S$30 Iron Fist

It cannot be any more real than that Alanis Morissette song. It is like an anthem or something.

I’ve actually punched an overnight parking coupon but I got a $30 summon too.

It was so unexpected that it is still laughable 17h after discovering that ticket on my windscreen when I was driving. The origami skill of the parking warden was terrific and it stayed clipped and flapping against the windscreen till I reached school.

I think I won’t mind paying the “composition fine”, because my essays are fine. But seriously, it was my careless mistake anyway.

When I returned home just now, I saw them staking out and I stalked them for a while. I wasn’t intending to do so but I was disturbed that one of them looked pissed as if I had intentionally flashed my headlights at her when it was not so. Totally irrational but I was curious anyway. Of course it was a fruitful observation and I learnt something new.

What do you see? What do you see?

Unfortunately or fortunately, I wasn’t sure of their nationality still because I don’t want to feel like a deracinated foreigner in my own country. It is certainly psychological as much as it is a sense of pride in being a citizen. Probably irrational.

Sometimes the most brilliant talks irrationally. We’re not even talking about Eric Cantona and his seagulls.

GB Shaw’s famous quip about professions was well met by an essay from Janadas Devan on Jul 26, 2009 in the Straits Times; I reproduce it here for posterity (http://news.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20090728-157522.html):

Great teachers in a class of their own

‘He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.’

That has to be among the silliest things that George Bernard Shaw ever wrote. He didn’t originate the jibe – its usual form goes ‘Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach’ – but he certainly contributed to its wide dissemination.

The truth of the matter is that teaching entails as much ‘doing’ as any other profession; indeed, it probably demands more from a person than most other jobs.

Consider how few exceptional teachers most of us have had in the course of our educational careers. Most of us would have had at least 12 years of schooling and some would have had an additional four years of university. In the course of those years, each of us would have been lectured, tutored or supervised by at least 100, if not more, teachers. Many, if not most, of them would have been competent; some would have been good. But how many would have been truly exceptional?

I can name only three among the 150 or so teachers I have been taught by over the course of my own educational career: My Primary 6 teacher, Mrs Ernest Lau at Anglo-Chinese School; Professor Koh Tai Ann at the University of Singapore; and the Shakespearean Prof Scott McMillan at Cornell University. I was fortunate to have had many more good teachers, some of them distinguished scholars, but these three stood out qua teachers.

I have come across many more exceptional doctors, though I’m certain I have been treated by far fewer than 150 doctors in my life. I have had personal contact with many more exceptional public ser-vants, lawyers, corporate executives, scholars, journalists – even plumbers.

Truly exceptional teachers, at whatever level – primary or secondary school, undergraduate or post-graduate – are rarer than exceptional doctors or lawyers. That is so not because the profession is filled with people who cannot ‘do’. On the contrary, it is so because teaching – exceptional teaching – involves a rare order of doing.

You cannot convey values by just reciting them. An exceptional teacher conveys them by example, by osmosis almost, from every fibre of her being, even in her speech and gesture – like the late Mrs Lau.

You cannot teach a method of analysis merely by detailing its procedure. An exceptional teacher reveals the power of a method, an approach or a discipline, by herself becoming its instrument – like Prof Koh.

You cannot convey a love for a subject by insisting mechanically on its attributes. An exceptional teacher communicates through the sincerity of his interests, the genuineness of his enthusiasms, the disinterestedness of his scholarship – like the late Prof McMillan.

Bad teachers insist; good teachers show; exceptional teachers are. The reason the last are rare is that the most important things in any subject, as in life, cannot be taught explicitly. They can only be embodied as examples – in the teachers themselves.

Take, for instance, writing: How does one teach good writing? I conducted a column writing course for some journalists recently and had to grapple with this question.

One can go through lists of the things one should or should not do in writing. Every primer on writing provides such lists. Strunk and White’s Elements Of Style, for instance, has a list of 21 ‘suggestions and cautionary hints’, from ‘Place yourself in the background’ and ‘Write with nouns and verbs’ to ‘Avoid fancy words’ and ‘Do not take shortcuts at the cost of clarity’. Such lists are useful – as far as they go.

Most bad writing is the result of writers not having thought through what they want to say. So they proceed by flinging a mass of words in the general vicinity of their vaguely apprehended intended meaning, in the hope of somehow hitting the target. Lists of dos and don’ts can help writers to be more conscious of their writing. Like the advice to take a deep breath when you are tempted to do something hasty in anger, lists can slow you down, force you to take stock. A competent teacher can, by using such lists, encourage students to be self-reflective.

