pursuing the idea to it logical end blindly like a robot will simply result in the mass immiseration of the workforce – to me, I see it as a great diffusion of energy on the scale of the pyramids!

So what’s the solution? Well, I believe one way to get ourselves out from this shit hole is to empower ordinary folk with the idea of starting their own enterprises – that may sound easier said that done; but I don’t think we really have a choice – and one way of accomplishing this is to free up most of the money that is currently in the death grip of juggernaut oligarchies such as Temasek and a host of other GLC’s – to understand this idea you first need to buy into the idea money is not money – that may come across as a moronic statement; but it isn’t as money invested in lets say a Swiss bank or in upscale apartment complex in New York isn’t the same as money circulating in the local economy where it can benefit local folk – it’s still money, but my point is since it isn’t circulating in the local economy; it might as well be a container of gold on the surface of the moon – so the first thing that needs to be done is to buy into this reversal of logic and get the money circulating in the local economy.

If we can do that then we stand a good chance of growing the local economy with local talent and this is where I have to stop; because this is something that has been implanted so deeply into your brain, that I don’t believe its worthwhile to continue further unless you can wrap your head around that quirky proposition first – this isn’t just any essay, to the perceptive reader, its one that requires you to recruit your mind – so work it through, you can and dont let anyone tell you its too cheem – you can do it and after that we will plod along in my next entry. So forgive me, I dont want to waste your time and mine. Like I said, earlier, the solution to our economic woes doesn’t require us to learn anything new as much as it demands us to unlearn and jettison many of our time honored assumptions – only then can we really begin the task of redefining both organization and personal success -without this paradigm shift, writing more would just be like ploughing the sea.

“Look here, I have absolutely no idea which Dojo you came from; but the first step in Kendo is not how to hit your opponent; you can’t put the cart before the horse and expect to make progress – the first lesson is to learn how to take a blow gracefully and to take it without whining like an old woman…like this…that hurt right? Well that means you haven’t given Kendo any thought, its just a sport to you; that’s to say, your good for nothing Sensei did not teach you the value of how to die spiritually, that unfortunately my apprentice also means this lesson is over – and you better consider taking up basket ball or something that doesn’t challenge your being like Pilates or something like yoga; because you can never be reborn unless you first learn the art of dying spiritually a thousand times –that means you need to unlearn many things –  this is very cheem, so cheem that I cannot even begin to explain this to you without getting one of my famous migraine attacks and I dont want to waste your time and mine along with the others, so please do yourself and us a favor – take your bogu and go! Once you have purged your mind of the nonsense your good for nothing sensei once taught you; then come back again – as it is, you are just a man cutting fire wood!”

Darkness 2003 (Practice session at 0430 hr / Extracted from the book of ages – recorded by the chronicler – under the chapter – “bushido” – the brotherhood press 2010

Why there’s no need to search for a Singaporean Bill Gates

 This essay should be read in conjunction with - 

Can ESC produce another Singapore Bill Gates et al?

Why is so difficult to find a Singaporean Bill Gates? – A Journey To Self Discovery. I am sure somewhere in Singapore there is a Bill Gates or Steve Jobs to be found? We’ve just haven’t found him yet – have you ever wondered why Singapore doesn’t regularly produce these sort of mavericks. I am not talking about making money, that I am sure is important, rather the focus of this article is what does it really take to produce stuff that inspires meaningful to change in the way we work, live and play? Is Singapore the place to produce these mavericks? As much as I like the idea supporting start-ups and nurturing entrepreneurship holds the key. By nurturing budding inventors, mentoring scientist, nourishing visionaries or even tooling good managers. I remain skeptical. Do you really want to know why and what I believe it takes to be the next Singaporean Bill Gates or Steve Jobs? (cut off) Well before I begin, let me just say, I have as much credentials to talk about this subject as a bald headed man trying to sell you a comb. I am still one of those who haven’t really made it, rubber bands, superglue and duct tape still feature in my life to remind me, I am a long way from the likes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs– but there is one area where I do know a whole lot about, that’s the whole process of leveraging on innovation and creativity to create competitive advantage. I mean, I don’t know it like how it’s so often used today as a bag word when one hears it spoken on the radio, TV or even when one reads about it – I know it from the inside out, there’s a big difference, because if you really took the trouble to ask any of these people who regularly use these bag words. I guarantee, you’ve be hard pressed to get even one sentence of what they really mean when they use that term innovation and creativity. In a sense when I see it being used so often these days to sell products, services and even justify ideas – the real meaning of “innovation and creativity,” is leaching away faster than a sugar cube in hot tea. There’s even the real danger it would probably end up being one of those words, like ‘your sincerely’ where we don’t even know what it really entails. Let me give you an example of what I mean by a bag word, one bank describes its function as “leveraging its regional network to provide interconnectivity solutions by providing a portal to diverse markets.” I mean what does that mean? I really have no idea. I guess if you break it down with a sledge hammer, I means they’re there to help their customers wherever they are (period). That in a nutshell is what the phrase “innovation and creativity” suffers from – large doses of gobbledygook and deficits of common sense. And this brings into sharp focus my first point: if you really want to know what makes Bill Gates, Bill Gates – you first need to gut out much of the mumbo jumbo that is associated with the word “innovation and creativity.” That’s to say, you need to be able to pin that sucker down in a Petri dish and pick it up with a pair of forceps and say, that’s what it is – I see it and this is what it looks like. Sure “innovation and creativity” means different things to a scientist as it does to a common sense scholar, but lets be clear about it, if you don’t even have an inkling what it really means you might as well throw a dart from space and try to hit the bulls eye in some board in any pub – probabilities don’t make possibilities. You just don’t know – and in short it just means, when you use those words they are convenient sound bites that mean very little and probably has as much inspirational quotient as graffiti in the shit cubicle. Let’s get real – if words are like “innovation & creativity” is to transcend their dictionary meaning, it needs to take stock of the reality words apply directly to living communities. To give them a sense of scale that allows others to make sense of these words, they need to be de-constructed into the ordinary language where people can make sense of their meaning on a daily basis and even weave it into their life – it doesn’t really matter whether it is trying win the Nobel prize or to write that article your editor has been hounding you over. You first need to get first things first by getting a handle of on the word innovation and creativity. That’s why when I hear words like “innovation and creativity” being used as an adjunct or at the end of a general statement and recently even “passion” has being thrown in for good measure, it irks me to enough to ask: how much do these people really know what they’re really talking about? My point is this, if we are to progress, we need a clearer picture of what innovation and creative really means not from the outside only but beyond the mythology often clouds the whole picture of what really separates the winners from the losers – truth of the matter is Bill Gates was no more an innovator than someone who just extended the scope of on established idea. This may come as a big fat surprise to many, but you can go and check it out, if you don’t believe it – Microsoft word wasn’t a new revolutionary idea anymore than the steam engine was new to inventors who studied it and made it run on fuel instead of coal – it’s an idea that’s not so different from how the printing press gave way to paper and how Microsoft word was simply an extension of an established concept – that IBM bought into when they selected MS for the operating system of their new PC and made it an open standard. To put it in the right perspective – that’s what we typically term “innovation and creativity” it isn’t so much big bang theory stuff like splitting the atom as it is gloss on an old idea. Getting out of the hyped and spin sets the right perspective, it allows us to set realistic expectations and dramatically improves our chances of success in pursuing innovative and creative enterprises. I feel qualified to say this because I being there, run the gauntlet even, got the T shirt seen it all. My first invention was termed as a dumber than dumb product. It didn’t stop me working on day and night in my kitchen. I even sold my car, house and everything and most of it is still floating around in ebay. Even today, I have absolutely no idea what I was really doing or even why – I just did it – I guess if you’re looking for a historical precedent that explains this sort of madness, it’s to be found in the silicon valley phenomenon of the 1970s which literally spawned garage industries powered solely by the dreams of young men and women. Not everything needs a really deep philosophical reason sometimes it just feels good to make stuff work. That’s a far cry from an established formulaic approach that is currently sold and marketed as the great hope of innovation and creativity these days where polished science parks form the backdrop along with well paid and high educated people who go around spouting about innovation and creativity when they don’t even have a single patent that’s passed from the realm of theory, manufacturability to commercial success. In truth the real innovators are people who all have this craving hunger and most of them are hanging out in garages soldering lousy components – as for the government, they don’t even feature, yes occasionally the dengue mosquito Mr fatso man makes his rounds and knocks on my door to check the flower pots. Or maybe a nice girl in a short skirt from the feed back unit flashes her card along with other stuff and ask whether I think a meteorite is going hit Singapore within the next 5 years – what they hell do you expect me to say after living like a caveman in my kitchen for 30 days – yes la and while we are at it let’s skip the foreplay and get down to the serious business of species preservation! As for my dumb invention it failed, for years it languished in obscurity, despite my best efforts to promote it locally. Eventually, I tucked away in a shoe box and slipped it underneath my bed – by boss Dr Pang was right, “hey you think you are so smart! Let me tell you this, whatever is in your brain or will be in it has already being thought through by some ang moh!” Yeap he was right, I sold everything, placed it all on a number and lost it all – even lost my job and had to resort to writing love novels to pay off my debts. By that time, the only innovation and creativity I was reduced too staving off the heavily tattooed Ah Long. And the only “passion,” was the prospects of being nailed to a cross if I didn’t pay up my debts. But as the sages say, we plan our lives only to be ruled by the god of accidents, on January 17, 1995 at 5:46:46 EMT in the Kobe a mother of an earthquake measuring 7.3 Richter struck with a force of at least 5 atomic bombs – overnight, that dumber than dumb bolt, I invented was pushed to the forefront, it didn’t make the headlines, not even as much as a ripple, but today, it’s used in bridges, rail road tracks, nuclear reactors and even mountain bikes. Eventually, my patent was sold off for a modest fee to a Japanese firm specializing in toolsets – there was no fanfare – no confetti – no sense of vindication not even the slightest wave of redemption that comes from seeing a thing successfully through – It was a silent victory one which I celebrated all alone with a big Mac and a super sized coke laced with some cheap whisky in McDonalds. You could this is how the story isn’t supposed to end but what I say? I only live once and I am telling it the way it panned out. I suppose what preoccupied me most during that period was only what I can describe as deep reflection what it is means to be proven so right, its an anti-climax, I realized – life is best understood as a learning journey, and we must all accept what comes to us in the guise of failure and adversity are all grist to the mill – innovation, creativity and passion, I realized aren’t just simply sound bites to be used and abused, they may be to others like some guy who stands up there in the podium or to even the pastor who drives a sports car who keeps talking about it – it’s a deep spirited commitment to the path of seeing a thing through and believing it will one day work out. I realized even those who are best qualified to talk about it aren’t so much possessors of these vision but merely their custodians – the quest I realized for searching for the likes of Bill Gates in Singapore was futile, misplaced even. Only because the role of leaders is not to put greatness into people but to elicit what’s already in all of us. For if the truth be known, Bill Gates is already in every single one of us. That’s a good start a very good start only because it starts from the inside out this time! [This has been brought to you by Aurora / written by Darkness / Technology / Economics 983728597 ES The Brotherhood Press 2007] / this essay has been brought to you by the FILB (Free Internet Library Board) Archived under 983 comdex – The brotherhood Press 2010.

Warning [EAM] – Emergency Action Message –  to all brotherhood readers (please circulate to PBK, ekunaba and beyond – issued under directive 16): 

You see to me life is very simple if you want to post in a wolf site posing as sheep’s jumpsuit that fine. Only remember this, if you press them on why they faked the DDos attack and they find themselves cornered, bc they faked it and we have the proof – when the time is right we will release it, that way we will inflict maximum damage – they will “name and shame” you! – don’t believe me – take a look at this, if they can do it to me, you are dust, so go ahead and post there – between me and you the only posting there is two cyberwarriors and they know I know it!: http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/11/13/geoffrey-pereira-continues-to-launch-another-tirade-against-temasek-review-on-his-blog/comment-page-2/  just take a look at the entry at Sun, 15th Nov 2009 1:38 am (not to worry, I have it mirrored copied) – so you all been forwarned, post there, you die! You will be named and shamed! If they can do it me; you are dust! That’s wisdom. go there and see how they will transform into the new ST online -give them all a false sense of security, but NEVER post – remember, there is only two or at most three cybertrooper sock puppets there giving us all the impression, there is a community REAL community, it all FAKE – like I said, we go to war! – Darkness 2010

The Toyota lesson – it always pays to come clean when u **** up!

The bough has broken – Yesterday Toyota’s management issued a public apology along with further reports of quality and safety problems. (sorry, no hara-kiri)

That satisfied me immensely; for one I can now bask under the quiet assurance, thast  siaow charbor who drives a Lexus SUV and always tres to flatten me in my condo, might not have borne me a grudge after all, now I know its due to dodgy pedals  – I hope and here hope has to go a long way.

Despite Toyota’s rencent “I think we have a problem Houston,” admission,  my feel is came too late; they should have taken it by the reins instead of hiding under their tatami mats and hope that it would all simply go away – for good sake there are at least 8 million Toyota’s running around! – and why do you think the vast majority of drivers are prepared to buy a boring boxy car that exudes as much charm as an Amish elder in a new Apple roll out convention?
The Toyota recipe all boils down to only one thing – reliability. No one buys a Toyota to pull chicks off the kerb; for one they are come with a big neon sign that simply brands the driver as someone who would probably say, “Lets do something really exciting this weekend, lets go to Sunday mass and after that we can watch the grass grow in the Esplanade!”, besides most of them handle like a la Driving Miss Daisy – Toyota’s main appeal is, it has alway been synonymous with grief free auto ownership – for one the steering wheel doesn’t come off when you’re cruising on the ECP and unlike other makes which I rather not mention; you don’t feel as if you’re in the Congo sharing a pot with a missionary while cannibals start drumming away for the makan – Toyota’s are remarkable silent and they never rattle and shake, everything is screw right down nice and proper – neither do they behave like those Si Wen Capricious continental types where you probably need to keep a pair of knee pads in the glove compartment and pray everytime you get into the car, “please start today, pleeeeeeeeeze!” – you get my drift – Toyota’s have always been the gold standard of “get it right the first time” when it comes to four wheelers – as far as cars go, Toyota’s are like Timex’s, they can take a licking and still keep on ticking and that’s the ONLY reason why people buy them.

Suddenly….the spell is broken.
The aqua vitae of what made a Toyota a Toyota has been smashed. That’s why I think they took a big and stupid unnecessary fall when they decided to adopt the “its business as usual attitude” and were why so reluctant to come out clean when it was just a green shoot – the moral of story is it doesn’t pay to delay when it comes to admitting you have fucked up – there is no such thing as dignity in silence, not when it you’re right in the middle of a shit storm…..and it matters very little whether you’re cheating on your spouse , dipping your fingers into the cookie jar in some corporation or some CEO who is managing a fortune 500 firm who just lost billions.
This is hardly new as it remains old dressed as news. Other automobile companies have learned that bitter lesson – like Ford who once played hide and seek with consumers about their “I did it my way” Firestone tires on their SUV Explorers tended to turtle for no apparent reason several years ago and the same onion story was played out with the Exxon Valdez in the Alaskan spill when the CEO decided to mumble away somewhere in his cupboard only to result in millions of Americans boycotting their kiosk – true to the adage, honesty pays dividends.
It pays dividends because these days folk are increasingly demanding moral coherency from firms, countries and leaders; they don’t want bullshit, they want the real beef and most of them have reached a point that tipping point when they are simply saying enough is enough – doesn’t matter whether its a bank getting bailed out on the back of tax payers; or a firm that is profiting at the expense of people and planet – in a world that has seen the tsunami of change brought forth by the economic crisis - honesty these days commands a premium and coming clean is no longer matter a choice; it’s a precondition for doing business – that simply means it can never be business as usual again; that sort of moral accomodation is no longer cost effective. That simply means if you want to play a crooked and bent game; then no one is going to play with you!

That brings me to the nub of this essay, what Toyota should have done was promptly set into action a plan to contain the damage – that’s the only way to sensibly palliate fears and to get back into the game again.
The cost of not doing so might just be the mother of all back fires (the stock market seems to agree with me TM has lost nearly 15% of its value, so you go and connect the dots there), the cost of not coming clean when a fuck up occurs can only be described these days as the kiss of death – and just in case, you are r under the misapprehension, there is such a thing as dignity in remaining silent- you have doubled and tripled your already fucked up position.

