Does Populism really mean what it is?

Tomorrow will be France's day to show the world how far the world has gone backwards or whether she will be another country to become a bastion of sanity. Things look OK going into tomorrow but like everything in life, never count the chickens until they hatch.

I am concerned by how this movement of violent attitudes towards other human beings is becoming more prevalent. Making things worse is the media's liberal use of the word "populism" on such trends. "Populism"...really?

From Google:

Yes, this is a simple meaning, "Support for the concerns of ordinary people". Or "the quality of appealing to or being aimed at ordinary people". Very simple explanations. So why am I baffled by the use of "populism" on candidates like Farage, Trump and Le Pen.

Now, it all goes down to math from here. What percentage of human beings in this world is considered ordinary? Or inversely, how many do you consider to be extraordinary?

We all like to think that we're extraordinary, but most of us aren't. We are more alike to one another than we think, but similarly, we are unique. OK, let's be less philosophical and more realistic. Let's use the 80-20 rule, just to be less populist and more realistic. Let's not use the 1% argument, because that is so cliche and make my arguments too easy.

Brexit vote, 73% turnout, 52% or 18m (both rounded up) out of 65m. Out of nearly 50m eligible to vote, only 18m wanted out. That's less than 40% of eligible voters and less than a third of UK's population. Why is the idea of UK leaving the EU a "populist" decision? What about the rest of the 15m that aren't eligible to vote?

While we're on topic, what does UK gain with the Brexit vote? Well, UKIP promised trillions, right? OK, I can't remember the exact number but I remembered it was all about money promised to them. Sure, the words used might be "jobs" but people who voted for it is just thinking about their wallets.

Sure, Cameron was ineffective but Brexit is pulling the rug from under the future citizens of UK because not only is it bad now and near future, the extra barriers it will create for itself and future citizens aren't going to be much better. All these for made up dollar amounts that probably will never be real? Seriously? Isn't removing Cameron easier? Or removing the major political parties and perhaps the age old bureaucracies that, at least to Brexit voters, think is "plaguing" the British Isles?

Next, closer to home, at least where I am right now, 2016 Presidential Elections. Trump got 63m votes (rounded up) to Clinton's 65m votes (rounded way down). Total turnout is 60%, 137m votes (both rounded up) out of 324m in USA. Less than a quarter of the country voted for the president we have now, whose rhetoric stirred up so much hateful speech during and after the elections, with concerted effort to introduce a new way of life called alternative facts.

The people who voted for him were promised jobs, tax cuts, improved economy and repeal of ObamaCare, otherwise known as Affordable Care Act, while we're in an improving economy no less. Sure, they will argue they aren't benefiting much, well, I've not benefited much, and that's not due to a lack of trying on my part, but that's no excuse to hate the system keeping 324m people alive.

He's not a scientist, he's not an industrialist, he is a media personality with riches handed to him from his ancestry. So why is he called a "populist"? For stirring up irrational fear and hatred for other human beings? In less than 25% of the country's population?

There are other reasons why Clinton lost, Democrat Party self imploding, irrational hatred for Obama, Clinton's arrogance and underestimation of her opponent, lack of traditional groundwork at key battlegrounds, James Comey and perhaps Russia. Whatever my beliefs are on the situation, she lost and 63m voters put Trump in the White House.

Then we have France. Well, we don't know what will happen since the underdog win by Trump emboldened every underdog and gave them hope against frontrunners. Personally, I like Macron, I have no comment on his skills and ability but I want to see how a young yet fairly experienced politician and professional will do for his country while hopefully listening to all of his people, not just his supporters. Of course, Macron could be bad but I can only fear the worst if Le Pen wins.

But I digress as usual.

France has a population of 65m in 2012, registered voters 46m, and assuming the crazy case of Le Pen winning by 51%, that would be at best 23m given France's current population of 66m using the same rate of participation. So Le Pen appealed to at best 23m of the population and is called a "populist"? Especially when she has no concrete plan for her promises to even those 23m? Much less any attempts to listen to the non-supporters. Are those citizens disavowed?

I mentioned how disappointed I was when I heard a French former soldier supporting Le Pen because he wanted to close the borders and spend more time "watching" citizens. Like martial law? And another supporter willing to give up 10% liberty to get more security? Seriously, why do they think math work on civil liberties?

Anyway, the numbers quoted above hopefully brings out my point. Why does less than 25% of the population make their politicians "populist"? Especially when they are just yelling their demands and trying to take away civil liberties of non-supporters? OK, the far left has not been kind either but their percentage is at best as similar to those on the far right.

That's what normal is supposed to be, where more than 50% of the people are agreeable to, not just about 25% of the people wants. Also, the 25% quoted above multiple times above is at best, because with the misinformation out there, some centrists are misguided into thinking "populists" work.

My view of populists need to (a) have support for more than 50% (b) listens to everybody and gets buy in from everybody, whether they support him/her or not and (c) no violent behavior tolerated. That might be my pacifist beliefs talking but we have to believe it can be done for it to be done. And the 50% threshold is really where I want to emphasize as being a "populist".

So journalists, real or not, please stop using the word "populist" and "populism" on people peddling fear, hatred and violence in order to get elected. They should be given a label suitable for their rhetoric. Like "hatredist" or "hatredism", because the people who peddle fear and hatred should be labeled for who they are, no matter how much they would deny it.

After all, we should not expect a lying, hate and fear peddling person to do any less hating and lying any time soon. So please France, do the right thing and not pick a fake populist, because their foreigner and minority hating tendencies can easily turn towards you when it suits her.

Everton's win cast doomsday spectre on Arsene Wenger?

To be fair, it is not a great weekend. Wisconsin Badgers lost by 1 point in a very good game, and my championship luck has not really much time to sink into local sports. Not that everyone think it is a must win. A win is a win, a loss is, well, a loss.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the second game I was concerned with. However hard our last 6 games is, a win will put the ball in our court. Win the rest and at least draw Man City, and UCL is ours, barring and unlikely Chelsea or Man Utd win UCL win. Lose and it is pretty much over.

My gut tells me of a win, probably a hard fought win, and though I prepped myself to watch the game, I overslept. I missed the first half but got to watch the second half. Am I surprised to see we're 2-0 up? Not really. Am I surprised that we easily cruised through the second half for the win? Definitely.

Now, as excited as I am with Everton's performance and win, I am unsettled by the mindset of Arsenal and its fans. Sure it is bad, sure it is a horrible performance, but is there someone you know that can and will do the job better than Arsene Wenger?

Don't give me names like Brendan Rogers or Roberto Martinez or Jurgen Klopp. Why would they give up their comfy seats in a project that they can call theirs, and all the support they currently have at their clubs? Is the warchest a factor for these managers? Perhaps for Martinez and Klopp but they have always worked around it. 