A better way would be to show what constitutes good writing. There is no good writer who is not also a good – and extensive – reader. That being so, just reading examples of exceptionally good writing and analysing why they are good can do a world of wonders.

‘These are the times that try men’s souls’ – just eight short words, forming a simple declarative sentence, as Strunk and White note. What if Thomas Paine had written instead ‘Times like these try men’s souls’ or ‘How trying it is to live in these times!’ – or, heaven forbid, ‘Soulwise, these are trying times’? Each is a grammatical sentence but none carries the distinctive signature the original does, even more than 200 years later. Why is that so?

Yes, a competent teacher of writing can convey a great deal of information about good writing by telling, by showing, by analysing, even by admonishing. But at the heart of good writing, there is a mystery that cannot be conveyed by instruction.

‘The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.’

George Orwell wrote that in his famous Politics And The English Language, an essay I used in my recent course on writing. I realised that was the heart of the essay, the distillation of Orwell’s wisdom on the subject – and I did not have a clue as to how I might convey its tremendous truth: ‘The great enemy of clear writing is insincerity.’ Only someone as sincere as Orwell, I finally realised, only someone who exemplifies such sincerity in his own writing, can teach sincerity.

Those who can, do; those who are, teach – without intending to do so.

With that kind of yardstick, it becomes difficult for anything–Technology included–but a real teacher to be a teacher.

But of course there is always ingratia around us, or those who half-learn all that they think they ought to learn or nothing at all.

A friend brought my attention to a controversial blog written by an alumnus of the college and of a prestigious High School which I was originally posted to in 2007. It was a ridicule of the department that I hold dear and misrepresentation of comments taken out of context. I’ve checked it out and I am sure he can be sued for libel if we so wish, but I’ve no idea what the college is doing about this. Well, to be fair, he seems to have gone through a paradigm shift since then and we can tell from his post on how now he no longer would discriminate against the poor and the uneducated in Singapore.

Sometimes life isn’t fair and it may seem that the haves have it easier, going unpunished with crimes.

Here’s what Rob Hughes has to say (July 26, 2009):

What if Stevie G were a bricklayer instead?

As Steven Gerrard left Liverpool Crown Court on Friday, a free man with his reputation intact according to the British jury system, someone in the motley crowd of hero worshippers outside called out: ‘Come on, Rocky.’

That reference to the Sylvester Stallone street fighter character, followed Gerrard’s admission under oath that he had landed three punches at the head of a bar room disc jockey Marcus McGee that were described ‘as fast as a professional boxer rather than a professional footballer.’

Never mind the seven women and five men of the jury, anyone with access to the Internet from Merseyside to Timbuktu has made their own judgement on Gerrard’s punching power during the brawl last December.

The trial in Liverpool was the reason why Gerrard isn’t available to play in Singapore today. He pleaded not guilty to affray and the jury in his home city accepted his defence that he hit out in self defence.

On hearing the verdict, my thoughts flashed back to Los Angeles in 1995 where a jury cleared O. J. Simpson of murdering his wife and a male visitor in his home.

‘If Stevie G was Steven Smith, a bricklayer from Everton, would he be eating beans in a Liverpool jail now?’ came a question from Singapore to me via e-mail.

The inference, I must point out, was coloured by the fact that the sender is a self-confessed Evertonian.

He makes an insinuation, but also poses a valid question.

Is the jury system susceptible to the celebrity culture which, for better or for worse, we have in modern society?

A glib response to that – and to the many hundreds of twitters bouncing around the Internet suggesting that no Liverpool jury was ever going to convict the captain of Liverpool FC – is that they are wrong.

What if the jury had been predominantly blue? What if Liverpudlians and Evertonians in that jury room had come to blows over the hero/villain whom Gerrard represents in that fevered football city?

We have to presume that Judge Henry Globe QC, the Recorder of Liverpool, is the pillar of neutrality. And the judge summed up: ‘The verdict is a credible verdict on the full facts of this case.’

Turning to Gerrard, he said: ‘You did not start the violence. It was started by a violent elbowing of the victim, Mr McGee, in the face by one of your friends.

‘What at first sight to the casual observer may seem to have been a clear-cut case against you of unlawful violence, has been nowhere near as clear-cut upon careful analysis of the evidence.

‘You walk away from this court with your reputation intact.’

Walk on, Rocky.

By coincidence, as Gerrard walked free, so did the singer Amy Winehouse. She left a separate court, in London, on Friday, acquitted of punching a fan who got too close at a concert last year.

