Football, the Unifier

Football is again the buzzword. Tonight's the match between Singapore and Thailand.

Last week, when Singapore played against Malaysia, and won, the national spirit and unity roared as we cheered our team, within the National Stadium and outside, in our homes and in the fields. Tonight, that football can unite our people into One People is evident again. It certainly does when mother (who usually complains about father watching footbal "as always", "watching them kick the ball") stays glued to the TV throughout dinner, asking intensely which colour represented which team!

Well, Singapore has won 2-1. This is really a grand finale to the National Stadium!

They say sports unite peoples. That's the aim of the Olympics when it first started (in Athens?). Let's hope football does too (though from the looks of the game tonight, the outlook isn't too rosy).

Isolated amidst a sea of People

"All alone in a crowd" is a very apt headline for the recent commentary by Ivan Png. Families gathering in front of a TV is becoming a less common sight. Especially if the children are old enough (or young enough) to hit the keyboard and activate programmes on the computer. Families together with one pastime (ie watching the same TV programme) are also becoming a less common sight because there is now cable TV offering a myriad of programmes, from AXN to CNN, BBC, Disney, Hallmark, Discovery and Hongkong/Chinese channels. With TVs in almost every room in some households, each is watching his own niched TV programmes, in short, narrowcasting.

"All alone in a crowd" also reminds me of the Samsung MP3 TV commercial. In the TVC, everyone is walking around with a "glass bubble" around his / her head. One guy bravely breaks his own "bubble", signifying the Samsung MP3 player with the built-in speaker (instead of the customary earpieces in order to listen to the music). The people around him also break their own "bubbles" and start using the MP3 advertising, all SHARING and re-gaining common space.

I guess we are indeed often in our own personal "bubble", whether when working at our PC/laptop, in texting our friends through the mobile phone (even while physically in a group with others), or in surfing the Net, or engaging in exciting gaming. Or when blogging. ;) But even while we are alone with our thoughts, we can say that we are also communicating with others - those we lan-game with, those we email.

Ultimately, like in eating and with food, it is a matter of balance. We need our own space; we also need to engage with and interact with other human beings, especially family and friends, who help feed our souls with encouragement, love and friendship.

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Straits Times Tuesday, 30 Jan 07 Pg 18
All alone in a crowd

By For The Straits Times, Ivan Png

IN HIS highly acclaimed book, Bowling Alone, political scientist Robert Putnam documented a systematic decline in membership of civic, social and fraternal groups in the US.
The former dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University famously observed that even as bowling increased in popularity, people were tending to bowl alone rather than in groups.
Mr Putnam used membership in civic, social and fraternal groups to measure social capital. Social capital provides the foundation for society, in the same way that economic and human capital provide the foundation of the economy.
He attributed the reduction in social interaction and consequent decline of social capital to various factors. In particular, he blamed the fall in social interaction on the rise of television and the geographic spread of the population, which in turn reduced the overall density of living.
In recent months, several economists have tested Mr Putnam's arguments with statistical data from the United States and Indonesia. These studies have important implications for the socio-political development of our region.
A study by academic Benjamin Olken has confirmed Mr Putnam's argument that television viewing reduces social interaction.
Mr Olken, a junior fellow at Harvard, was recently featured in the New York Times' list of top young economists. He studied the impact of television on social capital in rural Java.
Television reception varies across villages in rural Java. Depending on the terrain and location of transmission towers, some villages receive more channels than others.
Mr Olken found that for each additional television channel received, villagers spent 5 per cent more time on television and radio and attended 11 per cent fewer group meetings. Also, the number of social groups in a village was reduced by 7 per cent for every additional channel that it received.
The 21st-century equivalent of TV is the Internet. Gamers - young and not-so-young - are sequestering themselves to feed their addictions. We are not only losing social interaction, we are even losing family interaction. In past years, parents and children would gather and watch television as a family. Today, each one is closeted alone with a separate computer.
Another study, by Jan K.Brueckner of the University of California, Irvine, and Ann G.Largey of Dublin City University, contradicted Mr Putnam's argument that social interaction is higher where the population is denser.
The duo studied the impact of population density on various measures of friendship and group involvement. These measures were collected by the Social Capital Benchmark Survey which, ironically, was initiated by Mr Putnam himself.
The survey collected data on social capital from a sample of more than 30,000 Americans. It was found that where population density was higher, various measures of friendship were lower. These measures included the numbers of confidants and close friends, and the rates of socialisation with neighbours and visits of friends to the home.
The study also found that where population density was higher, various measures of involvement in group activities were lower. These measures included membership in hobby-oriented clubs and formal non-church groups, and attendance at club meetings.
While they contradict Mr Putnam's hypothesis, these findings certainly do resonate with recent experience. As Asian societies have urbanised - through migration and economic development - the spirit of gotong royong (mutual help) has clearly diminished. This is quite obvious to anyone who has seen the litter and scrawl that mar our housing estates.
As entertainment becomes ever more 'personalised' and urbanisation proceeds apace, social interaction will continue to diminish across Asia - in rich and poor countries alike. In terms of social capital, the future does look bleak indeed.

The writer is a professor of information systems, business policy, and economics at the National University of Singapore. The opinions expressed here are personal.

Oleh, Oleh, Oleh, Oleh ... in cyberspace

Even as the people crammed into the National Stadium for the last game last night, united as one spirit (hmm, maybe "united as one" sounds better), the same unity is fostered in virtual space.

It seems that STOMP was abuzz with comments on the football game too. Well, if you can't join them at the stadium, join them in spirit in cyberspace!

So perhaps football is a unifying force even in cyberspace?

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The Sunday Times, Jan 28, 2007
STOMP users add to football mania

FOOTBALL fever is well and truly back in Singapore.
Just as the National Stadium was packed with 55,000 fans cheering on the Lions yesterday, Internet chatrooms here were also buzzing.

The Straits Times' interactive portal, Stomp, had more than 50 comments, with fans discussing Singapore's penalty shootout win over rivals Malaysia.
Said Sengleng: 'Our team had put everything on the line for this. Hope they can do the same for the finals. Let the world know our soccer team is not a failure.'
Added Spleenboy: 'Wow! I never really enjoyed soccer but I sure am proud of our team.'

You can also join in the discussion at http://www.stomp.com.sg/

Oleh, Oleh, Oleh, Oleh ...and ... So long, Farewell ...