As that’s the cue when ordinary folk who once believed in your products, services or vision will begin asking themselves -”What else are they sweeping underneath the carpet?” – “what else are they hidding from us?” – “why are they giving us all the mushroom treatment (keep us in the dark and feed you shit) – the list is endless and it’s limited only by your powers of imagination.

But one thing remains patently clear – once trust goes right out of the window , so does good will and when tthat day comes the only game you’ve be playing is snakes and ladders.

Darkness 2010

This excerpt was broadcasted to all known channels and recorded in the book of ages – under the Chapter – “Its now everyman for himself.”

November 26th, 2009 at 10:48 pm

My brothers,

People used to say when the internet was a child it was like the wild west; this I agree completely; as a man who could no more go about his business peacefully without togging along a plasma gun to keep at bay brigands and troublemakers; but these days things has improved; it is more like the Sicilian hills, especially in the gaming scene; of course there is room for improvement; but some semblance of order is definitely emerging; but as I said, this all depends on a rough appreciation of the idea of COMMUNITY; why is this idea so difficult to understand?

We once wrote for the TR; whether we like it or not; we once drew water from the same well; so we considered them as our extended family; let me ask you all a question; in a Sicilian village, when a child tends to sheep somewhere in the hills cries “wolf’ – does the father say, “deal with it my son, that is your problem!” Or does he tell the signore please ring your bell; so that the men will go up there with their Lupara’s to put to sleep this menace?

And what happens when all these men; who have all put down their scythes and flails only to pick up their Lupara’s turn the hills inside out to find nothing?

And this did not happen once or twice or even thrice my brothers; we were all called to the hills to search and put to sleep this imaginary wolf more times than I can remember and we even called our friends to help us and they came in good faith, as we are a COMMUNITY. ( I swear to all of you; we put up a cordon of steel and fire; nothing could have got through without us trailimg bacl to the wolf’s liar and killing it! – but what happened…nothing…no wolf came….now the trust is gone. kaput, finito -that the reason why we have to pull out, all I need is one good reason and here you have it! Right or wrong, this is what we will do!)

This is what happens when you say there is a DOS attack; we know it to be a very serious thing in the way – we even have a word for it, the thing sinister – it is not so different from an idiot ringing up the police station and lying to them there is a bomb somewhere in Orchard; he thinks it is a big joke; but how can that be so: people are called into action; store keepers close their shutters and the streets are empty – it is bad for business.

All I can say is this; I do not know how this will all end; but I know how it will begin if we were all in a Sicillian village; storekeepers will all draw their blinds; the womenfolk will close their doors and bring their young ones in; no one will talk about this; they will not even discuss it openly; they will just pretend as if it is business as usual; it is another day.

Somewhere in the Sicilian hills the men who once searched for this non-existent wolf will go about the unpleasant business of silencing the lambs of this village idiot – after that, it is matter of profound indifference to the COMMUNITY whether this boy cries wolf or not – life it seems just goes right on and everything is as it should be.

Now you understand why no one talks about this matter as for Wong Kan Seng, he can do nothing except look up at the Curellean sky and say, life beautiful.

Darkness 2009

Warning [EAM] – Emergency Action Message –  to all brotherhood readers (please circulate to PBK, ekunaba and beyond – issued under directive 16): 

You see to me life is very simple if you want to post in a wolf site posing as sheep’s jumpsuit that fine. Only remember this, if you press them on why they faked the DDos attack and they find themselves cornered, bc they faked it and we have the proof – when the time is right we will release it, that way we will inflict maximum damage – they will “name and shame” you! – don’t believe me – take a look at this, if they can do it to me, you are dust, so go ahead and post there – between me and you the only posting there is two cyberwarriors and they know I know it!: http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/11/13/geoffrey-pereira-continues-to-launch-another-tirade-against-temasek-review-on-his-blog/comment-page-2/  just take a look at the entry at Sun, 15th Nov 2009 1:38 am (not to worry, I have it mirrored copied) – so you all been forwarned, post there, you die! You will be named and shamed! If they can do it me; you are dust! That’s wisdom. go there and see how they will transform into the new ST online -give them all a false sense of security, but NEVER post – remember, there is only two or at most three cybertrooper sock puppets there giving us all the impression, there is a community REAL community, it all FAKE – like I said, we go to war! – Darkness 2010

Can ESC produce another Singapore Bill Gates et al?

Today I am going to give free consultancy – that’s rare and the main reason why I have to do this, is simply because the ESC report and all its various fuzzy aspects of how to make remake Singapore to live, work and play is simply so shambolic, that’s it’s hurting my brain.

A good place to start if you really want to understand innovation and creativity beyond its dictionary meaning is to understand one reality – there is a big difference between a good idea and using it as a basis to grow an enterprise – you may have the best idea in the world and to help you visualize that idea; you may even have a killer program; these are magnificent tools for the realization of your ideas, but when it comes to passing from the realm of theory to reality – they are all practically useless.

You see I happen to know a lot about manufacturing and I can tell you this; every idea starts with a prototype – that’s to say, you first need to translate your ideas into something real and tangible. It doesn’t matter whether what you have in mind is a better mouse trap or even something high tech like teleportation – the rule of thumb is simply this: YOU HAVE TO BUILD A PROTOTYPE!

Many years ago I had an idea that came to me in a moment of serendipity in Bukit Timah Nature reserve – while riding my mountain bike (and I ride it pretty hard); I realized a linchpin bolt that bore most of the brunt of my bunny hops and gravity defying jumps tended to sheer or break off – these aren’t you ordinary garden variety bolts; that you can just replace in the any hardware store – for one they’re expensive and to add to misery; the bicycle agent doesn’t keep any spares in his inventory – so after going through three or four of these bolts and suffering a few nasty falls. I decided to fabricate my own bolt – but this was no ordinary bolt that I had in mind; for one I needed it to talk to me very much in the way whenever my computer starts to make strange R2D2 noises; that’s the moment when I know that I better shut it down and run a diagnostic program otherwise it would probably just belch out smoke and keel over and die.

In a rare moment of epiphany (I say rare because most of the time my blind dates turn out to be two metric ton internal beauties and I still haven’t managed to figure out why) – it dawned on; what if my pesky bolt could just yelp out before it decided to konk out?  The idea is simple Simon and it’s not so different from your knee caps protesting from time to time whenever you push your body beyond its physical limits – you will get a feedback, usually its pain or some sort of sensation that just tells you maybe I should just walk this one out for a change.

The idea of conceptualizing a talking bolt took a while, but the idea grew on me; first I had to do some endless research on why things just fall apart – that’s why if you happen to be an ISD officer scanning my bookmarks during that period, most of my bookmarks tended to veer towards the science of metallurgy and why things just fall apart - I was big into failure test analysis – and what I discovered was bolts aren’t so different from women – then dont decide to flatten you with their SUV’s in the car park for no apparent reason, that’s to say usually there are signs  (most of the time, at least) – that means, well before a bolt decides to say, I’ve had enough! It would first manifest some symptoms of metal fatigue – a hairline fracture, a fissure or even a mild deformation -then all hell breaks loose.

Armed with this knowledge – I came out with the idea of drilling a hole into a standard industrial bolt with a Bosch; filled the cavity with some colorful paint and just caped it off with silicone. The whole idea is if the bolt even suffered so much as a fractional breach, let’s say a hairline crack, the dye would leak out, thus forewarning me that it had reached its limits – this visual indication would be the like a distressed collie barking away – that the gist of how the talking bolt works.

Now as far as mountain bikes goes; that sort of weekend warrior prototyping was fine – but as Emerson said, “even a brick aspires to be something great,” I needed a working prototype that could validate my theory that such a invention was technically viable, because if you think long and hard about it; the whole idea of drilling a hole in a bolt is really as sensible as building a solarium as a dome to contain fission material in a nuclear plant – it’s a pretty dumb idea (might not be such a bad idea, since you will probably glow in the dark or give birth to two headed babies – thus no need for solar panels and education that the ESC seems to be advocating, we can even get brocolli the size of footballs) because as soon as you even begin to hollow out a bolt; what you’re doing is compromising its strength – and that’s really heresy in engineering on the scale of flagrante delico – every engineer worth his salt will have a fatwah against that idea – one day, I am going to post those heated debates I had in youtube for all of you to judge for yourself, how I was derided and how colorful I can get linguistically when challenged.

To sharpen the pain, I didn’t have a laboratory to test out my invention – I couldn’t even purchase the raw materials and even if I managed that feat, what about the milling the bolt and lathing it to spec; let alone figure out a way to pump in a suitable dye that had the right viscosity along with perhaps 10,000 other engineering protocols. You get my drift, I had a good idea, but I didn’t have the means to realize it as a tangible object that I could show to serious  folk.

Let me just list down the problems I faced, perhaps the ESC can learn something from all this:

1.No one wanted to deal with me; firstly, I didn’t have a company; so whenever I called up a firm; they would usually insist on a minimum order which meant instead of buying only what I needed for my prototype – I had to buy more, that meant that after a while my kitchen tabletop started to resembled something like the scrap yard in National Steel.

2.No one wanted my business – since all I needed was a few bolts; most firms either said shoo to me or charged me an arm and leg for what I contracted them to do; even then – they weren’t too enthusiastic about the whole idea of dealing with a one man show.

3.I had no means to carry out my experiments – no way to gather empirical data as most firms don’t do business with crack brained folk who are prepared to mutilate perfectly decent bolt by making holes into them. And I think what people don’t realize is there is a whole gamut of really super expensive equipment that you need when you want to gather hard data; stuff like precision measuring instruments to things that are designed to break things and tell you precisely what gives – my point is we aren’t talking stuff that you would usually find in a hobbyist shed, but rather these are serious equipment that closer to the stuff of splitting the atom – lets face it no manufacturer is going to buy your invention; if it hasn’t run through the gaunlet of test, verification and proofing (it’s a FDA thingy) - that’s the long and short of making or breaking it in the manufacturing world – you can never run away from the reality the idea is only 1% and the rest of the 99% is in the red tape. That’s how the game is played and there are no short cuts either, you have to do by the book!

So even if you are a budding inventor, you need access to stuff like this: To cut a long story short – one day I spoke to Singaporedaddy, who was at that time the Liaison officer in the Russian gaming scene – and everything that I needed to do was just funneled through him; you see the thing about Singaporedaddy is he spent so much time in those Russian forums that the Ruskies consider him one of them; so in this forum where they have quite a tight knit community; there’s never a shortage of gamers who knew either a father, brother, son, relative, friend or alcoholic working in some soviet factory where you could maybe buy a MIG-21 fighter jet with just a truckload of vodka and probably do some testing on my invention without getting disturbed – Russia during that time was like a beleaguered giant suffering from a host of arthritic woes; workers weren’t getting paid and the mashing of democracy and communism just meant that many of these factories which were once producing all sorts of armaments were just rudderless and those where just the perfect conditions to go through all the alphabets that needed to be worked out to create a very serious prototype and all this was accomplished with a fraction of the cost in a grief free setting – with the help of Singaporedaddy and the Russian gaming fraternity – I was able to past from the land of theory to reality successfully.

But that’s only the beginning; if you want to know the innards of this story and how it ends; you just have to google this: 983728597 ES

I write 99.9% of my stuff in the threads (but you need to scroll down usually ands dont whatever you don’t call that number in Palermo either, or you’ve chatting with the local mafia who thinks that you want to be their rep for Sands in the Marina). Only when you read it, don’t expect a ticker parade Hollywood ending, I don’t want to be a spoiler so you read and decide for yourself.

I don’t know what the ECS can learn from this story; perhaps nothing; but I am not writing this for them as much as I am for whoever is really serious about pursuing their dreams as a businessman – this may be a story about a bolt and my travails, but it could just as well be reflection of the new coffee shop you are planning to open or perhaps some enterprise that you are working on and everyone around seems to just think, you’re a loser – I want to embrace you like a brother and tell you that you are not a loser; if the truth be known great things will never come out from the Temasek’s and Biopolis of this world; they will always emerge from rooms where clothes go to die; where superglue, duct tapes and rubberbands will always be indispensable as that’s really the eye of the storm that embodies the spirit of going where no mind dares to go – but no matter how big or small your dreams; one thing will always hold true in the winging it on your own road – it will always be windy, despairing, miserable and at times so acutely racked with sorrow that you may just decide to chuck it all in for a day job, but through it all; there will always be a sort of misty camaraderie that will be shared by all who have stood in that intensely edifying place where dreams are finally realized like the rising sun – the reward of knowing that to be alive is a grand thing.

Go and live your dream!

Darkness 2010

“I want to talk about the important things of life, about happiness, well being and what it means to be alive. About those unexpected moments when the world suddenly stops twirling and you suddenly find yourself falling silent – and you simply know you are at one with the universe.

I want to talk about tubular bells in Bedok jetty in early morn in May, about the harmony and blissful rhapsody of blissful nothingness, about distant supertankers harbored in the distance bellowing as they often do. About yellows, reds and blue finches darting past the blue of the eaves.

I want to talk about the pleasures of ordinary conversations, the type where you simply say to yourself, “perhaps I will see the world slightly differently after this darkness.” About what happens to your mind when you step into the afternoon sun and feel the warm embrace of air as it curls around you like embrace of a season.

I want to remember the cerulean skies, in the earlier morning in Bukit Timah, the languorous period just before dawn, when we are all one for all and all for one.

I am Darkness 2007.”

Warning [EAM] – Emergency Action Message –  to all brotherhood readers (please circulate to PBK, ekunaba and beyond – issued under directive 16): 

You see to me life is very simple if you want to post in a wolf site posing as sheep’s jumpsuit that fine. Only remember this, if you press them on why they faked the DDos attack and they find themselves cornered, bc they faked it and we have the proof – when the time is right we will release it, that way we will inflict maximum damage – they will “name and shame” you! – don’t believe me – take a look at this, if they can do it to me, you are dust, so go ahead and post there – between me and you the only posting there is two cyberwarriors and they know I know it!: http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/11/13/geoffrey-pereira-continues-to-launch-another-tirade-against-temasek-review-on-his-blog/comment-page-2/  just take a look at the entry at Sun, 15th Nov 2009 1:38 am (not to worry, I have it mirrored copied) – so you all been forwarned, post there, you die! You will be named and shamed! If they can do it me; you are dust! That’s wisdom. go there and see how they will transform into the new ST online -give them all a false sense of security, but NEVER post – remember, there is only two or at most three cybertrooper sock puppets there giving us all the impression, there is a community REAL community, it all FAKE – like I said, we go to war! – Darkness 2010

Is the ESC report as clear as mud?

Some things just amaze me! I am serious, it’s amazing, but its not in the positive sort of way, rather it’s the one I dread most and usually it’s followed by that all too  familiar sinking feeling of bemusement – that provokes a laconic response, “sure, I believe you. Really…I do!”

What I am I talking about, fake massive DDos attacks that Temasek Review (soon to be the online backdoor version of the ST) once claimed and of course stuff like this:

Never mind that most Scientists remain insistent the bomb-detection technology used by the GT200 is not based on any recognizable bomb scanning principles. Never mind, that it resembles those coat hangers that were once sold by hucksters and charlatans in the mid west as some great invention to discover underground springs – that’s precisely how I see the ESC report.

The only thing revealing about the ESC report is how vague the English language allows us to be. It seems, I am not the only one that’s confounded and making teeth sucking sounds – there seems to be others like What’s missing from Economic Strategies Committee report

Maybe I am just too stupid (that’s a distinct possibility!). But really I sumpah, I don’t know what they are trying to say, to be precise I don’t understand – it’s like trying to get a handle on something fuzzy and misty.

Maybe I am expecting too much; after all didn’t the world suffer the greatest recession since 1929? Hasn’t there been a great meltdown in our economy? Haven’t our state owned oligarchies lost so much money?

