Sunday, December 31, 2006
2006 - The year of the 3G Revolution
The year 2006 closes with the headline that Saddam Hussein was hanged by his fellow Iraqis the day before one of Islam's holiest day (which we in Singapore know as Hari Raya Haji or Eid al-Adha, the day of Sacrifice), and the his last few hours was filmed in video to the very end for the world to see. In addition, this year closes on a significantly high point where the world acknowledge the strength of the "Fifth" Estate or rather the strength of 3G technology. Time Magazine acknowledges this by making "You" (or rather, referring to us) the Person of the Year, a tribute to all the bloggers and video-posters in Youtube. Even our Prime Minister acknowledges the presence of Singaporean bloggers who still carried on blogging even during the election season despite constant discouragement from the Elections Department. What do these events in common tell us is that the ideology of democracy and freedom has been brought to a level where one can express his thoughts and shape the world knowing that he will be heard in one way or another, and he can do it without his identity being divulged easily (even though his identity can be tracked down sooner or later).
Personally, I feel that this blog has not been keeping up with the digital age revolution. I was flipping through the posts that I made back in JC and the posts I made as a NSF. I felt as though I saw two different persons and two different bloggers. One blogging freely about his life while the overly fearful of the repercussions of the contents of his blog. Whilst National Service on the overall has been a positive experience, I found it very hard to convey such a 'positive' experience on my blog on the fears that I would be accused of divulging sensitive information. Somehow what I feel that we contradict ourselves over the purposes of blogging and posting of videos. We do both of these things mainly to showcase to the larger society the
'lighter side of life' as well as how
unique each and every Singaporean citizen is. Even when bloggers curse and complain about our pet peeves, we do so as a responsible and proactive citizen to alert our readers to the problems that we encounter in our life so that something can be done to remedy it. The Straits Times deserve some positive credit for creating Stomp! and I hope Singapore's free media rankings can be pushed up.
However on the other hand, we fear that we bloggers and video-posters pose a negative impression of our country, our organisation and of ourselves and that the negative effects outweigh the positive ones. Somehow I wonder if MINDEF has overreacted over the videos posted showing the '
humourous' side of the life in the SAF a few months ago. I believe that the people who filmed these videos did not have the intention to bring the SAF into disrepute. Whilst we acknowledge the fact that we have to be cautious over discussing sensitive information on the internet , being in the public and private sector; I think it is just sensible to show to the world how one is
enjoying life in
both work and play and not just in one place. Viewer discretion should be the key to go. This feature has been the main reason why Youtube grows its way to avoid the typical
libel and
copyright lawsuits that brought down Napster. Somehow, is it okay to show your colleagues sleeping in the office? There's no right or wrong answer.
Somehow I find myself reading alot of my news and knowledge online more than offline. Whilst I do enjoy hanging around at libraries and bookstores; the online world is the place for the stuff that the mainstream media do not offer. The alternative media world is very wide, ranging from Mr Brown and Miyagi's podcasts, Alternative Singapore news (which are usually pro-opposition) and much more to come. Somehow the two most famous podcasts this year were done by both Mr Brown and Miyagi; notably named after Singaporean favourite hobby of eating such as
"bak chor mee" and
"mee siam mai hum". This has made the coverage of Election 2006 a very enjoyable one and I personally chide myself for not bringing my camera around and troung around the streets of Singapore to contribute to the immense gallery of the "pet peeves" of Singaporean life. This shall be one of my resolutions for 2007 and hopefully make this blog a better read.
Anyway, this year has been more of a transitional year for myself as I transit once again from being a soldier to that of a civilian. 2007 will be an interesting year as I look upon to join my female friends in the grounds of Kent Ridge. University life will be a very interesting experience which will be defined by the essence of freedom. This being the freedom to determine how I want my degree to be and how I want my four years there to be. The number "twenty-one" will be a very important number as it symbolises the age in which we pass on from a dependant youth to that of an independent youth. Somehow I do not feel ready to embrace this change but life has to go on and it'll be a totally new challenge for me. Just as I enjoy the freedom of blogging freely about my views and opinions, may I be able to enjoy the freedom of a youth. I believe that the following year will no doubt be influenced very much by we bloggers for we have a myraid of never-ending issues and problems to talk and exhibit about. With this, I wish my fellow blogger friends an interesting 2007 and may the fire of the digital revolution blaze on!
By the way, May I dedicate this poem below to all our fellow bloggers. We bloggers are unique and special with the dare to comment and air the things that we want to talk about, without fear that others may disagree and without the fear that our voices might be shut up. After all, do pay attention to the very last verse.