And if Klopp is to leave Dortmund, he's likely destination is a UCL contender, not just a participant. As for Martinez, would you not think he will want to break that glass ceiling with Everton instead of a more wealthy yet do-or-die club like Arsenal? 

The mere fact fans are calling for Wenger to go shows me that Arsenal has little patience to wait for success. As much as there are adventure seekers like AVB, does Martinez look to be in that mold?

The question that one must ask, similar to what Everton did when OFM left, is, who is the most willing and able person for the job? We count our lucky stars that OFM left and not because we're fighting the relegation battle, and Wigan reached Europe but got relegated, and that we're a club of enough history to entice Martinez to come and perform the great restoration.

Like the recent firings that I question, e.g. AVB from Spurs, Hyypia from Leverkusen and more recently, like today, Hughton from Norwich. Hughton might be a dead man walking at Norwich for months, but the timing could not be more dire. And while it is possible that Adams create a miracle, you do not change manager until you have a direction for the club, and that direction based on the next few games is down. Leverkusen is another that leaves flabbergasted. No UCL, so Hyypia failed? How many German teams would want to be in their position? At least 10. Similarly for AVB. And don't get me started on the PR disaster of the Looney Toons that came due to the tragic decision to fire Sir Bobby Robson.

While it is a "what have you done for me recently?" world nowadays, the decision making process to ensure success has not changed. Who is the best person to lead us forward?

In Everton's case, Martinez was the best person because he is the most willing and able. Would I prefer Pep? Or Laudrup after his Cup win? Or an unorthodox name Poyet, unfortunately tainted by his untimely firing from Brighton? Yes and Yes in my dreams, and No, even when I preferred him at first. Heck, I preferred Di Canio at first but he's not even tested in EPL yet. The best person is Martinez even though I was worried about his tactics being too porous. Not to mention his first buys are mostly Wigan players. But I am patient and supported him because it is my club. 

As much as the manager runs the team onto the field for the performance, the team is backed financially by the owners and emotionally by the fans (though we do pay for their salary still). If the owners are misers, as many fans would call Kenwright, then we need someone willing to work within those constraints, and from the list most willing, the most able of the lot.

After the first 19 games, I was so elated, even the harshest defeats later would not make me doubt Martinez. Form is temporary, class is eternal, and Martinez showed that. Unless we're fighting for our EPL lives next season, I do not think I will be disappointed with anything that gets us into Europe. NOTE, I said Europe, NOT UCL. Why? Our debts in the 90s might no longer be a worry but we're not going to be a spender all of a sudden. Getting the right building blocks is far more important than a flash in the pan success.

A manager, being the key person to mold the team, should not be the first person out the door if the team doesn't perform. Unless it is a dressing room revolt, which I suggest firing both the manager and players, the only reason you should change managers is like what Guardiola said, "I cannot reach them anymore to spur them forward". Yes, a manager change can only be for the better, if not, DON'T CHANGE!

Hence, is an Arsenal fan is to ask me, should Wenger go, I would say, ONLY if a replacement is there and that given the tenure of Wenger, give him time to hand it over. He made the financial situation in Arsenal very desirable, now the next guy needs to come in and make it better by leading them into UCL. But based on what I see, is that guy going to have time to do that? Unfortunately, no. Hence, who do you have left? Arsene Wenger. Maybe some of those managers in Serie A, or someone other than Guardiola or Klopp in Germany. Hey, I hear Hyypia is unemployed right now, though I've not seen enough to gauge his prowess.

Anyhow, it is sickening for me to hear that fans want the manager that got them so far out just because he fell short of his past heights by just that bit. Bobby Robson, David O'Leary, Martin Jol, AVB and so many others. What I can say is, because of how tight the competition is, a mistake in a few games due to form of the team, injuries and perhaps decisions of the manager, it is easy to fall short of UCL or worse. Yet, is it any shame to miss out on UCL? HELL NO! There are at least 10 other teams that would like THAT shot at Europe, and the gravy train that is UCL. In fact, this last paragraph gave me somewhat of an epiphany.

To me, the only time appropriate to fire a manager during the season is at the end of November, after about a third of the games, or roughly 15. That gives the next manager time to use the transfer window to mold his team if he doesn't like the current team.

The positions that I think should make use of this window to fire managers is between 15-20. Why not anything above? Did you read what I wrote above? Plus, if we have seen the Great Escape by West Brom, anything is possible with 20+ games to go. And I did remember Everton being in top 10 despite being bottom for quite a while in that odd year under OFM. Hence, no top team, sugardaddy Roman aside since contracts mean nothing to Chelsea, should ever think about firing their managers until they are absolutely out of contention.

And even then, you should not restructure your team at whim just because they are in a lower European competition. Look at Leeds, Newcastle and Real after Del Bosque. Are they any better after O'Leary, Robson and The Marquis left? What about Spurs after Jol, or more recently AVB? Heck, I don't think Swansea should fire Laudrup. Where are they now compared to where they are when they fired him?

The only exception in the second half of the season is ironically the timing Norwich and Leverkusen took, but under a different circumstance, when the team has nothing to play for, rank 9-15 and must be quite safe from relegation yet far away from Europe contention. If the team is in Europe contention even mathematically (OK, that might be too strict but you know what I mean), don't you silly owners and fans think about removing the manager. Why? Because you can go on a run and win the title! Or escape relegation! Or whatever you think is impossible might just become possible cause a few players were injured or serving a short ban or whatever.

Even though this might mean that OFM should be removed from Man Utd, do remember that he is still in UCL and the only time from now till the end to fire (you can always fire after the season), is when you have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to play for.

To close my argument, I shall give you my list of dumbest firings:

1. Sir Bobby Robson from Newcastle, still the worst and most disgusting decision ever regardless of timing
2. David O'Leary from Leeds, seriously? Just because he achieved Europa after reaching UCL semis?
3. Vicente Del Bosque from Real, what have they achieved so far after he left? Is any of his replacements since more able to control the massive egos? Ancelotti and Capello are 2 I looked up to but look at how subdued Capello is at Real. I can only hope Ancelotti can avoid Capello's fate.

OK, that kind of concludes my rant. I cannot believe on a day I'm so happy about for Everton would be a day I rant. Seriously, if you think firing Wenger can fix what is wrong with Arsenal, Arsenal would be bankrupt if you run the club. I would agree if you HIRE a tactical consultant for him to run the in-game management. Heck, better idea, PROMOTE Wenger to Director of Football and hire a new manager, though as I mentioned, the list is not too long for Arsenal. Yes, you've been good for the past 2 decades and Everton is not, but no, I believe Martinez is sincere in seeing Everton break the glass ceiling. Only place I can see him leave us for is Barcelona. And Arsenal is no Barcelona, as much as we try to emulate their style.