Could it be my expectation for good old and simple Simon clarity simply to high a benchmark? Why is it so difficult to get stuff like this – “we are not going to do this or that again!…..yada, yada, yada – we are going to go towards this direction to get out of the shit hole by doing A, B and C yada yada yada – in a nutshell, I expect a strategic blue print that is simple with maybe two and at most three key points / every manager knows this: its the 80/20 rule  – but what the ESC produced instead was a list of comatose inducing points that’s not so different from listen to a someone retelling Tolstoy’s War and Peace and after all, you’re still left wondering – what’s the plot? Did he get the girl and win the war as well?

You see I am a great fan of the 15 minute rule (I just made it up one day and it’s somehow stayed and grew into a full fledged philosophy of communication, one day, I am going to write a book about it and even give corporate talks about why its the best thing since sliced bread); in a nutshell, it means, if I sit down and hear you out and after that length of time – I still don’t understand what you have to say – it just means; you don’t have my buy in – the 15 minutes rule is the equivalent of my shit snooper and through the years, it has worked so well that I’ve never ever been blindsided; not even so much as once – doesn’t matter who is pitching, could be some guy wearing white on TV telling me to work till the day I die;  a pastor trying to sell me the idea Jesus told him to build another shopping mall, insurance agents who promise coverage from dog bites to herpes simplex and even investment consultants who promise risk free bullet proof helium percentages, if you just sign on the dotted line – the fifteen minute rule is so effective, that I will even recommend it to everything covering work, life and play.

My point this afternoon is simple; when there is so much uncertainty in the economic landscape and people are hurting in so many ways ranging from unemployment to feeling insecure about their prospects about what the future holds what’s required is CLARITY, not something that resembles the internal workings of a rocket blueprint.

CLARITY simply means cutting out the crap and getting as close to the bone as possible; that’s why when it comes to the law of attraction (disregarding lightning, bugs, psycho women, husband with meat cleavers etc) it pays dividends to get your point across within the shortest possible time.

The 15 minute rule is simply one way (I am sure there are many other ways, like using a taser gun) to be clear and keep the whole process of communication short and simple; pitch it right and it’s likely to find that sweet spot – that’s one reason why; when I see a girl that I feel has prospects – what I usually do is just walk right up to her, look her straight in the eye and say something like: “I know this may come across as really weird, but please do keep an open mind; only I have this feeling deep down inside me that it may not be such a bad idea if we just sit down and have a cup of coffee to get to know each other better – you see the way, I see it, the worst that can happen is we become friends….and the best part of it, if its right, it could lead to something really life changing – what do you say?”  (that could explain why my left cheek is permanently flushed red and I was never really hot with the girls). But you get my point, it pays to be crystal clear.

Besides that’s far better than trying to figure out mind boggling stuff like how long can I stare at a girl in the MRT without coming across as a sex crazed stalker – or how long can I tail a girl with my computer back pack without being red flagged as a suicide bomber by the eager beaver pineappled eyed CCTV brigade  - with the 15 minute rule, you dont need to go through the grief of uncertainty and guesswork; it just guts out the complexity and takes the mystery out of really complicated things, leaving you with what you really need to take and run – its good to go.

The same applies to business – my favorite line is “I love to give a good deal, but I also like to receive a good deal back as well,” That way things are always clear with me and my customers  – there is no need for pussyfooting; tai chi, Sun Tzu art of war along with having to crack your brain like I did this morning when I read the ESC latest gloss and wondered to myself – “wtf is this guy trying to say?  Why is it so difficult to just put this strategic vision into something that is as compact as a vitamin pill?”

You know what, “I have absolutely no idea what you are trying to say!” And that’s the truth and nothing but the truth!

Darkness 2010

Extract from the brotherhood annals, the Book of Ages – This conversation took place between an unknown gamer and Darkness on a launch pad in Primus Aldentes Prime 600 years ago – where the first Tiberium deep space star cruisers are tested and built.

The scene takes place when a lone gamer (only identified as No: 30991 is seen sweeping the tarmac. For some reason that day, Darkness was drawn to this lone figure in the vast expanse of Arullia (the secret location where rocket testing and research is located) – something struck him as strange; it may have been that the game designers had now developed a program to make things dusty which now required cleaning (which gamers could earn credits); or maybe it was the demeanor of this lonely figure with his broom in the virtual desolate tarmac that drew his attention – without any warning Darkness left the meeting with the Interspacing Navigation Guild and headed towards the lone figure and asked him.

 

“Hey, there is no need to sweep the tarmac, this is not the real world, this is virtual dust, so we could just make the dust disappear by pressing a button. Get under the shade, it’s bad for you, there’s no kinetic dome here. The UV will just drain all your life credits, it’s not worth it!”

“I know who you are – you’re Darkness aren’t you? I recognize that scar; we fought side by side during the Ascension wars….we even took out an Aryanian tank together, but I guess you don’t remember that do you? Look here Mr Big Shot Darkness, I want to make things clear to you because you don’t seem to get the whole picture…I am not a sweeper, neither are any of those some 100 men up there on the scaffolding working just to put together a new toy for those guild bastards…I want to be clear to you sir, I may just be sweeping away, but I am working to send one of our men to the furthest reaches of the known universe.”

Three earth months later – some 150 years in space time / the first deep space cruiser Christened, “KDD Terra Incognita” successfully folded space and founded the new galaxy at the edge of the known universe, popularly known as the Saffron route – legend has it, Darkness was so impressed by the clarity and single mindedness of this lone sweeper, the broom was used as the flag staff to stake a claim of precinct 9,002.

This has been extracted from the Book of Ages – under the chapter – the age of discovery / page 2,073 – The brotherhood Press 2010

 

 

Interspacing Navigation Guild Control Center based in Primus Aldentes Prime

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warning [EAM] to all brotherhood readers (please circulate to PBK and ekunaba): 

You see to me life is very simple if you want to post in a wolf site posing as sheep’s jumpsuit that fine. Only remember this, if you press them on why they faked the DDos attack and they find themselves cornered, bc they faked it and we have the proof – when the time is right we will release it, that way we will inflict maximum damage – they will “name and shame” you! – don’t believe me – take a look at this, if they can do it to me, you are dust, so go ahead and post there – between me and you the only posting there is two cyberwarriors and they know I know it!: http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/11/13/geoffrey-pereira-continues-to-launch-another-tirade-against-temasek-review-on-his-blog/comment-page-2/  just take a look at the entry at Sun, 15th Nov 2009 1:38 am (not to worry, I have it mirrored copied) – so you all been forwarned, post there, you die! You will be named and shamed! If they can do it me; you are dust! That’s wisdom. go there and see how they will transform into the new ST online -give them all a false sense of security, but NEVER post – remember, there is only two sock puppets there – Darkness 2010

What eight ball Tharman can learn from North Korea

 Tell me do you really understand Tharman’s  latest Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) report?–  Well I waded through it and to be perfectly honest with you; though all the set pieces were there i.e increasing productivity in every sector of the country’s economy yada yada yada along with how to make significant improvements to better our lot in Singapore yada yada yada – it’s missing one vital ingredient – how is this going to be accomplished?I just want to make it clear; the problem may nothing to do with Tharman’s vision of how to remake a leaner and meaner Singapore – the problem is I haven’t really got too much imagination – that means when someone tells me, he wants to dedicate himself to the film industry – usually, my reply is a question: “like Bollywood or those sappy Korean tear jerker series?” You get my point. I need a concrete comparison to flesh out the meaning of words. So forgive me if the latest report sounds to me like some puffy pastry that just crumbles leaving one with the sinking feeling, where is the beef?

That’s why I believe Tharman and his crew should go down to cash converter and get a few Ushanka beaver hats and go down to North Korea to learn about how to grow an economy – I know some of you are probably thinking North Korea has as much entrepreneurial spirit as alcohol free beer; but trust me – but if you really take the trouble to winnow the deadbeats from the winners – you will be pleasantly surprised by how the North Koreans have managed to carve a niche when it comes to designing and constructing giant sized statutes – these aren’t your dinky bronze pieces that you can just forklift away – they are humongous to the extent of rendering you so small that when you stand before them, you look like an ant. 

Art it seems has always played a preponderant role in the communist psyche – they were the equivalent of larger than life Manga comics to either palliate the fears of the masses or to whip them up into a frenzy –  since the fall of the Soviet union and the rise of the China who much prefer forest of skyscrapers – most of the iconography of Soviet styled art has more or less died away or fallen into disrepute – and the only country on this planet who has managed to preserve the skills sets with remarkable fidelity just happens to be North Korea.

In fact, they are so good at it; designing and constructing gargantuan Beaux soviet styled statutes – it just happens to be their biggest exports these days – not even the Koreans, Japanese and Americans can match them when it comes to cost, design integrity and delivery reliability – along with the creative spirit to recruit the hearts and minds of ordinary folk, just as the statute called “mother Russia,”  to commemorate the battle in Stalingrad is so big; one of her tits can probably fit 2 commercial jetliners and still manage to take in all the pain and aches of a whole nation that once fought the Nazi’s and still have enough real estate to impart that sobriquet chicken soup feeling of “good has finally triumphed over evil,” to most ordinary Russians.

Make no mistake – this is what I call creating a market niche on a world class footing – not your press a button and get me a 2 percentage point like what Temasek and GIC seem to be doing aka gambling - The skill level to pull these type of projects on an international scale requires nothing short of what I call the pursuit of excellence – not only in engineering, but logistics along with the disciplined workforce.

It’s such a thriving industry, the North Koreans have even launched a International business arm (when they are probably not kidnapping Japanese) called Mansudae Art Company – which handles contracts all the way from Senegal, Libya, Egypt and some say Malaysia may even be tinkering with the idea of constructing a massive monument (only one word of warning, Mansudae is not Sattchi & Sattchi or Pininfarina , so don’t expect Barcelona chairs, cool piped jazz, pastel carpets, soft lights and Andy Warhol prints to grace their lobby – you will probably get a matron like Miss Kim who used be the all open women’s Judo Champion cum ex Commissar of the Korean gulag to greet you with a bone crushing handshake followed by, “papers please!” And a sign that says, “no smoking,” but since the dear leader loves to puff away, someone has considerately placed a large ashtray there. (so my advice to eight ball Tharman is go with Singaporedaddy, he speaks and writes excellent Russian).

The North Koreans haven’t really mashed and geared themselves into the international scene yet, so they are still rough around the corners – my point is this afternoon, is they definitely have something to offer to grow the Singapore economy – judging from the way they’re cornering the world market when it comes to gargantuan set pieces – if they happen to be a listed firm in the Nasdaq or S&P – I would definitely rate them as a strong “buy,” for cornering the world market when it comes to massive art structures – as that’s definitely something that a darn hard act to follow – besides with so many legends in their own minds around these days, that can only mean, there will never ever go red, not in their accounts at least  - Darkness 2010

“You see if you want to marry a really astonishingly beautiful woman; that’s high maintenance, its like buying into a blue chip stock, you’re paying a high premium and theres no guarantee that she will give you a good return on you know what, for all you know she could just turn out to be a penny stock one day – and that’s not all, if you can’t keep up; she will probably break you in two and you might very well find yourself underneath some bridge – as she will leach you right down to the bone. Like (name deleted); that’s how I see how that ****** threw in the towel. He bought big time into hot air! I am not going to mince my words here!

But if you go with a woman who may not have all the golden proportions; then the chances are she will probably supplement her lack of looks with some skill sets like cooking – or maybe she just has to cultivate a good temperament or something to bear you out – nature is incredibly fair – when you’re short; you’ve make up for the deficit – so that sort of woman is a someone that you should ideally marry – she’s a good investment for the long term, you’re getting her at rock bottom prices so that means your upside is almost 100%  and the risk are hedged as she will be so eternally grateful that you have chosen her she will go through thick and thin with you.

Listen to me; looks are overrated, those things don’t last – go for value –character, temperament and level headedness, those things don’t diminish with time, they are so real; the rest is just hot air - the best part is; you can never lose out in the long haul; as the years go by – these things can only go up and up – a good investment is always a good investment – that’s why I go for real things, and if I call my woman, she will just appear like Zorro’s horse…and I just jump and ride away…..in life you need real things, not hot air…..unless you want to crash and burn like the Hindenburg…go for it, she’s gold, she’s a strong buy…I am glad you came to me; bc this is something even your mama and papa will never be able to share with you – the value to real things…not hot air!”

Darkness 2009 / Expedition in Africa – from the Book of Ages / Page 3,007 – filed under, “wisdom.” – The Brotherhood Press 2010

North Korean Project in Senegal

The Brotherhood Press – 2010

 

 

 

 

 

Warning to all brotherhood readers (please circulate to PBK and ekunaba): 

You see to me life is very simple if you want to post in a wolf site posing as sheep’s jumpsuit that fine. Only remember this, if you press them on why they faked the DDos attack and they find themselves cornered, bc they faked it and we have the proof – when the time is right we will release it, that way we will inflict maximum damage – they will “name and shame” you! – don’t believe me – take a look at this, if they can do it to me, you are dust, so go ahead and post there – between me and you the only posting there is two cyberwarriors and they know I know it!: http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/11/13/geoffrey-pereira-continues-to-launch-another-tirade-against-temasek-review-on-his-blog/comment-page-2/  just take a look at the entry at Sun, 15th Nov 2009 1:38 am (not to worry, I have it mirrored copied) – so you all been forwarned, post there, you die! You will be named and shamed! If they can do it me; you are dust! That’s wisdom. go there and see how they will transform into the new ST online -give them all a false sense of security, but NEVER post – remember, there is only two sock puppets there – Darkness 2010

Finding a slice of heaven in the digital hell of Singapore

I shoot on only film, tried digital for a while and am now back to film again (these days I keep my digital handy in my glove compartment, just in case, I spot a UFO or something). Film, and this is really subjective I suppose, just looks more natural – for one do you notice the blue in the sky is never the paraffin saccharine hue that you usually get from dinky digital cameras – skin tones are look more natural – that’s because when you use a mechanical camera what happens is a DIRECT translation between what you see and you get –fidelity is something that you can never ever get from a digital camera, the moment you press the button, information about the image goes right through a microchip – somewhere hundreds of calculations are performed to define what red is best against X,Y and Z – along with maybe ten thousand other calculations to produce something that simply shouts out, “Hey this is how it looks!” – for some reason this just doesn’t do it for me; you can only believe it if you believe everything in this world resembles some colorful glossy brochure.
I am not saying I am a purist for purism sake – in fact, I am quite a big fan of fake; that may be one reason why I have no problems with fake tits, (I actually think they look pretty good and feel better than the homegrown variety – I do however draw a line on fake people though – rather be alone with a good book) – my only gripe about digital versus film is the former relegates everything to a microchip; whereas with a mechanical camera, what you see is closer to what you get – this may sound like a technophobia cum control freak rant, but it isn’t – all I am just saying is technology has a place and it’s here to stay; however, if one can accept that idea, then there should also be a place for things that were once hard, difficult and darn mind boggling to perform – things like slow food instead of artery clogging fast food served up in 3 minutes flat; gourmet brewed coffee instead of 3 in 1 instant Nescafe etc.
Shooting with film in this respect has to be a verb; it’s an act of reclaiming yourself against the onslaught of the digital age we are living in; for one it requires a gamut of skills, you need to be sensitive of light, its texture and along with ten other things which may be too long to mention here – but one thing about film that digital can never have is it has an indelible quality of serendipity about it (that’s like wondering in a second hand book shop and finding a first edition of Dorian Gray inscribed with the words, “To my one and only love!” And that bastard flogged it off!) – it’s hard to explain that rich and textured feeling called serendipity – that in between time when one triggers the shutter and the moment a few weeks later when one looks at a photo instead of being able to see it instantly in the synthetic digital world – it’s like receiving a handwritten creamy letter penned with a fountain pen; using a sextant to fix a point and squaring off one’s position on a map with an old fashion divider and magnetic compass when one is sailing all alone – my point is as the world becomes increasingly mesmerized by the allure of the digital age and everything seems to just pop out like 3 minute toast something has to give – and that thing is understanding and appreciation along with the beauty of things – this may sound like a crie de couer, but when the world seems to be barreling like a maglev train; it may be a good idea to just go the other way – for one it adds considerably to the mystery of things and makes the journey far more satisfying.
My hope you will find that secret garden where the digital age hasn’t found a foot hold yet – as that’s where you will probably find a slice of heaven.

Happy Hunting.