The buzzword last night was football. Even I, a diehard non-football fan, knows it. For the first thing my family did on returning home from dinner was - "turn on the TV".

It was the game between Singapore and Malaysia. And the last game in our National Stadium. For our grand olde dame is making way for a new stadium.

Though the game was not the English League, there were comments aplenty among the audience. Especially about the comments of the TV commentator as heard over TV...

For years, we have talked about uniting the people - with the Singapore Wave (like at the National Day Parade when Gurmit Singh shouts enthusiastically to us in the audience to stand up and wave wildly), with the Singapore Songs (which the students sing in school during the National Day period), and with the Singapore food (hence our Food Festival and everything food, even in stately museums, and Singaporean gatherings overseas). Well now it's confirmed - football unites us all too!
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The Sunday Times, Jan 28, 2007
Fans pack stadium to cheer Lions in last game there against Malaysia
By Alvin Foo

NEVER mind the rain or the heavy traffic.
Forget about the English FA Cup, too.
And so what if last night's Asean Championship semi-final second leg between Singapore and Malaysia was shown live on cable television.
For 55,000 fans, the place to be was the National Stadium, home of Singapore football.
They packed the stadium, shoulder to shoulder. It was a sight not witnessed since 2005, when another full house gathered to see Singapore lift the Tiger Cup, now called the Asean Championship.
The game also attracted several first-time fans, such as teacher Tammy Seah, 23.
She said: 'I came because this could be the last match between rivals Singapore and Malaysia before the stadium is torn down this year.'
But, unlike two years ago when the Lions strolled to victory with an early goal, last night's encounter went right to the wire.
The fans rode the gamut of emotions. And they enjoyed every minute of it.
Some, like housewife Yana Lee, 36, had come four hours before kick-off to beat the crowd.
Tailor Abdul Mubarak, 50, even shut his shop early.
He said: 'Rain or shine, I won't want to miss this. I'm not interested in Thailand or Indonesia. With Malaysia, it's a different story.'
Even some hard-core English Premiership fans could not resist the long-time Singapore-Malaysia rivalry.
Said student Ng Hongsheng, 16, a Manchester United fan: 'Even if United were playing at the same time, I would still be at Kallang.'
Families with toddlers in tow, school kids on a weekend outing and couples on a football date helped turn the arena into a sea of red 30 minutes before the match kicked off at 8pm.
They were joined by 2,000-odd Malaysian fans, who made their presence felt with flags and lusty cheers.
Said contractor Mohd Nasir, 51, who travelled from Kuala Lumpur: 'We've come from Perak, Kelantan and some even from Sarawak. It's a special occasion, well worth the long travel.'
All tickets were snapped up by 3pm, leaving hundreds of fans stranded.
By 7pm, a long line of cars formed on the roads leading to the stadium. This was compounded by Taiwanese pop group S.H.E having a concert next door at the Indoor Stadium.
At kick-off, the Kallang whimper, which had graced the earlier games, grew into a thunderous ovation. The Kallang Roar was back. So, too, the Kallang Wave.
But the fans were stunned into silence when Malaysia opened the scoring after 57 minutes.
They found their voices again only after Muhammad Ridhuan equalised.
From then on, the fans were kept on the edge of their seats as the game spilled first into extra-time and then to penalties.
Each Singapore spot-kick was accompanied by loud cheers. They jeered each time a Malaysian player stepped up.
The fans' joy was complete when Lionel Lewis' penalty save put Singapore into the final.
Yet, not all fans were impressed.
Said civil servant Julia Chan, 26: 'We were crap. Luckily, the other team were worse.'
No matter. The fans knew they were the 12th man for the Lions.
Agreeing, Football Association of Singapore president Ho Peng Kee said: 'Their presence made the difference.'
alfoo@sph.com.sg

Ka fei please

Please give me the coffee that's unique to this place. No homogenous, commercial coffee from global (usually American) giants please!

I can understand the sentiments of the Chinese. Starbucks in Beijing? And in the sacred palace grounds of centuries of Emperors?! What encroachment of grand history! Is this commercial "invasion", slowly eating away at the customs unique to the place, akin to the destruction of the Summer Palace? ...

Progress? Does having Starbucks, MacDonald's, KFC etc mean progress? Does having it available for one's citizens to try on home ground mean progress? If so, then why not plant them in the areas with struggling economies and hey presto, there's progress?

The streets of Beijing, and especially Shanghai, are dotted at regular intervals with the familiar sights of MacDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut; along shopping belts with Giodanno, Bossini, and the likes. While welcome comfort food (and familiar shopping spots) for those used to them, still, hey, don't we travel to find out more and to see sights unique to the country or city we travel to? If all we want are what we have at home, why pay expensive airfare (and take leave) to seek out the same overseas?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More

