Blue Berry

So what's news?

The Pacific. . . .

. . . . is crossing the Pacific as I type this.

Expected arrival date is in a couple of weeks or less. Anyone want to organise a screening??

Can I propose we book off a couple of nights around Tsang's birthday to watch all the eps at one go?? hehe.. well, ok lah.. maybe not at one go, but over a few nights / days. like Friday night Sat and maybe Sunday. I think we probably can't tolerate more than 3 eps a session though...

Anyway, just an idea... if you're looking forward to it, its coming.

Hello

Blog

cause and consequence

the legtimate struggle of attempting to stay in touch in a rarely used, but readily available, space provided to us by the fruits of technology.

BBC - dot.Rory: Is the iPhone evil?

BBC - dot.Rory: Is the iPhone evil?: "Is the iPhone evil?"

Interesting article to read and ponder about to all the google and apple fanatics out there like us!

The Social Basis of Tax

It was Malcolm Gladwell, in his writing for the New Yorker and his fantastic books, The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog Saw, who helped me realise that the majority way of thinking is not always the right way of thinking.

As Tsang, Gabriel, Varun, Shamir and myself met last nite for a short while after steamboat with my singapore bible study group (which consisted of many JC friends), we had some interesting conversations, reminiscing about life, our St Andrews School days and onward to politics and a social commentary on the state of our country.

one of the topics that stuck in my mind was that of taxation. Tsang was saying Singapore was a country where social studies students were taught that indirect taxation helps the poor and those from low income households. He pointed out the incongruity of it all, because for the poor, consummables such as food, water and electricity are the main things they spend on. These are taxed. And, the taxes they pay for consummables form a larger percentage of their income then for the rich. How can indirect taxation be good for the poor?

Well, i said, only if 1) indirect taxation is used to directly fund additional health and medical, education and welfare services that are only available to the poor [some form of means testing determines who is 'poor'], 2) the poor [determined by means testing] are given rebates for the cosummables they spend on, for as long as there exists an indirect tax on consummables, or 3) those who have been means tested and found to be financially lacking are given coupons that waive the Goods and Services Tax when they purchase consummables [and present these coupons] or 4) remove basic consummables like food, water and electricity from the list of taxable items in the GST. But of course, across-the-board application is always inefficient compared to means-testing.

In all our discussions i realised one thing, and that is, what on earth is the justification for taxation of any sort? To be more specific, why do citizens in a democratic country allow their governments to tax them? Most people think that because my government has the power to do so, this ends the matter. Well, what if the government decides it is within their power to legalize murder? Some will say that taxation is there to finance public services and the salaries of public servants. Of course. But thats not close enough to the heart of the matter. We pay taxes so that the administration of the country may ensure that all citizens have basic needs, like healthcare, education and public transport. Taxation is about state intervention in the individual accumulation of private wealth, so that public needs are met for all in the community. The very idea of taxation is against the principle of a laissez faire free market economy.

Secondly, because taxation is state intervention in private wealth for the benefit of the larger public, it is always biased towards those with greater private wealth who may benefit the public most. In other words, the rich pay more because they have more to give, and the poor pay less because they have less to give. Thats also known as income tax. But wait a minute! thats not the case in indirect taxation..every one pays the 3 odd 4 percent in Singapore's GST or the 7 odd percent in the UK's VAT..why? fairness for all? but taxation as a concept can never be fair. Can fairness for all really mean everyone pays the same amount? You wouldnt think of getting someone in the lowest income bracket to pay 49% of tax, the same as the head of a billion dollar firm, in the interests of 'fairness', would you? In fact, to be fair means exactly the opposite, that not everyone pays the same amount of tax.

therefore, whats the end of the matter? the way that the majority of economists think about indirect taxation is wrong. As long as the phrase 'indirect taxation' contains the root word 'tax' and behaves like a tax, intervening in my private wealth on state orders for the benefit of the greater populace, well then, it has to be graduated for different income earners, shouldnt it? so Singapore, take my suggestion and implement one of the first three recommendations i gave above, or some combination of them, won't ya?

iPad

Well, Tsang,

Its out. let me have a look once you get yourself one.