Darkness 2010 -The brotherhood Press 2010

“Listen this is a Hasselbald; it’s got a 340 roll, that means, I only have 16 shots – now you have your red zodiac umbrella and that Cheong Sam I bought for you from Shanghai – we’re made the one hour trip to Chinese gardens and let me tell you this, the light is just right: I have 16 shots, but I am going to wing it on this one, that means, I am just going to take only one shot – but to make it all come together; I want you to look at me; not just look with your eyes, but deep down with your heart, right down to the marrow of your bones; and imagine that you’re looking at me as if I am some island that you want to be in – but it’s not any island, it’s remote….faraway dotty…in some shark infested waters…what, I want is a mix of fear and fascination…  remember, I am just going to give it one shot…..look at me and beyond all your hopes…the camera doesn’t exist… she’s just a witness.”

Darkness 2005 / Extract from the Book of Ages – under the chapter – the Weirding ways – Page 2,008 – The chronicler

N.B DO BOOKMARK THIS SITE, IF SOME OF YOU CLAIM, YOU ARE MISSING OUT, BOOKMARK IT, THAT WAY WHEN WE DECIDE TO TAKE OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE, AT LEAST YOU CAN FOLLOW US ON THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO CONT READING SOME OF OUR STUFF . BOOKMARK, IT AS WHEN THEY TAKE OFF, AS THEY DO, AT LEAST, YOU WILL HAVE A LINK, DO IT NOW!– ANOTHER GOOD REASON TO BOOKMARK THIS SITE IS THIS HAS HAPPENED  RECENTLY – http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/11/daily-sg-11-jan-2010/#comment-7611 , THE BP HAS BARRED ALL FUTURE ESSAYS TO BE POSTED BY THE SINGAPORE DAILY. I DID ASK BABY DARKNESS ABOUT THIS AND THIS IS WHAT HE HAD TO SAY, ” There are two ways to read, one is you let someone spoon feed you like a baby. The second is you choose what and how you want to eat.  Remember, if your body is a temple. Your mind has to be the altar piece; it’s the linchpin that makes possible the grand idea of La Convivencia with you and your community, spirit, mind and perhaps 7 million other things- without this one thing, the power to choose, you are simply a cactus on a window sill! 

So understand this little rich girl, there is reading and there is reading, there is a world of difference, if you dont even bother to argue with the belief, you are what you eat. Then you would have absolutely no problem understanding – why, you are most definitely without a shadow of doubt what you read and dont read.

You can certainly categorize what I write, but you have no right to judge ……that was what Singaporedaily did - a broad line has to be drawn, otherwise, dont be surprise, if someone decides its card blanche to give you and me the mushroom treatment, “feed you shit and keep you in the dark.” So this has nothing to do with Anime 3 and her rubberband brigade. I value her readership and support, but this is a bigger sphere we are dealing with here – so this is where I will draw the line…it will hurt…like that other fake site, Temasek review that kept faking doss attacks; but how could they let the real wolf out without first planting the idea in peoples mind, “if it can happen to me, it will also happen to you,” Think about it – they cried wolf – we helped, but this time, I am not going to stick my neck out for no one…its everyman for himself….I dont even care, if the whole house catches fire…call it tough love, but if you aren’t a hard man, then you shouldn’t be in the ring and that’s the only way to deal with people who cry wolf, its all here, the explanation

http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/12/daily-sg-12-jan-2010/#comment-7618 - dont worry dotty, the readers will eventually pick up the scent…they always do, you just wait and see, dont ever sweat the small stuff, life is too short – Darkness 2010……”Missy Dotty

Darkness 2010 -The brotherhood Press 2010

Monkey See, Monkey Do

This Essay is written by Singaporedaddy of the Brotherhood

I read this excellent essay recently The behaviour of little Lee Kuan Yews  the first thing that came into my mind was what’s the mystery? There is no Da Vinci code here to unravel – the root cause why we have so many mini-me LKY brigades running around a making life unbearable for decent folk is simply based on the common sense school of thought – Monkey see, monkey do – the saying refers to the learning of a process without a deep spirited understanding of why, how or even calculating the cost of mimicry.

The long term consequences results in a travesty of human waste as what lies at the nucleus of “Monkey see, Monkey do” usually involves limited knowledge of the consequences and its wider ramifications – in short, it’s a form of reductionism, where one is incline to see the world in only black and white – you’re either a scholar or a cookie cutter; switched on or off, wired or logged off, engaged or apathetic, with me or against me and so and so forth – in a nutshell, life is increasingly seen in only binary terms – and that can only mean all the grey stuff like empathy, humanity along with the greater question of what is the meaning of life is squeezed out and replaced by a clipboard with a neat row of decision boxes.

The main question to me is how did we get into this hole – IMHO, it may have something to do with what Darkness my friend likes to call “the great lie” that to succeed YOU MUST ALWAYS FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD. This may appear perfectly logical; but it has to be nonsense on the scale of the pyramids –because  if you really stop and take the trouble to drill deeper into the innards of how successful people lead a purpose driven life – the first rule is the route to the top is NEVER an elevator; it’s not even straight sometimes, take Einstein for example, the first half of his life where he spend most of his time as a clerk in a patent office makes Forest Gump look like Tiger Woods on a PGA tour – the same holds true for Edison, the Wright brothers and most people who have made it to the top – these winners have all taken the same long road; but they’ve also broken out from their comfort zones; as far as roads go, it may not even be the smoothest - it winds, meanders, snakes, goes up and down and its closer to the 40 nights and 40 days stuff, but one thing is patently clear – none of them EVER followed the yellow brick road. Infact, they just made up their own route and that’s one reason why following in the wake of every “new” invention or new line of thought, there’s always a chorus of skepticism and criticism – people it seems don’t like others to rock their boats.

If I had to plumb it; a good place to start is set your sights on a good role model; need not be someone from who’s who  – for example; my friend Darkness just happens to be one hell of a great photographer and till today, he still shoots using film (who even does that anymore?) and his role model doesn’t even happen to be the greats like David Bailey or Adam Andsel – in fact, he honed his skills on the back of a factory supervisor by the name of Mr Pang, who incidentally is as famous as one of the many faceless tiles that you may find on the pavement in Singapore – setting your sights on a good role model can bring out the best or worse in you – that’s why one of the deciders that makes or breaks an interview when I called upon to sit down and evaluate a prospective candidate for a job always revolves around the killer question: who do you most want to be?  

You could even say the answer just happens to be nothing less than the story of your life and that could be one reason why – whenever I visit any city in the world, that’s really the only question I ever care to ask of others – and the results are telling; let me share with all of you my results – for example if you stop anyone in New York and ask them who they most want to be, its either Bill Gates or Steve Jobs (providing he doesn’t die soon as he seems to be losing so much weight, he’s starting to look like one of his slim lined igear) – ask the same question in Hong Kong and even a 3 year old will tell you, he wants to be the next Li Ka Shin; go to India and the chances are it will be draw between Narayana Murthy or Amita Bachan; in Russia, it certainly Nabakov ( writer); In Sweden, all mothers and even fathers aspire to be Astrid Lindgren (minus her wrinkles of course) and so on and so forth.

But stop anyone and ask them in Orchard who do you most want to be – and the answer is really the coda of the title of this essay The behaviour of little Lee Kuan Yews   – like I said, monkey sees, monkey do – who is your role model?

Singaporedaddy

“Look the Leica fitted with a 28mm lens is like a Lee Enfield 303; it’s simple, there are only really a few moving parts; that means you never ever get distracted and you can focus your whole being into the subject – its built in an age when stuff like these were not so different from family heirlooms; so don’t come down here and tell me that your plastic electronic wonder that doesn’t even have the decency to shaddup when we are all climbing and keeps making irritating R2D2 sounds is superior to what you call my piece of junk – at this elevation; you can take as many pictures as you like; but up there where the ambient is -30 below zero – the only picture that we are going to come down with is going to be from what you call this old piece of junk – what’s good yesterday, is good today and good for tomorrow. Look here Gentlemen, everything that you see here is the best of the best; everything from the ropes right down to the carabiners – where we’re heading, we can only carry one; there is no need for a back up camera, if we go with this – she’s good for the summit. That’s why yours stays at base camp and this goes up!”

Darkness 2006 – Extracted From the Book of Ages / Chapter: Expeditions to the Unknown – Pumori climb / Page 892

N.B DO BOOKMARK THIS SITE, IF SOME OF YOU CLAIM, YOU ARE MISSING OUT, BOOKMARK IT, THAT WAY WHEN WE DECIDE TO TAKE OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE, AT LEAST YOU CAN FOLLOW US ON THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO CONT READING SOME OF OUR STUFF . BOOKMARK, IT AS WHEN THEY TAKE OFF, AS THEY DO, AT LEAST, YOU WILL HAVE A LINK, DO IT NOW!– ANOTHER GOOD REASON TO BOOKMARK THIS SITE IS THIS HAS HAPPENED  RECENTLY – http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/11/daily-sg-11-jan-2010/#comment-7611 , THE BP HAS BARRED ALL FUTURE ESSAYS TO BE POSTED BY THE SINGAPORE DAILY. I DID ASK BABY DARKNESS ABOUT THIS AND THIS IS WHAT HE HAD TO SAY, ” There are two ways to read, one is you let someone spoon feed you like a baby. The second is you choose what and how you want to eat.  Remember, if your body is a temple. Your mind has to be the altar piece; it’s the linchpin that makes possible the grand idea of La Convivencia with you and your community, spirit, mind and perhaps 7 million other things- without this one thing, the power to choose, you are simply a cactus on a window sill! 

So understand this little rich girl, there is reading and there is reading, there is a world of difference, if you dont even bother to argue with the belief, you are what you eat. Then you would have absolutely no problem understanding – why, you are most definitely without a shadow of doubt what you read and dont read.

You can certainly categorize what I write, but you have no right to judge ……that was what Singaporedaily did - a broad line has to be drawn, otherwise, dont be surprise, if someone decides its card blanche to give you and me the mushroom treatment, “feed you shit and keep you in the dark.” So this has nothing to do with Anime 3 and her rubberband brigade. I value her readership and support, but this is a bigger sphere we are dealing with here – so this is where I will draw the line…it will hurt…like that other fake site, Temasek review that kept faking doss attacks; but how could they let the real wolf out without first planting the idea in peoples mind, “if it can happen to me, it will also happen to you,” Think about it – they cried wolf – we helped, but this time, I am not going to stick my neck out for no one…its everyman for himself….I dont even care, if the whole house catches fire…call it tough love, but if you aren’t a hard man, then you shouldn’t be in the ring and that’s the only way to deal with people who cry wolf, its all here, the explanation

http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/12/daily-sg-12-jan-2010/#comment-7618 - dont worry dotty, the readers will eventually pick up the scent…they always do, you just wait and see, dont ever sweat the small stuff, life is too short – Darkness 2010……”Missy Dotty

Additional Warning to all brotherhood readers (please circulate to PBK and ekunaba): 

You see to me life is very simple if you want to post in a wolf site posing as sheep’s jumpsuit that fine. Only remember this, if you press them on why they faked the DDos attack and the find themselves cornered – they will “name and shame” you! – don’t believe me – take a look at this, if they can do it to me, you are dust, so go ahead and post there – between me and you the only posting there is two cyberwarriors and they know I know it!: http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/11/13/geoffrey-pereira-continues-to-launch-another-tirade-against-temasek-review-on-his-blog/comment-page-2/  just take a look at the entry at Sun, 15th Nov 2009 1:38 am (not to worry, I have it mirrored copied) – so you all been forwarned, post there, you die! You will be named and shamed!

 

Why China fucked itself big time with Google

Google announced recently that it might pull out of China, the world’s biggest Internet market, because it detected that the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists using Google’s Gmail service had been breached and the search giant’s corporate infrastructure had experienced some attacks.
Google’s “ultimatum” may seem like an elephant gun, judging from the amount of support it’s getting from the White House to the Capital Hill, from Lagos to Paris, politicians, business leaders, philosophers et al backed Google’s decision to the hilt – but to me that’s not where the crying game is going to be played.
Fact remains, even if Google decides to pull out from China there are going to be plenty of firms who can pick up the slack – from a commercial standpoint, it’s no big deal, neither will Google’s threat to pull out trigger a precipitous change like the fall of the Berlin wall – cold factual cuts suggest the Great Firewall will be up and standing – so once again, what Google is or is not going to do is like whether we get a rainbow tomorrow or not – it’s pretty irrelevant.
The real crying game and where I think China Inc will suffer the most damage is in it’s reputation – and to understand this, you may need to buy into a new concept. As we are talking about morality and not money – you see its very simple; the world these days has changed irrevocably – some people who still go around the world and give, “I am living legend,” talks may not realize this – but if you look around you the mantra these days isn’t like those helium filled days when you can do anything you want to turn in buck and as long as your shareholders get a good return on their investment – life just goes right on.
These days – with the economic meltdown, even the average Joe in Nebraska is asking himself, why should my tax dollars be used to pay out creamy bonuses for corporate honcho’s that seem to do nothing but fly around in private jets – there’s not only a perceptive shift – but there’s a real demand for moral coherency along with the whole idea of “doing the right thing.”

So far, China’s definition of “doing the right thing” has been a shambolic disaster,:
I am sure Xinhua news will try to sell this as Shao lin Chiropractors doling out free back massages to Tibetans, who are just so relaxed that they can’t even pull up their pants (so now you know lah, if you have back pain, just take a trip to Tibet) - Look, I am not saying people are not interested in money any more; sure they are – but they’re increasing asking themselves ethically loaded questions like they have never bothered to ask before: like why is this guy getting so much money and why is he delivering so little value? Or where is this Persian rug made? Did some child go blind just so that I can warm my feet in winter? And the list goes on and on. To paraphrase, a new calculus has leached into the collective consciousness – its not just about good olde return on investment, but what is the moral cost?
It’s in this land somewhere in my head, yours and perhaps a few billion people in the world where China’s mismanagement of the Google affair will really blow up – as no one likes to deal with a morally bankrupt regime that’s so paranoid, insecure and fearful of that it even has to hire stadium loads of cyber warriors just to keep their decrepit oligarchy intact.
That sort of attitude just breeds suspicion, mistrust and does very little to recruit the hearts and minds of the masses – china will feel the backlash, it will come and hit them like a multi headed hydra in the international world of trade and commerce. The shit storm is just starting to brew – for example Chinese telecom equipment vendor Huawei is increasingly being seen as Trojan horse by most middle class Indians who have always valued the idea of democracy and free speech and this recent spat with Google will only exacerbate and breed bad karma – the same corrosive blend of mistrust scuttled the deal between BHP Billiton and a large Chinese mining conglomerate – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg, ordinary folk who all subscribe to the idea of the level playing are all getting increasingly incensed by China’s belligerence and recalcitrant attitude –result: they all forming groups in facebook and twitter to boycott Chinese made products.
As I said, this is only the rumble before the storm; you’ve seen nothing yet – but this not new, the world has already seen it all before – and the growing mood of discontentment is reminiscent of how South Africa in the 80’s under Apartheid was increasingly perceived as many to be pariah state – and that was way before the advent of the internet – they bowed out then.
This time with the awesome power of the internet to recruit, organize and focus; the successful struggle for freedom and democracy in china will be immeasurably sharpened and heightened – already, even in our fraternity, there is a boycott on all China made bicycle products, components and nick nacks – doesn’t matter how cheap or good it is, if it’s made in China – dowanlah (I don’t want) is the ubiquitous response – money is secondary to morality.
In summary; china may have won the battle; but they have certainly lost the war – as while battles are fought with the power of the Yuan, GDP, GNP and stellar economic track records – wars aren’t that simple to win as they reside somewhere in a soft and cushy country called the hearts and minds – without a moral compasss you’re fucked (there is no way to be polite about it).

Welcome to the crying game.

