Happy 55 Singapore. No more a youthful or young nation ; Maturity, Wisdom and Thoughtful Action is needed from our leaders.

Singapore is 55 years of age today. We have been blessed since our inception in 1965 by a great leader and statesman Mr. Lee Kwan Yew that with each year after his passing, I am more and more awestruck at his contribution to raise this little backwater of an island in the midst of (then) unfriendly neighbours and having to fight numerous battles on the economic, social and political front it is something of a miracle that we have this unlikely metropolis which I proudly call my home.

Let us reflect on this fact on Singapore's birthday. I am grateful for having a giant of a man who led Singapore for the better part of 30 years as Prime Minister then taking the back seat as Senior Minister, and finally Minister Mentor in his final days. He was a brilliant statesman, leader extraordinaire, loving husband and super salesman of the country. True, he had to enact the Internal Security Act during Operation Coldstore, but the greater good of Singapore has been achieved  in barely 30 years. We are now a first world country with one of the highest GDP per capita, freest economy where business is concerned, clean, green and a place where the world expects Singaporeans to stand up and be counted upon. He and his wonderful team achieved this starting in mid 1960s for a poor island struggling after the Second World War with no hinterland, little farmland, no rare earth resources, no water. 

Malaysia had decided to 'kick out' this island at the south by an immediate amendment of the Constitution, fearing the rise of Communist enclaves, and racial disharmony amongst many other issue. In the late 50s and early 60s, Singapore was subject to the Hock Lee Bus Riots, the racial riots, the Konfrantasi between the then Malaya and Indonesia, the Chinese Middle School protests and the worrying rise of the Plen (plenitentiary) who had started the Malayan Communist Party and was eyeing on radicalising Singapore's young urban poor.  

In 1967, the British decided to pull out all of their bases, Naval and whatever land forces they had. Poverty was rife, gangsters and triads were plentiful and people were left after the 2nd World War with no jobs, lack of security, sanitation and a bleak future.

Only through the amazing vision and steely willpower of a great man, a no nonsense taskmaster and his desire to pull this unlikely nation by its bootstraps from the Third World to First World did Singapore 'make it'. 

My salute to you, sir. 

Singapore - The origins of the name ? 

I am also struck that the name Singa Pura is taken from a Sanscrit word and Singa meaning 'lion'. Historically and from wildlife records from hundreds of years ago, there have never been sightings of any Lions in the Lion City. According to folklore, (again it is all heresay and handed down stories which Man is very good at altering to his exaggeration to make the story more 'tall' and awe inspiring), the Majapahit ruler Sang Nila Utama came to this island one day to hunt, and lo and behold, the saw the Lion when he landed, hence the name Singa in the Singa Pore name. The jungles of South East Asia only record Tiger sightings and Lions domain or sanctuary is the Savannah in Africa. Strange isn't it ? 

An unlikely formed country with an even more unlikely origin for a name, with a brilliant leader statesman all at the same time. The odds of that happening is probably less than one in a million years. 

I prefer the more accurate Temasek from the Indonesian  language whereby the meaning is the Land surrounded by the Lakes. This is much more apt. 

Happy 55th Temasek Island 

The first 2 Acts have come and gone - 

Now comes the Hard Part...... 

 

Morse Code ; a 100 year old 'language' ; I just learnt it for fun

 

In the days of the smart phone, people are dumbing down, because everything is within reach of your handphone. Many people take for granted basic methodologies like mathematics, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. I have also noticed a decline in cognitive thinking and rational debates either in the spoken word or in essays. 

Yuval Noah Harari's prediction that the world is gravitating towards a superclass of humans (called Alpha Humans) who control everything in the world using Artificial Intelligence and Biometrics. Robots will be the Working Class,  eventually taking over menial and repetitive jobs such as driving (cars, buses, Grab and Uber), navigating (Google Maps), food delivery (Food Panda, Uber Eats and Grab Food to name 3), cleaning, data entry, big data and so on.

At the bottom, there will be grow a subclass (underclass) of humans with nothing to do. It is scarily prescient but its only still in the distant future.

 

In addition, there are many apps such as Grammerly which help you with phrasing, punctuation and horrors, in the domain of end to end encrypted communication such as Whatsapp, and Snapchat, there are these horrible things called emoticons which - you guessed it - give emotion to our boring phrases, IF we can even be bothered with writing in grammatically correct and syntax free sentences.

So, we are subconciously being dumbed down, to becoming unthinking, lazy beings.

I DO NOT WANT THAT ; Not in my lifetime.

Hence, I have decided to learn languages with my free time (my target is to learn 5 speaking and writing fluently) , and this is my hobby and target.