Straits Times, Sat Jan 27, 2007
Wake up and smell the coffee
By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES - THE Americans declare war on terror; the Chinese declare war on Starbucks.This is not to suggest that America, for all its faults, is the more serious nation - but actually, maybe it is. I mean, just how silly can China get?'Starbucks May Be 'Forbidden' at China Palace Museum'.
Such was the headline on the astonishing Reuters story out of Beijing. In it, we were told the Chinese authorities were training their official censorious guns on a Starbucks retail shop nestled subversively in Beijing's famed Forbidden City compound.The worry is that the very grinding presence of this brewing branch of the multinational coffee-house chain is an insult to down-home, homegrown, true-red Chinese culture.But is it? Yes, you bet it is. Heck, it doesn't take an Albert Einstein, an anti-space satellite rocket scientist, or the se-cond coming of Deng Xiaoping to know what's happening.
In truth, any Starbucks is a kind of unintended insult to any local culture - everywhere, period.
Starbucks infests the planet like corporate locusts that quietly but steadily eat away at local cultural foliage.A Starbucks is as much a slick symbol of the homogenising powers of mass-produced multinational consumer products, as is a glossy new characterless vehicle designed coldly in one country by a hardhearted committee of focus-group- type fuss-budgets, and then thrown together in another, drawing on car parts from all over.
You see, economic globalisation doesn't give us culture. It gives us profits - albeit probably not properly distributed along all economic and social lines. Globalisation doesn't enhance local cultures; it competes with them, sometimes grinding them into dust.Consider the travel experience of today. Once you have toured widely enough, you see so many Guccis, Diors, KFCs, McDonald's and so on that you sometimes forget where you have been.
You perhaps even start to wonder if there remains any indigenous, defining and unique centre anywhere in the world.But this retail homogenisation is the price of globalisation, and there is no antidote, even for the properly perfervid preservers of the China Palace Museum.No, there is none at all available. That is, unless you want to go the route of North Korea by declaring yourself a hermit state chock-a-block with self-reliance, seal off the borders, turn off the lights, and slowly but surely eat away at yourself until there's nothing left.Okay, so that doesn't work.
What's the alternative? It looks as if there's only one: It's the Big Mac of globalisation, like it or not!China's Starbucks scare reminds me of the time about 200 years ago that the Luddites in northern England railed furiously against the menacing process of industrialisation in the northern counties of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The movement that was to mash newfangled machines and torch factories was at the same time both noble and ill-fated.
Progress does not always improve things but opposing progress is a losers' game in today's world.But that's exactly what mainland Chinese personality Rui Chenggang is proposing. And he's attracting a lot of attention, not just because he's a demagogue, but he's a media demagogue, like our very own Lou Dobbs. They both rail against globalisation. Dobbs does his Luddite thing on CNN, Rui on CCTV9, the Chinese state-owned channel.Except for possibly us Americans, the Chinese today take second place to nobody as the world's most unapologetic materialists. Even their former brand of Communism, however neglected these days as an economic guidebook, was designed for the material man. Put on top of that the current, trendy 'to-be-rich-is-to-be-glorious' anthem of contemporary Chinese material women, and you have one of the most profoundly materialistic societies ever.
To try to tame the tsunami-like wave of material globalisation by lashing out at one silly little stupid Starbucks would strike any rational observer as a gesture too little, too late.
The Chinese authorities must understand that, having made the epochal decision in the 1990s to cross the Rubicon and enter the World Trade Organisation, there is no turning back now.Dear Beijing: It's much too late to return to that old-time religion, a peasant-based Communism that worships equity over wealth. Yes, your museum is a treasure, but those days of immaculate preservation are long gone. Wake up and smell the coffee!

The writer, a veteran US journalist, is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.
Copyright: Tom Plate

simple pleasures, simple leisure

**A "discovery" on a Sunday morning - the orchid shows signs of flowering again! After a hiatus of a year or more! :D










**Koi swimming together on a leisurely afternoon. Co-existing peacefully with the sucker fish.

scenes around SG - Bottle Tree Park

When I came across this, I thought it was a travel piece. Didn't realise that it's right here in Singapore, in our very own Yishun!SERENE SANCTUARY: The 7ha park boasts a pond and kampung-style buildings. -- LAU FOOK KONG

Sunday Times, Jan 21, 2007

Bottled haven

Relax - kampung style - at the new Bottle Tree Park, and enjoy Australian flora like Grasstrees and Bottle Trees

By Ng Nur Lydia & Sarah Ong

TAKING centrestage amid lush grounds, four gargantuan green sentries cast an eye over human visitors. No, these are not Ents, the wise old trees from Peter Jackson's The Lords Of The Rings trilogy, but a unique quartet from Down Under called Bottle Trees. Located in a 7ha arcadia - leased for eight years - in Lorong Chencharu near Khatib MRT Station in Yishun, they are the centrepiece of Bottle Tree Park, a unique leisure entertainment concept developed by Bottle Tree Pte Ltd. The trees, which cost $30,000 each, can grow up to 12m tall and 6m in circumference. The food and event-organising company has another similar establishment, Bottle Tree Village in Sembawang, but that covers about 1ha, has only a seafood restaurant and is mainly frequented by foodies. Since the park opened five weeks ago, it has drawn more than 2,000 people despite the continual heavy downpour. 'People still come and hide under shelters when it rains,' says business development manager Wendy Loh. This is hardly surprising as admission to the park is free and visitors can view exotic flora native to Australia, such as the Grasstree, a spiked flowering tree, and the Macrozamia moorei, a palm with long, keeled leaves. An old-world Singapore flavour can also be seen in little accents like a buffalo cart and thatched huts. Other attractions include a 50-table Chinese seafood restaurant, fishing and prawning for adults and a small pond for children to fish. A 3,000 sqm patch of land has also been set aside for those who want to try growing vegetables. Altogether, more than $300,000 were spent on the plants, and $3 million on the whole park. Other facilities to be ready in the next six months are a mini-zoo, basketball and volleyball courts and an obstacle course, says Ms Loh. While weekends are expectedly more crowded with families, the place has become a quiet haven on weekdays for fishing enthusiasts who set up their gear early and spend the entire day there. One such patron, retiree and avid angler T. H. Leong, 69, says: 'I usually come at 8am with my fishing buddies and stay till 5pm. It is a good place to fish.' lydng@sph.com.sg sarahong@sph.com.sg 5 things to do Fishing - 8am to 5pm; $35 for a full day Prawning - 8am to 5pm; $14.50 per hour (Rod provided) Longkang fishing - 8am to 5pm; $10 per hour (Net provided) Vegetable farming - From $10; (dependent on vegetable type) Chinese Seafood Restaurant - 11am to 11pm; Reservation required; Tel: 6759-7077 Getting there Bottle Tree Park 81 Lorong Chencharu MRT: Take the north-bound train and alight at Khatib MRT station. It's a 15-minute walk to Bottle Tree Park's side entrance opposite Yishun Stadium. Car: Exit from SLE (Yishun). From Lentor Avenue, turn left into Yishun Avenue 1. At the traffic light, turn left towards Sembawang Road. Keep right, then turn into Lorong Chencharu. Enter opposite Sembawang Country Club and Airbase. Bus: Alight at Yishun Avenue 2, opposite Yishun Stadium. Services 39, 81, 851, 852, 853, 854, 855, 857, 858, 965 and 969 stop there.

the Fine City at the Equator, and the Ban City further down under

Neil Humphreys on ...

S'pore's 'fine', Australia's 'banned'

It all started one hot and hazy Tuesday afternoon

TODAY Weekend • January 20, 2007

Singapore is a fine city. That's what the tourist T-shirt says.

Drop litter. Fine. Spit on the floor. Fine. Stick chewing gum on the MRT doors. Fine. Act like a tech geek. Fine. Blast cheesy, retro 80s music from your car radio. Fine.