Darkness 2010
“I see a storm coming; look at the edges. Do you see how the eddies curl and turn white like bones, the sea is trying to tell us something -  I don’t care what the weather report says; besides when have they ever been right….look up there…..for fuck sake, learn something for once… do you see the cumulus driving away the thin threads at the upper reaches, that means she’s gathering speed…soon, she will be spinning like a top…that’s the tell, we are not sailing into a storm, we are right in the eye of one that’s just about to form….don;t tell the lad yet, I don’t want any of them to lose their heads – it may look clear and sunny now, but the crying game will begin soon….change to 130? You don’t understand do you:  we are in it, so there’s no point trying to outrun her – she’s got us by the balls and judging from the way she’s working herself up; that whore is bent on slapping us good and proper, all we can do is curl up and roll with the punches….. and perhaps say to her, me trae al fresco -it’s no mystrey why this ins the only side of the ocean where you find the most wrecks – the Spaniards used to fear it so much, they called it -  la cola del diablo – it took down more ships than ten Bermuda Triangles  put together- she’s bad, tell the rest of the boys to gear up with hoods and I want everything tied down like a magnet; this will be rough! That’s how, the big ones come…you can never see them coming,  not like the small ones, where you can even smell them days ahead!…this is a mother, where two or maybe three fronts close in all in one spot….today is the day, you will see grown men pee….and shout out mama! Today is the day, you will learn to respect the sea….la cola el diablo, the whore that you are…….**** you! and **** your sisters!”

 
Darkness 2004

(Recorded in the Book of Ages / under the Chapter of Expeditions to the unknown / page 2,23o – Brotherhood Press 2004 – Somewhere in the Indian Ocean)

N.B DO BOOKMARK THIS SITE, IF SOME OF YOU CLAIM, YOU ARE MISSING OUT, BOOKMARK IT, THAT WAY WHEN WE DECIDE TO TAKE OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE, AT LEAST YOU CAN FOLLOW US ON THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO CONT READING SOME OF OUR STUFF . BOOKMARK, IT AS WHEN THEY TAKE OFF, AS THEY DO, AT LEAST, YOU WILL HAVE A LINK, DO IT NOW!– ANOTHER GOOD REASON TO BOOKMARK THIS SITE IS THIS HAS HAPPENED  RECENTLY – http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/11/daily-sg-11-jan-2010/#comment-7611 , THE BP HAS BARRED ALL FUTURE ESSAYS TO BE POSTED BY THE SINGAPORE DAILY. I DID ASK BABY DARKNESS ABOUT THIS AND THIS IS WHAT HE HAD TO SAY, ” There are two ways to read, one is you let someone spoon feed you like a baby. The second is you choose what and how you want to eat.  Remember, if your body is a temple. Your mind has to be the altar piece; it’s the linchpin that makes possible the grand idea of La Convivencia with you and your community, spirit, mind and perhaps 7 million other things- without this one thing, the power to choose, you are simply a cactus on a window sill! 

So understand this little rich girl, there is reading and there is reading, there is a world of difference, if you dont even bother to argue with the belief, you are what you eat. Then you would have absolutely no problem understanding – why, you are most definitely without a shadow of doubt what you read and dont read.

You can certainly categorize what I write, but you have no right to judge ……that was what Singaporedaily did - a broad line has to be drawn, otherwise, dont be surprise, if someone decides its card blanche to give you and me the mushroom treatment, “feed you shit and keep you in the dark.” So this has nothing to do with Anime 3 and her rubberband brigade. I value her readership and support, but this is a bigger sphere we are dealing with here – so this is where I will draw the line…it will hurt…like that other fake site, Temasek review that kept faking doss attacks; but how could they let the real wolf out without first planting the idea in peoples mind, “if it can happen to me, it will also happen to you,” Think about it – they cried wolf – we helped, but this time, I am not going to stick my neck out for no one…its everyman for himself….I dont even care, if the whole house catches fire…call it tough love, but if you aren’t a hard man, then you shouldn’t be in the ring and that’s the only way to deal with people who cry wolf, its all here, the explanation

http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/12/daily-sg-12-jan-2010/#comment-7618 - dont worry dotty, the readers will eventually pick up the scent…they always do, you just wait and see, dont ever sweat the small stuff, life is too short – Darkness 2010……”Missy Dotty

Strange things that just go bump in the night – the Curta

What I am going to share with you all today is a story about how adversity is the mother of necessity – it also happens to be one of those stuff that really piques my interest.
There you go.

No it’s not a high tech pepper grinder, believe it or not, it’s a mechanical calculator. But that’s just a foretaste as the weirdest part of this invention is the history that accompanies it.
The Incredible Curta was invented by a certain Mr Herzstark who was a prisoner in Buchenwald (you know the place where they have those showers that spew out gas instead of water) – history doesn’t really record why a prisoner in a death camp was allowed the time, material and even encouragement to work on such a device – had it gone into full scale production during WW 2, this would have been the equivalent of Apple’s latest itablet – you see the Nazi’s weren’t very good at math; they didn’t place a lot of emphasis on adding, subtracting and dividing – wonder no more why most of rockets fell short of London and ended up killing sheep and cows in some obscure countryside in Surrey – but as I said, if a Nazi artillery commander had the Curta, his shells would certainly find the mark; submarine commanders wouldn’t have to wonder whether their torpedoes would find the bulkheads of merchant ships and German pilots wouldn’t have too much trouble figuring out whether they had enough fuel for the return trip. And death camps commandants would probably use it to calculate how many Jews can I fit into the death showers. You get my drift.
But Mr Herzstark wasn’t a dummy; he wasn’t going to let this mechanical brain fall into the grubby hands of the Nazi’s; so that they can win the war and continue doing the evil stuff, they do to people and planet - history records what he once said to a fellow inmate, “I am going to give those bastards a false sense of confidence…then when the least expect it, shut the trap door!” , wonder no more why he used the Curta as a way to squeeze out better terms from the camp commandant – and perhaps saved a couple of hundred other lives by getting extra rations, better living conditions and odd red cross rations etc – he may have even been responsible for helping bring WW II to a quick end – as seven prototypes of the Curta were issued to the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) to compute their sights; true to the spirit of the rebel; Mr Herztstark deliberately sabotaged them by adding a ghost in the machine: result – those submarines all ended up in the bottom of the Atlantic (not a bad innings, if you ask me for a man stuck in some death camp) - meanwhile to wet the beak of his jailers, he gave them the impression, he was working day and night, when he was probably just doodling and pretending to be really busy (sounds abit like me when I work)
In was only in April 1945 when the Americans liberated the camp – that Mr Herzstark proclaimed his invention had been completed, he had the last laugh as it never ever went into full scale mass production – smart guy if you ask me; as I can’t think of a better way to blackmail my captors – string them with a hook, line and sinker – bait them - give them a false sense of confidence - when they bite, just seed out rope and hold on tight and never let go – to me that’s strategy at the highest level – when you play your opponent like a violin and he even pays you for it – history states as far as prison life goes, Mr Herzstark lived like a lord and king, he was even allowed to eat on the same table as his captors.

This story may not be a page turner; but it’s certainly a life changer – as it demonstrates very clearly how when faced with a bigger and stronger foe; and this could be your evil boss at work; that guy that’s eyeing your job, rumor mongerer or just some cheap site that out to do you in with a couple of cyber hired guns (that don’t even know how to clean up after the kill! And leave a blood trail that says, “here I am!”). The moral of the story is keep your cool like our Mr Herzstark and don’t forget to use your brains - pitch it right and you can even get what you want; but always remember that’s only possible if you have something to offer – so work on that part, but remember package it right like a juicy sardine curled along a shank – once they bite, hold on and wear them down – don’t be impulsive, don’t tug, just be cool (I prefer the trickle effect, it’s much more effective than the big bang – as it operates at a very one to one personal level, where you may just be talking to less than 3 or 4 people, remember even trickling water can cut through Tungsten carbide grade granite – don’t believe me – next time you go on a date and you want to make an impression, leave your mobile phone at home – she will notice it,  and when she does, just say something like, “you know what the poets say, you can hold time in a grain of sand – in the same way one evening can be the span of a lifetime – effect: she will never forget you, never! - unless of course she sees your room where all the clothes go to die) do it right and you can even squeeze them to get the best terms when you have a lousy hand of cards – that incidentally happens to be one of the greatest tricks in life – turning tables on your enemies, that is.

Darkness 2010

N.B DO BOOKMARK THIS SITE, IF SOME OF YOU CLAIM, YOU ARE MISSING OUT, BOOKMARK IT, THAT WAY WHEN WE DECIDE TO TAKE OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE, AT LEAST YOU CAN FOLLOW US ON THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO CONT READING SOME OF OUR STUFF . BOOKMARK, IT AS WHEN THEY TAKE OFF, AS THEY DO, AT LEAST, YOU WILL HAVE A LINK, DO IT NOW!– ANOTHER GOOD REASON TO BOOKMARK THIS SITE IS THIS HAS HAPPENED  RECENTLY – http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/11/daily-sg-11-jan-2010/#comment-7611 , THE BP HAS BARRED ALL FUTURE ESSAYS TO BE POSTED BY THE SINGAPORE DAILY. I DID ASK BABY DARKNESS ABOUT THIS AND THIS IS WHAT HE HAD TO SAY, ” There are two ways to read, one is you let someone spoon feed you like a baby. The second is you choose what and how you want to eat.  Remember, if your body is a temple. Your mind has to be the altar piece; it’s the linchpin that makes possible the grand idea of La Convivencia with you and your community, spirit, mind and perhaps 7 million other things- without this one thing, the power to choose, you are simply a cactus on a window sill! 

So understand this little rich girl, there is reading and there is reading, there is a world of difference, if you dont even bother to argue with the belief, you are what you eat. Then you would have absolutely no problem understanding – why, you are most definitely without a shadow of doubt what you read and dont read.

You can certainly categorize what I write, but you have no right to judge ……that was what Singaporedaily did - a broad line has to be drawn, otherwise, dont be surprise, if someone decides its card blanche to give you and me the mushroom treatment, “feed you shit and keep you in the dark.” So this has nothing to do with Anime 3 and her rubberband brigade. I value her readership and support, but this is a bigger sphere we are dealing with here – so this is where I will draw the line…it will hurt…like that other fake site, Temasek review that kept faking doss attacks; but how could they let the real wolf out without first planting the idea in peoples mind, “if it can happen to me, it will also happen to you,” Think about it – they cried wolf – we helped, but this time, I am not going to stick my neck out for no one…its everyman for himself….I dont even care, if the whole house catches fire…call it tough love, but if you aren’t a hard man, then you shouldn’t be in the ring and that’s the only way to deal with people who cry wolf, its all here, the explanation

http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/12/daily-sg-12-jan-2010/#comment-7618 - dont worry dotty, the readers will eventually pick up the scent…they always do, you just wait and see, dont ever sweat the small stuff, life is too short – Darkness 2010……”Missy Dotty

What does Jazz have in common with the Internet

Most people would hardly be convinced about the power of music to change anything my dearest Dotty – that’s because, they know nothing of the preponderance it once played in shaping who we are today and I suspect who we will be tomorrow – I don’t think music can be devalued – for one it has a character that is unique to an age and time, like old seasoned leather, it resonates and has a character of its own.
Neither is music worthless either, hardly the stuff of primroses and parks – anyone who tells you that dedicating oneself to music rather than investing one’s being to acquire a copper gilded degree from an Ivy league college, simply doesn’t know the economics of value – all it takes to rubbish that crumbly notion is to highlight how United Airlines was once prepared to pay $300,000 for the right to use Gershwin’s rhapsody in blue in their advertisements and as back ground music to muffle the drone of jet engines – music has value and even power I suspect
Most people don’t notice how powerful music can be; they remain the stuff of fire hydrants; inconspicuous camera’s and ashtrays – but for some reason, I do, and at times, it’s embarrassing when I hum along even to elevator music – people always give me that, “what’s that’s guy’s problem?”
Like I said, most people don’t take music seriously enough to understand, it just didn’t walk over a knoll – like the internet, that was once conceived as a dooms day postman that suddenly found itself as a global network – the story of Jazz and it eventual passage to respectability bears some similarities; it’s hard to believe these days, that I’ve even widely written on why Jazz was the equivalent of the internet in an age when co-axials wires didn’t exist – that may have been one reason why Rhapsody in Blue will always have a special place somewhere in my brain – as a when it first came out, it was considered by many to be some form reductionism – that in part may have something to do with the formless and breadth of improvisation that the Gershwin deployed – in truth, he stole from Jazz and if you take the trouble to listen carefully note the 3+3+2 blue notes; glissandi, dah-dah-dah modulation and augmented sixth chords that are simply signature marks of Jazz – they are not only conspicuous in Rhapsody in Blue, but you could even say, like the internet these days – it was a poseur that once threatened the establishment very much like how our internet challenges different states of minds and schools of thoughts these days. Truth the spat between Google and the Chinese Govt aren’t so different from the days when Jazz clubs were shut down with trucheons – it embodiment of the conflict between what must be and what will be – in a nutshell, one guy sees it as a perdition; the other as salvation.
That’s one reason why when we talk about Jazz these days; it’s very much like the internet today – it’s a force for change – just as u can’t talk about the internet without mentioning its oppositional bent or its unwillingness to be tacked down on a pelt rack – the same holds true for Jazz, it was born during the period of prohibition – when dancing, drinking and sex was considered the height of moral turpitude – and if that wasn’t enough, it was born just around the time when the red scare and women’s suffrage first showed up in times square en masse.
The link between Jazz and the internet and its tenuous relationship between subversion, intoxication and criminality is startling when one considers how well they both mirror each other – but one thing is clear just as nothing could have killed Jazz; I don’t believe anything can ever kill the internet as what is holds out is not so different to what once guaranteed the survival of Jazz – the right to be whoever you choose to be and the rest can just take a hike – l have the power to say, “I don’t care.”

Darkness 2010

P.S: I want to share something with you Missy Dotty – when we play together – there is only a few things in my mind, well being, sweet repose and happy respites – like I said, my knee is busted up; so what do you say, if we just get together tonite and make some nice music? Cold shouldering is good, but the problem is silence is only of value when some expects you to say something…and I’ve never really been good with words. Enjoy and as I said, never pull, never push and there is no need to press, somethings just needs to allowed to happen. There are no rules and we can make it all up and take it from there – so what do you say, nine sounds nice. Besides, your violin is out of tone; I can tune it for you and even change the strings – I’ve just got new ones in ebay – it set me back a small fortune, but I think, once you hear me play it, even you will agree, all manner of things will simply melt like a sugar cube in a hot cup of tea – that’s the power of music….and the internet of course….it has the power to change…..I hope you will allow me to show you how to play the violin ( I am after all a poseur, I can’t help it).

To Missy Dotty From Darkness

Currencies fluctuate capriciously ; the market whirls up and sown in a frenzy; and most nations seem to be on the escalator of inflation and rising unemployment, with their experts totally confounded by the seemingly insoluble crisis – yet your only concern Missy Dotty is why can’t I seem to reach the higher notes on my violin without so much effort?

Fair enough.  I’ve been meaning to tell this for so long a time; your pose is your undoing – you’re too upright, erect, as if standing ramrod for some sepia print picture to be taken; so only your arms and fingers move, but the rest of your body remains frozen, (you’re moving like the lady up there, but you’re not moving as much as the instrument is forcing you to move – notice how she has to pull and push with so much effort, she’s killing it! Notice how her head is superglued to the chin rest that there is no pitch and yaw – I bet it’s so stable, you can even put a can of tiger beer there as a side table – that’s why there is so little movement between the middle and upper bout: notice she is putting in so much effort - her breathing is also out, that why she’s turning blue and purple, if she keeps it up at this rate, she will die of lack of oxygen - she’s too preoccupied with the fidelity of the score; let me tell you, you can cut out parts of it without affecting the whole in any way to even make it yours, that’s the trick) – as I said, I’ve been meaning to point this out to you; but like little coughs and slight heaves; I felt it would all past, but it seems to be getting from bad to worse.