And I repeat, unless we are fighting against relegation next season, Martinez has that stay of execution at least for one season. Even if he struggles to have to fight relegation, heck, didn't OFM have a horrible season too within his first 3 seasons? For the positive attitude, I'll want him to lead my team as long as we're competitive and challenging for UCL. Even if there is that one blip season once in a while.

Bobby revives the School of Science!

After listening to Bobby, it makes me very optimistic of the future of the club! (Interesting article from yesterday)

I was going to post something about not bashing Moyes anymore. But I found myself a perfect opening to make this post. While everything is going smoothly, the positive mindset of Martinez just comes out in waves! Yes, waves! I'm fairly dreamy myself as a fan, hoping to see Everton win the World Club Cup, but as any fan, handling defeat is always difficult. Yet, as he puts it, focus on the positives and do better. Obviously, we got to make sure we don't get hit by the negatives but we got to leverage the positive and try to outweigh the negatives!

It's also refreshing how he views Barkley despite his young age, choosing him over Ronaldo and Messi? Of course, where he will be is unknown but to all you poachers, lose your limbs for him or just shut up! It's great to see a talent to build a team around, and what's better is to have many talents to build around. Easily, the performance Coleman, Oviedo and McCarthy put up, you can build any EPL team around them, and to have all of them with Barkley? Yes, the team feels invincible right now, no matter the mistakes, no matter the losses!

Anyway, they will have bad days, but bad days like Sunderland are easy to swallow. I feel that what Bobby said about Everton, how you run a club, be close to your fans, its the ideal case of running a company! You treat your customers well, you stay in touch with their needs and you give them what they want! Obviously, monetary concerns are often less visible when running a football club as owners are often such passionate fans as well. Abramavich, as much as he is crazy in his manager choices, practically loves the team and squandering money at Chelsea. Not so sure of Manchester City or United, but you get the point. Besides, if you do it well, you do make lots of money! Follow the passion!

Bobby is equally gracious with his assessment of Moyes' work. Obviously not touching on Moyes' game management, he praised the foundation that Moyes built. There is a weird thought I have. The slave driving style of Moyes, perhaps when unleashed by one of Bobby's caliber, granted lucky that talent is also here, granted the biggest change in momentum in football, not just modern football! OK, I remember the Miracle of Bern but Hungary has a few key problems, like the suspended Puskas. While I have the lingering fear that this is going to be said to be flash in a pan when we get a bad run of results. But taking all that into account, I wonder how we will bounce back after such a run!

Anyway, I do have to spit out what I wanted to say about Moyes and MU in this article, so here goes. Despite taking into account all that Moyes have done for the team, it is impossible to accept his ungracious acts during the summer, from calling us a small club to treating us like beggars with a derisory bid. The fee for Fellaini is pathetic of what he's become last season and the underhanded manner of the transfer, the usual MU talk to unsettle our player and make him submit a transfer request, shall enshrine him in the company of Wu San Gui. Yes, if you don't know who he is, look him up. I think the comparison is apt in the world of football.

But, seeing the torment you've suffered and how helpless MU has become without Rooney and Van Persie, it brings me no satisfaction to see MU lose any more. Sure, I don't want MU to be able to compete with Everton, given how strong they are in recent history, but I like close matches. Put up a fight, fight fair, and even the loser goes away heads held high. It is this that even before hearing Bobby's interview that I have decided on a ceasefire. Not on both sides, since no one is attacking me or Everton, but on me gaining additional pleasure of your failure. And neither will you ever gain pleasure because we have recovered our positive mentality.

Additionally, as part of my sympathy that the man managing my friends' team, January signings will not solve MU's problem:

• Everyone knows MU is desperate and rich, hence will gorge money
• MU players are losing faith, as is the fans, and any player who ever wanted to play for MU will think twice, meaning you'll be paying ridiculous fees and wages
• Suppose you get around the first two problems with money, how are you going to handle FFP?
• You need an upgrade in several area, namely:
• Central Midfield, which you need 2 players, 1 ball winner and 1 play maker
• Some might think Carrick is enough but without someone to ease his workload both on winning and spreading the ball, wait till you get two men on him!
• Forwards, which you need at least 1 target man
• Even with Rooney and Van Persie, they have to work so hard to get forward and get a shot on goal. Class no doubt, but wear and tear will set in easily given their age
• Central Defence or Full Back, someone with speed to cover partially flanks yet control the center
• Basically a replacement of Vidic and Ferdinand to complement the aging Evra and Vidic. I know, I mentioned him twice but you don't get 2 great defenders that easily. Ferdinand is done so your defence will crumble without Vidic
• Wingers, or anyone who can put in decent crosses for at least 45 minutes
• Need I say more? If they don't fear your forwards, why would they commit people to defend your strikers? Therefore, they can press on your wings and midfield buildup. As an alternative, you need to give them more things to worry about.
• If the above list doesn't daunt you, how much of 200M will you have left after this? And did I mention FFP?
• The only break you have is that Moyes does have a good eye for talent, just not great in developing one

Personally, I hate SAF, no doubt a great manager but a cheat in my eyes forever. Having read how he told Lee Sharpe to report and injury and back out of England games, similar to accusations by Paul Ince. He might have completed his last and best heist yet! Stealing the championship (with help from all corners including imploding opponents) and passing the empty chest to Moyes! Yes, at this point, I kind of pity Moyes' circumstance. 

Who knows, when Everton loses a few games, MU might be proud again, but I feel the positive nature at the club right now will hoist us right back fighting. Indeed, if Bobby gave us one thing, it is Hope. And yes, it can be a poison, it will be the poison we so wishfully rejoice in. The one thing that might have actually prevented Moyes from achieving greatness with us. It is not what you do to prevent a loss that helps you grow, but how you walk away from one.

Quote : Win with Grace, Lose with Dignity

Background:


Well, as everyone might have heard, Singapore had their Presidential Election on Saturday. The quote is spurred by the reactions of the people I know on all sides of the election. I find it disturbingly similar to my childhood, not the fun part of me running around trees back in my grandfather's farm, but that of the later years of my elementary school. I came to knew first of malice at around 10-12, thankfully for my parents to protect me all the years before.


There is this group of kids, very smart and very athletic, growing up alongside me. Yet, despite my innocence, they disliked me, and I can't remember what I ever did to deserve that. What they relate to the quote though is that they ganged up on me. When they won, they sneered, without grace, without humility. When they lost, they cried, without dignity, without repentance. They seldom lost, but they did often change the rules to win.