There are disturbing aspects to society’s attitudes towards the famous, and to the inevitable fact that the stars can afford the top lawyers, some of whom have become the highest-paid groupies of all.

Gerrard pleaded not guilty to affray. Five of his mates caught up in that same brawl have neither the resources, nor the reputation, to defend. They, including the man who elbowed McGee before Gerrard threw the uppercuts, pleaded guilty to affray.

They face sentencing on Aug 7. They could be jailed for up to three years. And they could claim that they are taking the rap for a friend.

Gerrard’s counsel, meanwhile, obtained full repayment from the court for the player’s legal costs.

From the Mandarin Oriental, Gerrard’s boss Rafa Benitez spoke about everyone’s relief.

‘Now, Steven can concentrate just on football,’ said Benitez. ‘And hopefully play at the same level as last year.’

The club had shown its own act of faith three days earlier when it extended Gerrard’s £120,000 (S$284,048) per-week contract for two extra years to 2013.

He will be 33 by then. With luck, he will use his strength, his determination, his striking ability to lead his team the way he had a few hours before the fracas last December. Liverpool had thrashed Newcastle United 5-1 away from home, and Gerrard had landed two powerful shots on goal.

Few can doubt that when Stevie G is on the pitch, he’s a force to be reckoned with. Indeed, he has captained England, though he stands right now third in line after those two other paragons John Terry and Rio Ferdinand.

All three have engaged M’Learned Friends in defence of their reputations for off-duty incidents. And this weekend, even the elder citizen of fame, David Beckham, has had to be disciplined.

He felt the mighty thwack of a US$1,000 (S$1,440) fine for picking a fight with an LA Galaxy fan who had the temerity to boo him at the Home Depot Center.

When it comes down to it, who can the superstars trust in this life?

England’s Daily Mail yesterday headlined its coverage: ‘Brawler Gerrard Cleared.’ It told of the acquittal and of the mean streets of the Bluebell Estate where Gerrard and his drinking pals came from.

The photographs showed a grey-suited Gerrard leaving the court, side by side with his model wife, Alex Curran, dressed in a fashion walk pink number. Rather like a trio of combination punches, the photographic compilation deceived the eye.

Mrs G. did not wear that sexy outfit to the Crown Court. It was a stock picture from a fashion shoot.

Likewise I’ve always said, those good in the language can get away with murder, figuratively. Don’t misquote Mr K and say on your blog that Mr K is breeding murderers.

Here’s more help for those in need; we’re not elitist. You’ll never walk alone… http://www.brainpop.com/english/grammar/clauses/

Fearful phenomenon…

…We’re not talking about GP there.

In the lecture at LT3, which some say is haunted, we briefly looked at the passage from which this post found its title (Prelim2005). More apt is the fact that today is the day where the longest total solar eclipse happened. And there are many cultures around the world from past to present which find significance and fear in such a phenomenon.

This I covered in 0408 and I share here the ppt (insoluble in excess so that it shall stick with you for life).

If you think such a topic isn’t important, think again. EVERYTHING is important in GP.

Ref CAM2007 Q2: Can a belief in the supernatural be sustained in our modern world?

Ref CAM2006 Q10: Do myths and legends still have a role to play in Singapore?

Sometimes I find myself lapsing into the belief of the supernatural too, because it is convenient when I have limited knowledge of the phenomenon. I thought there must be some spirits at play when my statues move(d)! (See https://akbywerk2.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/toys/)

If you too believe in the supernatural, you may ignore this edict that follows. Otherwise, turn up for the consultations as stipulated: NOW!

You may think that you are going to love Science more than anything else in the world, but there are many ‘supernatural’ sciences out there that can impress you if you are not well-grounded in the art of GP and PW. Some ‘sciences’ are full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

There is Neuro-Semantics. As of today, I have wasted a couple of hours trying to find something scholarly about it, but failed. If any Nero(…)tics are reading this, please send me a copy of your theses that seek to link up the different branches of academia as you have claimed and I will send you my apologies if it is found that you are indeed credible. I’m not saying what you are doing isn’t good or isn’t working. I agree that it works but it is more like baking a cake than an academic pursuit. Business is business and I’m probably jealous that you are earning thousands of dollars everyday. If each student of a school pays $50 a day, I will get $75000 a day from 1500 students!

And there are also fad sciences like this; same beef I have:

Can your genes tell you how to eat?
By Wong Mei Ling, Mar 7, 2009; The Straits Times

It doesn’t get more faddish than in Hollywood and diets are no exception.