To reach the upper notes effortlessly; it’s a bit like turning familiar corners; the body moves as a whole, first the hips rouse, followed by the limbs that seem to clutch as it prepares for the subtle shift in gait –as for the arms, they can do what they like – then like the seasons we will never know; it simmers slowly to the rest of the body, till your arms and fingers begin to release their hold like a down pour that quenches the emerald green of the rice fields – the rest then falls nicely in place, your hands and fingers feel like a unfolding flower – there is no strain; you even don’t feel the timber against your cheeks (you shouldn’t even be aware of it) as your whole body seems to arch forward and backwards like dragon scales to the pitch and yaw – you don’t need to pull (who taught you that?); just exhale and allow the weight of your arms and not the muscles to do the job; and you certainly don’t need plough to reach the high either; rather lean into it with your body and you definitely don’t need to grit your teeth and put such a heavy weight on it like a Gethsemane olive press, if you want to underscore a note forcefully, simply twist your whole body like you’re throwing a discus and the instrument should be swung in the opposite direction in the way the boom of a sail boat moves left and right to tack the wind (it’s a bit like drawing out a Samurai sword -when the katana is drawn out the sheath is pulled back simultaneously – those opposite actions produce a centrifugal force that allows you to cut forcefully – in Aido / Kendo, its called Sayabiki ) – so use your hips ; that way you never ever need to use brute force and it comes out clean, clear and sweet – most importantly, you don’t need to keep to the fidelity of the score, you can add new cadenzas (better still mutilate it and la Callifa has plenty of room for improvisation, its closer to Rhapsody in Blue than something really corsetted like Rakhmaninov), or even decide to remove whole parts that seem to be encrusted to each other for no reason other than to make it really hard so score - but one thing is crucial: whatever happens must seem inevitable, or pretty inevitable, at least – my point is you can’t force it Dotty – somethings you make it happen; others you allow it to happen – this is very much the latter - that’s to say, it doesn’t pay to treat a score as if its a holy composition or vesper – there’s a lot of room for improvisation – that’s the only way I know how to devote one’s entire being into music to make it seem effortless, Dotty.

I can teach you to play like a gypsy. If you like?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VshLGLVDPq4

It’s a weekend and I have taken a fall on my bicycle recently, my knee is busted – I have time. I can show you; if you like.

Would you like that?

Darkness 2010

Can you afford not to learn how to make $ online?

One of the common misconceptions that has been underscored time and again in Singapore is if you want to get ahead in life – you need to be a scholar – that puts you on the yellow brick road to success – after that it’s the gravy train.
That means from day one, every parent, child and teacher has been psycho to believe the gold standard of organizational and personal success is to get the best possible grades so that you can get into the best schools to get the best job and the best life – that’s BS! What we need here is a paradigm shift.
Well that may be true in the past and for a select  few who can still talk nonsense and fly around the world in a first class cabin on the back of tax payers and give talks about “how I am THE legend!” – alas for the rest of us lesser mortals, we have to settle for the cookie cutter life – my point is against the nadir of this economic mess the world is facing this topic of how to MAKE MONEY ONLINE HAS never been brought into sharper focus - In the midst of a recession (if you really know how to make sense of the figures), it’s not unusual to see a shift in forums these days, there a flurry of exchanges about how freelancing is the answer to short term job loss, supplementing incomes and just a way to make ends meet.

Gone are the days, when you can just happily mine minerals and sell them to fat Americans – these days they don’t have the money to buy (period); while making money online has been around; it has always been two parts mystery and one part black arts – let’s face it, most people don’t see that as a proposition to turn the wheel of life – why should they, when they have real jobs – but what happens when you find yourself in between jobs? Or having to take unpaid leave? Suddenly the idea of making money online takes on a new meaning.
As I said the current economic crisis has rubbished many of our assumptions – while it’s true that most of the onliners who know how to reasonably make a good living from freelancing, one thing has to be stressed, it’s not a piece of cake, especially if you want to sustain a family on it.
First it takes time, commitment, a professional attitude and the ability to effectively market wares – for example – I happen to know a 50 something gentlemen who suddenly got retrenched; as a banker last year, he has no marketable value except driving a taxi, but in better times – he has always been an avid watch collector (we met some years back ago, he’s about 20 years older and he even supp”lied me with some details about clocks for some of my sappy love stories, like this: The Confessions of a Singaporean Gangster in London – Chapters 17 & 18 “An Account of an English Miner’s Wife – so these days what he does is scour the internet for flywheels, cogs, wheels and springs in forums where old watches go and die – he works in his kitchen table top and so far, he has managed to turn in a pretty good profit by selling old watches online.
The same holds true for another chap who happens to be one of my cycling buddies; he likes to tinker with stuff – one day, he came up with an idea of self sealing bearing / it’s great, when you want to ride your mountain bike to places where its muddy and soaking – he fabricates them with a homemade lathe is roughly the size of a Singer sewing machine – it’s not high tech, but it does has a cult appeal in the serious mountain biking fraternity as time went by sheer word of mouth – his invention took off big time, now it’s a full time project and he is even thinking of expanding his living room into a mini cottage industry.
Another guy who I happen to know very who happens to be an investment banker who has an interest in classical guitars (we jam together quite often) – he too has found himself in the wilderness recently; one day – after an argument with a local music accessory supplier – he decided to fabricate his own guitar strings – I’ve got to stress, this is micro marketing here; we aren’t taking about Yamaha and Casio electronic organs as much as nicks & nacks that really fit into the greater scheme of things – in classical guitar strings do make a hell of a difference; they’re the equivalent of tires in F1 racing cars – you can have a hand made Manuel Rodriguez classical guitar, but string wrongly and no amount of skill will bring out the panache and verve; it will just sound like underwater music.
So one day this guy decided to do some research and got himself hooked up with a Brazilian rope maker online that specializes in making gut rope – they’re still used apparently for hand line fishing in Spain and the Caspian sea – a sample was sent to Singapore and we got to work on it; first figuring how to thin it out; but yet retaining the strength required some experimentation (with a pressure cooker), but to cut a long story short, when these animal gut strings were lined up; they sounded full bodied and incredibly rich.

I wouldn’t go as far to say that it suddenly made the difference between a weekend jammer to a Stravinsky, Schoenberg or Bartok – neither did they sound – kitsch. But they certainly did sound different; as animal gut does lend a period theme of originality that one can never get from machine made nylon strings; the pace is arguably looser and when one hears it for the very first time, it even sounds like an accusation of formlessness, but gradually, it grows on you and its very embraceable to the extent that these are the only strings I play with. Gut strings may not be General Motors, but they are stuff that every serious classical guitarist buys, once at least to just hear how it sounds and that guarantees an income for my friend.

So these are just a few chicken soup stories about how ordinary folk are turning to the online world to make something out of nothing – I hope all these stories inspires you.
Despite the cherry mood; there is however a kink here; we the brotherhood along with ALL our channel partners have decided to relocate ALL of  our intellectual assets to Malaysia sometime in March 2010 – due to persistent fake and real DDos attacks, I dont really care (I don’t need proof either), all I know is, if you dont even bother to create a “free” environment, then people have every right to vote with their slippers and move right out and walk right out of the door - dont blame me, that’s basic economics of supply and demand – please understand, it’s nothing personal and strictly business. I have no axe to grind. I am a lover, not a fighter – no one can make anything in an unstable environment riven by shallow minded people who simply don’t even have the slightest clue why the internet may perhaps be the only way for many to gainfully dig their way out of this economic shit hole.

So to all you cybertroopers out there: if you dont understand what our goal is and how we can use the internet to transform lives; that’s fine; but dont be so selfish as to break the rice bowl of others – the internet does not belong to you; it belongs to everyone. You have a right to win votes; but you dont have the right to do it at a terrible cost to people and planet by lying, cheating and posting my IP in your site, just because you can’t seem to string a proper excuse for faking DDos attacks - I want to make one thing patently clear; I will break your rice bowl (this is a truism that I want you to remember everynight before you turn in and every morning before your feet touches the floor);  not only that I will make sure that your career path is as bright as the polar ice caps that is so white that it will even blind you – as one day when it all goes so wrong; someone is going to ask, “why hasn’t Singapore got a vibrant e-economy,” (if you think long and hard about it, that question has to come sometime down the future – when that day comes, I will tell you A, B, C etc where you all fucked up! Mark it somewhere in your calendar, as that day will come – and call it “pay back!” or better still the “crying game”). After that the only net you fuckers will be managing is a fishing net somewhere in the Singapore Artic Expedition – and you know what – you CANNOT stop me; it’s a DONE deal! Allow me to let you into a little secret a bird told me; you know the spat between Google and the Chinese Internet Authorities – it just didn’t happen like one rock giving way and the whole mountain pukes – someone put a bright red traffic cone and said, “hey, your backdoor is wide open!” So as you can see we can hunt you down and even do mucho damage in ways that you never ever considered possible - I’ve got it all lined up like a science; and all the data is stored in at least 30 locations worldwide – so you cannot stop me from singing like a bird one day.

Game over! As for the rest of you out there, hang on and keep the faith.

Darkness 2010

N.B DO BOOKMARK THIS SITE, IF SOME OF YOU CLAIM, YOU ARE MISSING OUT, BOOKMARK IT, THAT WAY WHEN WE DECIDE TO TAKE OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE, AT LEAST YOU CAN FOLLOW US ON THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO CONT READING SOME OF OUR STUFF . BOOKMARK, IT AS WHEN THEY TAKE OFF, AS THEY DO, AT LEAST, YOU WILL HAVE A LINK, DO IT NOW!– ANOTHER GOOD REASON TO BOOKMARK THIS SITE IS THIS HAS HAPPENED  RECENTLY – http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/11/daily-sg-11-jan-2010/#comment-7611 , THE BP HAS BARRED ALL FUTURE ESSAYS TO BE POSTED BY THE SINGAPORE DAILY. I DID ASK BABY DARKNESS ABOUT THIS AND THIS IS WHAT HE HAD TO SAY, ” There are two ways to read, one is you let someone spoon feed you like a baby. The second is you choose what and how you want to eat.  Remember, if your body is a temple. Your mind has to be the altar piece; it’s the linchpin that makes possible the grand idea of La Convivencia with you and your community, spirit, mind and perhaps 7 million other things- without this one thing, the power to choose, you are simply a cactus on a window sill! 

So understand this little rich girl, there is reading and there is reading, there is a world of difference, if you dont even bother to argue with the belief, you are what you eat. Then you would have absolutely no problem understanding – why, you are most definitely without a shadow of doubt what you read and dont read.

You can certainly categorize what I write, but you have no right to judge ……that was what Singaporedaily did - a broad line has to be drawn, otherwise, dont be surprise, if someone decides its card blanche to give you and me the mushroom treatment, “feed you shit and keep you in the dark.” So this has nothing to do with Anime 3 and her rubberband brigade. I value her readership and support, but this is a bigger sphere we are dealing with here – so this is where I will draw the line…it will hurt…like that other fake site, Temasek review that kept faking doss attacks; but how could they let the real wolf out without first planting the idea in peoples mind, “if it can happen to me, it will also happen to you,” Think about it – they cried wolf – we helped, but this time, I am not going to stick my neck out for no one…its everyman for himself….I dont even care, if the whole house catches fire…call it tough love, but if you aren’t a hard man, then you shouldn’t be in the ring and that’s the only way to deal with people who cry wolf, its all here, the explanation

http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/12/daily-sg-12-jan-2010/#comment-7618 - dont worry dotty, the readers will eventually pick up the scent…they always do, you just wait and see, dont ever sweat the small stuff, life is too short – Darkness 2010……”Missy Dotty

The Toyota Lesson – small stuff can kill you!

The nice thing about an apple is it has so many symbolic metaphors. … I am sure, you’ve all heard of the idiom, all it takes is one rotten  apple to spoil it all … Today (maybe I should have put the brakes on the kebab last night?), for some curious reason all my thoughts seem to be revolving about the quagmire that Toyota motors has suddenly found itself embroiled in – over what?

A plastic brake pedal that probably cost under $5, like Goliath that was brought down by a pebble it may seem like a trivial drama, but it illustrates succintly how the small stuff can really put even juggernaut multi-national into a nice citrus smelling pine box. This is Murphy’s law on a microscopic scale.

Sure Toyota will recover, but the cost will be high nonetheless… and its put a  dent to their otherwise stellar success story – imagine, getting done in by a brake pedal that has its own mind? In allegorical terms, that’s like hauling one metric ton of can soup all the up to Everest and forgetting to bring along a can opener – it’s ludicrous but it underscores one reality;  it makes immeasurable sense to learn from the mistakes of others; gathering wisdom from the world of hard knocks to me is just too dumb and expensive. Besides even if you manage to survive it all to gain those precious nuggets of wisdom; you may be so broken that it’s simply not worth all the effort.

My philosophy in life is simple: get it right the first time! Easier said than done, when I consider how indispensable superglue, ductape and rubberbands feature so prominently to prop up so many things in my life.

But you get my drift – getting it right the first time! Is the ONLY way to go. if you dont want to die prematurely of high blood pressure. I even apply this philosophy to women, pets, automobile management and air-con servicing.

For example, I never mix business with pleasure; never fuck around where I work (the fire stairs doesn’t count OK) and I don’t pile one thing that has absolutely nothing to do with another to reach a decision; I keep it all in nice clearly marked boxes - if you break any one of those rules. You’re going to get it wrong everytime! 

It will just come back and bite you; it matters little whether it’s that module that you should have put more time and effort studying- instead of outsourcing it to a friend to write – get it right the first time – hit the books and work at it. It also applies to the really big stuff like how did the management of a really big firm manage to lose billions by failing to see the shit barreling towards the fan? get it right the first time – come clean with the truth, we fucked up! Start afresh and work to regain the trust Could even apply to an aggregator that wants to be a leader in their market segment. Get it right the first time – just aggregate, you are not here to further a secret agenda, dont think people dont know who you are working for. Or a blog that wants to make it really big. Get it right the first time – dont try to boost your readership by faking DDos attacks so that you can funnel readers to a certain political site.

I hope you get my point. Pay attention to the small stuff. Because IF someone catches you out – and they will (because you can certainly fool some, but not everyone and some people are like pitbulls once they get a bite, they hold on tight, they will never let go) – it will all come back and the pay back will simply not be worth it – my point this afternoon is deal with the small stuff before it get bigger; like a small tear, it may just get so big that you may have to throw it all away – its beyond economic repair.

Translate it all into real life, it just means, if you wife is going to divorce you; the chances are its going to be over the small stuff – the toothpaste cap that you should have screwed, using a coffee mug as an asthray, using her bra as a face mask when you are spraying your car to make it look evil or simply allowing your workspace at home to turn into a graveyard where clothes go and die. It’s the same with jobs; the small stuff will always work against you there as well, if you aren’t mindful – so rip off that bumper sticker that says, “no fatties, my tires are brand new!” The same goes with friends; if you really reflect back on your own life 9 out of 10, the break came because of something really small and trivial.

Conversely the small stuff can make you great – I once got a bag of BBQ charcoal from 7/11 and wrapped with discount wrapping paper from cash converter with the words, “potential diamond!” And gave it out to every girl I saw during mothers day – you would be surprised, how far it all went, they’re still talking about it (of course there were minor details like it takes about 500,ooo million years for that lump of black beauty to turn into a priceless Lazarre diamond – but its the thought that counts).

So Keep it tight, stay alert and hang on – and remember the small stuff can either make or break you. Even if things are going well, you need to be mindful. Like this whole fake DDos nonsense, if things seem quiet in the Western front, it just means someone somewhere has all the data hidden in one safe place and they are just waiting for the right time to release it – it doesnt mean you are safe; it just means they want you to feel safe – there is a world of difference: to even have a false sense of security and confidence, like that benign Toyota pedal that doesn’t seem to have a mind of its own and can always be trusted to do precisely what you want – I hope so, only just pray the small stuff doesnt snuff you out.

Take care.

Darkness 2010 – The Brotherhood Press 2010

Com-sat conversation between Darkness 2010 and Singaporedaddy (liaison officer of the brotherhood) – imaged on board the Starcruiser Les Enfants du Paradis / this conversation took place before the Mercantile guild and the Confederation of gamers at 0630 GMT @ 24 November 2009 - comsat: 880292 – doberman

“You may think moir blowing up the fake DDos attack claimed by Wayang Party was stupid…you people say, I am burning bridges….but let me tell you this, its small to you guys bc you dont have the slightest clue how it will all pan out; if we dont come down hard on that sort of “cry wolf,” behavior – dont be surprise one day, when the real wolf shows up and the thing sinister will show up; its all in the game plan. That the site that you have always logged on every morning goes right down the tubes – you would just accept it as a fact of life and that not the worse part – the really bad stuff is yet to come and when that happens and the real big bad wolf shows up – don’t be surprise, when we shout “wolf.” No one comes  – the confederation will do nothing and rightly so as we have spent so much time, effort and resources chasing a ghost, that is simply a figmnet of some idiots design- this will happen, this day will come,  that is what they want to do, to give you, I and everyone the idea, “if it can happen here, it can also very well happen over there.”