Starting with Morse Code, a useful code language whereby through a series of dots and dashes you can write out, albeit slowly, sentences when you do not have a handphone and the next person is quite a distance and there are some physical structures such as walls, or metal structures between the both of you.

Its so fun, and I have developed my way of memorising the dots and dashes and now I am looking for a Morse Code group to try out my latest language ! 

2009 December Egypt Memories

 

2012 50 Birthday Get Together with the Saints

The First Hour

I am aware that the first hour of the day is the time when the mind is at its most acute and cognitively, the most focused and clear. 

Hence, for us, we have only this time to get the most important of things done.

For the spiritual, Christians like to use the first hour as 'quiet time' to communicate with God by either reading his word (the Bible) and hence setting the day right.

For others unaware of their cognitive bearings, it passes on like any other - a loss of the mind's capability to do the most important task of the day.

Some days I waste this first hour by relaxing or doing trivial things.

Nowadays, I believe it is imperative that I use this first hour to stratagize and plan ahead for the day, week, month and till the end of the year.

Useless musings ?  

Not where I am concerned. 

 

Debt to Equity Value for Companies

I am embarking to attain first financial literacy and then financial competancy as I realise I am a dumb ass in this field 

The more competant I get, I will realise whether I can make it in the business world. 

How to Win even the toughest Sudoku challenges

This 'diabolical' game took me 3 hours to complete on a humid and hot Sunday afternoon in my house attic. The difficulty of the game ratings given by the Daily Telegraph depend on the day of the week each game in played. 

Monday is 'Gentle' or easy Beginner level. Tuesday and Wednesday is 'Moderate' for Intermediate, Thursdays are 'Tough', Friday and Sundays are 'Diabolical' meaning next to impossible or Gamer Advanced and Saturdays are 'Moderate'   

I've been a fan of the Japanese puzzle game for almost 10 years now, I believe.  Sudoku is the innocuous looking 9 square puzzle where there are numbers from 1 - 9. There is no number zero used in this game.

Rule of the Game 
The objective of this game is simple. In the 9 squares, the player must fill in each row and each column ONLY ONCE the number 1 to 9. There cannot be a repeat of the number on any row or column. In addition, each outlined box can only have the number 1 to 9 appearing only once ! 

                                                              Tricks and Tips

Unless you are very experienced and clever, I would advise to print out the game, and write the possibilities of that number coming out in the square - for the diabolical or very difficult levels.

a) Print Out the Puzzle

Write out all the possibilities inside the small square for easy recollection and deduction later in the game. 

b) Use the elimination level method to fill in the empty square. 

If for example the 2 9 x 9 squares have the same number which are above and below that of the empty square when extrapolated, then there is the high possibility that square will show up that number. (Its very hard to explain in writing).

c)   When a square within the box has the same 2 numbers, they are 'booked' meaning 

This means that within the 9 square box, these 2 squares can only have these 2 numbers, hence by logical deduction, the remaining 7 other numbers need to be filled either within the 9x9 square, the column or row   

e) Count each line and column to ensure there is only 1 number between 1 to 9  

This is the hardest thing for me to do. There are so many lines and columns (9+9 or 18), so it tries my focus thinking to the maximum and this is where I reap the greatest benefit, I can easily spend 1 - 3 hours (not continuously but with breaks in between) on a game, but normally most times I can finish the most difficult sudokus within 30 minutes PROVIDED

 

> my mind is clear and focussed

> I have had a good sleep the night before

> I have no other distractions  

d) Gwendolin's Thread 

Finally, when all else fails, when I have deduced and eliminated all the other possibilities and put in all the 'given' or confirmed numbers, I am left with a puzzle where there are about 10 - 20 possibles and the rest are 100% givens and filled in, I will do what Princess Gwendolin did, 'guess' (either a 50 /50)

and circle the possible number at the top corer of the square and try to finish it. There will be a 'thread' or a path where I can backtrack using the 'string' I had placed for myself especially if the path turns out to be wrong one. I do not want to be going in circles and coming to a dead end and encountering 2 number 9s along the same row or column. 

So,  if along the way, I find there are (for example) 2 number 8s along the same row or column, then I will need to backtrack to where I first made that guess. 

It is obviously the wrong route, so I will erase my error, and start back to the original point where I chose one number out of two (a 50 / 50). I will then proceed to take the other number and proceed on from there.  

Normally I will be able to finish the game this way.

So that's it folks 

Sudoku Game De Mystified !

Have Fun Playing ! You only challenge yourself on time and patience.

Becoming a Top Level Player is not difficult.