February 24th, 2010 by Eshin
I recently had a discussion with Mrs. Eshin and her uncle regarding microwave ovens. She’s convinced the damned things are harmful when they’re busy superheating water molecules in our food. Her uncle, a wise gentlemen of electrical technical engineering experience, confirmed this but said that he wasn’t sure about the microwave ovens as he didn’t know how well the protection plate at the front of the oven insulated against harmful rays.
Of course, I scoffed at this notion. Given the millions upon millions of microwaves sold in the world, surely they would be made safe. The US government, no less, would have had a field day with the FDA infractions if it was an unsafe technology.
Mrs. Eshin’s uncle did remind of something one of my old teachers mentioned – you should remember who is telling you something to evaluate its trustworthiness.
Here’s a little known fact – Percy Spencer, who invented the microwave oven, worked for Raytheon at the time. Raytheon is a major American defense contractor that works tightly with the government.
You be the judge.
May 14th, 2009 by Eshin
Maybe its a cultural thing or not, but it is interesting to see the two different reactions two countries take to their criminals. In New Zealand, an escaped convict is fast becoming a Robin Hood type figure as he elludes police. Nabbing food from dinner tables and building a large online social network, William Stewart remains on the run from authorities who are derided for not being able to even “catch a cold”.
A far cry from Singapore where the security services lost their number one terrorist suspect last year, and had to rely on Malaysian security forces to apprehend their man. Of course, public opinion was never really in his favour but apparently trying to escape hasn’t endeared him to the local populace as they creatively suggest he pays the prices for the security forces own incompetency by restricting his privileges.
Of course, Stewart hasn’t threatened to bomb Changi Airport but then again, Stewart has already been found guilty while the other is still awaiting due process I believe.
January 17th, 2009 by Eshin
I am pleased to note that the crusade against smoking is firmly taking hold around the world. The motherland has decided rather annoyingly to ban smoking at the airport of all places. You actually have to walk out of the building. Nice for travellers needing a fix to see them through the next 12 or so hours. Nope, not a faint whiff of a sealed room to smoke your own cigarette (and the cigarette smoke of the 30 other, usually male, occupants of the hermetically sealed zoo exhibit).
Continue reading ‘Smoking Singapore Sense’
October 28th, 2008 by Eshin
I was walking behind a group of Malays this afternoon on the Padang and I noticed one of the chaps had the iconic Che Guevara t-shirt on. I did feel like asking him how goes the revolution but I realized he might not actually see the funny side of it.
Of course, there was nothing funny about our dear Che who is probably turning in his grave at the thought of his image being used to feed the wheels of capitalism. Continue reading ‘Che Guevara’
August 2nd, 2008 by Eshin
I personally hate elections as my preference for candidates is like the kiss of death since I always call the person who is likely to lose. Of course, not being able to vote in any of the places where I would like to vote (UK, US, HK, SG), I console myself with the idea that had I actually been able to vote, it would have made all the difference.
I so wanted Hillary to win the nomination from her party and alas, it came true – she received my very own kiss of death and Barack Obama is the Democratic nominated candidate for the upcoming 2008 US elections. But is it all over? Perhaps not…
I stumbled upon this blog post that alleges that Obama is actually Indonesian and a Muslim. It claims that Obama is still possibly a citizen of Indonesia and a Muslim based on his time living there under his step-father where he was enrolled into local schools as such. For obvious reasons, dual citizenship disqualifies you from running for the highest post in the US and being Muslim, well, I reasonably sure you won’t be getting the popular vote either.
What is more curious to me is the divisiveness in the Democratic camp with blogs like these. This definitely seems like a last ditch effort to disqualify Barack Obama from the presidential race, even if it smacks as little as a conspiracy theory. It’s just odd but it seems like this dissension is doing the job for the Republicans – they questioned John Kerry’s war record at the last election so they’ll love Democrats who help them with their research at this election.
Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I know most of the world outside the US is enamored with Obama but I personally am not all that hot about him. He strikes me as a grade school teacher, part-time teen counsellor who is your “best friend” and someone who just reeks of positive naivety. If it wasn’t going to be Hillary Clinton then John McCain might not be that bad since at least he’s a war hero.
It really doesn’t matter so long as we remember the important point that Furious George is finally out of power.