Men of the Red Beret (by Field Marshal Montgomery of Alamein)What manner of men are these who wear the Red Beret? They are firstly all volunteers, and are toughened by hard physical training. As a result, they have that infectious optimism and that offensive eagerness which come from physical well being. They have jumped and by doing so, have conquered fear. Their duties lie in the van of battle: They are proud of their honour, and have never failed in any task.They have the highest standards in all things, whether it be skill in battle or smartness in execution of all peacetime duties.They have shown themselves to be as tenacious and determined in defence as they are courageous in attack.They are in fact, men apart. Every man an emperor.
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zeligdhilee breaking the MUSIC.
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Sunday, December 24, 2006
Christmas Thoughts
It's Christmas Eve today and it's the only REAL day that I really can write an article undisturbed by anyone out there. You might be wondering why this errant blogger here took such a looong hiatus despite having ORD-ed a fortnight ago. Well this blogger had a hangover over his ORD, a band concert
(two days after his ORD), sore throat and hibernating in his mum's salon, only getting to reach at late hours too weary to blog.
If there is something I really cannot wait to get my paws on, it's that HP-Compaq laptop that was offered by Starhub as part of its 'freebies' for customers signing up for the MaxOnline 12000 plan. This would allow me to blog anytime I wish to (no thanks to Mobile Blogging, it's 10cents for every 1KB of stuff sent on my Starhub Plan), leaving no constrictions by the location of myself as well as the digital world. I am also aware of the New Paper article
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,120056,00.html regarding the fact that both Starhub and HP-Compaq have made a nebulous error over their laptop offer. I opted for the upgrade package (worth approximately $300) for a faster processor (if I'm not wrong it's call Core 2 Duo) and I can only hope that I will get what I requested for. My hands have been very itchy recently, and the fact that I can't find time on the keyboard explains why I've not been updating this blog nor writing to the Straits Times.
I'm blogging from the comforts of my home thanks to the celestial forces that has flooded Thomson's nurseries as well as Southern Malaysia. We Singaporeans are lucky that the risk of floods have been significantly reduced thanks to the efficient stormwater drainage system in the island, built way since the 1970s. That's how the canal between Bukit Timah and Dunearn Road came about. The residents of the East Coast should count themselves lucky this time round. The repercussions for us would have been worse if the East Coast gets flooded as badly. Somehow as a small state we are seemingly helpless in this period of drastic climate change where rising sea levels threatens to swallow low-lying cities. I ever wonder if the Marina Barrage would be sufficient enough to
"push off" the hungry, merciless waters to preserve our
"sunny island, set in the sea". On the pessimistic side, would it be another sitting duck like the New Orleans dam which broke apart and cause the city to be swallowed up during Hurricane Katrina last year.
Anyway, one of my books in my Christmas reading list is "The Revenge of Gaia: Earth Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity" by the British scientist James Lovelock. It's one of many books recommended as a 'must-read'
(my own words) by The Economist. The link to the Economist book list is available here:
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8380365 The extract of the review of this book is reproduced below:
"In his fourth book about the Gaia theory, James Lovelock, a British scientist, dismisses biomass fuels, wind farms, solar energy and fuel-cell innovations as technologies unlikely to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions in time to save the planet. An ardent environmentalist takes an unexpected yet well-reasoned stance in favour of nuclear energy as the only energy source capable of meeting our needs in time to prevent catastrophe."Well, reading about the Gaia Theory makes the layman view of global warming as mainly due to pollution a simplistic outlook, showing oneself how one should look give more serious attention to both the Carbon and Nitrogen cycle for it'll take thousands of years for the Earth to "cure" itself assuming we stop polluting today. (Of course, realist economic theory says that zero pollution is not feasible for the free-market economy) If you the reader must be wondering how I got access to this book, well it was by coincidence that I discovered it at
library@orchard and borrowed it right away! I'm reading up on evolution and genetics as well to keep myself busy this long weekend.
Last but not least, I'm feeling a bit lonely right now especially when I have only ONE gathering of friends this month, which was none other than my secondary school band's percussion section. The dinner gathering took place a few days after the successful band concert where both the present and alumni percussionists got together to celebrate as well as catch up with one another over the recent happenings in both the life of the band and the life of the individual. It was quite a pity that my close mates of mine didn't get to watch my secondary school's band concert (Variants III) even though the main band did not match up to the alumni band from a musical point of view. Anyway, I took some pictures of the dinner gathering and I'll upload them on Webshots as soon as possible.
I've lots of stuff to clear up to usher in the new year of 2007, which includes:
(1) Securing a job. Which means asking a school to hire me as a relief teacher! (When can I find the time!!)
(2) Securing my laptop. Then I can blog and cam-whore more often just for you the reader, and then I don't need to fight with my mum over the computer.
(3) Reading more, more and more to refresh my academic memory before university starts.
(4) Learn more stuff (driving's a good idea)
(5) Upload my photos of my percussion section outing which occurred a fortnight ago!
Merry Christmas to you all and may you all have a wonderful new year!
(P/S: I hope I have time to write my view of 2006 on time. :-) )
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zeligdhilee breaking the MUSIC.
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