civilisationReview

I said a while back in an article on a2ed.com...or was it another site...anyway, that getting the ipod nano was stupid and a half as you were getting far less space for far more cost, and encouraging the capitalist gits to learn from that and screw you similarly in other arenas. It also trains the masses to be focused on the superficial, i.e. ‘size’ in this case, and thus makes them more susceptible to superficial sales strategies in the future...which is already happening. Anyway, there's no reasoning with consumers these days. They are the peasants of 'modern' times, and all they require to serve as evidence of their 'intelligence' is the ability to make enough money to pay even more for products simply because there is some brand affixed on them, and their ability to get a job and reproduce their stupidity via their progeny.  Being thus underdeveloped, they also become unable to appreciate greater evidence of intelligence.  Hence, over time, intelligence can actu...

It's interesting to know that xingapore's cable and broadband companies are sort of partnering with China's telecom firms like 'hwa wei' as well. Wonder when these people are going to grow up, get egalitarian, and stop sticking to their own - and stop caring about falling chinese birth rates as if that is an issue in what is supposed to be a multicultural state. And, by the way, the U.S. has issued alerts against Hwa Wei and ZTE as security threats and possibly linked to China's government and military. related article on BBC - China's love-hate relationship with what is foreign Singapore, after all, is going to fast-track china's citizens into taking over the rest of the region But i suppose in the chinese supremacist state of xingapore, that is not a problem. (calling it a ‘chinese supremacist’ state is not an ‘opinion’ but a matter of definition, i.e. stating that singapore must always have a chinese majority; that our 'mother tongue will be mand...

A linear tabulation of age only counts when wear-and-tear, biological age, amongst related others, are taken into account.  The Perspective For instance, Chinese culture has been tabulated to be thousands of years old, going back to the Shang, or Hsia.  Egyptian culture has been dated to be even more than that.  Western contemporary culture has been dated back to Greece.  But that isn’t true, logically speaking, albeit it be true chronologically. When it comes to culture, its age can only be determined by the continuity of a culture of antiquity to the present in terms of perspective.  When there is a major shift in culture, and the people began to go along a path that people of a previous era would not have if they had continued along their path, then we can say that their cultural age starts from zero at the point of the major transition, or shift away from an earlier and dominant mode of thought. This perspective for instance, and ed, is not borne of ‘Singapo...

This is my first test video using the HD Hero Pro 2 - doing a quick spin around the neighbourhood....beautiful experience to remember. It is not the raw video but a compressed version. Not too bad. The Image Stabilisation isn't too good. But, passable. The colours, though, are rich, natural, and scenes are crisp - especially so in the original uncompressed video. If you like to watch it, you could select the 'hd' option. The music you hear is that which i played via my mp3 player whilst doing this video:) I added the same music to the video later. ed

A court has banned sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the US while it decides on the firm's patent dispute with Apple. Apple has claimed that Samsung infringed its design patent and copied the look of its popular device, the iPad. - bbc I find this, ‘who took whose ideas’ situation between Apple and Samsung quite the big joke.  Where do you think Apple and Samsung got these ideas from?  People known as ‘employees’.  And whilst these ‘employees’ can get sacked, retrenched, retired, etc, Apple and Samsung keep making money of their ideas don’t they.  And the exploiters controlling both companies make tons of money as well don’t they.  And let’s not forget that both companies, amongst all others, will be trawling the net looking for ideas in forums, design trends, beta testers, people suggesting new ideas, etc, etc, etc, and taking their ideas without paying them a cent either.  In other words, these exploitative corporations get 'their' ideas by out...

Younger people in the UK are losing out financially and politically to older generations, a report claims. "Whilst government borrowing and pension debt have increased steadily, there has also been an increased shift in favour of the older generation through higher charges for education, rising youth unemployment and high housing costs. "This index highlights... the increasing problem of poorer young people financing richer older people." - bbc This is a strange sort of way to look at things.  Well, it’s to be expected when one wants to leave the capitalist system untouched.  If we want to leave the main systemic cause untouched, we have to lay the blame on the consequences of the system.  The elderly have paid for their continuing upkeep in sufficient luxury from the amount of money that was extracted from them when they were working. It is very strange indeed.  In the pursuit of an egalitarian society, we identify all sorts of social divisions that exist, like ra...

Ever wonder how 'singlish' sounds so much like the way a chinese child speaks - like that child on the left?  Not like a malay child, not like an indian child.  The next time you speak 'singlish', just ask yourself how different it is from that little boy on the left. That indicates that 'singlish' is not actually 'singlish', but 'chinglish'.  And this further indicates that the formation of this so-called colloquial and unofficial ‘national’ language indicates that non-chinese differences were not considered in its formation, which, incidentally, parallels the chinese-determined criteria of what alright and not alright in all other arenas.   No wonder that the msn.com site for singapore is called ‘xin.msn.com’.  If it is representative of anything, it is only of post-80s chinese self-absorption.  Same goes for the ‘wit‘ which is typical of the wit in Chinese media and conversations.  Childish, and has no resemblance with the higher level...

The European Parliament will make its final decision on Acta in July. If it passes, work to bring the agreement into force across the EU will continue. For the agreement to be made EU law, all member states would need to give their backing. If the European Parliament votes to reject Acta, the treaty will be scrapped entirely. While the agreement covers the counterfeiting of physical items, such as pharmaceuticals, it is the measures relating to pirated material on the internet that have caused most concern among campaigners. The agreement suggests setting international standards over how copyright infringements are dealt with. Possible measures include possible imprisonment and fines. - bbc If you think about it, this is a battle between pirates and counterfeiters. Both the corporational and non-corporational pirates are attempting to protect their right to counterfeit for the sake of profit for themselves. If we don't begin to question after the justifiable amount that might be ...

Software piracy cost the industry a record $63.4 billion globally in 2011 with emerging economies listed as the main culprits, an annual study said Tuesday. This was up nearly 8% from the previous record of $58.8 billion in 2010, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) said in the study. In the Asia Pacific, which comprises several emerging economies including China, bootleg software usage also cost the industry an all-time high of $21 billion last year, up 12% from 2010, BSA said. - source I don't see what the fuss is about. Once the people are adequately skilled, the Corporation will be able to come in and quickly make money out of the people who have been educated and developed by means, piratical or otherwise. Software 'piracy', for instance, in the ‘3rd world’, is like charity - it prepares and develops the people there for later exploitation by the corporation.  Once the people are adequately skilled, and PC-literate, the Corporation will be able to come in and quickly...

"Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers are taking part in a 24-hour UK-wide strike in a dispute with the government over pension changes.  The government says current pension schemes are unfair - and unaffordable because people are living longer.But the unions say members are being "robbed" and will have to pay more and work longer for lower pensions." - bbc The elite can afford to let the people go on 24-hour strikes because the people can't afford, for whatever the reason, to do it for longer.  This is a clear message sent by strikers to the elite every time they decide to take a day off and don the regulation placard and constipated expressions.  Don't they realise that when their so-called 'strike' is short enough, the government will say, "well, it's your democratic right".  But when it is long enough to hurt them, they'll say, "well, you've made your point, now why don't you just...