The Final Blogspot Post

Ah heck it, I'm just gonna move to my new blog today.

http://iantan.org

For the snazzy photo gallery (it'll fill up with many pix soon)

http://iantan.org/imagery/

Bye Blogspot, it's been fun, but not fun enough.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Ladies and gentlemen,

http://iantan.org

It's not ready yet, but you can take a peek. I'm a little short of ideas on what I want for it right now, but all I know is that I can finally put up my photographs in all their frigging 12.8 megapixel quality if I desired.

Meanwhile, I've gotta get back to my crash course on customising my 10GB website.

Why Frozone's wife rawks

(I was watching The Incredibles again to review this widescreen monitor, and the following scene is an absolute classic. Cut and pasted the below transcript from www.moviemistakes.com)

-----------

(ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE IN THE CITY. FROZONE LOOKS FOR HIS SUPER SUIT IN VAIN)

Frozone: Honey?

Honey: What?

Frozone: Where's my super suit?

Honey: What?

Frozone: Where is my super suit?

Honey: I uh - put it away.

Frozone: Where?

Honey: Why do you need to know?

Frozone: I need it!

Honey: Nuh uh! Don't you think about leaving to do some derrin' do! We've been planning this dinner for two months!

Frozone: The public is in danger!

Honey: My evening's in danger!

Frozone: You tell me where my suit is woman! This is for the greater good!

Honey: I am your wife! I am the greatest good you are ever gonna get!

The limits of this blog are being tested

This blog is a tough one.

Unlike most other blogs, my sense of self-preservation (and sometimes my concern for my worried editors) prevents me from writing anything that is really reflective of what I'm really thinking at any moment.

Oh yeah, you've been reading lies all this while!!! (Ok, it's true stuff, but just watered down, sub-edited, copy-edited and filtered once more with a strainer by yours truly). You end up reading nothing but obvious axioms, pretty photos with one really expensive camera and some useless links.

BUT, I can still write the following:

Imagine if you have a blog/website that is widely read, and you somehow link being widely read to being wildly popular and liked. Your sense of popularity is inflamed by the large number of supporters you have, most who leave behind comments as inane as your online mutterings.

Then you start to publicise yourself as someone who has good credentials, who's worked for reputable organisations, when all you did was a mere part time job where your grubby work didn't get you an long-term job offer. When people send you legal warnings for shooting off your mouth, you proudly proclaim to the world that it's no big deal. Perhaps you are waiting for the warning to become a court order?

You think you're cool, you think you're hip, you think you're the next icon. But all you're doing is showing the rest of the world (including your brain-dead fans) how little you know about anything.

When do you know when you know something? When you keep your trap shut where it matters most - online.

Dear unnamed recipient of this post - Do something worthwhile with your life. Get good grades, get a good salary, save some lives, do some housework...whatever. I've seen quite a bit of the world, yet it's always alarming to see the vast amount of foolishness concentrated on and exuded by one individual.

I once met this man who was headed to jail for a very public assault on a woman, and he defended himself by saying, "See how many of my friends say I am such a good teacher and friend!" He kept on this crazy thing and was put through a really public disgrace later. (Ah, if only I could tell you more!)

I haven't been reading the Bible much of late, but Proverbs is always my favourite (when reminding myself not to reveal how much of a fool I am online).

Proverbs 18:1-3 (New International Version)

¹ An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends;
he defies all sound judgment.

² A fool finds no pleasure in understanding
but delights in airing his own opinions.

³ When wickedness comes, so does contempt,
and with shame comes disgrace.

---------------------

So is this blog going to become more preachy and boring? Honestly I have no idea, it wasn't created to please any particular individual but myself, and there aren't that many people reading anyway. It's really a collection of my observations that are safe enough to put up for public view

And I don't care if anyone thinks I'm snobbish.

I'm from ACS from goodness sake, we know when someone is not colour-coordinated or has no class. That's why parents want to put their kids in ACS rather than RI ok. Pedigree has its privileges, and I'm not just talking about a much cooler school badge.

The Brood - Dec 2005

Goy with the current crop of kids - Joshua Hwang, Caleb Hwang, Isabel Tan, Isaac Tan and Jonah Hwang. Will more kids enter the photo soon? Stay tuned (Definitely none from the Tan side, factory is closed)

Some obvious observations

General stuff I've noticed about human nature recently, just penning them down because I can't sleep.

a. People don't seem to realise it when they are disliked by the majority. Even if they do realise it, they take it that it's a side effect of their current hold on power (or perceived hold - as a guy interested in the flow of power, I've realised very few people actually have any). One person I know is described as having constant PMS by her peers, but she obviously doesn't look into the mirror to see how pinched her face is at default setting.

b. Everyone's just trying to get by. Sometimes I get really angry when people do stupid things to each other, but if you step into their shoes, it appears that they are just trying to preserve their way of life and their livelihood. I remember once when I felt this colossal wave of empathy when I realised "All Men Are Brothers Under God". The feeling passed pretty quickly, (I'm no Mother Teresa, obviously) but the lasting impact was that I realised everyone's just trying to work within their natural limits of abilities and emotions.

c. Everyone's scared of being lonely. ('nuff said)

d. Most people pretend to know more than they actually do. However, that is a fundamental requirement when making "small talk", which prevents "awkward silences" or "appearing unfriendly". So there is an inherent risk in making too much small talk, as holes start appearing in your impression management. Best solution is to get the other party to make more small talk than you, which is probably why the smartest people often ask more questions than they answer them.

P/S In this case it would appear that journalists are the smartest people around, since they ask heaps of questions for a living. On the flipside, they have to make the most small talk too, since they are "social butterflies" and need to get people talking hard. So they are pretty normal actually.

e. "Experts" often know jackshit. I'm not referring to real gurus like babysitter Miriam Stoppard or trusted food tasters like KF Seetoh. I'm referring to lots of self-styled experts in various very niche fields (I'm tempted to name one) who sound so competent, but actually have no idea how their complex theories can possibly apply in the real world of politics, racism and religion. Then some publications will go and quote them and the experts suddenly have greater earning power for knowing nothing.

f. And such experts will tend to disagree for the sake of doing so. Why? Because you can't possibly be more right than them.

Critical bloggers

An interesting phenomenon is starting to happen.

There seem to be self-styled experts appearing online and taking on traditional institutions as if they knew any better. It's not just the usual gripes about "Oh the baby bonus is such a farce", but "You guys don't know anything. I went through university and learnt all the things that the media/govt/bank sector should be. Here's how you should have done it."

Let me tell you I didn't learn very much about the real world, business concerns, ethical dilemmas and so on in school. Academia lives in its own vacuum, which is fine as long as they don't mess up shareholder value.

My challenge to all you people who think you're so smart - find a job in the company/institution that you are unhappy with. Why be an armchair critic when you can actually effect real change? Or are you too scared to do so? Maybe you can't even pass the entrance test.

Blogging problem #145 - Everybody has become a consultant. But who's paying them to talk? When talk is cheap, is it worth talking?