Okay, the last two are not offences but they should be.

Singapore, according to persistent stereotypes, is the city of fines.

But I'm not so sure.

Australia's state of Victoria — the home of Kylie Minogue and The Wiggles — could be about to seize that crown.

Victoria is becoming a "ban" state. It all started on Tuesday at 4.05pm. Precisely. That moment when civilised life crashed to a temporary halt. A big bang came from the bedroom. No, not that kind of big bang; this is a family newspaper. We were sitting in the living room when the TV, the fan and the lights all went off abruptly. It was a real crisis. We couldn't get the TV back on.

This was serious. We had no electricity in the house, the food in the fridge was melting in the searing heat and I was genuinely concerned that the power supply would not return in time for me to record the Premiership highlights show. The temperature outside was 40 degrees with a haze caused by the bush fires that raged across Victoria. And we were sitting in a sweat box.

"What are we going to do? This is terrible," my wife said. "I know. Maybe we can ask the neighbours to tape the EPL show." I went outside to check the fuse box and found my next-door neighbour doing the same. "Oh, yours has gone too, has it, Neil?" he asked chirpily. "Yeah, total blackout." "Oh, good. That means it's not just my house. It's probably the whole street. That's okay, then. See ya!"

But it wasn't just our street. It was everywhere. As we drove towards town, we encountered a surreal, almost apocalyptic world. None of the traffic lights worked, causing major jams, and the malls were all gloomy. As we passed each shop, dazed customers shuffled out onto the street from every darkened nook and cranny. I kept waiting for Michael Jackson to pop up in a red leather suit and shout: "Cos this is Thriller!"

When I reached the office, I discovered it was a statewide catastrophe. A bushfire in northern Victoria had damaged one of the state's major electricity lines. Extreme demand from air-conditioning units (take note, Singapore) caused an overload that wiped out most of Melbourne and the state. People were trapped in lifts, on trains and trams and, worst of all, some residents missed the TV soap operas Home and Away and Neighbours. The power supply was restored within a couple of hours but with no guarantee that it wouldn't happen again soon.

So, the Victorian state government has come up with a fool-proof proposal: A statewide ban on residential air-conditioning. Now, firstly, how would such a ban possibly be enforced? Would a van drive around and listen out for rattling noises? Imagine that knock on the door on a Friday night. "Hello, sir. I'm from the Air-con Surveillance Squad. I'm the ASS man. We've stood outside your bedroom for half-an-hour and detected some rhythmic rattling. Could you explain it?" "Yes, my wife and I are trying to cash in on those baby-making incentives. Now, bugger off."

And, secondly, can you imagine working in an enclosed environment as temperatures top 40 degrees without air-conditioning? Singapore might be a fine city but it's also a humid one, so don't even think about messing with their air-con. Conversations across the island would end abruptly. "Hey, Singapore whacked Laos 11-0 this week." "Heck care, lah." "Thaksin been in Singapore to see his kakis and tekan the Thai gahmen." "Heck care, lah." "And the Gahmen gonna ban our air-con." "What? No air-con? Right, that's it. Get me a permit and a beer crate. We're off to Speaker's Corner!"

Like Singapore, Australia has endured a bit of a battering from Mother Nature this year and the bans have resulted. No wet season. Hosepipe ban. No rain. Car-washing ban. Drought. Complete ban of water usage outdoors. Damaged power lines. Air-con ban.

So, for a little revenge, you know what to do the next time you go Down Under. Wear an "Australia is a 'ban' city" T-shirt.

TV yesterday; archaic today; Heritage tomorrow

Our Panasonic TV went out of service recently. We went to look for a replacement. When we reached the store, lo and behold, there wasn't a single cathode ray tube TV in sight!

It seems that CRT TVs are no longer on sale, at least at the Courts store we went to. Just some months back last year, we had bought a big CRT TV for quite a good price (we thought, still using the price benchmark of old).

So we got an LCD TV. And now we're advised to change the cable decoder for better and sharper resolution.

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

The prediction made last year ...

Cathode-Ray-Tube TV Format Dying Slow, Quiet Death

Monday , October 23, 2006 (Fox News, off )

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. —

The lone conventional television set at Anderson's TV store sat along a side wall like a castoff. Its screen was dark as dozens of other gleaming flat-panel and big-screen models flashed nearby with vivid color images.

The staff at the Redwood City store hadn't even bothered to turn on the cathode-ray tube TV until a reporter asked to see it on a recent afternoon.

The obvious neglect reflected the wallflower status of today's CRT TVs, as well as the mature technology's doomed future. Experts say the old-fashioned boob tube that catered to generations of Americans will soon be all but extinct.

"It's already dead, but it doesn't know it yet," said Jon Paul Belstler, an audio/video consultant at Anderson's. "It's just trying to hang on."

Across stores and in homes, sleek LCD and plasma televisions are taking over.

In North America, sales of the bulky traditional TVs are in steep decline.

By next year, the tube TV will cede its crown of dominance to LCD sets for the first time, according to the market research firm iSuppli Corp.

Sales of CRTs will fall from an estimated 14.4 million units this year to 10.4 million in 2007, while sales of LCD TVs are predicted to rise from 10.9 million units to 17.8 million.

By 2010, iSuppli predicts CRTs will account for only 2.1 million of the 44 million televisions sold.

The decline comes despite the venerable CRT's bargain prices: $223, on average, compared with $1,007 for LCD or $2,335 for plasma, according to research firm DisplaySearch.

But consumers are increasingly enamored with the thin designs and stunningly sharp pictures available with newer sets.

And high-end, large-sized CRT TVs are already running close in price to similarly sized LCDs. The solitary tube TV at Anderson's was a 34-inch Sony WEGA HDTV model going for $999. At Amazon.com, you could find special deals for a 32-inch LCD HDTV for the same price.

"CRTs are just losing their buzz when you have competing TVs that have technology that's similar to the CRT for almost the same price," iSuppli analyst Riddhi Patel said.

LCD prices have fallen precipitously — about 30 percent annually since 2003, according to DisplaySearch — narrowing the price gap to CRT TVs.

David Barnes, an analyst at DisplaySearch, expects a consumer will be able to find a 32-inch LCD TV for $500 by Christmas 2007.

"Sure you could buy a CRT at that point, but why?" Barnes said.

Besides, Americans love big TVs if they can handle it in budget and space.