Then once you have bought into that small lie, they will hit and they will give it their everything - you put a bookmark on your diary on what I’ve just said; better still laminate it and hang it around your neck – either way that day will come – because unlike you mother******* – I happen to know for a fact no one cries out wolf for nothing… there’s a reason…a plan…method…and someone is behind all this….he thinks, he is king (but one day, I break his rice bowl)…just because, you dont see the small stuff, doesn’t mean, it’s hunky dory  - it just means you dont know how to connect the dots…..you ******* chew on that! So don’t come down here and give me a lecture on why I am so anti-social yada yada yada – you all have no idea how big this all is; let alone have the imagination it takes to understand why the small is so important. No idea whatsoever……**** you all, for letting me fight this all alone! **** you all! As for the Council, ***** them all. They don’t know what’s coming the day after….I do! I do Gentlemen…I do!…..a time will come when all this will come to past and when that day comes, we will all be the hottest place in hell.” 

Darkness 2009 (this conversation has been recorded by the chronicler – under the chapter, “it’s everyman for himself.” The Book of Ages / ref: 880392-AE)

N.B DO BOOKMARK THIS SITE, IF SOME OF YOU CLAIM, YOU ARE MISSING OUT, BOOKMARK IT, THAT WAY WHEN WE DECIDE TO TAKE OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE, AT LEAST YOU CAN FOLLOW US ON THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO CONT READING SOME OF OUR STUFF . BOOKMARK, IT AS WHEN THEY TAKE OFF, AS THEY DO, AT LEAST, YOU WILL HAVE A LINK, DO IT NOW!– ANOTHER GOOD REASON TO BOOKMARK THIS SITE IS THIS HAS HAPPENED  RECENTLY – http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/11/daily-sg-11-jan-2010/#comment-7611 , THE BP HAS BARRED ALL FUTURE ESSAYS TO BE POSTED BY THE SINGAPORE DAILY. I DID ASK BABY DARKNESS ABOUT THIS AND THIS IS WHAT HE HAD TO SAY, ” There are two ways to read, one is you let someone spoon feed you like a baby. The second is you choose what and how you want to eat.  Remember, if your body is a temple. Your mind has to be the altar piece; it’s the linchpin that makes possible the grand idea of La Convivencia with you and your community, spirit, mind and perhaps 7 million other things- without this one thing, the power to choose, you are simply a cactus on a window sill! 

So understand this little rich girl, there is reading and there is reading, there is a world of difference, if you dont even bother to argue with the belief, you are what you eat. Then you would have absolutely no problem understanding – why, you are most definitely without a shadow of doubt what you read and dont read.

You can certainly categorize what I write, but you have no right to judge ……that was what Singaporedaily did - a broad line has to be drawn, otherwise, dont be surprise, if someone decides its card blanche to give you and me the mushroom treatment, “feed you shit and keep you in the dark.” So this has nothing to do with Anime 3 and her rubberband brigade. I value her readership and support, but this is a bigger sphere we are dealing with here – so this is where I will draw the line…it will hurt…like that other fake site, Temasek review that kept faking doss attacks; but how could they let the real wolf out without first planting the idea in peoples mind, “if it can happen to me, it will also happen to you,” Think about it – they cried wolf – we helped, but this time, I am not going to stick my neck out for no one…its everyman for himself….I dont even care, if the whole house catches fire…call it tough love, but if you aren’t a hard man, then you shouldn’t be in the ring and that’s the only way to deal with people who cry wolf, its all here, the explanation

http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/12/daily-sg-12-jan-2010/#comment-7618 - dont worry dotty, the readers will eventually pick up the scent…they always do, you just wait and see, dont ever sweat the small stuff, life is too short – Darkness 2010……”Missy Dotty

Can there ever be a Singapore Google, Air Asia, Pixar

Primus Aldentes Prime - Virtual HQ of the Brotherhood

IMHO the main problem is the current scholar system DISABLES, it does not ENABLE, that is to say it fails to elicit creativity and innovation. As it is like a giant vacuum cleaner that sucks up all the intellectual capital and bags them in fossilized government oligarchies; so the private sector is suffering from a form of intellectual anorexia; that is why providing these conditions persist, there can be no google, Microsoft , Air Asia or even Pixar in Singapore – as intellectual capital and entreprenuerialship are inextricably linked – they feed on each other and they will always play a preponderant role in the competitive advantage equation.

The Interspacing Mercantile Guild is located in the East Wing of the Free Internet Library Board in Liberation Square

Paradoxically, the only people IMHO who can reverse this travesty of human waste happens to be the same people who Philip Yeo once named and shamed with the complicity of our beloved rag and the blessing of some of our ministers (not all, as some did cite him for his stupidity) – ironically, when these “losers” were pushed out their comfort zones; those guys acquired core competencies that our kwai kwai scholars can never acquire even if they had 10 lifetimes – risk evaluation, managing opportunities & threats, opportunity cost, risk mitigation etc and they sharpened their skills against the best in a dog eat dog global budokan – so they are the real vanguards of Singapore IMHO; the kwai kwai variety are just free loaders – if you rely on them, they will take us straight down to hell.

Real World Control Center of the Mercantile Guild of the Brotherhood - location: Kuala Lumpur (recently relocated due to fake DDos attacks in Singapore)

The ronins or what we call the rubberband brigade may be a testy lot, frankly they even test my patience at times, but if you want to get things done; they have always delivered (from our experience with them at least): unfortunately the only one who can handle them in our fraternity is Darkness (and you all have to decide whether he is another psychopath?);as they are all mavericks so they remind a lot of those ace fighter pilots of lore –egoistic, boastful and darn right natural rebels without a cause. Personally, I don’t relish their company.

North View of the Interspacing Mercantile Guild in Liberation Square in Primus

But the beauty is you don’t need many of them to return home; we just need to convince 5 or 6; as they hunt in packs, so when they return, so will their gang (kaki’s) – then and only then can you talk about a Singapore Google. Without these mavericks and the present human material that our scholar system has produced, it’s like commissioning Michelangelo to produce something great when you only have clay, you will just end up with a very nice Ikea flower pot – don’t expect a David, that is only possible if you have the right (human) material, like Palermo marble.

Nostromus Class Mineral Starcruiser - over 2,000 are operated by the IMG transporting 321 various types of virtual minerals

My point is we dont need to wait for another Bill Gates or Steve Jobs to grow up in 20 or 30 years; WE ALREADY HAVE THEM HERE TODAY!

Written by Singaporedaddy  (The Internet Officer of the Brotherhood – sponsored by the Interspacing Mercantile Guild) – you will be able to find excerpts of this entry in the article “don’t just address the symptoms in education” at  http://theonlinecitizen.com/

N.B DO BOOKMARK THIS SITE, IF SOME OF YOU CLAIM, YOU ARE MISSING OUT, BOOKMARK IT, THAT WAY WHEN WE DECIDE TO TAKE OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE, AT LEAST YOU CAN FOLLOW US ON THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO CONT READING SOME OF OUR STUFF . BOOKMARK, IT AS WHEN THEY TAKE OFF, AS THEY DO, AT LEAST, YOU WILL HAVE A LINK, DO IT NOW!– ANOTHER GOOD REASON TO BOOKMARK THIS SITE IS THIS HAS HAPPENED  RECENTLY – http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/11/daily-sg-11-jan-2010/#comment-7611 , THE BP HAS BARRED ALL FUTURE ESSAYS TO BE POSTED BY THE SINGAPORE DAILY. I DID ASK BABY DARKNESS ABOUT THIS AND THIS IS WHAT HE HAD TO SAY, ” There are two ways to read, one is you let someone spoon feed you like a baby. The second is you choose what and how you want to eat.  Remember, if your body is a temple. Your mind has to be the altar piece; it’s the linchpin that makes possible the grand idea of La Convivencia with you and your community, spirit, mind and perhaps 7 million other things- without this one thing, the power to choose, you are simply a cactus on a window sill! 

So understand this little rich girl, there is reading and there is reading, there is a world of difference, if you dont even bother to argue with the belief, you are what you eat. Then you would have absolutely no problem understanding – why, you are most definitely without a shadow of doubt what you read and dont read.

You can certainly categorize what I write, but you have no right to judge ……that was what Singaporedaily did - a broad line has to be drawn, otherwise, dont be surprise, if someone decides its card blanche to give you and me the mushroom treatment, “feed you shit and keep you in the dark.” So this has nothing to do with Anime 3 and her rubberband brigade. I value her readership and support, but this is a bigger sphere we are dealing with here – so this is where I will draw the line…it will hurt…like that other fake site, Temasek review that kept faking doss attacks; but how could they let the real wolf out without first planting the idea in peoples mind, “if it can happen to me, it will also happen to you,” Think about it – they cried wolf – we helped, but this time, I am not going to stick my neck out for no one…its everyman for himself….I dont even care, if the whole house catches fire…call it tough love, but if you aren’t a hard man, then you shouldn’t be in the ring and that’s the only way to deal with people who cry wolf, its all here, the explanation

http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/12/daily-sg-12-jan-2010/#comment-7618 - dont worry dotty, the readers will eventually pick up the scent…they always do, you just wait and see, dont ever sweat the small stuff, life is too short – Darkness 2010……”Missy Dotty

Why the most important decision in your life is who you choose to marry

The most important decision that will have the most profound impact on your life is not who you want to be or what you want to achieve before you hit 50 – those are side dishes.
The most important decision that you will ever make in your life is who will share the journey of life with you.
You see if you pick the wrong person then you’re just buying into a whole barrel of grief. You only have one life, so it has to be the decision of decisions.
Let me put it this way, if you pick some loser like me; then grief will be the color of your days. Some people stay in one place and they turn the wheel of life day in and day out; they may not be exciting, interesting or even that good looking, but they’re always there for you and that’s what really matters in the journey of life.
Others are like wanderers; they may stay of a while and you may even find a sliver of happiness; but a day will come when every wanderer will just stare out of the window and look enviously at those those birds that make a neat line to fly off in the September morn – like salmon struggling against the current to return to that place called home; whales beaching for no apparent reason or the capricious sea giving with one hand and taking with another – these things embody the spirit of the wanderer – you cannot rely on them for the long haul; as they will always do things that even they themselves don’t know why they do them.
If you invest in a wanderer – a day will come when they will just pick up and go; they don’t need any rhyme or reason; just as the sea can never help herself whenever she throws a tantrum from time to time; the moon affects her – so it’s the same with wanderers – they are the capricious type and you will always be at the mercy of their vagaries.
Wanderers are only good for the short haul; they make airports, bus terminals and places where sail boats berth interesting – they’re good for a cup of coffee; they’re even good when you stand beside them and watch the sun rise; but come a time; they will pick up and go.
But the guy who stays in one place and turns the wheel of life day in and day out; he is the one that any sensible woman should choose as a life partner;  for one he doesn’t feel that pull or call of the wild; to him life is just an endless repetition; where everyday unfolds precisely as the last, the only thing that changes is the mundane stuff, like toothpaste thinning out or its time to get a haircut– it’s in the endless litany of repeating where you will always find the stayer to better investment than the wanderer in the long run; as where the former may seem to embody courage, excitement and everything that is worth living for - as he climbs mountains, rides his bike down a cliff  and stares defiantly at the on coming storm in his tiny sail boat– let me tell you a secret; that’s not where real courage is to be found; as those antics (no matter how heart stopping they may all appear to be) all have a cut off point,

They all lack the horror of the litany of repetition – you can’t climb beyond the summit; ride further when the road runs out; that’s because wanderer can never bear out the long haul – that’s why the stayer will always be a better bet; he is a courageous man; who will see you through the long haul ; that’s why if you have to choose between a wanderer and the stayer, it’s a no brainer, go for the stayer; it’s a one second decision – as somewhere in the endless journey of life; filled with the litany of repeating where there is no prospect of even a place where it can all end the way you envision; you can always depend on the stayer to turn off the lights -you can grow old with such a man.

As for the wanderer; he’s just like one of those NTUC plastic bags that the wind catches and twirls as the thermals whips it high up – as it dances, pirrouttes and curls ever so charmingly; for a while, it’s poetry in motion as you stare out tranfixed from your office window - but never ever forget, it’s just garbage.

Darkness 2010

The Look of Love

I saw it in your eyes today. It lasted only briefly, but I saw it. You said non chalantly, “it’s fate.” You said, “I should go ahead and marry that dentist.” Well, I am going to do exactly that Darkness.  But I saw it, that look of regret, it came and went in a blink, that look that said, it all. I saw it all Darkness.

I’ve show you…..unless of course, you stop me.

I’ve learnt alot from you. You see, lawyers are trained to observe things that most people dont pay much attention too. One of them is how to play the game.  I remember, you told me once, never ever show you cards and even if you come up short, just play it as if you have the royal flush.

You see my dear, a c man doesn’t stand over a bridge and cast his eyes aimlessly at the gyre of swirling dark water in the Singapore river for hours at 3.00 am, pulling one cigarette after another over nothing. You’re disturbed aren’t you?

Well that makes both us dear. You see, I know something you don’t. I saw it all, from a distance. You could say, I needed to see it. I needed confirmation. Now that I know, the rest is simple.

Missy Dotty

Why Obama will not be able to change anything for you and me

Almost a year after Obama & Co stepped into the White House under the chorus “time for change”, many of his supporters are beginning to make teeth sucking sounds. Bemusement is a polite way of putting it. In cruder terms, the only thing Obama & Co has changed is by embellishing the dictionary meaning of the word “change” – to mean “nothingness.” In the same way “gay” now refers to ones sexual orientation, instead of a state of happy repose. Yes, that is my frank assessment, Obama has done fuck all!
Let’s review his score card. And let me explain why nothing has changed. Firslty, Obama took on an elephant as soon as he stepped into the white house – healthcare. Sounds like humanity in motion, if only you didn’t know healthcare is the equivalent of raising the Titanic. It cannot be done. That’s the long and short of it. Why do you think no US president in history has ever included healthcare reformation in their manifesto? Wonder no more why Obama’s healthcare bill is with its lofty “you are healed!” is starting to look like a patchy flag of defeatism; fact remains even if those hefty improvement do make it through to the other side, it still won’t provide coverage for all Americans, and may not provide a public alternative to the over-charging insurance companies – that’s a giant IF, as it has to be first approved by the senate. So it fair to say there will be no change there for the next hundred years.
Secondly Obama’s “go green” environmental friendly message is crumbling; even his green dream team is back pedaling so fast from the vital Copenhagen conference; the new tune they are singing now is –never mind, the minor details like the single biggest emitter of warming gases just happens to be the us– will not commit to any legally binding restrictions to reducing ozoneshpere . And with the cash for clunkers deal to save the likes of GM; don’t expect to see any electric barreling down the interstate highway; that will also take a few hundred years to materialize. No change there.
On the economy. Obama has appointed Count Dracula as the CEO of the blood bank – by appointing the likes of Lawrence Summers in charge of the economic recovery – wonder no more why the zombie banks are getting bailed out – Obama has effectively transformed the capitalism into communism. So the long and short of it is simple; don’t expect the share prices in Citibank to pop – by the time, they reach the USD$40 mark, we will all be teleporting instead flying and rubber tires will be obsolete as we will all be driven around by anti gravity levitating machines that run on tap water – another 100 years again – no change lah!
Sure some of you may be saying Darkness; you are not giving him enough time. Hasn’t he mothballed Guantanamo? Water boarding and building human pyramids with naked Iraqi’s have been put to an end along with – the resumption of stem-cell research. His side kick, Hillary Clinton has even reaffirmed the elemental right to free speech by demanding the Chinese to stop harrying Google – so there is change right?
Nope! And let me tell you why there is no change; those issues are like discussing the merits of cup holders when you decide to buy a V8 Jaguar – they aren’t rubber meets the road issues.
What many people don’t realize is the US today is like a defanged lion; take the fiasco with Google – do you think Obama is going to come down hard on China? That’s just Chinese opera on a geo-political chess board – cold cuts will inform you that the Chinese by virtue of the sheer quantity of the American bonds they have in reserve, literally have a proverbial gun on the head of the US economy – one reason why water can still run uphill and defy basic economics to allow the US treasury to print money without the currency free falling is in a large part predicated on China’s continued support of the US economy – so what we have here is a shift in balance of power – don’t believe me, then consider this, why did Nasdaq suffer its biggest fall last Friday? Did it have something to do with meteorite slamming into wall street; nope – all this happened simply because the Chinese raised their interest rates; that’s how little it takes to put a kink on the US economic recovery and if you think that is the only economic weapon they have in their armory; you are dead wrong – this is what I call economic warfare.
The other reason why change is not going to come soon – is there are entrenched vest interest who wield tremendous power to shape that will always shape American politics . At first glance, this all sounds like a bunch of freemasons controlling the world; it’s a preposterous caricature that borders on the conspiracy theories, but the facts are plain. The Jewish lobby is still around; so are the powerfull steel unions; along with juggernaut “too big to fail” institutions that will all color and work against Obama & Co’s vision of saving people and planet– That’s the reality of US politics; the rich and powerful will do what they like irrespective of what Obama wants – that’s one reason why in an age when banks are still bleeding in shark infested waters and all this comes at the back of Joe the Plumber, the tax payer, cigar chomping fat cats are still doling out creamy bonuses and flying around in private jets.
In reality change will not come.
These examples are just the tip of the iceberg why I believe the theory and reality of change will always be a forlorn dream in the Obama administration, as what’s at the nucleus of change is in reality governed not by Obama; rather by powerful under currents that has always been at work in the US political landscape; not only at the political front, but also the business sphere; these twin heads will ultimately shape what may or may not “change.”
I am not optimistic about Obama’s prospects for effecting real change – beyond the sobriquet chicken soup assurance that will give most middle class white Americans the belief, “even a African American can aspire to the highest office in the US,” Thus reaffirming their conviction -  this is trully the land of the free, when infact, it has and will always be none other than the land of the fee: the cold cut fact will eat away at Obama soon enough. These are just the facts of life that most people don’t seem to understand how feral American politics can be; there is a world between rhetoric and action – providing the politics (the Republicans) and corporations are in cahoots: The latter will just focus on maximizing profits. While the latter will work furiously and mysteriously to get back into the white house in the next general elections – the cost to you, me and the likes of Joe the Plumber is grist to the mill; and these realities will simply mean the gulf between Obama’s sugary sweet rhetoric and the failure to pass from the realm of theory to get anything done will just be like the pathos of Hemmingway’s story of “the old man and the sea.”

