Why is rock music 'evil' ?

             This is a classic video from Coldplay, one of Britain's top bands featuring Chris Martin (lead singer and husband of Gwyneth Paltrow) and is very entertaining.

              Rock music (some anyway) has been labelled satanic, morally decandent and imbibing all the wrong values in the youth. But give it (this genre) a break ! Why ? Its been around for 60 years, since Bill Haley and the Comets, Elvis Prestly, the Everly Brothers, the Beatles and Chuck Berry and countless others have been giving the baby boomers (those born from 1946 till 1975) endless hours of enjoyment, and hey, every new generation which comes after the previous one always gives the former a great deal of concern and headaches. There is a certain billionaire called Bono (frontman for the band U2) who has been at the forefront of charity work in Africa, helping thousands if not millions of starving Africans better their lives. And don't forget Sir Bob Geldof (Boomtown Rats) with his "Do they knowits Christmas album" and Voices that Care - all made their money through rock music and other popular music media, and helping millions in the process.

             Sure, there was the rise of the drug culture during the 60s, but rock and roll was only one aspect of the 'freedom movement' which was so vibrant representing the Flower Power of the youth. The youth of those times were no different from each generations' youth, they just want to do things their 'own way'much to the consternation of the older generation.

            So the establishment (that is people like you and I who are middle aged, married probably with or without kids and are earning a decent income) will feel threatened that the next generation is going to the dogs with their music, attitudes,  drugs, gangs, reverse messages etc. etc.

           So I say to these people, "grow up and think logically". Our children will grow up just fine provided we give them the necessary guidance,values, love and most importantly, our time. Music is part and parcel of our subculture, like it or not. Its been around for centuries and will continue to evolve for centuries to come

       Rock music, House music, Rap music etc. are just forms of stimulating our young minds. They are about as evil as tomorrow's newspapers. We just need to provide the young minds with the correct perspective, understand the fine line between the what is legal and illegal  and encourage debate.  

        Up till today I can't understand the appeal of Justin Bieber , does that mean he is evil ??

KSK Club Photos Collage

                  Another Collage of my Karate Club where I have been training for the last 8 years.

                  Chief Instructor : Sensei Chia Kwek Fah ; 7th Dan Shitoryu Karate

                  Asst. Instructor : Mickey Tey ; 2nd Dan

'New' Software 'Toy' Picasa 3

         This is a 'new' software which I have been playing with for the past few days. Called Picasa 3, it has many edit, and collage functions as well as movie production presentations which enable the user to easily put up pictures, hand held videos and trips in a fun and eye-catching manner. Here is a long overdue collage of ex- associates like Frank Rigley (forerly Regional Sales Manager of Weiss Technik till end 2009), and other current colleagues like Erhart Geto (Weiss Technik Regional Service Manager), N. Kannan, Rufus Pinto, Liew Hon Nien, Fhiyionna Tan and their spouses.

         The occasion was the retirement of Frank Rigley and this was taken before the Chinese NewYear 2008 at the restaurant named 'End of the World' at Batu Feringghi and at Ingolf's Kniepe bar and Restaurant at Bayan Baru.

         Good Times of the Past.

Visit to Thai Satellite Center - THEOS

Radio Telescopes in the Distance

      Several months ago I had the opportunity to visit a Satellite Center located in Thailand's Eastern Seaboard town of Chonburi. Roughly about 2 hours drive South East of Bangkok, the THEOS Center houses a number of radio telescopes focussed up in the sky at 2 satellites hovering above the Earth's atmosphere. The Thai scientists stationed there had received training in France and were part of a technology transfer from France to the kingdom of Thailand.

     

      The satellite model is rather uninspiring, all decked out in yellow reflective panels and weighing about 3 tons, its primary purpose is to detect changes in weather patterns all over Thailand, so as to assist the rural farming populations about extreme weather conditions like storms approaching and hot spots in the countryside. They offer the services not only to the Thai Government, but also for commercial purposes.

    

      I wonder why the neighboring countries, with all this technology readily available, and with 12 years of past experience, are still unable to prevent the out of control fires - which can be easily located, caused by slash and burn methods employed by farmers and resulting in the haze which has engulfed both Singapore and Malaysia recently ?

   

The Funny Thing after gaining an Education

                                                                          Andrew's Sec 1 Class

  The funny thing about Education is that modern day society is so enamoured or in love with the concept of studying or gaining as much paper as a means to 'move up' or achieve higher social status in life that alot of times, when I look at the education landscape in Singapore and in many Asian countries, I wonder whether all those years of studying amount to anything. Don't get me wrong, education or schooling is essential for a young person, but many times, the most successful people in life, as far as seizing opportunites or doing well and living a balanced life do not have degrees or postdoctorate qualifications. This leads me to question :

a) We put in 12 years of schooling, junior, secondary, high school or preuniversity or college and
b) another 4 to 6 years of undergraduate study
c) perhaps another 2 to 3 years of post graduate study

    For the most part, we study for exams, we learn things like pythagoras theorems. flood plains, ancient Chinese history, algebraic and quadratic equations, convalent bonds and De Brogli's theory and packet light pulses. We spill all these out for the exams, semester after semester, year after year. We put in days, weeks and months of 'burning the midnight oil' to study for the year end exam.