The main draw of flat-panel displays is that they can be the size of an oven door or bigger without hogging the depth of, well, an oven. Even models in the 60-inch range are only a few inches thick and can be mounted like paintings.

By contrast, the largest CRTs left on the market are 36-inch models that rival washing machines in heft.

Anything bigger proved too bulky for consumers' tastes, said Ali Atash, a senior marketing manager at Samsung Electronics Co., which introduced a short-lived 40-inch tube TV years ago.

Samsung has since developed slimmer CRT TVs, trying to capitalize on the lingering albeit dwindling demand for conventional sets.

With the company's "SlimFit" technology, a 20-inch TV that previously stretched back 24 inches is now only 13 inches deep.

Retailers expect little to no demand for CRTs by 2009, partly because of a government-imposed deadline requiring television broadcasts nationwide to switch to all-digital by February of that year.

Industry observers predict many consumers will have purchased a digital TV by then.

Digital CRT sets sold today are capable of handling high-definition TV, and video experts say CRT technology still represents the gold standard in picture quality with the deepest blacks and best color accuracy.

But the performance of LCD and plasma displays have improved dramatically in just the past two years, making the differences in picture quality insignificant to all but discerning videophiles.

Major TV makers like Sony Corp. (SNE) and LG Electronics Co. have been steadily reducing their CRT shipments to focus on what will soon be the larger flat-panel TV market.

LG, in fact, had followed Samsung in creating slimmer versions of CRTs two years ago but is no longer pushing the technology. Only two CRT models remain in LG's lineup of 50 televisions this year, spokesman John Taylor said.

"We saw the writing on the wall years ago, and flat panels have taken off much faster than a lot of people have expected," Taylor said.

At a Video Only store in San Francisco, only about three in 20 TVs currently sold are CRTs, store manager William Arias said.

Unlike Anderson's, which now devotes most of its showroom to the CRT's modern-day counterparts, Video Only still keeps about two dozen conventional sets on display.

"There are people who aren't ready to spend $1,000 on a TV yet," Arias said. "And lots of people still have big built-in TV cabinets. We tell them, that since saving space isn't an issue, they could still go with a CRT."

Circuit City Stores Inc. (CC), the nation's second-largest electronics retailer, plans to have very few CRT models in its stores by the end of 2007.

No. 1 electronics retailer Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) hasn't declared a blackout on CRTs but is steadily devoting less retail space because more consumers are looking for flat panels.

"The CRT has served us well for many many years — since the early 1930s into the golden age of television and the advent of color in the 60s," said LG's Taylor. "The longevity of that technology is probably second to none in our industry, but time marches on, and flat panels have really captured the enthusiasm of the American public."

Hide and Seek with the Sun

my flowers@home

After the heavy rains and wet, wet weather, the flowers are slowly emerging. Hopefully the Sun will come out and shine its warm rays on the plants ...

later, later ... so when ah?

"I'll do this later." "Later lah, after I finish this." ... and it goes on, the excuses to push something back, to do it another day ... when the cows eventually come home, when the sun decides to act out of the box and rise from the west!

Procrastinate, procrastinate ... how much time are we wasting. How much precious time are we taking, away from our time to stand and stare, time to smell the roses and see the koi swim gracefully in the pond, co-existing harmoniously with each other and with others like the sucker fish.

一 年 之 季 在 于 春 .
一 天 之 季 在 于 晨 .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Straits Times, Sat, Jan 13, 2007
I was going to write a headline but an e-mail just arrived...

WASHINGTON - PROCRASTINATION in society is getting worse and scientists are finally figuring out how and why.

After 10 years of research on a project that was supposed to take only five years, a Canadian industrial psychologist found in a study that not only is procrastination on the rise in the United States, it also makes people poorer, fatter and unhappier.

Something has to be done about it, sooner rather than later, University of Calgary professor Piers Steel concluded in his study, published in this month's Psychological Bulletin.

In 1978, only about 5 per cent of the American public thought of themselves as chronic procrastinators. Now, the figure is 26 per cent, said Prof Steel.
And why not? There are so many fun ways to kill time - TVs in every room, online video, Web surfing, cellphones, video games, iPods and Blackberries.

At work, e-mail messaging, the Internet and games are just a click away.
Prof Steel said the US gross national product would probably rise by US$50 billion (S$77.2 billion) if the icon and sound that notify people of new e-mail messages suddenly disappeared.

There is good reason to worry about the problem of procrastination.
'People who procrastinate tend to be less healthy, less wealthy and less happy,' he said. Of procrastination, he added: 'You can reduce it, but I don't think you can eliminate it.'
There is personal financial fallout from procrastination, too.
Delay in filing taxes on average costs a person US$400 a year, he found.
Men are worse than women (about 54 out of 100 chronic procrastinators are men) and the young are more likely to procrastinate than the old, he said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

It ain't far ... it's Singapore

In conversations with each other, we sometimes say "aiyah, so far ah?". Or no, I won't drive you to that shopping centre - it is too far; go to the neighbourhood shops nearby lah!

How far, my dear, is relative! Listen to Neil Humphrey, who has moved from Toa Payoh to Down Under ...
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Buy now, collapse later

Find shopping hard work? Try it in a massive country

TODAY Weekend • January 13, 2007 www.todayonline.com

Down Under with Neil Humphreys

IN SINGAPORE, I always enjoyed visiting Ikea out in Queensway.

The Swedish-owned furniture behemoth was a great place to watch perspiring parents chase their kids, while overheated couples on the HDB waiting list argued over colour schemes. Most of all, I loved the store's endearing attempt to convince shoppers that Sweden is a home of fine cuisine.

Trying to persuade an Asian audience that you can cook is rather like telling Tiger Woods you've got a half-decent drive. Particularly when you try to accomplish that feat with Swedish meatballs.

You can't move in Ikea without seeing a poster of the meatballs on offer at its cafe. We all get it, guys. Sweden can cook meatballs. Along with the Italians and most of western Europe. Sweden is, of course, famous for its meatballs, Abba, Bjorn Borg and, er, I'm out ...

But Sweden is infamous for introducing the flat-packing marvel that is Ikea to the rest of the world. From here in Melbourne to you in Singapore, there is usually an Ikea store somewhere near you: Except you're a lot bloody closer to yours than I am to mine.

A quick Internet search has just told me you've got another store in Tampines. Two Ikea stores on one tiny island! Does the Singapore Tourism Board know about this?