Message of the Day

GOD WILLS IT!!!!

my cool KL dream

a primeval landscape stretches out before me, shorty spiny brownish grass below the edge of a low cliff that faces the sea. the lens pans out and rises to take in a scene of strange wildlife running on the plateau above the sea. Flocking, herding and swarming heedless of danger. No sign of humanity anywhere. next, scenes flash past of mountains and volcanoes and upheavals of the landscape with colourful swirls of gas and lava. i wake. Stumbling blindly for the toilet, i realise in my groggy state of semi-sleep that i've dreamt up a fantastic movie idea.

coming back from my toilet call, i hurriedly jot down the words, veteran film-maker, wild life, scenery, James Cameron before going back to my world of wonders. i've had this dream or something similar to it before. once, when i was really young..only that time, there were dinosaurs in it, namely Allosaurus, a Triassic creature, first of the great flesh eating, rapid hunting bipeds. i had this dream while in my mate Junshoong's house staying when i visited KL recently . i reckon that i must have been influenced by Avatar and from what i wrote in my little diary while half asleep, i probably was. that being said, i think the idea of doing a film documentary of a prehistoric world before man is a fascinating and original idea. Of course, Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Mammals already did something similar, but never before focusing on the landscape. My dream movie indeed.

well, that one goes into my catalogue of dream scapes and dream compositions. wonder if Neil Gaiman's library of all the dream books and compositions ever dreamt really does exist somewhere huh? till next time, sweet dreams.

The Urban Backyard

my dvd project, which as you know i'm working with Varun on... is almost complete.

must admit there's something in see some tangible result in something from nothing. quite exciting...

don't know what else to say... this blog is dying....


CLEAR!!!

* ZAAAAP! *

Bye Bye Facebook

Deactivated my facebook account and opted to not receive emails anymore.

Did it after watching Surrogates today. And also figured I want to spend more time to myself doing what I want, like watching DVDs and playing more video games. Clicking buttons on the internet on a social network just doesn't give me the satisfaction I was looking for nor fulfil my desires of believing in a more fulfilling life.

Like I've said before, I live in the movies. :D

So Good bye facebook. Forever I hope.

In-principle

I have gotten my prospective investors to agree to lending my a large sum of money just to produce one single copy of my DVD.

Now the pressure is to make sure it looks good.

A grand total of about $42k. $30 that I need to return over 2 years with a 7% interest. which is not so bad for me. I think.

Tired. Hope it all works out well. Really tired. Can't say I'm ecstatic. But it is a relief. Now I have to really focus on getting the product out. And on top of that there's still the marketting that has to be planned. The risk is great coz this is just a pilot project only. Baah... hard to say.

Got to push for quality now. hence getting a semi pro to help me... just grad fellow, same as me. from RMIT. paying him a hefty amount a day. he gets just sliiightly less than what i was getting in aussie. haha... but that's besides the point. coz i'm paying him lower than what i'd be paying real professionals. so its still reasonable.

lets see how i can tie in my product with Varun's plans also. I need a marketting expert to really help me take over selling our line of products so that I can just oversee that dept rather than get my hands dirty in it at the sacrifice of the creative side and if i were to call dips on both sides equally i'd be taking a big chunk out of my personal life... balance. baah..

still, one major hurdle crossed. relieved.

RK Eating House

I want to go to one of these indian muslim eating houses leh... craving for food and neslo peng again... some pattaya or more pratas or something... indian muslim stall in normal kopitiams just don't quite cut it.

baaaah....

I am in USA

Hey guys,

wonder if you guys are still keen to write into this blog, haha, well now its my turn to be away for abit, in Tsang's and mine favourite English speaking ang moh country, haha.

well, so far have been here for like 9 days, in silicon valley, CA. Been quite good fun here so far, tagged along with my uncle from India who was here visiting too to places like Reno and Lake Tahoe, both a nice places to see.

Once they had left, started driving here too, haha, I really love the 101 (the main freeway from San Fran to LA, it cuts through the valley too). So great driving at 130km/h, I guess its just something I like. Got used to driving on the right side of teh road already, think for us not too difficult still, as we are not set in our ways. So have been driving around quite abit around the valley, to Gilroy (factory outlet), Santa Cruz ('near by' beach) and even dropped my aunt off at the airport and returned home on my own (she's also going to NC). So its really cool. :)

I guess I will just make the occassional post here about wats going on in my life. Also I have started a long-distance relationship with this singaporean punjabi girl who is studying in Adelaide, can say we met through facebook. Guess will wait till I meet her in Jan to 'confirm' our relationship, but she seems like a nice person so I optimistic it will work out. Guess see how it goes. Guess dont want to publically announce it yet, so just keep it among us ya.

banned waterbottles.

Didn't NSW plastic water bottles recently?

Is that the plastic bottled water industry's new marketting ploy? to make us believe that their water bottles are conscious?

And what morals do a water bottle abide to anyway? Is the water in them under their jurisdiction? So like if the water in the water bottle grows fungi and algae and what not, is that the water's fault or the water bottle's? And like are they responsible for non spills, like when their owner is trying to drink from the bottle in a bumpy vehicle or something, who's moral obligation is it that the water should not spill?

