License to Breed
Friday, November 13, 2009
You need one to drive, to operate "heavy" machinery, to fly a plane, or even to drive a boat. You need one to own a dog, in Singapore, as in many countries, you even need one to have the right to own a TV, but still they let any moron breed. [link]
So a dog, or for that matter a TV, takes a more responsible person than a child...or is it that the TV is simply worth more than the kids?
Either way, while I accept that a "license to breed" is a tad totalitarian, it still does not mean it might not be the best thing to do, after all "Freakonomics" looks at the often often random cause and affects that shape our world...maybe this one is just a more direct approach...maybe? ~grin~
Friday, November 13, 2009
You need one to drive, to operate "heavy" machinery, to fly a plane, or even to drive a boat. You need one to own a dog, in Singapore, as in many countries, you even need one to have the right to own a TV, but still they let any moron breed. [link]
So a dog, or for that matter a TV, takes a more responsible person than a child...or is it that the TV is simply worth more than the kids?
Either way, while I accept that a "license to breed" is a tad totalitarian, it still does not mean it might not be the best thing to do, after all "Freakonomics" looks at the often often random cause and affects that shape our world...maybe this one is just a more direct approach...maybe? ~grin~
Living "Funeral"
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
I think the first time I came across the idea of having a wake while you are till alive was in "Tuesdays with Morrie". I thought the idea was cool then and I still think the idea is cool after I read about the wake of David Tseng [link].
I guess what I have always liked about this idea is that at a more usual styled wake the person who most needs to hear, or who would have benefited most from hearing the eulogies in the person in the casket and one person at the funeral who can't hear what is being said. With a "living funeral" everybody gets to say goodbye and you at least know of the nice things that friends think of you, and perhaps even get to tell them how valued the friendship is?
Not that I am planning to die in the near future...but then I guess nobody every really plans to die, do they?
NOTE: Completely coincidental post today but more importantly on this day, as we perhaps should remember every day,
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
I think the first time I came across the idea of having a wake while you are till alive was in "Tuesdays with Morrie". I thought the idea was cool then and I still think the idea is cool after I read about the wake of David Tseng [link].
I guess what I have always liked about this idea is that at a more usual styled wake the person who most needs to hear, or who would have benefited most from hearing the eulogies in the person in the casket and one person at the funeral who can't hear what is being said. With a "living funeral" everybody gets to say goodbye and you at least know of the nice things that friends think of you, and perhaps even get to tell them how valued the friendship is?
Not that I am planning to die in the near future...but then I guess nobody every really plans to die, do they?
NOTE: Completely coincidental post today but more importantly on this day, as we perhaps should remember every day,
They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
LEST WE FORGET
-Laurence Binyon, "For the Fallen"
Satan's Game
Monday, November 09, 2009
So ex-blooger Mercer Machine managed to get himself a copy of the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, now it's just up to E@L [link], myself and a few others to defeat what ever "cunning plans"* he has in store for us.
To see what really happens when kids play D&D, see here. [link] [link]
And while some of you will chuckle at the above and look upon my admission of playing D&D with something approaching either wry humour or outright laughter, remember these famous people also played and enjoyed getting together with friends and rolling some dice: Vin Diesel [link] [link], Jon Favreau, Kevin Smith, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Ewan MacGreggor, Asia Carrera, George Lucas, Will Wheaton [link], Jason Statham, Robin Williams, Quentin Tarantino, Joss Whedon & Jacques Villeneuve.
Somehow doing the research for that list made me feel a whole less Geeky than I already felt. Which in truth, is not very much! ~grin~
* random Black Adder connection.
Monday, November 09, 2009
So ex-blooger Mercer Machine managed to get himself a copy of the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, now it's just up to E@L [link], myself and a few others to defeat what ever "cunning plans"* he has in store for us.