That means Tampines now boasts an Ikea, the Minister for National Development and, er, I'm out …

Here in Victoria, the nearest (and I believe only) Ikea store is east of Melbourne, 80km from where I live. Would you drive deep into the heart of Johor for a new coffee table and a plate of meatballs?

It doesn't matter. You'll never have to. I never tire of saying this, but no other country on earth can rival Singapore's convenience. But we made the 160-km round trip because the furniture is cheap and we're familiar with the store (Ikeas are like dental surgeries: The decor is identical and you can always hear distant drilling.)

The shopping trip was a nightmare. Not because of the store, but because we're stupid. We thought we were still in Singapore. But as Dorothy once pointed out to her cuddly canine, "Toto, we're not in Toa Payoh any more."

First, we tried to buy a dozen bookcases and carry the lot in a shopping basket (we had forgotten the customer collects the furniture before paying for it).

"We're gonna need something bigger than a shopping basket," said my wife, who doubles as Sherlock Holmes on shopping expeditions.

"Do you think?"

We found a couple of flatbed trolleys and my wife played the foreman to my labourer. I almost died under the weight of 2-m-long bookcases. She offered constructive comments like "left a bit," "right a bit" and "you're going to decapitate that old lady".

With considerable difficulty, I navigated the convoy of flatbed trolleys to the counter. Then, we staggered over to customer service.

Now, for as long as I can remember "Singapore service" has often been deemed an oxymoron. Like "tax return" and "opposition victory", the two appear incompatible together. I've long believed that the language barrier, vocal letter writers and an occasional lack of overseas perspective distorted reality: Singapore service isn't that bad.

Whenever I had furniture delivered in Singapore, I also had it assembled. When it comes to a tool box and a good screwdriver, I'm not quite your alpha male. I'm not even your alpha female.

But for a few extra bucks, a couple of guys came to my flat, put up the bookcase in stifling humidity and never once complained. Ever. In 10 years.

Geography and decent service worked in my favour in Singapore. Not in Australia.

"I would like to have this delivered please"? I asked a customer service officer.

"Sure, that'll be $150."

"No, no. I said I live in 'Geelong'. You must have thought I said, 'Jupiter.'"

But it was $150 and as we own a second-hand car the size of a breadbox, we had no choice but to hand over the price of five small coffee tables.

"Can we also get the furniture assembled?" I continued.

"I wouldn't recommend it," the chap replied. "You've got a few bookcases. On average, it costs around $150 to assemble one bookcase. "I decided at that moment that I would assemble the bookcases myself.

So, if you happen to pop by Ikea this weekend or you think that the nearest store for your desired product is "so far" and the delivery service is not up to standard, remember, it could be so much worse.

Chew it over as you chew over those meatballs.

some scenes@sg

Our version of THE EYE
When I saw the London Eye in 2005 from afar, I thought it was just a giant ferris wheel with cable cars. Only later, on closer look, did I realise it was more like a ferris wheel with glass rooms on it, where one can get a good view of London, grey skies and all. By the time I realised it, it was time to return home and I didn't get to go up the London Eye.

A year later, the Eye seems to be THE thing to get - we talked of getting one in Marina South; and Malaysia is also getting one.

Here's a picture of ours, at its current stage of construction, taken from the expressway/flyover (see the Neptune Restaurant blog posting for a distant photo of it):




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The recently opened Eye On Malaysia ferris wheel in KL.

WHEEL POWER: Get a bird's eye view of Kuala Lumpur aboard the Eye On
Malaysia ferris wheel. -- PHOTO: AP

Located in a city park, this 60m structure is a smaller cousin to the
London Eye. Still, it cost a whopping RM30 million (S$13 million) to
build. Its 42 air-conditioned gondolas can carry 386 passengers at any one
time. (The Straits Times Life! Tues, 16 Jan 07)

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On a lighter note ...

an interesting flower arrangement in the lobby of the Holiday Inn Parkview ***


(Hmm, think can't see the pink flower arrangement very well against the luxuriant red background of sofas! :( )

rain, rain, again

We thought the rainy weather had peaked in December. But it's rain, rain, rain again this month. Leading to traffic jams, and wet shoes, clothes that won't dry ...

But we should be grateful for the water ... which we have to buy.



CHANNELNEWSASIA http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/252156/1/.html

216.7mm of rain or 90% of January average has fallen within 24 hoursPosted: 12 January 2007 1718 hrs

SINGAPORE: There has been intermittent moderate to heavy rain over Singapore since 1.30pm on Thursday.

The 24-hour rainfall (from 2pm on Thursday) recorded at MacRitchie Reservoir Station was 216.7mm.

This was 90 percent of the average 241mm rainfall recorded in the month of January in previous years.

PUB's ground crew, who has been monitoring the situation at Thomson Road since 4pm on Thursday, gave the nurseries an alert at 1pm on Friday when the water level in the canal there reached a critical level. This triggered the water level sensor installed there.

At about 1.55pm, the waters rose to about 100mm at the carpark area outside Goodwood Florist and Candy Greenhouse & Flowers but started subsiding after about 15 minutes. PUB's staff and contractors were on site to assist the nurseries.

There was no flooding in the nurseries, Olive Road and Joan Road.

The weatherman says intermittent moderate to heavy rain is expected over many areas of Singapore between 5pm Friday and 3am Saturday, and the PUB says flash floods may occur in low-lying areas. - CNA/ir

Persistent rain causes landslide, disrupts business operations
By Wong Mun Wai, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 12 January 2007 2103 hrs

SINGAPORE: Continuous heavy rain from Thursday night caused several problems around certain areas of Singapore, including a landslide and the disruption of business operations.

From midnight Thursday to 6pm Friday, 239 millimetres of rain fell in the northern part of Singapore - the highest amount so far.

The monthly average for January is 241 millimetres.

The rain caused a landslide near Jalan Anak Bukit on a slip road heading towards the Pan Island Expressway, resulting in the road's closure until further notice.

And along Thomson Road, businesses have been bracing for a busy period since Thursday night....removing plants from the nurseries.

They were alerted when sensors went off warning of critical high water levels in the nearby drains.

Lim Woan Hui, FarEastFlora's business manager, said: "After the overflow of water in the evening, we came back a few times, (between) 9pm and 9:30pm, because we received some alert from PUB.......We came back to check and it's still raining heavily until now."