From singer-actress Jessica Simpson’s Five Factor Diet to R&B icon Beyonce Knowles’ Juice Fast, new dieting regimes have made news in the tabloids.

The latest to hit Tinseltown is the GenoType Diet, which America’s highest-paid TV presenter, Oprah Winfrey, is a huge fan of.

It is created by American naturopathic physician Peter D’Adamo, author of The GenoType Diet, and is an expansion of the blood-type diet. Naturopathic medicine is an alternative medicine which claims that the body can heal and maintain itself naturally.

The Genotype Diet claims that 70 per cent of our genes are changeable as they are heavily influenced by environmental factors, dietary habits being one of the most influential.

The diet claims that depending on one’s genetic group, or genotype, different problems and factors affect weight and metabolism.

Therefore, by eating according to one’s genotype, one can boost certain genes and suppress others, which, in turn, can improve the body’s health and facilitate weight loss.

It adds that there are six genotype groups: Hunters, Gatherers, Teachers, Explorers, Nomads, and Warriors.

A person’s genotype group can be assessed by blood type, thumbprint, certain body measurements and various personality traits.

Depending on the group type, the person’s body requires different types of food and drinks. What may be harmful to one group can be beneficial to another.

For example, those in the Explorer group should eat organic red meat and poultry, while the Warrior group is advised to keep off red meats and poultry and eat oily ocean fish.

The Teacher and Nomad groups can include coffee in their diet, but the Explorer group is told to avoid it.

‘Some of the diet’s guidelines are quite sensible, for example, changing to monounsaturated and unsaturated fats and oils,’ said Ms Karen Wright, lead dietitian at the Food Clinic in Leyden Hill, Bukit Timah.

Monounsaturated fats – found in foods like olives, nuts, canola oil and avocados – can lower cholesterol and may assist in reducing heart disease. It also provides essential fatty acids for healthy skin and the development of body cells.

However, Ms Wright noted that some of the recommendations do not specify the number of times that a food should be eaten on a weekly basis.

For example, Hunters are recommended to eat oily fish like salmon and sardines. However, she said mainstream health experts recommend that girls, and women planning to have a baby, consume oily fish no more than twice a week. This is because oily fish can contain residues of pollutants which can build up in their bodies over the years and affect reproductive functions later in life.

All other women, boys and men, should consume no more than four servings per week. This is because these fish may contain high levels of mercury.

Some dietitians here also question the scientific basis for the diet.

‘No two persons, except identical twins, have the same genetic make-up just because they have the same blood type, body type or features,’ senior dietitian and managing director of The Nutrition Place, Ms Pauline Chan, said. It is therefore misleading to claim that people of the same genotype, as defined by Dr D’Adamo, should eat or avoid certain foods, she said.

Both dietitians also point to the lack of scientific evidence to support Dr D’Adamo’s genotype theory.

‘There is no scientific evidence presented to back up his claims. The other source of information is from

Dr D’Adamo’s own collection of data. However, again, no specific journals or studies are referenced,’ Ms Wright noted.

So little is known about this diet that hospital-based dietitians in Singapore declined to comment on it, while major bookstores in Singapore like MPH and Borders do not carry books on the diet.
Ultimately, dietitians said, a balanced diet is essential for health. Diet fads do not lead to healthy and sustained weight management in the long-run, they added.

‘The best way to lose weight is by eating fewer calories than are being used,’

Ms Wright said, adding that there is no one diet that suits all people in a particular category.

Food and your genotype
Hunters
Blood type: O; Personality type: detail-oriented and able to handle stress; Food type: red meat, ocean fish and basmati rice; avoid dairy products and coffee
Gatherers
Blood type: O or B; Personality type: focused, a problem-solver but tends towards emotional highs and lows; Food type: red meats, herring and sardine, rice and ginseng tea; avoid feta and mozzarella cheese
Teachers
Blood type: often A, occasionally AB; Personality type: calm and has close links with nature; Food type: mutton, white fish, coffee and green tea but keep chicken intake low; avoid white rice, wheat
Explorers
Blood type: A, B, AB and O; Personality type: quirky, entrepreneurial; Food type: red meat and poultry, oily ocean fish and basmati rice; avoid coffee
Warriors
Blood type: A or AB; Personality type: charismatic but occasionally bad-tempered; Food type: no red meats nor poultry; should eat oily ocean fish, brown rice, barley; drink coffee, black tea, red wine
Nomads
Blood type: B and AB; Personality type: easy-going and fun-loving; keeps emotions hidden; Food type: red meat and white fish; avoid rye and rye flour; beer, red wine and coffee are permissable.