Now, I grew up, much in sync with life. My family is still blessedly moving along well. I thank everyone for that. And through the years, I learnt to seek things with my heart. And it is more often right and good for me than not. That is where I learnt to share, even when I win. That is where I learnt to grow, even when I lost. That is why, I feel I outgrew what is expected of me. And I still want to grow. I still want to share. And I hope the same too for the people around me.


To be fair, I will condone a bit of partying, but I do need people to be aware that since I'm not a party animal, I am not going to join the festivities and I will always maintain a clear mind of what I need to do. And because of that, I do encourage everyone to live responsibly.

Motto : Live Like You Are Going To Die Tomorrow, Plan Like You Are Going To Live Forever

Background:

It comes after some deliberating how to write this motto. Steve Job's speech at Stanford, the other so common sayings. I chose to use Jobs'speech at the center piece of this motto instead of the standard planner's motto "Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst".

The real reason in my posting this is that I was talking to my boss today and he was telling me about my performance dipping. Perhaps he read my last motto and aimed to put my bar back up at the high level it should be. Either way, I'm thankful. The only problem now is to get my lazy butt off the bed in time. And as much as I have bad sleep hygiene, I can get around it by planning and executing correctly. And I seldom make the same mistake again.

Motto : Do Not Dare Me *

Background:


This motto has a huge disclaimer, hence the little start. Disclaimer : I can prove you wrong as long as the dare does not hurt anyone (obvious) or embarrasses me and others. While I am OK to doing relatively awkward things at times, its all about my norm. Just because I'm unorthodox doesn't mean I can accept streaking across town. I'm OK if someone else does it and I would applaud it. It's just not me, yet at least.


Anyway, things got messy recently and I thought, this motto has helped me move on many times. Because I got something to prove, because I want to achieve more, because I want everyone around me to be happy and ultimately, because I want to be happy myself. 


Even if I meet people who hate me for no reason, even if I meet mean people, even if I have to do everything myself, I decided, hey, life is good with or without these bad people. I have the best people around me. Always.


So, why should I worry about these mean people? I have better things to take care of, like the many good people I have around me. Am I optimistic? Perhaps. Am I gullible? Maybe. Am I stupid? Who has the right to decide that? You? God? Understand?


For that, dare me to stretch my capabilities till you cannot fathom what I can ultimately be. Challenge me to bring my potential and make things happen. Yes. I must thank many people who allowed me to be here today. And I plan to repay everyone what is rightfully theirs.

Life's RUBBA to Happening!

Before I start, I need a shout opening. FEEL FREE TO COMMENT! I AM NOT MONITORING COMMENTS FOR LIKE FOREVER ALREADY!


Now, to the real topic, which unfortunately shall start with a moment of sadness. I was reading of a friend's depression and this is not the first I heard. I feel sorry for this friend and would like to help, even by just being there to listen. Anyway, while thinking about this sad story, it linked back to my style of life and brought me an epiphany of some sort.

I remember hearing of "Kübler-Ross model" in Criminal Minds before, hence Wiki'd it. Upon thinking deeper, it is exactly the phases of everything in life. Strategy, political cycle, everything. It seems so weird that things that are so complicated can be explained in such simple ways! Unfortunately, there must always be resistance and the order or components must always satisfy everyone. Is there a need to? Can't we just decide on something that will help people?


However, if you read up the actual article in Wikipedia, the 5 names do not match up to RUBBA, instead it is DABDA. Nothing against it really. It is used in the psychological terms and it matches perfectly. Should one always have these cycles in phase? Well, that's why I thought of re-inventing DABDA and call it RUBBA! Now, instead of an item of anger and depression, I rather express them in action. Here goes!

1. Refusing - Refusing the facts and constraints as they first dawned upon the subject (s).
2. Uprising - Uprising against the facts by the subject (s). 
3. Bargaining - Bargaining in an attempt to ignore the facts.
4. Burrowing - Burrowing within oneself's inner world to avoid more hurt.
5. Accepting - Accepting the fact and need for changes.

Well, it all sounds familiar, don't they? Now, we know Refusing and Uprising tends to occur first, so that is of little debate of its order. I know that Bargaining and Burrowing pretty much happens hand in hand and could happen in either order. Notice they both start with B, so don't argue! Let's use it to help people! Finally, Accepting. I probably can find a similar word with Accepting and Bargaining to replace them instead of using the original model but hey, RUBBA sounds better than DABDA! RUBBA RUBBA RUBBA! RUBBA BAND!


Of course, I always like to add the kicker at the end. Notice that the title is called Life's RUBBA to Happening! If you reach A, then you can decide to make good things happen! I wanted to put enlightening but that wouldn't sound so fun, would it?

Ok, before I hush hush all of you to go spread Dennis' Model of Life and help everyone reach Happening, I do need to say, you should not take this model negatively. Why? Because I built this for happiness! Below is the happy version!

1. Refusing to Lose
2. Uprising against Challenges
3. Bargaining on Resources
4. Burrowing deeper to Hold Your Ground
5. Accepting minor setbacks to Win The War!

Well, now you have the happy version as well, you can go to sleep now. I did wake up from a dream I was fighting a big guy or something so I will be trying to go back to sleep soon to beat that guy!

Weirdest National Day

As of this post, Singapore is already halfway through National Day. It is almost too funny this year compared to previous.

1. General Election and Post Election Trauma, noted as GE and PET and together as GEPET
   First, they have TPL, which in  my opinion is not a good candidate from one look, but she boarded GCT's gravy train so, what can you do? Vote bad politicians out la!
2. Presidential Election, which is the current hot topic since it could be another walkover
   Not that I care, its SGD 4M down the drain as he must listen to the Cabinet's advice
   But to have candidate like TKL giving silly quotes to inspire voters really makes my back hurt from falling off the couch laughing
   Oh, and TT's open thumb handshake
3. As part of the election, my ex classmate decided to rip my kind efforts apart as it "threatens" the political project this classmate embarked on
   How would anyone know what's in someone else's head?
   Oh, because I'm able to commune with God I guess, but God keeps reminding me, live and let live, and don't keep reading people like a book...
   Plus I got sick of reading this person's thoughts after the many contradictory things, such as throwing another person under the bus while pretending to be just and upright...
4. Everyone's screaming about how PAP is unfair
   Well, we let them grow arrogant, so we should not blame anyone
   If you want to convince someone else, DO THE RIGHT THING
5. Speaking of doing the right thing, everyone likes to pick on my lack of action as inaction
   So, do you see like the amount of brain activity in my head while giving ideas?
   Oh, right, you were not listening, of course, that's the very reason why things are not going your way because you did not want to listen to the signs people tell you
6. And since people aren't listening, I'm going to ignore all complaints of DJIA crashing
   Of course it crashed, USA's GDP is not really growing for some time and we told you that when we did QE!
   Oh I forgot, you were not listening because you preferred to listen to Cramer or the Singapore replica in Singapore...eh...who huh?