The rain continued throughout Friday.

The amount of rain recorded at the MacRitchie Reservoir station from 2pm on Thursday to 2pm on Friday was 216.7 millimetres, which was 90 percent of the average amount for the whole of January.

The weatherman says rain is expected to last for a few more days. - CNA/ir

Sunshine on Saturday

Sunshine and blue sky above, as we travelled along North Buona Vista Road this Saturday morning, to lunch at our favourite "kway chap" place ... :D

TGIF

TGIF - Thank God It's Friday! I didn't think that I'd be one to say that, but I do feel so today. In fact, yesterday.

The hangover from vacations - the avalanche of work that awaits. While the emails can be cleared by remote, the meetings haven't gone virtual yet. So many meetings await...

At least we break in with just three working days before we go into a full working week next week.

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And the rains are back .... pitter-patter, PITTER-PATTER, as the rains get heavier. "Yao shui" (got water) - an auspicious sign indeed, if we look at the bright side of things.

Focus on the Father

Yesterday was a milestone of sorts for family life. Yesterday for the first time, I think, fathers with young children going to school, were given time off in some organisations to accompany their children to school. Under the scheme called "Going back to school with Dad".

There's an interesting story about this in Straits Times today (below).

Interestingly, there is a movie running now that also centres on the father figure - the "Curse of the Golden Flower" - and a commentary today about it (below).

All these awareness of the importance of the father in the family - augurs well for the family, and for better balance in responsibility in the households, we hope, especially in dual-income families. We also hope it augurs well for the population!

*******************

The Straits Times, Life! Thurs, Jan 4, 2007
Sins of the fathers
The things you can learn from those bad dads in recent Chinese period
epics

By Culture Vulture, Ong Sor Fern

THERE is a journalist's joke that one is an anomaly, two is a
coincidence, and three makes a trend.

So it might well be that the pattern of bad fathers in two recent period
epics from China is merely a coincidence. Still, the similarities are so
striking as to invite irresistible comparisons.

Director Feng Xiaogang's The Banquet is a loose remake of Shakespeare's
Hamlet. The original play features the ghost of the father, both
literally and metaphorically. In The Banquet, the father is notable by
his absence: He is represented by an empty suit of armour.

In contrast, the father is overwhelmingly present in director Zhang
Yimou's Curse Of The Golden Flower. Chow Yun Fat, armed with a genial
demeanour and a wolfish grin, is the scary Emperor who misrules his
family with an iron fist. Like The Banquet, Curse is based on a play:
Cao Yu's landmark Chinese work, Thunderstorm.

Both films pivot on a family riven by suppressed passions. Since both
families are royal, the discontent within the domestic structure mirrors
the ills affecting the wider socio-political landscape of the country.

Both movies make clear this parallel with dialogue that draw attention
to the role of the Empress as the mother of the country, and the
Emperor, as the father.

This is where things get interesting. For the representation of these
rulers proves right that tinny Hallmark card sentiment which says that
anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad.

In The Banquet, the patriarch is murdered by his brother, a
magnificently slimy Ge You. Not only has the latter usurped the throne,
but he has also seduced his brother's wife, Empress Wan (Zhang Ziyi).
Without a leader, both family and state are in turmoil.

In contrast, Chow's Emperor in Curse understands the form but not the
content of his role. His insistence on the rituals of state is
undermined by his own neglect of the relationships within the family.

In both films, the absent/present father/ruler ruins the state through
his inactions/actions. As a result, his family - and country - suffers.

It is tempting to dismiss the movies as mere exotica for Western
consumption. After all, they bear the classic trappings of prize bait -
sumptuous production design, eye-popping wire-fu (wirework gongfu), and
CGI effects.

But what intrigues me is how these directors have subverted the fad for
wuxia for their own purposes.

The big-budget wuxia pian genre and the period setting make the perfect
Trojan horse. Under the guise of creating box-office-friendly hits and
soft-power cultural products for a global market, Feng and Zhang have
smuggled in socio-political critiques of China's current status quo.

China has become so liberal in recent years that its cosmopolitan cities
are indistinguishable from most Asian ones. But it is still a country
where political control is a rigid, centralised affair, its inner
machinations filled with shadowy power players and concealed by
seemingly impregnable secrecy.

This description could well be applied to the Forbidden City, from which
emperors ruled China for 500 years. The obvious parallel is too tempting
to pass over, providing a perfect coded metaphor with which to comment
on China's current political climate.

Feng, the more junior director, offers the more oblique commentary. His
focus leans more towards the metaphysical. Significantly, the first
dramatic high point in his film is the slaughter of not just innocents,
but dancers, in a remote hillside. The battle between the rarefied world
of the arts where, presumably, a higher code of ethics is upheld, and
the gritty world of politics, where realpolitik rules, is a recurring
motif in the film.

The more experienced director, Zhang has no compunctions about pulling
his punches. In Curse, the overbearing father who hangs on tightly to
power causes death and destruction on a nationwide scale.

It is perhaps this opportunity to blend artistic and political purposes
which, more than pop culture fads, explains why Chinese directors in
recent years have persisted in producing wuxia pian.

And it is this deeper subtext to the films, beyond the frippery of
visual splendour, that will keep me coming back to see what directors
have up their sleeves next.

sorfern@sph.com.sg


The Straits Times, Thurs, Jan 4, 2007
Look who's taking the kids to school

By Yap Su-Yin & Liaw Wy-Cin

PRIMARY 5 Yangzheng Primary School student Sherard Siahaan, 10, was
especially happy yesterday, not so much because it was the first day of
school, but because his dad accompanied him there for the first time.

'My son was surprised to see me rather than his mother up at 6am, ready
to have breakfast with him and take him to school,' Mr Henry Siahaan
said.

The extra effort paid off, with father and son bonding as they walked to
the school in Serangoon Avenue 3.

Like Mr Siahaan, more than 300 fathers responded to Yangzheng Primary's
invitation to take their children to school on their first day.

The initiative was part of non-profit group Centre for Fathering's first
Back To School With Dad project.

Said the school's principal Mrs Lim Kian Huat: 'It shows there are many
committed fathers who are interested in their children's education.'

The unusual sight of dads at the gates was repeated at another 27
participating schools yesterday, as children flocked back to school
across the island on the first day of the new academic year.

