In Philippines in 1975
Thank you readers ! I am thoroughly humbled and awed by the reach of this blog. I will continue to scribe and curate my life experiences as long and as best as I can.
2,000,000 views.
I am slowly letting this number sink in.
Carpe Diem.
This is the question I want to ask, in the wake of the incident whereby an enraged parent roughly pushed an old man to the ground when he merely patted the little girl's head. The old gent meant no harm, and he was the proprietor of the stall and had trouble walking as was shown by the CCTV video slowly making his way across the coffeeshop, and needed to hold on to the tables for balance.
When he walked by the little girl, all he did was pat her head, as is wont of many people of my era (above 50 years of age). First the mother got all protective and rushed to hug her 'baby', and then the father walked over, got all angry and shoved the old man to the ground.
True, the video only cut off at that juncture, but the father realized he overreacted, and helped the old man up and offered to buy him a drink.
The fact of the issue that the father or the angry perpetrator was from Australia, had led me to question this basic behavior. Maybe in Australia, it is not 'on' to pat children on the head ? Or are the current crop of Singaporean parents too overprotective of their princes and princesses ?
Perhaps in many countries outside of Asia, it is rather rude or dangerous to touch children anywhere unless the adults happen to be kindergarten teachers, maids or trained child minders.
So it begs the question, are there more and more foreign born people in our midst ? The sheer numbers of people of Asian origin who are here either as permanent residents, and natuzalised citizens are in the millions. The Singapore 'core' is fast shrinking as Singaporeans are reproducing themselves only 0.87 or less than 1 per Singaporean. Hence the need for immigrants, that we are fully aware of.
A large percentage of them assimilate into Singapore society and try to integrate. However, there is a significant minority who live and socialize in expatriate bubbles. Many different cultures coming and residing so close to each other, something will bound to happen and people with differences in child raising, social behavior and practices will always challenge the norm and incidents and misunderstandings like these will continue to happen.
What is the solution ?
Seriously ?
In July I had indicated that this blog had hit 1,000,000 views. Now barely a month has passed and we are on the cusp of 2,000,000 views. A total of 1,000,000 views per month.
I am mystified, exhilerated and grateful for attention and interest and will continue to post meaningful content on this page.
Thank you readers and friends.
Carpe Diem.
15th August 2026
Downtown Canberra is as pretty as a picture.
The rectangular exhaust box (bottom centre inside the room beside the treadmill) is the magic box providing all the various temperature and humidity setpoints. The other 19 inch box at bottom right is the control box where the settings are done.
The is also the compressor which is located on another level on the ground floor, and there must be enough standstill pressure for the compressor to provide the ample refrigerant onto the second floor for the cooling to actually happen.
Where once small godowns by the Singapore river were, there stands a river panorama with waterside dining called Boat Quay. Further up is the likes of Clarke Quay and Robertson Quays.
Gleaming skyscrapers greet visitors as well as the Marina Bay Sands with its curved top resembling a long boat makes an iconic picture. Singapore has made it to the top of the GDP per capita and PPP these last couple of years, making it one of the most wealthy nations on earth. Many people who visit us are so impressed by our country's first class infrastructure, the cleanliness, and our people's standard of living.
We are an improbable nation, if not for the iron will of the founding fathers - the first generation of leaders led by Mr. Lee Kwan Yew and his very capable team of first generation leaders.
> Mr Goh Keng Swee
> Mr. S. Rajaratnam
> Mr. Lim Kim San
> Dr Toh Chin Chye
> Mr. Yusoff Ishak
> Mr. E W Barker
all of them individually men of the highest calibre and capability to lead, visualise and drive the unlikely nation of (then) barely 3 million into peace, prosperity and national security.
Fast forward 60 years later, with the 4 Generation leaders, at the helm, do we feel as optimistic about the future for Singapore now as compared to (say) 30 years ago ?