Anyway, as always, I have no opinion over who should be President. You can be sure of someone's ability and promise but to actually see them is another thing. I believe that putting the right people at the right places is key, which is why my "Lazy Bone Project" is underway. Speaking of which, where did I put that manuscript for the plan overview...

Quote : Wastage is in the Mind

Background:

I was reading my friend Roger (Siow) talking about wasting time in a view of having fun and enjoying it.


That reminded me of many experiences where people tell me that I am wasting time.

I sincerely beg to differ and agree with Roger.

Perhaps I'm silly, perhaps I need to learn, perhaps I'm arrogant, perhaps its not my time yet. Either way, I believe in individuality and making things happen when I want to, not just because someone told me to. 


I do not have time to make money like some other when I was 12 because I like to enjoy the flowers of youth. I was unable to be productive in SAF or NUS because I wasn't given the opportunity. I didn't finish my PhD for the same reasons. 


Either way, I learnt something and I'm using that experience now to help others. Most evidently, I advised my cousin on her PhD program and she thanked me for talking her into it.

So, all in all, we cannot deem that someone is wasting time. If you think someone can do something better, tell them the better way. Show them the better way. Or, just let them be, because for all you know, they saw through things you missed. I definitely believed in that. I believe my childhood running around trees and sand was wonderful and had wished that if only my sister and brother went through the same amount of fun before elementary school.

Motto : Overkill Is Underrated

Reason:


I grew up under the Kiasu (怕输) and Kiasi (怕死) system. What Kiasu means is, scared to lose. What Kiasi means is, scared of death.


What that means in my family is "Be Prepared". Well, that's the same motto for my Boy Scouts when I was young. Never really a big fan but I stuck on it enough to be independent. But that meant to everyone to just save their skin by doing just slightly more than enough.


This "Do Just Enough" often contradicts my philosophy. I often get told to do just enough to solve things and not be too good and stand out. That annoys me. To make things worse, many throw problems on myself and others because we're good in solving problems.


Although I am lucky that this has not happened much since I started working, I have resolved to do more than is needed and blow the competition away. That's why I believe in "Overkill". That's why I liked the line in "A Team". That's why, I decided to engage "Project Lazy Bone".

It's better to be a naive damn darn good worker than to be a ingenious normal slacker. That way, we lived our lives to the fullest. Plus, more likely than not, you and I will get rewarded for our hard work in more ways than just money.

Motto : Never Impose On Others What You Would Not Choose For Yourself

Reason:


Well, straight from Confucius and I'm sure everyone is aware of what it means. The simplest one liner to explain The Golden Rule.


I must say, my mom is a great believer of this rule and I grew into her belief. I find it wonderful and it works well.


I'm not going to write an essay for this. Enjoy!

Motto : You Happy, I Happy

Reason:


There is an idea in Chinese culture, at least in my family when I was growing up, where everybody lives happy as a community, helping each other and growing with each other. This can be view from many angles, money, education, life, whatever. This is the reason why, as a pacifist who understands the reasons behind war, I believe that this is the best motto for everyone to live with and it enhances The Golden Rule.

Quote : If you can't measure up against people who care about you, you don't stand a chance against people who don't

Background:


I was discussing with my friend, Yannis, about my little emotional journey over the weekend since he was quite concerned and knew about it.
We chat about politics a lot because he is from Greece.
The above quote is a slightly reworded version of this line when finishing up the conversation.


It was pertaining to "the incident", dubbed as a symbolic effort to walk away from it.
While I was not a competitor in the incident, I tried to state valid points and ideas for fun.
I pointed out flaws while admitting that my views come from equally incomplete information.
The lack of rebuttal shows was unassuring but if arguments are kept logical, all is fine.
However, when one cuts off communication in a losing debate, what is the trophy for then?
The fact that the reasons don't tally makes it so much harder to accept.


What inspired this quote is that throughout the incident, I did not hold a single intent to hurt.
That showed how non existent my defense is.
Even now, it is not up.
I wonder what can inspire one to focus so much on winning without deploying the right strategies and surrounding oneself with the right people. 


It is a harsh world out there and we should help each other to survive, not bite each other.
This quote was simply an extension to a view where, like raising a child, we pamper them as much as we provide them the most realistic view of life without shocking it.
So, when you have good friends who point out your mistakes, it is a good sign.
I am still learning how to take criticism in public, but I have learnt to reason in public.
I guess my only problem is derogatory comments in public that hold little truth.
Fortunately, I have a lot of friends that will offer their hand to help me learn.


I am an eternal student of the world.
I will continue learning.

Quote : Common Sense Is So Uncommon

Background:


I had this quote for years.
It came from a friend when I was working in Reuters (Sorry I forgot your name!).


I was telling him/her that a Top 50 Index cannot have anything more or less than 50 companies.
We went on for why for a few minutes because I thought it was straightforward and I think he/she did not look at the name and was focusing on the process.


My friend burped out the comment when I said "You need 50 companies for an Index of 50 companies".
He/She probably wasn't looking at the name so its not that he/she didn't do the right things.


From what I hear a lot of times, people just do things.
No right or wrong, just do it.
While I believe in what my brother said when he said "Just Dive In, Don't Think", I always believed my brother thought things through, however little he thinks about it.
Yet, many times, people, include myself and my brother, make silly mistakes that can be avoided if we just decided to take a step back and look.


That included the now "fairly funny" incident where I lost a friend of 15 years over some nonsense.

Quote : Prophetic <> Bombastic

Background:


<> means "not equal" in SQL, a programming language.


I have a bad habit of quoting sayings and then trying to invent prophecy like sayings.
Hence, I notice it when people do it also.


I do things with my heart.
So, even with bombastic words, I want people to feel what I say without trying to.


However, when I read what my friends, or even others, say, sometimes "I can't feel it". 
I need to adjust my train thoughts to feel it.


Yet, prophetic things that hit peoples right away are often KISS things.
Keep It Short and Simple.


Please, my brain not that powerful, please use as few bombastic words as possible.
That includes one from my "People to Respect" list, Mr LKY.

Quote : Immortality Exist. Stupidity Mostly, Sometimes Ingenuity.

Background:

Singapore National Day Parade organizers planned to play a edited version of "Bad Romance" from Lady Gaga.
They had paid the royalties to play it but did not include the right to edit it with usage.
On top of the miscalculation, it was heavily criticized online for its poor taste after being leaked.
It is currently known that it will not be used at NDP.


My friend, Chor Yean, and myself were commenting on how it will remain on the cyberspace "forever" when I made this quote.
I thought it was fairly witty and decided to share it with the world under my new section "Quotes"!
Enjoy!

Hello Box!

