Saturday, April 30, 2011

Politics and Starship Troopers

Here's some food for thought while we're having our GE 2011.

Science fiction and politics - I think 1984 straight away. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised to find another gem a few days back. I was browsing through my collection of ebooks, and decided to read Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein, whom I've admired ever since I read Stranger in a Strange Land. Yet, I didn't think of it as Sci-Fi at that time, having watched the movie.

To my amazement, it was totally unlike the movie. The movie, while enjoyable, was clearly an action flick. One that I watched once, enjoyed it, and never looked back. Yet the novel was clearly something different. The base premise of the story, the same, yet true to its Sci-Fi classification, it's main bulk was exploratory, examining moral, philosophical values and necessity of militarism, war, capital punishment, politics and franchise (the power to vote).

While extreme in its exploration, the novel does provide a lot of food for thought, bringing analogies like juvenile delinquency and war efforts in Heinlein's prose.

All in all, a great book to read for any avid science fiction fan, or anyone who wants his world, mind and thoughts challenged.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Competition vs Collaboration

Everyone knows that competition is a great thing. Spurs us on to greater heights, push ourselves beyond our limits, etc etc etc.

Collaboration's good too, everyone's heard of the famous win-win situation where "1+1" is more than just 2.

Yet, why do I find myself having problems with these 2 concepts. Are they as simple as they seem on the surface? When should we compete, and when should we collaborate? Are the two mutually exclusive?

A few days back, went for my company's "team-building experience" at Focus Adventure in Sentosa. The theme was, of course, team building, but the main point they were trying to drive home was "collaboration". Here's how:

The huge group of 100+ of us were split into 10+ teams, to play something like a "treasure hunt cum amazing race" sorta game. We were told there were 3 aims for all teams, to get the greatest amount of points possible, to have fun, and to be safe. Needless to say, off we were rushing off like busy little bees, collecting our answers, playing the mini games and overall having a great time.

However, when debriefing came about, it was no surprise that the "winners" of the game were teams who had "shared" information with each other - or 'cheated' in the traditional sense. Yet, no where in the rules stated that no such "sharing" was disallowed. In truth, the debrief covered that in a company, we are all split into smaller departments, project teams etc. Cooperation and collaboration BETWEEN the teams and departments, and not just within the teams itself, would be the key to bring the company to success.

Back at home, I thought about this for quite a while. At first thought, it seemed so unclear when we should collaborate. It's amazing how easily we fall into a competitive mode, ready to prove ourselves and outdo others. Then i remembered to few years back while I was still in SMU - and my friends and I joined this board game competition together. "Cashflow 101 Board Game" as I recall. That competition brought up exactly the same points in my mind - that within a small team it was much better to collaborate in order for the whole team to be the overall winner. Yet many of us were caught up in the competition, and thus made huge losses. Then, I remembered that it came as a surprise to me that the 1st to 3rd prize all went to people from the same table.

Its been quite a while since I had such a moment of introspection. This I see is what's lacking in me sometimes, the skill to discern when to be competitive, and when to be collaborative. All our lives we've been training HOW to compete, and HOW to collaborate. But when to do so, it isn't always so clear.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Yay!

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Wow!

Wow indeed! It's been a long time! Heh... So many things have happened... a whole semester and more. Lots of weirdness in life... no matter in the world, or personally. Sigh... seems like the whole world is falling apart now eh.

Dunno what sparked me to write this... maybe its the weird occurances today... juz felt so bored at home. Suddenly a friend msged me and told me he has a new online business.. lol... an online sex toys shop! Geez... never expected that... gave me a shock... kinda surprised too, that such a business can work in prudish Singapore. But we'll see. Anyways, putting the link as a favour to him. DO NOT CLICK if you are offended by such stuff! Haha...

Evening, got asked by another friend to advertise another online shopping venture. haha... lucky its more clean this time :P Clothings for girls! So... if u're interested, check it out here at http://pout-couture.livejournal.com ok!

Lol.. this turned out to be some weird advertising post... not my original intention i suppose. Then again, there's so many things to write. And too much time has passed for me to gather all my thoughts together. Hopefully, with the start of the summer, will be able to start writing more again! =)

Til next time!

Monday, March 10, 2008

Thanks!

Thank you all :)
As they say, a picture > a thousand words ... so ...









Attempted theft!










I get it back! :D











Back home :) Btw that's 3 years worth of presents shown there... so Thanks again!


I've never been much of a birthday person. Heck, getting older, slower and closer to death is not something i usually like to think about :P But wells, good to know that there are friends out there :)
Guess people are contrary at heart... full of contradictions. Sigh... I'm just so confused!

Anyways, here's something to watch!

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Wow... it's been a long time! Heh, so many things have happened, both personally and in the world itself. Whether it's good or bad, it's hard to say; certainly it's way too early to know for sure. But whatever it is, there certainly has been a great change. Of course, I've got tons of things to write again, but I'll just summarize my thoughts :D

Prisoner Escape - Now this is scary. Very indeed. Lol.. so much for our vaunted security and top notch police force. And what's the point about apologizing and when the deed's already done. Find the guy! Ugh.. looks like a TV serial gone wrong to me if you ask me. Scary thought though, just thinking back to the time I watched Prison Break - and there we were all cheering the prisoners on to break out. Is this some correlation? Strange how fact and fiction are so linked, and yet our perceptions and emotions change so quickly, so drastically. Weird :P

Recession - Scary (yet again). Especially with the rising prices, and well, my severe lack of income. Also, if the trend continues, it's gonna happen when graduation comes... which is pretty soon come to think about it. How time flies... Ah well, will think about it when THAT hurdle comes. Ugh..

Had a few other things which I'm too tired/lazy to write now. Will keep updating soon, hopefully. Anyway here's some funny stuff I found on my friends' msn nicks. Heh, looks like we've got some creative and weird ppl around ;)

Army Friends

Edison Chen's apology is more sincere than Wong Kan Seng...

Lol! Reality check one :P

Moral Behind L Change the World: Always fly first class
Heh, inside joke somewhat, but if you've watched the show, think about what it means :P If you haven't, go watch it.

What word starts with an 'F' and ends in 'UCK' that means a lot of heat and excitement?" "Fire Truck".
Old joke, but amusing! And stop acting innocent.

Lucky is the man who wins the first love of a women but luckier is the women who wins the last love of a man
Reality Check 2. Ouch.

Using contraception is like wearing a raincoat in the shower
Ameet is just weird.

Other friends

SuPeRcAlIfRaGiLiStIcAsPiAlIdOcIoUs
Blast from the past!

To reach the rainbow, we've to brace the rain
Hmmm.. reality check 3!


SMU Students

Lol.. alot of depressed nicks I shall not copy down.

Conclusion: SMU Students are depressed. My army friends are weird. All other friends... seem... normal :P Heh! Okay... maybe I'm weird too for putting this up, but wells, you gotta take your kicks whenever you can!

Anyways, good night!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Wow!

Unbelievable! :D
Some unexpectedly good snippet of news while browsing http://www.lfgcomic.com/ :D

- Sam Raimi is producing a syndicated series based on Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Called Wizard's First Rule, the first season is comprised of 22 episodes and is going into production this may. While this may excite Goodkind fans, let me remind you that Raimi is also responsible for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. If Wizard's First Rule follows them in theme and camp, I will join the rest of you in the mass weeping.
Can't wait!

P.S if you haven't read Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, you should!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

if only... lol!


its the truth i say!