***

There you go. Science is perhaps so commercialised that even I sympathise with the situation.

So what are you?

Toys

We’ve never quite parted from toys; anything can be a toy!

Some have the weirdest collection while others are just satisfied with the traditional concept of toys. For me, I rue the day that I missed out on buying this toy (for collection or investment) when it was first launched…

I wish they make a Mitsubishi Ex GT version or a Toyota Vios version. Haha!

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Toys have their uses. Take a look:

Sanctuary House bought 10 of these dolls, which behave like real babies, to give young mothers-to-be a taste of the rigours of looking after a baby. — ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

By Theresa Tan, March 5, 2009; The Straits Times

Dry run for mums-to-be

Charity uses life-size dolls to prepare unwed teens for motherhood

MEET Bob and Abigail, life-size dolls programmed to cry – loudly and often – for food and nappy changes. They also need to be burped, just like real babies.

These dolls have a job to do – prepare unwed teenagers for motherhood, and get them to think about their ability to raise a baby.

Sanctuary House, a charity that reaches out to women facing unwanted pregnancies, has bought 10 of them.

Mr Noel Tan, the charity’s programme director, said: ‘A lot of mums we see have fanciful, unrealistic ideas about babies. They think, ‘How difficult can it be to look after one?”

Indeed, many teens refuse to put their babies up for adoption because they think they can cope – until reality bites.

A 17-year-old whom Mr Tan helped last year was adamant about keeping her child, but changed her mind just 1-1/2 months later when she realised she could not juggle her studies and the baby.

Besides making these young women think through making room in their lives for a child, the dolls also give them a dry run on the ins and outs of caring for a newborn.

Sanctuary House believes that if these young mothers are prepared for the crying, night feeds and constant attention babies demand, they will be less likely to take their frustrations out on their children. Mr Tan said: ‘We have seen babies end up in hospitals because they were shaken too hard or were flung about.’

The charity’s volunteers care for these unwanted babies while their mums decide whether to keep them or give them up for adoption.

Sanctuary House, which was set up in 2005, has so far cared for about 50 babies. One in five of them had a teenage mother, said Mr Tan.

He stressed that the charity is not a ‘baby drop’, or a place to leave unwanted babies.

The bulk of the pregnant women there give their babies up for adoption. For some, it is because the baby’s father had left them; others have financial problems or are mentally ill.

Among these mothers-to-be are a handful of teens who have been given one of these dolls to look after for a day or two.

Many emerged from the experience saying it was a ‘scary but useful experience’, said Mr Tan.

He added: ‘They didn’t realise that a crying baby can drive one nuts, and sleep deprivation can do things to you.’

Some professionals who counsel young unwed mums, however see pitfalls in using these dolls. Pastor Andrew Choo, who runs a shelter for pregnant and other troubled teens, said: ‘What happens if the girl is so traumatised by the doll that she falls into depression and decides to abort the baby?’

To this, Mr Tan said: ‘It’s not like we want to scare them so we can take their babies, but the mums need to know what they are in for before they decide what to do with their babies.’

The charity plans to give talks at secondary schools on relationships and use the dolls to give students an idea of the responsibilities of having a baby.

Sanctuary House’s initiative comes at a time when counsellors are seeing more teens grappling with sex and boy-girl issues.

More than 800 babies were born to teenagers each year in the last four years. Even more teenagers do not see the pregnancies through: About 1,400 teens aborted their babies each year in 2006 and 2007.

Just like a real baby

WITHIN each of these life-size dolls is a tangle of electronics sophisticated enough for it to be programmed as an ‘easy’ baby or an ‘extra fussy’ one.

A doll on extra fussy mode demands a feed every 1-1/2 hours and wants to be cuddled three times more than one set on easy mode, said Mr Noel Tan, Sanctuary House’s programme director. The charity has bought 10 of these US-made dolls at $1,200 each.

They are so realistic that they have delicate necks which need support so their heads do not loll around. When they wail in their recorded voices, it means they want to be fed or need a diaper change, or a cuddle.

They follow the schedule of a real baby, which means they wake up and cry at intervals. They even soil their specially designed diapers. If you treat them right, they coo. These dolls can also tell on you if you fail as a parent. They can churn out reports on your performance.

Said Mr Tan: ‘Such reports have helped us see how well the girls took care of the ‘baby’, such as did she give the child enough milk or change its diapers?’