I am saddened recently by a friend who forsaken 15 years of friendship. While I may be biased on why this person made such a choice, I do have time to waste to think about what happened, so while unwinding, I was also planning my work among other things I needed to do. Quite a fruitful Friday.


Fortunately, this also reignited my drive to finish what I now call the "Lazy Bone" project. It will be elaborated in more detail later on but first, let me comment on something that is close to my heart. I view this post as part or whole of the epilogue of my envisioned project.


Before you go on and lambaste me with the usual "Bloody Hell, Dennis Wrote An Essay Again" complaint, I will now issue a "Essay" Alert.


"Thinking Outside The Box", which will be abbreviated TOTB from now on, is a relatively lukewarm topic in real life, but I often hear it so much that I doubt people really know what it is. Fortunately, my new work environment allowed me to experiment with their workflow and presentation styles that allowed me to realize what people are missing.

First, lets demystify common misconceptions.

• It works, its a new concept, hence TOTB
  Fallacy : The idea may not be new, and even if it is TOTB, it might be credited to the wrong person since the thought process is the key, not the execution. Most of the time, the planner will be supervising the execution.
• It works, its not new, hence not TOTB.
  Fallacy : TOTB requires the understanding of the whole picture. Even if only a small part of the system changes, complete understanding is needed to avoid complications. Again, like the previous, since a misconception may exist, credit might be attributed wrongly.
• It's alternative, but it doesn't work, hence not TOTB
  Fallacy : Ideas are thought to work but not always executed correctly. Science to back the theory up may not be there. Theory behind the plan may be incomplete. Results is not the reason why we need TOTB. Its the avenues of thought it opens up that matters.
• It's TOTB, it's too alternative, it cannot work
  Fallacy : TOTB is not guaranteed to work, just like all ideas. Trial and error is needed. ROI is often the issue here but that is a HR issue or an office politics issue, which will have its own short paragraph of elaboration.
• You're spouting nonsense, its not even science, hence not TOTB
  Fallacy : Often this stemmed from shortsightedness and office politics. TOTB is naturally unorthodox sometimes and can appear un-scientific. However, our science cannot explain everything. As such, it is a HR issue and will be elaborated in the separate paragraph.
• No idea, hence not TOTB
  Fallacy : Education is an abstract issue. You need the right mix to find the right talent. You cannot force TOTB on people because it needs the right environment. For most questions asked, TOTB is not needed. TOTB is for improving anything and everything. 1+1 questions doesn't help and it is definitely not TOTB. To reason 1+1 may be TOTB.
• Right environment, why no TOTB
  Fallacy : As a scientist, I do not believe in the distinction of right or wrong. I believe in the pursuit of specificity. If our measurements become more accurate, we will find more things. Hence, there is no true right environment for TOTB now until we improve sciences to the extreme.
• TOTB, right environment
  Fallacy : Like above. Perhaps the individual is unique to be capable within that environment. Perhaps it was luck. Perhaps there is help. Perhaps you should just sit back and give up control and have more TOTB. Then again, how do we maximize efficiency?

So, will the examples with fallacy reasoning explain everything? No.

The reason is, as we know, we are only a drop of the entire universe. I always remember the marble scene in MIB 1 at the end, the perfect illustration of my thought process.

There is no perfect way to train everyone. You allow pure creativity to carry through, things are chaotic and inefficient. You control so much of everything, having strict rules and guidelines for everything, creativity gets stifled even if everyone becomes a literate and numerable intellect.

I would compare the systems in Singapore and USA to illustrate this.

Singapore is known for its efficiency with an almost complete rate of literacy and numeracy.

• Strict rules through everything including education
• Loves rankings
• Prefers specialization and deters cross discipline at a young age
• Highly stratified at a young age, with disciplines and educational pace streamed since 10
• Complains about the lack of TOTB

USA. Well who doesn't know USA's system. A complete melting pot but I need a comparison.

• Encourages individuality
• Deters ranking, preventing big schools from having a reason to fight each other
• Encourages multi-discipline education but not enforcing it
• Homogeneous in mix of specialization while not enforcing it
• Low stratification in range of disciplines but huge spectrum of capabilities
• No complaints on lack of TOTB but does complain on lack of efficiency and streamlining

Well, I will not step into the political debate behind both systems but the distinction is clear. You want TOTB, you can't strangle people who don't perform. You want efficiency, you cannot spare the rod. Yet, USA does not lack in talents. In fact, if there is a dearth in talent in one area, they can replenish it in immigration. On the other hand, Singapore's immigration has not improved the amount of TOTB it sought.

Why? Control. A few of my friends, while consoling me over my latest melodrama, said, you cannot love everyone without having an equal amount of hate. I agree. I know what I dislike when I see it, but even when I see it, I can see the good in things. That allowed me to see the best in people and TOTB when they appear. That also allowed me to learn from people and help myself in TOTB. 

I am at a constant struggle of control versus complete chaos. I "ACCEPT" that I can fault and had the good fortune of having "ACADEMY", "APTITUDE", "AMBITION" and "ADVERSITY". My good fortune is really in the people in my family and the people I know. They tolerated my sometimes wild behavior, spanked me when needed, helped me when I was bullied by unrealistic environmental factors, including very mean people, and I grew. I decided that I will continue to grow for these people and add more wonderful people into my life for the good people already in my life.

Hence, these are reasons why Singapore's search for TOTB has been relatively futile. We do not need TOTB everywhere. We do not need a lot TOTB in politics. We need TOTB in industry but we give little room for error, just like everything else in Singapore. Why? Do we really have so little room for error?

My argument against the room for error. I failed GP, survived in NUS, got work and salary comparable to Honors graduates through consistent pursuit of my passion. In 2003, I sat at home, applying for work everyday and got nothing, other than almost being a sushi chef for $1k. 

My first job is a $1k temp job which I got caught for sleeping on the first day! I continued to pursue what is in my heart, got a job at teaching within 2 months. I loved it, if it wasn't paying just $1.5k and taking 60 hours a week due to travel and stress. I love kids running in circles around me. Then I quit but got my next job at $1.8k in less than a month later. Guess what, I got a quick pay rise to $2.2k, got into NCSU and deferred for a year. 

Now, that might not sound like honors pay, but here's the kicker. I was given night shift with great understanding from my bosses that I wanted the money and I don't mind the hard work. I was given the night shift, working 4 hours into the night. I get to claim cab fare after work and night shift allowance, totaling about $800. I thought "Hey, I'm going USA, I got no girlfriend, little social life and just wanted to enjoy myself and still give my parents some allowance". Yes, despite my parents not demanding or needing allowance, I still gave 20% of my base salary because in my heart, I knew they were the reason I came so far. Hence, my blogging here.