Where the man who took on a Marlin for 3 days and nights and finally won might as well have considered himself defeated, the moment he drew in the catch that may have changed his luck – as somewhere out there in the wide open sea far from the smell of the land; like the main protagonist in the story where victory and defeat hangs on one word called “change.” Change plays a preponderant role in both this tale and Obama’s.

It’s all too easy to buy into the idealistic conviction Obama like the the old man has finally caught the fish; the game is won; all that needs doing now is to let the sail bring the bounty back home; but that’s just really the beginning of the story; as they are still a very long way from home; and somewhere deep beneath the cold paraffin blue of the gulf stream, the sharks have caught the faint smell of blood. That is the change that will change Obama’s change.

I am sorry if this dashed all your hopes and aspirations; it’s nothing personal, its strictly business – and believe me when I write this; I do so very much in the spirit of a man who does so by repeating to himself, “aiyoh,” there is no translation in the English language for this expression or even what it may mean, except perhaps the sound a man would make when a nail is driven into the skin, flesh and bone – as I am sure, like the Old man who only knows the sea like the lines on the palm of his hands; Obama will soon learn of the sharks.

Aiyoh.
Darkness 2010 – The Brotherhood Press 2010

N.B DO BOOKMARK THIS SITE, IF SOME OF YOU CLAIM, YOU ARE MISSING OUT, BOOKMARK IT, THAT WAY WHEN WE DECIDE TO TAKE OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE, AT LEAST YOU CAN FOLLOW US ON THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO CONT READING SOME OF OUR STUFF . BOOKMARK, IT AS WHEN THEY TAKE OFF, AS THEY DO, AT LEAST, YOU WILL HAVE A LINK, DO IT NOW!– ANOTHER GOOD REASON TO BOOKMARK THIS SITE IS THIS HAS HAPPENED  RECENTLY – http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/11/daily-sg-11-jan-2010/#comment-7611 , THE BP HAS BARRED ALL FUTURE ESSAYS TO BE POSTED BY THE SINGAPORE DAILY. I DID ASK BABY DARKNESS ABOUT THIS AND THIS IS WHAT HE HAD TO SAY, ” There are two ways to read, one is you let someone spoon feed you like a baby. The second is you choose what and how you want to eat.  Remember, if your body is a temple. Your mind has to be the altar piece; it’s the linchpin that makes possible the grand idea of La Convivencia with you and your community, spirit, mind and perhaps 7 million other things- without this one thing, the power to choose, you are simply a cactus on a window sill! 

So understand this little rich girl, there is reading and there is reading, there is a world of difference, if you dont even bother to argue with the belief, you are what you eat. Then you would have absolutely no problem understanding – why, you are most definitely without a shadow of doubt what you read and dont read.

You can certainly categorize what I write, but you have no right to judge ……that was what Singaporedaily did - a broad line has to be drawn, otherwise, dont be surprise, if someone decides its card blanche to give you and me the mushroom treatment, “feed you shit and keep you in the dark.” So this has nothing to do with Anime 3 and her rubberband brigade. I value her readership and support, but this is a bigger sphere we are dealing with here – so this is where I will draw the line…it will hurt…like that other fake site, Temasek review that kept faking doss attacks; but how could they let the real wolf out without first planting the idea in peoples mind, “if it can happen to me, it will also happen to you,” Think about it – they cried wolf – we helped, but this time, I am not going to stick my neck out for no one…its everyman for himself….I dont even care, if the whole house catches fire…call it tough love, but if you aren’t a hard man, then you shouldn’t be in the ring and that’s the only way to deal with people who cry wolf, its all here, the explanation

http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/12/daily-sg-12-jan-2010/#comment-7618 - dont worry dotty, the readers will eventually pick up the scent…they always do, you just wait and see, dont ever sweat the small stuff, life is too short – Darkness 2010……”Missy Dotty

Las Vegas In Singapore! Perdition or Salvation?

I am probably going to get a few charming death threats about this write up (frankly speaking, I am starting to believe RIP should rightly stand for rise if possible, so thanks for the fish). Let’s dive in as some of you may already know Las Vegas Sands at the Marina Bay is going to open soon – perdition or salvation?
Lets just leave that to one side for the moment; I know that’s like talking about fruit cake recipes without the raisins, but lets just go with the flow for the moment. Firstly, where are we? We are in the shit hole; the economy is spluttering along like one of those soviet built dead traps – we need a radical shift to get shuffling again.
That’s one reason why I am a big fan of LVS. I happen to love casino’s not only because they offer great entertainment; but precisely the sort that really hits all my green buttons. I am not just talking about astonishingly fuckable ladies with liquid brown eyes and legs that run forever, that’s really a side dish – only the whole idea of a casino is really like entering an adult version of Disneyland, its a surreal dreamscape – that’s why in every single one of my love stories (for the benefit of those who regularly buy my sappy toe curling yarns, though I know not why?). I never ever fail to include at least one montage that features the main protagonist in a casino. You want proof, here it is! - Chapter 30 – “La Grande Casino.” Yes. I am a gambler, but I am not your regular punter who simply puts his chips on just any number; to me there is the whole idea of odds, trade off, pay out, calculus, algebra and the art of mentally crunching all these numbers without seeming to do so is what differentiates the gambler and a charitable foundation  (you need to have those baseline skills, because the last thing you want any casino operator to do is red flag you as a card counter) – so the whole idea is not unlike a virtual game; you strut right in with in Zegna tuxedo, hair slicked back, Vacheron Constantin (shades are a must!) and take your chances with the house - but one word of warning: never ever gamble with money that you are not prepared to lose!  And be disciplined (for example, yesterday I bough 50 lots of BEHL, you go check out in the Nasdaq, how it will go up tomorrow – go do it! I am out tonight, just after the bell! That’s what I mean by discipline) And dont ever get distracted, casino’s have honed the art of the hook, line and sinker to a science; once they spot a punter racking in the chips; dancing girls, free flow of drinks and the whole weapon of mass distraction will kick in fast and furious, trust me - you see casino operators aren’t dummies, they know; if they can keep a “winner” on the table long enough; the house will ALWAYS reap it all back and more; understand this! You can never win against the laws of probability in the long run (unless you happen to be the reincarnation of Nostradamus); all you can really do is run up her skirt when she is not looking; do your thing and scramble down the drain pipe  before the husband shows up with a meat cleaver – that’s as good as it gets as far as odds go when it comes to taking your chances with the house (unless of course you happen to be either GIC or Temasek and even when you take the mother of all falls you still come out smelling roses by invoking some mumbo jumbo freaknomics like, ”long term investment”, duh! I surrender to you lah! ) - so three elements are vital if you are to win – set a min and max limit; dont ever get distracted, stay focussed – tip: stick to gatorade, never drink and deal!. My rule of thumb is simple; when the sirens show up; and the Presidential Suite is on offer; what I usually do is; slip a chip down the cleavage of one of those silicone tit distractors and whisper to them, “Go and buy a dress! Now! If I like it, I’ve fuck you when all this is finished and triple what they’re paying you. This is not personal, its strictly business” And stay focussed on the numbers, once you have hit the target limit, that’s the cue to cash out – dont look left or right, dont stop for a chat, stay away from that one for the road cocktail - just go to the counter and put everything in a briefcase (can get one in cash converter) and walk right out of the door – if you dont have that discipline or Tao to do that, then my suggestion is stick to monopoly and boardgames, because if you break those golden rules that I have just shared with you; IT WILL BREAK YOU IN HALF! I KID YOU NOT!

Now that after finished with the pitfalls of leading a life of dissipation, lets continue with the story of why I think casino’s are great stuff for us Singaporeans. My point is really simple sometimes to get good results and a decent return on energy; all it takes is a bit of imagination and verve – for example, if the government is really serious about solving our abysmal baby rates; the best thing to do is to incorporate a pole (for pole dancing and perhaps drying the laundry or building up your biceps) in every living room (strobe lights can be optional); that’s what I mean by practical solutions; no need for econometrics and statistical calculations and too much talking, cut it down to the primal and we would be producing like rabbits; all those power point charts can just go right out of the window along with the baby incentives - so with this in get to the point mentality do try to see my point when when I say that the financial crisis coupled with the advent of LVS gives Singapore a once in a lifetime chance to review how we can really organise our economy and society in ways and means never before..providing of course our government manages it properly. That to be is the biggest if.

I know some people are saying this casino thingy is just a great way to launder dodgy money; very believable when one looks at the structure; it reminds me of one of those high tech Scandinavian designer Ironing boards that one finds in high end laundrettes; but I am digressing, my point we are witnessing an epochal event, living through one of those moments on which history may even pivot in ways that we can never ever imagine..One reason for that is because the whole idea of a casino is not just the idea of an ivory ball tickling against a polish ed roulette wheel; its comes with a whole lot of other stuff; some good, others not so good and then there is the stuff that will simply put you in a citrus pine box; but with all these expect societal changes one thing remains patently certain; many of our assumptions and time honor beliefs about what and how socieity should or should not be orientated will be consigned to the dustbin of history.
Sure these verdicts might turn out to be overblown, then again the social cost may well prove me wrong to even regret writing such an article. Some have even counseled the idea legalising gambling on such a large commercial scale will lead society down a tempestuous slippery slope and trigger all sorts of social problems – well I don’t buy that claptrap, not even if it comes from the pulpit. Truth is gambling is already here ( and in earnest, I might add); don’t believe then just check out your local 4D outlet – so the whole idea of gambling is not a novel notion like a time traveling or teleportation.
Neither am that naïve to expect the cost to society to be muted either – like all vices, some will veer to the harder stuff; some will even go right down under – but when I put the pluses on the scales against the minuses; its not going to be anything near what the Christian right claims, where families will be ripped apart to ribbons and the lines of the destitute queueing for a bowl of soup will be the order of the day. In this view, a convulsion even one as radical as an appearance of a casino will not, by itself, be enough to usher in an Apocalypse; neither will we see the four horse men galloping in Orchard; there will certainly be tremors and perhaps even shakes; but all things considered; you will surprise how resilient human beings are; they will adapt, water will find its level and society will go along with it quiet happily; very much in the way the internet porn did not bring about the end of the world – or spawn an indolent society and perpetual masturbation lifestyle – trust me, life will just go right on.

What remains to be seen is whether the government is prepared for these epochal changes – like I said a casino brings with it a whole genre of stuff, some good, others not so good, but if the idea is really going to fly; then a heavenly balance needs to be found somewhere between the spectrum of let-it-rip and the whole idea of managing it in such a way, it does kill the panache, verve and aplomb of what a casino should offer – as the sages say, string it too tight; and it will snap; string it too loose and it will simply not play.

 
Either way one thing remains patently clear to be; the arrival of Sands will be both a blessing and a curse; that to me is the nature of the beast – just like the great cities of this world, like New York, Paris and Tokyo, they may be derided for their lack of moral turpitude, brutishness and filth; but despite the grime and all the good, bad and ugly they are also gold plated lightning rods that will always continue to attract the best in terms of intelligence and entrepreneurial spirit – I can’t wait for Sands to open. Btw, any card counters out there? You are free to contact me. This is a serious business proposition?

Darkness 2010

N.B DO BOOKMARK THIS SITE, IF SOME OF YOU CLAIM, YOU ARE MISSING OUT, BOOKMARK IT, THAT WAY WHEN WE DECIDE TO TAKE OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE, AT LEAST YOU CAN FOLLOW US ON THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO CONT READING SOME OF OUR STUFF . BOOKMARK, IT AS WHEN THEY TAKE OFF, AS THEY DO, AT LEAST, YOU WILL HAVE A LINK, DO IT NOW!– ANOTHER GOOD REASON TO BOOKMARK THIS SITE IS THIS HAS HAPPENED  RECENTLY – http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/11/daily-sg-11-jan-2010/#comment-7611 , THE BP HAS BARRED ALL FUTURE ESSAYS TO BE POSTED BY THE SINGAPORE DAILY. I DID ASK BABY DARKNESS ABOUT THIS AND THIS IS WHAT HE HAD TO SAY, ” There are two ways to read, one is you let someone spoon feed you like a baby. The second is you choose what and how you want to eat.  Remember, if your body is a temple. Your mind has to be the altar piece; it’s the linchpin that makes possible the grand idea of La Convivencia with you and your community, spirit, mind and perhaps 7 million other things- without this one thing, the power to choose, you are simply a cactus on a window sill! 

So understand this little rich girl, there is reading and there is reading, there is a world of difference, if you dont even bother to argue with the belief, you are what you eat. Then you would have absolutely no problem understanding – why, you are most definitely without a shadow of doubt what you read and dont read.

You can certainly categorize what I write, but you have no right to judge ……that was what Singaporedaily did - a broad line has to be drawn, otherwise, dont be surprise, if someone decides its card blanche to give you and me the mushroom treatment, “feed you shit and keep you in the dark.” So this has nothing to do with Anime 3 and her rubberband brigade. I value her readership and support, but this is a bigger sphere we are dealing with here – so this is where I will draw the line…it will hurt…like that other fake site, Temasek review that kept faking doss attacks; but how could they let the real wolf out without first planting the idea in peoples mind, “if it can happen to me, it will also happen to you,” Think about it – they cried wolf – we helped, but this time, I am not going to stick my neck out for no one…its everyman for himself….I dont even care, if the whole house catches fire…call it tough love, but if you aren’t a hard man, then you shouldn’t be in the ring and that’s the only way to deal with people who cry wolf, its all here, the explanation

http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/12/daily-sg-12-jan-2010/#comment-7618 - dont worry dotty, the readers will eventually pick up the scent…they always do, you just wait and see, dont ever sweat the small stuff, life is too short – Darkness 2010……”Missy Dotty