To see what really happens when kids play D&D, see here. [link] [link]
And while some of you will chuckle at the above and look upon my admission of playing D&D with something approaching either wry humour or outright laughter, remember these famous people also played and enjoyed getting together with friends and rolling some dice: Vin Diesel [link] [link], Jon Favreau, Kevin Smith, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Ewan MacGreggor, Asia Carrera, George Lucas, Will Wheaton [link], Jason Statham, Robin Williams, Quentin Tarantino, Joss Whedon & Jacques Villeneuve.
Somehow doing the research for that list made me feel a whole less Geeky than I already felt. Which in truth, is not very much! ~grin~
* random Black Adder connection.
I Want Some More!
Friday, November 06, 2009
So Fannie Mae is asking for an extra $15billion [link] to help climb out of a hole that it helped dig itself into...mmm...I know that when one considers how much has already been given an EXTRA $15billion is not really that much money, but when you consider that record bonuses that were awarded this year for company executives, I think the US Govt. just needs to let the company sink.
Unprofitable companies have not changed their modus-operandi all they have done is used the bailout to stave off the inevitable. These companies need to die, and if that means a depression, then better 3-5 years of hardship and a public movement away from the accumulation of capital "things" than the alternative which is creating debt not for our future but for our future's future.
At what point will the Govt. have the balls to say enough is enough?
---
Ohh and while I am on a "pseudo-political soap box", I read this [link] also in the Straits Times today where Eddie Goh is complaining about pedestrians and parents at a new Extreme Skate Park (here in Singapore)...I think Eddie's call for banning does not go far enough, I think pedestrians need to be banned from the clearly marked Bike Paths as well.
Q. How hard is it to walk on a designated path not 5m away from one marked for Bicycles only?
A. In Singapore, it's impossible.
Friday, November 06, 2009
So Fannie Mae is asking for an extra $15billion [link] to help climb out of a hole that it helped dig itself into...mmm...I know that when one considers how much has already been given an EXTRA $15billion is not really that much money, but when you consider that record bonuses that were awarded this year for company executives, I think the US Govt. just needs to let the company sink.
Unprofitable companies have not changed their modus-operandi all they have done is used the bailout to stave off the inevitable. These companies need to die, and if that means a depression, then better 3-5 years of hardship and a public movement away from the accumulation of capital "things" than the alternative which is creating debt not for our future but for our future's future.
At what point will the Govt. have the balls to say enough is enough?
---
Ohh and while I am on a "pseudo-political soap box", I read this [link] also in the Straits Times today where Eddie Goh is complaining about pedestrians and parents at a new Extreme Skate Park (here in Singapore)...I think Eddie's call for banning does not go far enough, I think pedestrians need to be banned from the clearly marked Bike Paths as well.
Q. How hard is it to walk on a designated path not 5m away from one marked for Bicycles only?
A. In Singapore, it's impossible.
The Peaceful Lie
A choice.
Do I look down on the religion? Or,
Do I look down on the culture?
Either way, how can you do anything but look down, when children are considered property and the rule of authoritarian oppression leads to murder. [link] [link] [link] [link]
"It's a form of regulation of sexual relations" [link] [link]
So while I acknowledge that The Judeo-Christian West has a history of similar violence and oppression, as do many cultures, at least we have left these to yesterday and the work of historians as we try to leave 6th century behind.
And as for which I should look down on...looks like it is "6 of one, half a dozen of the other". [link]
Remember after 9/11 how often it was trumpeted that it was a "peaceful" belief system?
A choice.
Do I look down on the religion? Or,
Do I look down on the culture?
Either way, how can you do anything but look down, when children are considered property and the rule of authoritarian oppression leads to murder. [link] [link] [link] [link]
"It's a form of regulation of sexual relations" [link] [link]
So while I acknowledge that The Judeo-Christian West has a history of similar violence and oppression, as do many cultures, at least we have left these to yesterday and the work of historians as we try to leave 6th century behind.
And as for which I should look down on...looks like it is "6 of one, half a dozen of the other". [link]
Remember after 9/11 how often it was trumpeted that it was a "peaceful" belief system?
"Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving."