Now, enough of my lucky story, I will elaborate a bit on the HR implications of TOTB. Now, I'm sure you have heard people say "this company does not value talent, they fired this super smart guy" story before. Now, when I first heard it, I begged to differ. The first question I asked is "What did this person do that is smart". The next is "What is his salary". Obviously, in my case, it was kind of the reverse since I knew the position of the people who got fired and their performance. And the next question is "So, what is the ROI then". Yes, ROI, that's what define success and failure of a company, an organization. 

How can you get TOTB when you fire people for less than $50k of error which is less than a drop in your ocean of profits? How can you survive with everyone losing you $50k? How do you nurture TOTB when you enforce complete detailed accuracy to the point your sole reason for not developing the talent is "lack of data accuracy". Different people have different strengths. It is the role of the leader to know where to use which talent. A good leader will look after subordinates and usher them to the correct roles. Of course, even leadership takes time and training, hence I understand how things "cannot be helped" sometimes. One thing is, to get an open mind, you must open your mind.

Now, there is another case where TOTB is discouraged, and I saw its impact first hand. There is a manager, very abrasive, very political, very secretive. No information is shared outside this person's team. The team told me they loved their manager because of honesty towards them, but when I mentioned the lack of cross functional teamwork, they agreed with me. Due to the abrasiveness and political mindedness of this person, TOTB is discouraged, of course, compounding other factors that deter TOTB. I feel productivity is also reduced. 

The last acts of this person included a highly disputed promotion, to this day, remains the reason I am seen as a thorn in many managers' eyes despite my many TOTB contributions. I left, promoted only once in 4 years. A friend told me, not promoting me is their biggest mistake. I take it with a pinch of salt and thanked my friend's gracious words. In fact, not many people would say I'm TOTB. But a few friends did lavish me with such praise and I truly thank them for not inhibiting my growth.

Now, I must deviate from my arrogance and self praise before it ruins my argument, but I can raise examples that does not involve myself. It is not important how many examples we can find. The truth is, we should not fall into the act of "Do as I say, Not as I do". I need to tolerate others' mistakes to see the best in others. You too. Then we will find a lot of TOTB that doesn't hurt people. I recently saw a video talking about trial and error. We need a good mix of that in life. If we don't dare to try, we never know. I never thought I would really be here in USA. I'm glad I tried.

I would now like to end my essay with a bit of my regular Dennis' humor. I am sick and tired of reading political articles from Singapore and USA. If you speak with greed, your every word stinks. That is what I understood of Lui Tuck Yew. If you speak with anger, your every word betrays your hypocrisy, that is Mitch McConnell with his "No Deal With Obama in Office". Even if John Boehner tries to bash Obama, he does it with style and measured aggression. I like what I hear from Boehner. Same from Khaw Boon Wan from PAP. Not Vikram Nair. For these men who receives such huge pay packages to do such work with no heart, it is an insult to my love for mankind.

Specifically for Pui, McDumbbell and Lair, I offer you this...

Man, I love this pic...I have vowed to use this pic as much as possible. Until I find more interesting ones of course.

Oh, two more things:

First, with my Project "Lazy Bone" underway, I will be re-organizing my blog. Nothing will be deleted but new filing and categories will be added to phase out the old more "solely emotional" categories. This will be my prelude.

Second. I love to sleep. I love great ideas. And I love them more with this video below from TED.com about sleep.

My Idea Of Talent Creation

Phew, finally calmed down. I slept the most of today and woke up just to do my chores. What a wonderful life!

Anyhow, without further ado, I will present my idea of Talent Creation formally. This is a full departure from my previous 2 posts that are more like a preview of this boring topic that I'm going to talk about. However, it is part and parcel of life that everyone has to go through. Yes, parenting, and a bit of politics.

Before I jump into the details, I wanted to differentiate between my ideas, parenting and politics. My idea is a very philosophical and generic view of life. Since it is generic, parenting is difficult because it requires a lot of trial and error. Politics, however, should not confuse my ideas. It is just a more fashionable way of setting up a factory to create intelligent humans that can do very complicated work but not rebellious enough to circumvent the owners, aka politicians. Now, not all people in politics are bad, but we all know, the truly good ones are rare.

Now, back to the 4 A's. Again, they are Aptitude, Ambition, Academy and Adversity.

Notice that in previous post, I singled out Adversity as the one hardest item to quantify. The reason is, while all 4 items are fairly ambiguous at times, Adversity is required as an input for the other 3 A's in order for someone to develop his talent enough to overcome Adversity. In fact, Adversity itself is its own input to inspire more Adversity.

Aptitude is often overqualified as the true variable of talent. However, just like we know that there are "many fake prophets", the same applies to talent scouting. In fact, I would like to draw the similarity of religion and politics as the masses following the directions of a leader, spiritual or physical. Hence, the truth I wanted to say is, be glad with the talent you have, seek the talent that can be found, but do not overdo your greed for power by seeking talent that might not be there. False gold is a common phenomenon.


Ambition is often under qualified actually, at least when it comes in contrast to talent. Ambition is often matched to talent without the knowledge of talent creation, and that often leads to dysfunctional talent sourcing. An example, one comment I always hear is that, how can a less capable person be promoted over a more capable people. The common conclusion is nepotism. It is mostly true, but another point that we should understand is, talent can be nurtured. There is a limit through each of our aptitude, but producing beyond expectations set upon us is not uncommon. If such is the case, the leadership is fairly well read into talent creation. Unfortunately, the reason why I'm writing this is because I feel it lacking abundance right now.


Academy is probably the easiest to qualify but often unrealized until after the fact. This is because Mother Nature is the true parents of us all. It provides all 4 A's without most of us knowing it, yet it is part of us as well. A less educated person can go through the same amount of academy through experience rather than literature. A less talented can compensate for its lack through industry with experience and literature. All in all, an academy should be as forgiving to everyone as Mother Nature. The problem with humanity is the shortage of such forgiveness. It is such that causes academies to become dysfunctional and decline in status.


Adversity, as before mentioned, is the hardest to qualify. It is in everything we do. It is life. Life is difficult. I feel that Life is the toughest lesson among all my lessons, yet it is the one I enjoy most and I think I have a decent handle of it. Not an A+ student, but maybe enough to pass. I can provide many examples of failure due to a lack in adversity, much more than the other 3 A's. As such, I think saturation is when recessions happen, factually of metaphorically. We know monopolies are bad, we know dictatorships don't last. Why? Lack of adversity.

Adversity is the key element of evolution. There is a problem, we need to solve it. If it is one off, we will forget it. If it keeps occurring, we will find a way to solve it completely. That shows you how difficult it is to contribute adversity into talent creation. How can you tell 2 talented individuals not to kill each other? It is almost impossible in a push and shove situation, yet, it is necessary and doable. 