Another 40 organisations also threw in their support, by encouraging
employees who are fathers to take part.

At Naval Base Primary School, about 300 fathers took the national pledge
with their children and even stayed on to attend a talk on fatherhood.

The turnout was heartening, said principal Elizabeth Poey. 'Many fathers
saw this invite as a chance to come into the school, check out the
classrooms and ask teachers questions,' said Ms Poey.

A bumper crop of children are starting Primary 1 this year, the result
of a baby boom six years ago, which was an auspicious Dragon Year in the
Chinese zodiac calendar.

Just under 47,000 children, an increase of more than 3,600 from last
year, are entering Primary 1 this year.

New vocational training school NorthLight, which opened its Dunman Road
premises yesterday, also saw a welcome change from the norm for its new
cohort of 200 Secondary 1 students: lunch with the teachers.

Principal Chua Yen Ching said staff are keen to bond with students in a
more casual, less intimidating setting, so these shared lunches will
become a regular event.

Given that Northlight is for students who have failed the Primary School
Leaving Examination (PSLE) twice, boosting their morale is a priority,
Mrs Chua said.

Students there are grouped into classes according to the month they were
born in, rather than their academic ability.

Despite its good intentions, the idea of having lunch with the teacher
will take some getting used to.

Said an apprehensive Sharon De Silva, 13: 'It's very weird, but I guess
it's because we're all new to each other. I suppose it will get less
weird as the weeks go by.'

yapsuyin@sph.com.sg
wycin@sph.com.sg

first day

It's amazing how much our life revolves around school.

Today is the first day back at school. And for some of us, back at work, after the year-end holidays and bumper crop of public holidays.

The traffic at 8 am was slow. Traffic earlier on around 7 am was packed, especially near primary schools, this being the first day and many parents send their children to school. Especially those in primary one or sec one. School car parks are packed with cars of parents of the new students.

Today life was mercifully peaceful, with few phone calls, as we crawled out of hibernation to activate our brains to fast responses to emails.

Happy New Year!

another must-do at Begining of Year - Predictions for the Year

When a year draws to a close, there are the look-back commentaries, analysis of the year. Then there are the New Year Resolutions. And there are the predictions for the year.

For the blogosphere, there are the inevitable predictions on whether blogs will continue to be IN, or will they be out...


Tues, Jan 2, 2007, The Straits Times
Less on the desktop, more on the phone
Is the expiry date up for blogs? Mobile services may jostle for space on the shelf? By SERENE LUO

Blog activity - those daily outpourings of anger, humour, satire, heartbreak and complete irrelevance that seem to have taken over cyberspace - is set to peak this year, according to market analyst Gartner Inc.
Gartner's managing vice-president, Mr Daryl Plummer, believes that anyone who may want to try blogging will already have done so.

According to Mr Plummer, the number of blogs will level out to about 100 million by the middle of this year. Already, about 200 million people have stopped updating their online journals.

Blog tracking firm Technorati estimates that every day, about 1.6 million blogs are updated and 175,000 new ones created.

However, some disagree. Chair of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Associate Professor Ang Peng Hwa believes that in Singapore at least, there will not be a blogging slowdown.

'I was surprised to hear about Gartner's prediction,' he told Digital Life.

Here, many government agencies have only just started 'actively getting into blogs', he said, while many users here 'still have a lot of interest in blogging'.

Dr Ang said the idea of the virtual community and the various platforms through which that community asserts itself will remain strong.

'People will be looking for business models in the areas of virtual communities and social communities,' he said.

Many games, such as World Of Warcraft and Runescape, have introduced the idea of networking and virtual communities to youth and will become more accepted in society.

The importance of individual users will also gain more prominence in 2007 as more services are rolled out to target them.

Mr Grant Watts, the general manager of Microsoft's online services group in South-east Asia, said Microsoft and other companies in the industry would be further integrating services to create an all-encompassing 'digital world' for consumers, where 'all the people you care about, all the information you crave, all the interests you have' will exist.

This consolidation will better serve 'consumers (who) are becoming increasingly frustrated at the fragmented nature of their digital experience', he said

Mr Reza Behnam, who is Yahoo! South-east Asia's managing director, said there would be 'ambitious' projects ready next year for Yahoo! users, focusing on social media, but would not reveal details.

Mr Watts, meanwhile, believes that the mobile phone will gain ever more prominence, because 'for many in the region, the mobile is the PC'.

'Singaporeans have long had a love affair with the mobile and this will be further fuelled by improved online mobile services,' he said.

'Since SMS and mobile messaging services are popular in Singapore and South-east Asia, we expect that mobile users would appreciate having a richer messaging experience on their phones.'
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2007: BLOGS

after the rains .. a Rainbow

After recent heavy rains, there is light and colours.

I was listening to FM95.8 - the DJ was urging listeners to go look at the rainbow. I was wondering where ...

Then I looked up to the sky. And saw it - the RAINBOW.

With its colours glistening in the evening blue sky, above the flats in Holland Drive.



A sign of good luck and a smoother path for us in 2007, perhaps?

Get ready, get set, G O - for 2007

This year, we have an additional public holiday because Hari Raya Haji falls on a Sunday (31 Dec 06). And with New Year's Day on a Monday, Tues (2 Jan 07) is also a public holiday!

Just as well...

For anxious parents
whose children are going to school for the first time,
there's an additional day
to get the school bag ready,
to get the textbooks wrapped and packed,
to get the uniforms crisply ironed,
to get the school shoes whiter than white.

For parents
with children going to a new secondary school or JC,
there's an additional day
to check out the bus or MRT route,
to get the route to school right,
to get the new uniforms,
which always run out in the avalanche of demand
when school posting results are out,
to get the school textbooks,
to get the new cool bag for the now-grown students.
And to get that hair cut!

For working adults
who have been basking in holiday revelry
or just peace and bliss far from the office madding crowd,
it's transition time.
Time to come out of hibernation.
Transition back to the hustle and bustle of work,
of alert minds and quick fingers over the keyboard,
and/or quick fingers over the cellphone.
Quietly check emails,
delete the spam,
be mentally prepared for the big tasks ahead.
For we have to get back
to the multi-tasking.
We have to keep the economy churning,
faster and better than before!

May we have Prosperity, Peace, Harmony, Good Health and Happiness in 2007!


- PHOTO by Desmond Wee, Straits Times