* * * * * * * * * *

CONTROVERSIAL: Toymakers argue their dolls normalize disability, but some parents say they pigeonhole kids

By William L. Adams, Mar 19, 2009; TIME

New Dolls on the Block
Special needs dolls are growing in popularity. Do they help children or promote stereotypes?

Ever since Barbie and her reality-defying curves stepped into the playhouse, parents have complained that dolls promote an unattainable image of beauty. It’s a particularly piquant point for Lexington, South Carolina mother Mary Ann Perry, whose 23-year-old daughter Valerie lives with Down Syndrome. “Dolls represent real people in the imagination of a young person,” Perry says. “I don’t want Valerie to think she has to be conventionally beautiful to be loved.” So when Valerie asked for a doll at Christmas, her mother bypassed buxom Barbie and purchased Elizabeth (retail price: $175) from S.C.-based retailer Downi Creations. Featuring 13 physical characteristics of Down Syndrome, including almond-shaped eyes, low-set ears, a horizontal crease in her palms and a slightly protruding tongue. Elizabeth, says Perry, is “different but beautiful at the same time.”

She’s also one of a new breed of dolls targeted at special-needs kids. Parents in the U.S. and Europe are snapping up Down Syndrome dolls, blind babies, paraplegic dolls in wheelchairs and dolls wearing scarves as if undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. “There’s a therapeutic impact,” says Helga Parks, who sells more than 2,000 Down Syndrome and Chemo Friends a year through her online Helga’s European Specialty Toys. Parks believes her products boost a child’s self-esteem by normalizing their condition, and foster understanding among peers: “They take away the fear and sense of alienation for both parties.”

While toy sales have been hit by the downturn, special-needs dolls are doing well. Sales at Downi Creations remained steady in 2008, while Kids Like Me, a U.K. retailer, sold 25% more dolls last year than in 2007. Among its hottest items are the Disability Set — which comes with two dolls, a guide dog, dark glasses and leg braces; and Tilley, who uses an electric wheelchair. “She’s jazzy, she’s modern, she’s now,” says company director Emmanuel Blackman.

Or is she? Special-needs dolls, and Down Syndrome dolls in particular, have come in for criticism from parents who believe they pigeonhole their children and rely on stereotypes. “It’s a scary image for a lot of families,” says Sheila Hebein, the executive director of the Chicago-based National Association for Down Syndrome. “They’re highlighting differences that do not exist in all of our children. Certainly most do not have their tongues hanging out.” In fact, she says, many work hard in therapy to improve muscle tone so they can better control their mouths.

Annette Hames, a British psychologist and an expert on how children conceive disability, says that anyone, special needs or not, would struggle to identify with these “odd-looking” dolls. Besides, she says, “Down Syndrome isn’t about what you look like. It’s about what you can and cannot do.”

Despite such criticism, dollmakers remain unfazed. Peter Laudin, owner of the New York-based Pattycake Doll Company, says offended parents bring their own prejudices to the dolls, perhaps because of their personal difficulty accepting a child’s situation. “Nothing we respond with satisfies their hurt,” he says. But for kids who receive the dolls, that’s beside the point. “Children love all dolls unconditionally whether it’s special needs or not,” Laudin says. Retailers hope adults share that openness, too. 

* * * * * * * * * *

On controversies, we know that sex sells. Subaru’s ad was rather implicit, and I believe the ad for Carl’s Jr (courtesy of Daniel of 2208) was not that blatant too. But this has to take the cake:

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Still on controversies, some really push it to the boundary of humanity (or beyond). I came across this on the email and I believe some of you would have received this email pleading for help too. The victims are the so-called “bonzai cats”: cats stuffed into receptacles to keep them small and cute till they die.

* * * * * * * * * *

Thankfully, this is just a hoax created by students from MIT who might be trying to parody the Japanese art of miniaturisation, bonzai, and past societies’ acceptance of comprachicos.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonsai_Kitten

* * * * * * * * * *

While some strange happenings can be easily explained, others require more expert knowledge. Like this one which is still taking place in my home.

I have an authentic pair of Lord of the Rings Argonath bookend-statues placed besides the vent of my laptop. They are made of granite, I believe, and have rubber studs at their base.

If you look at the base, you will certainly notice the two black dots: the rubber studs. You are able to see them only because of the phenomenon. What happened was that the statues have ‘moved’ apart from each other! And their studs, for some reasons, are exposed when the statues slid away.

My unscholarly explanation is that the radiation from my laptop would have magnetised them (somehow) and they carry identical polarity which caused them to repel each other.