This is where tolerance for mistakes comes in. If we recognize that we are mere humans and cannot exist alone, accepting compromise and yet trying to outsmart one another without trying to destroy one another. The lifetime opponent as you might have heard. That is the ultimate adversity that is most conducive to talent creation. However, as all good things in life are, it is limited and it cannot be faked. One view I want to present is that propaganda is often aimed at achieving domination through suggestion and implied and fake adversity is one of politics' most common tactic. What is more satisfying to a greedy man if he can get other men to steal from people other than himself and enrich himself in the process? What is more important than keeping your society sufficiently educated and curious if you know telling the truth will make everyone lazybones like me.


Finally, I want to conclude this post with the 5th A, an item which is actually not really relevant to talent creation but one that I realized to be very crucial as well during the drafting of this post.

Acceptance. Yes, acceptance in both oneself and others. While commenting on tolerance, I noticed that I was able to come up with this post because I accepted my flaws. I accepted the flaws of people around me. In being honest to whatever I can think of, I was able to learn as much as I can from every scenario. I cannot learn everything, which I accepted, but I did manage to learn what I would have thought I couldn't. I remember I was told to give up subjects for good grades, which first, I do not accept and secondly, since it made me unhappy, the teachers did not get good grades out of me either. Deny others too much and you will be defeated.


For those in Singapore, that is the one thing I want you all to know. Tolerance for mistakes. If there is one thing we want our politicians to know is that their lack of tolerance for mistakes is unacceptable. Especially when they make so many mistakes as well. Until we can tolerate another person's mistake as long as it doesn't hurt us too much, we will never be able to find the person that can truly lead Singapore. Fortunately for me, I grew up in a family that is tolerant and have lots of love to share.


As such, feel free to share my love for the world and the world full of talents. We all can learn from one another, and I want everyone to know that.

The 4 A's

I'm not a scholar. I'm not a jock. I'm not a genius. I'm not intellectually challenged. Wait, maybe I am, cause I can't remember too many things and loves to sleep.

Well, whatever. I wanted to deviate from my cynical tone and switch to a more serious, world loving one.

Yes, this is going to be philosophical. Well....only slightly.

To make things easy, I decided to write about the requirements of developing a talent. I worked real hard to find 4 words that start with the same letter, plus I don't really want to waste time and find a word from the 4 initials. Without further ado, I will list what I think is necessary to develop a talent.

It is....drum rolls...OK, waste of time here...The 4 A's. Are you expecting something else?

1. Aptitude
2. Ambition
3. Academy
4. Adversity

I think it is really easy to illustrate the first 3, with a bit of argument for the 4th later.

Aptitude. No, I'm not talking genes like LKY prefers to believe. I mean, isn't Singapore's system trying to show the opposite and say leaders can be made, hence Academy? Frankly, everyone has talent, not just one, a wide range of them, some people having a more acute range, others with a wide range that doesn't even add up to the sum. But everyone needs to be honest. I am honest with myself. I'm not very smart, not very hardworking but I need to use all my wits and labor to survive. That's what I mean by being honest. Play to my strengths, although I still like to play on my weaknesses to see how far I can go with a handicap. Anyway, like I said, you need 4 A's, not one, so read on.

Ambition. This is quite a no-brainer. Where is our great leaders if they do not have ambition? Of course, they need to have aptitude as well, along with the other 2 A's. Why else would you kill all your brain cells for something you will lose at the end of your life anyway? Really, I mean, I really just want to sleep on the beach all day or some meadow all my life. I like the idea of myself being a farm boy. But I guess, I felt compelled to do a lot of things and that drove the first part of my ambition until I met really smart and ambitious people who spurred me on. Really, how far can your car go on only one tank of gas? Oh, wrong analogy.

Academy. This one should be quite easy, but wait, how did Conan become king? Oh, he's fiction. But there are "less educated" leaders as well. They are not taught by school. They are taught by life. To survive, to become better just to survive. Yea, they went through the academy of life alright. Too bad the only things we can learn nowadays are all in school and all from books and only try to marginally apply the theory on work when we come of age.

Adversity. This one is a tough cookie, not just because it means having a challenge, but it is the invisible teacher that makes us grow. Why is it that success is hard to maintain? Is it because the sky is not the limit but the coconut tree is? Bad example. How about evolution? Right, that will do. You and I need to evolve to try to overcome difficulties to be successful.

So, do we really need to know what the missing link between us and apes are? No. I mean, the way you evolve will be different from the way you have evolved. That's the beauty of evolution. It cannot be defined. It cannot be quantified. It can only be felt. Like relativity. No, not the force, Jedi fan.

Now, with all these, does it mean that we can always groom talents? I think this is ambiguous. People come and go. Leaders come and go. You cannot look for them, but wait for them to appear. If you have all 4 A's, you can strive to be a leader, but only time can answer for you.

Also, don't mix political adversities up with adversity. The whole fake drama like the "Cold War" or "Alien Invasion" as Michael "I only have explosions and explosive sex scenes" Bay like you to believe. If there is someone out there to beat you, everyone is. No one wants to hurt you because it could be everyone, including yourself. The debt limit, the fat cats, the Greek Crisis, really, its all fake in the sense that it doesn't matter to you as much as you think it does.

Confused? Yes, we all are going to be jobless. Yes, ALL OF US. So, who's the enemy here? The ones the politicians want you to think is your enemy or yourself for letting the politician lead you by the nose? Yes, they lied and they will continue lying to keep their skin. That is politics. That is not life. If you cannot be honest with yourself, no one can. I will wake up tomorrow as I did today. So will you. Maybe you will do something different, which is natural because it is a different day! So let's forget what the politician likes us to believe in the definition of talent and really put a great show for ourselves. Yes, the one where we go do what is right for us.

And one last note. If anyone wants to debate on "Are Leaders Born or Made?", I have a picture to show you what I think of this debate.

Man, I love it when a cute girl does that with an (almost) smiley face. If only I have a naughty wife like that. OK, off topic.

Oh, even if its LKY, with all my respect of his contributions to Singapore, I do not agree on one ideal way to develop talent. Plus, you claimed that talent is born, not made, which reversed everything you did on forging talent. My 4 A's is only a generic make up of how talents come to age. It can be refined to enhance education and talent development but it cannot be perfected. Unless you want to claim you're God or God's messenger. I prefer you don't.

Also, to LKY personally, Tony Leung will make you look ugly, please veto the movie project before it mars the handsome image you have all on your adventure in 1965. I think that photo of you in the suit in 1965 looks cool and befitting of a political leader. Tony Leung is nothing compared to real kick ass hard work. Sorry for my American-glish. I tried very hard not to add words to the dictionary after inventing "chemicalize" in 4th grade.