A Morally-Self-Consious-Water-Bottle

Since i'm in my Cam-Whore Mode before uni begins again wat-the-heck..Saw this while in Jesmond Shops at Cotton On and decided to buy it..because it says, "A Morally Consious Water Bottle"...Ermmm..you mean, a Morally SELF-Conscious Water Bottle that Reeks of Do-Gooder Bullsh*t...as the Pommies(Brit-ish) might say, "Bah, Humbug!"

Opium-eating wallabies

Opium-eating wallabies get high, make crop circles - Latest News - MSN Singapore News - News:

"Opium-eating wallabies get high, make crop circles

Wallabies are getting 'as high as a kite' on opium in Australian poppy fields and flattening crops as they hop round in circles, according to a report.

The marsupials, which look like small kangaroos, have been getting into medical opium crops in the southern island state of Tasmania and chewing on the plant's intoxicating heads, state officials said.

'We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles,' state attorney-general Lara Giddings told a parliamentary estimates hearing.

'Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high,' local media reported Ms Giddings as saying.

Tasmania is the world's largest producer of legally-grown opium for the pharmaceutical market, with about 500 farms supplying approximately 50 percent of the raw material for morphine and other opiate drugs.

Livestock and other animals, such as deer and sheep, which eat the plants had also been seen acting 'weird,' industry spokesman Rick Rockliff said.
'There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles,' he said."

EOFYS @ Allans

Allans Music Online - Home Page

My dear Jonathan Tsang, the End of Financial Year sale is up... go visit that site, if there's anything you want within your budget, I can help you get it and bring it back along with me in July or something...

take a look... bought my protools from them.. so they send me these flyers with upcoming sales and new products etc etc...

WRMEA: U.S. Aid to Israel

WRMEA: U.S. Aid to Israel:

"The same applies to the president, the secretary of state, and the foreign aid administrator. They all submit a budget that includes aid for Israel, which Congress approves, or increases, but never cuts. But no one in the executive branch mentions that of the few remaining U.S. aid recipients worldwide, all of the others are developing nations which either make their military bases available to the U.S., are key members of international alliances in which the U.S. participates, or have suffered some crippling blow of nature to their abilities to feed their people such as earthquakes, floods or droughts.

Israel, whose troubles arise solely from its unwillingness to give back land it seized in the 1967 war in return for peace with its neighbors, does not fit those criteria. In fact, Israel's 1995 per capita gross domestic product was $15,800. That put it below Britain at $19,500 and Italy at $18,700 and just above Ireland at $15,400 and Spain at $14,300.

All four of those European countries have contributed a very large share of immigrants to the U.S., yet none has organized an ethnic group to lobby for U.S. foreign aid. Instead, all four send funds and volunteers to do economic development and emergency relief work in other less fortunate parts of the world.
The lobby that Israel and its supporters have built in the United States to make all this aid happen, and to ban discussion of it from the national dialogue, goes far beyond AIPAC, with its $15 million budget, its 150 employees, and its five or six registered lobbyists who manage to visit every member of Congress individually once or twice a year."



http://www.wrmea.com/html/us_aid_to_israel.htm

The above excerpt is just part of a bunch of essays on the site.

another idea

hey guys,

i dunno if you guys share the same concern for the environment, energy conservation and the poor as I do, but an idea just popped into my mind for a business/charity based on those causes.

I thought I'd like to attempt to help people convert waste heat to do something useful around the house like dry clothes.

An initial attempt would be to channel the coolant from a fridge to a larger area that can be maintained and cleaned so that the clothes can be dried on it.

I reckon this idea will not be immediately attractive as the cost savings will be quite little - maybe under $100 a year? and the initial cost of labor and raw materials to set it up may be way above that order of magnitude (some survey will have to go into this).

There are also several technical and aesthetic/design issues to concern oneself with - whether we can come up with designs for each situation that is functional and simple enough to be of casual utility, and that will be the thing which determines if this idea takes off.

In this climate of tightening belts and of people looking for something worthwhile to do, we can take otherwise unemployed people (ourselves) and apply them to helping the poor whom a few dollars in savings would matter to.

It could serve as a springboard/source of experience to implementing ideas that involve higher tech, more complication and more cost e.g. I envision solar powered windows to absorb energy from the sunlight to power air conditioners, or an external system to aid in cooling the computer, which is becoming the central problem with computing these days (incorporating the home server with the home water heating system). It has the scope of utilizing some of our trainings - varun's business skills, chua's design training, and perhaps shamir could help us market the product using videos - getting the message across to the our target audience.