While I wait to be fully enlightened on this geophysics phenomenon, it is interesting to note how the concept of toys have transformed over the years.

AJC2CT2009P2AQ Blockbuster!

Here it is, yet another blockbuster released! In this attempt, Mr K. tries to see from the eyes of students attempting this in 25min, and succeeded against all odds to score a perfect score for a not entirely perfect response to the AQ…

Commercialisation has brought about problems in societies which embraced it, like what Karpf observed. Food, technology and morality are all corrupted by commercialisation to some extent. With regard to my country, I disagree with her view and I consider the impact of commercialisation to be more beneficial than harmful for people in my country, although similar problems are obvious. There are nonetheless overall merits that outshine the gloom.

With a preoccupation “with protecting children from physical harm but (losing) sight of their emotional and social needs” (l.16-7), commercial products serve to fill in the gap. We have Barney and friends like Teletubbies to keep children emotionally engaged as they get weaned on the breasts of the tube. It is a kind of education where they feel positive about life, and in times when parents are not around due to work commitments, it is the next best alternative. We are also negating the interaction the caretakers have with our children—they can be grandparents or relatives, or child care centres. In Singapore, the government actively promotes a three-tier family structure so that parents can continue to work and contribute to the economy while the third and first tiers stay connected. This scheme of things benefit everyone and commercial products and television shows are just two entities in contemporary living that promote interaction between the elders and the juniors. The physical space in Singapore limits what they can do, but that is not to say that they do not play at the common areas with neighbours and stray animals, although they may not appreciate rolling around in the garden and appreciate the butterflies and the dogs, what with the flu bugs around. Like Karpf said, “(It) is not as if childhood has always been one thing and is now another.” (l.33-4) Childhood and parenthood change over time and commercialisation is just one artefact in the new order.

The same goes for food. Health has been a focus in modern time as cardiac failure, stroke, cancer and other killers seize lives of the old and young alike. They have Jamie Oliver in the United Kingdom; we have the Ministry of Health in Singapore to look after our welfare. Though Oliver has been “rubbishing parents rather than the supermarket that pays him…the junk-peddling department” (l.61-2), he is still doing a decent job in raising the awareness of eating the right food. The way the world works lends a hand to the survival of businesses and even food that claims to be healthy uses it as an excuse to sell themselves. Either way we have commercialism preying on us. Because of the heightened awareness of eating healthy, they would, like what Bill Gates said of creative capitalism, produce healthier alternatives. McDonald’s in Singapore serve smaller portions, besides introducing healthier choices across the globe. While they earn their dollars, consumers have their fries and could possibly hesitate in buying more for fear of burning their pockets more readily than the fats or carcinogens. The Ministry of Health did not ban such unhealthy food, particularly because it recognises that there is an element of hazard in all our entree, be it char kway tiao, roti prata or nasi lemak. What it advises says a lot: eat in moderation. Because we live in the city, power snacks and energy bars become a staple for some. Home-cooked food becomes a luxury, while restaurant eating becomes a norm for families that want a fuss-free happy meal together. Commercialised foods only make us more efficient citizens of Singapore and this is beneficial for people of my Confucius-influenced country.

Because efficiency of the workforce is key to Singapore’s survival—and the individual’s too, the electronic media offers serious help. “And some aspects of modern technology…rather than contributing to anomie, have created greater bonds between strangers, even if, admittedly, these are mediated through the screen rather than face to face.” (l.42-4) Facebook, Skype, MSN and other discussion boards and communication channels on the Internet have successfully kept people in my country connected in an increasingly busy life. Though “the penetration of electronic media into every corner of personal as well as social life is unprecedented” (l.53-4), it is better than not having the opportunity to interact with friends at all. Especially with the demands of city living in a global village where one may be far away in Amsterdam while the other is in Singapore, cyber space connects us temporally if not spatially. Letter writing is too tedious. It is as close to F2F as it gets. This is not utopia; we cannot have the best of both worlds. Because some parts of our personal life might be eaten into more than we like, so we have to learn to protect against identity thefts or bullying. Charles Darwin would agree too. Such products offer relief and their commercial popularity among people around the world should be taken as their being more beneficial than harmful.