    At the end, we get the coveted paper - the A Level cert, the Degree in Science. And apply for a job.
You get the Job. Now comes the funny part.

    How much of these things which you study do you apply to your working life ?

a) addition, subtraction,division, multiplacition perhaps
b) Yes, No, and English stuff to write emails to colleagues and present some reports to the management
c) Understanding balance sheets (if you are an accountant or accounts assistant)
d) Reading and understanding some electrical circuit diagrams (if you are in the technical line)

    Everything else is new, we learn about banking, engineering processes, cashbook,MYOB etc. etc. ON THE JOB

     So what was the 12 - 16 years we put in so much effort,time, sweat, countless Red Bull drinks and nights inthe University Library  to gain the "A"s or "B"s for ???

     Do you tell your customer, who is facing a delivery time problem from your principal or supplier  "Oh don't worry, I know how to solve this problem, I got 2nd class honours in Engineering".  He will probably laugh at your face.

     Whats most important is the "school of life", people need to start work early and learn how to

a) interact meaningfully with your coworkers and colleagues for the benefit of your employer

b) meeting objectives and goals set out by company management and presenting them in a manner
    which will obtain maximum results for both the company and the person

c) hone in on interpersonal and life skills like good public relations, marketing, selling, adverserial
    and strategic planning

    Maybe the answer to achieving success in the businessworld is to start working EARLY. Then and only then will the person understand how deals are clinched, objectives met and goals are set and achieved.

     It has been noted that the most afraid to lose or kiasu people are those who have studied for the longest time, its like they have this mentality, "oh, I put in 12 years of my time and my parents 'money on computer science studies , I need to look for a job in the computer industry, at least I have a job". It may be a lousy paying job in a sunset industry but he doesn't see it.

     The risk takers are those who have nothing to lose, so they will try almost anything.  

     There is a famous quotation that bears repeating, "I have learnt whatever I need to learn in kindergarten, how to stick together and share our food, how to avoid the bullys, to clean my plate after my meal and never ever forget to say "thank you".

Now is the Time

My trusty Kayano 16s 

My 'office' gear

Its exactly 6 weeks till the Standard Chartered Marathon, and I have been training intermittently for the last 2 - 3 months. This post is a timely reminder to me to get going and be serious about the runup for the 5th full marathon I am attempting. The target I will set for myself is 4 hours 45 minutes which broken down to 2 half marathons (of 21 k each) is 2 hours 22 minutes. As the famous ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes put it into perspective during his 100 miler (consecutive) :

"you run the firs half with your legs, the second half with your mind". 

My ultramarathon running friends, Jane Peng and Thaddeus Lawrence have another similar quote :

"your run first with your legs, then you run with your mind, finally you run with your heart"

I will be aiming to hit  around 60 km to 70 km per week in training so, I plan to be running almost daily, with the odd rest day, and I plan to hit the road even when I am overseas travelling in Europe (in late November) and Thailand (mid November). So its no rest for the wicked I guess. 

Time is of the essence, I hope that by using the running techniques like Pose running, and landing on the midsection,  I can improve my running speed, and distance.

4 hours 45 minutes - the goal for 42.195 km on 5th December 2010.          

120 mm Mortar Fire Mission on Armoured Personnel Carrier Video

   A video (US Armoured Artillery) showing how the 120 mm mortar is fired off in the vehicle. The commander is at the top of the APC (near the copolla) and the person loading the mortar is called the Loader or No. 3 Man. Normally the Fire Mission Officer would call "Fire Mission Mortar No. ###" and only 1 detachment would be called to action. In those days, that was normally done by my buddy Chong Wai Kiong.The entire Battery consisting of 6 vehicles would first secure the deployment area and the lead vehicle would then be required to fire off the first round of mortar - within a maximum time, normally less than 2 minutes. So the ranging 'piece' is  first required to find the target by shooting 3 times and once the bombs reach within 100m of the intended range, then the rest of the Battery would follow suit and a full fire mission would take place. The range of the mortar is normally about 3 - 6 km depending on the elevation of the mortar (trajectory) and also what incendiary flares (circular and flammable)  are attached to the mortar to ensure it flies as far as it should.

   Normally, the ranging mortar fires to get the range of the bomb,ie. to ascertain that the bomb reaches the target within the intended distance. That woud normally take about 3 rounds maximum, following which the entire battery (platoon of mortar soldiers) would be called to 'fire for effect', that is for the entire 6 to 10 mortars to hit the target at the same 'line'.

   A tough vocation but fun.