Morality is a more difficult point to argue: Karpf and many believe that commercialisation makes our time look like an “emblem of a morally vacuous culture, a spiritual hole.” (l.71-2) I do too. “(Television programmes’) blatant cheapening of sexuality, its recruitment of victims willing to collaborate in their own exploitation in a desperate search for hyperreality” (l.69-71) are all evident on Singaporean TV as well. This is doubtlessly implicitly harmful to my country. And like what Karpf said, it is impossible to expect the businesses to cater to social well-being all the time (para.10). Although creative capitalism can help and it has, with companies sponsoring socially responsible programmes and drama serials vetted nonetheless by the Media Development Authority, we have to do our part too. This is what it means to survive. The siege mentality that we experience given our history and geography can apply to the moral trap commercialisation and the media pose and we can carry on what we have done so far in education: media literacy. Besides doing a Jamie Oliver in (re-)educating parents, the quality of education for the young generation in this regard naturally has to be upped. The Darwinian notion yet applies in such morally trying time where so many varieties of lifestyle choice are available, made visible by technology. We currently have Moral Education in local government-aided schools, but this can also be made available to all as this is a life-skill in an age of technology. All these will be beneficial to the country as it makes all resilient (if the learning outcomes are met, with effective teaching of course). This is a skill needed for survival in the new world made possible with the opportunity presented by commercialisation.

The valley accompanies the hilltop and it is up to us to climb to see the beautiful scene from the peak. The commerce-loving Sisyphus might have to roll the boulder up the hill over and over again, but he could bask in the light at the top while he is there.

Piggy Bank Dissolved As Of Today

As confirmed by three students from 0408 and 2208, each class is entitled to $5.20 after the Bank’s worth was sliced in a quarter. The fourth segment will be awarded to The Remarkable GP Student for the 2009 Common Test.

1508’s treasurer did not turn up even after the email and the SMS had been sent earlier; if I do not hear from anyone from 1508 via a reply on this blog in seven days, their share will be donated to a greater cause: the Book Prize for the Remarkable GP Student 2009.

Eulogy of the Living Dead

(CAVEAT & APOLOGIES for posting this largely unaltered for I need to display the entire piece of art here for a holistic analysis.)

It feels like a memorial for the war dead even though it is supposed to be a feast to commemorate officers’ promotions. The visual pun can’t be any more vivid than this, that we have been here for not-so-long and yet we are veterans and perhaps battle-weary ones. Some have been ‘killed’ in the line of duty…

Some say the creator needs to attend a course on visual arts.

But I personally love the visual pun.

Who wouldn’t be jealous of Michael Jackson’s memorial service? I caught it on TV, and I doubt the intention of most of the people who attended (where were they when he was in trouble?) though I was moved by Jermaine Jackson’s rendition of Smile. It is like the trail of a meteor, a falling star and everyone just wants a sprinkle of stardust.

This much is clear: Jackson’s heirs, music labels and opportunists will probably be mining his legacy for decades to come. In that way, his death may parallel that of the music industry’s original King – Elvis Presley, who died in 1977 at age 42.

Like Jackson, Presley hadn’t had a hit album in years. At the end of his life, he was mostly relying on royalties from his past hits and doing shows in Las Vegas. But in death he became a moneymaking phenomenon. Presley’s estate was valued at just US$4.9 million at the time of his death. In 2005, a company run by media entrepreneur Robert F.X. Sillerman paid US$100 million for 85 per cent of the estate and a 90-year lease on his Memphis mansion, Graceland.

By some estimates, Jackson’s estate could be worth more than US$1 billion. Besides the master recordings of his own music, Jackson owned half of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a jewel estimated to be worth US$2 billion by itself. The 750,000-song catalog includes music by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Lady Gaga and the Jonas Brothers. Creditors will get first crack at the estate. – The Straits Times, June 27, 2009, “Worth more dead than alive”

Nearly 27 years after its release, “Thriller” still stands as the best-selling studio album in the United States, according to the RIAA, which has certified it 28-times platinum. More than 50 million copies have been sold internationally, according to estimates.

 

But the album’s success can’t be measured by sales alone. As Jackson moonwalked his way into music history, “Thriller” set a new benchmark for blockbusters that changed how the music business promoted and marketed superstar releases. It also changed MTV, breaking down the cable network’s racial barriers and raising the bar for video quality. – Billboard, July 3, 2009, “How Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ Changed The Music Business” (www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/exclusive-how-michael-jackson-s-thriller-1003990525.story?pn=1)

The Osservatore Romano paper said Jackson and musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and John Lennon ‘never die in the imagination of their fans.’ – ST, June 27, 2009, “Vatican paper hails MJ”

Bob Marley, Elvis, Freddie Mercury, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, John Lennon, Karen Carpenter, Kurt Cobain, Marvin Gaye, Notorious BIG, Tupac. They all died young but perhaps none would have the same magnitude and latitude of impact as MJ’s death.